Writer Stephen Marlowe, 79

[La N]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gAw5HeW3MXfPOOWRyOPOPeWsTg9gD8UVL9KG0
Writer Stephen Marlowe Dies
5 hours ago

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) - Novelist Stephen Marlowe, best known for a series
of books featuring private detective Chester Drum, died Friday at a hospital
after a long illness, his family said in a statement. He was 79.

Marlowe began his career as a writer of pulp and science fiction and wrote
more than 50 novels. His series featuring Chester Drum began with "The
Second Longest Night" in 1955 and concluded with "Drumbeat Marianne" in
1968. His more recent work included fictionalized biographies, including
"The Memoirs of Christopher Columbus" in 1987, "The Lighthouse at the End of
the World" in 1995 and "The Death and Life of Miguel de Cervantes" in 1996.

Marlowe was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduated from the College of
William and Mary in 1949 with a degree in philosophy before serving two
years in the Army. He spent decades of his working life overseas, mostly in
France and Spain, and founded a writer-in-residence program at his alma
mater in 1974.

Marlowe received France's Prix Gutenberg du Livre in 1988 and the Life
Achievement Award of the Private Eye Writers of America in 1997.

He is survived by his wife, Ann, and two daughters.