# Has an author ever died while you were reading their book?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 30, 2013, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388 "2013-03-30T22:46:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![norvalnormal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f19dbf/32.png) [@norvalnormal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norvalnormal)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/41 "2016-05-04T18:00:57Z")

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I’ve proofread the last book by dozens of authors, including a few suicides. (And first books–I proofed the very first Wheel of Time book for TOR in the 1980s!!)

I had recently proofread part of a book by J. Anthony Lucas (huge, hence the job was divided among different freelancers) when I got a phone call from the managing editor of Knopf to let me know that Lucas had just killed himself via (pills and?) pillow smothering …

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**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/42 "2016-05-04T19:31:32Z")

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What an interesting question.  
It’s happened to me once that I’m aware of.  
Robert B. Parker. I was working my way back through his Jesse Stone novels when he died in early 2010.

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**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/43 "2016-05-04T19:52:43Z")

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I was rereading _Infinite Jest_ when David Foster Wallace hung himself

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**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/44 "2016-05-04T23:58:34Z")

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I was re-reading one of Arthur C Clarke’s books when I found out he had died. Don’t remember which one but I have read and re-read his books so many times. I just re-read _The Light of Other Days_ last weekend.

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