Richard Scott Prather (September 9, 1921 – February 14, 2007) was an American mystery

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while othe ...

, best known for creating the "Shell Scott" series. He also wrote under the

pseudonyms A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...

David Knight and Douglas Ring.

Biography

Prather was born in Santa Ana, California and spent a year at Riverside Junior College (now Riverside Community College). He served in the

United States Merchant Marine United States Merchant Marines are United States civilian mariners and U.S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Both the civilian mariners and the merchant vessels are managed by a combination of the government and private sectors, an ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, from 1942 through the end of the war, in 1945. That year he married Tina Hager and began working as a civilian chief clerk of surplus property at March Air Force Base in

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire and ...

. He left that job to become a full-time writer in 1949. The first Shell Scott mystery, ''Case of the Vanishing Beauty'', was published in 1950. It would be the start of a long series that numbered more than three dozen titles featuring the Shell Scott character. At Prather's death in 2007, he had completed but not published his last Shell Scott Mystery. His final novel, ''The Death Gods'', was published October 2011, in print and ebook formats by Pendleton Artists, with permission of the Richard S. Prather Estate and Linda Pendleton.

Publisher

Prather had a disagreement with his publisher,

Pocket Books Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books. History Pocket Books produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in the United States in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishin ...

, and sued them in 1975. He gave up writing for several years and grew

avocado The avocado (''Persea americana'') is a medium-sized, evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It is native to Americas, the Americas and was first domesticated by Mesoamerica, Mesoamerican tribes more than 5,000 years ago. Pre-Columb ...

s. In 1986, he returned with ''The Amber Effect''. In 1987, Prather's penultimate book, ''Shellshock'', was published in hardcover by

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and is the largest publisher of Chinese sci ...

. He donated his papers to the Richard S. Prather Manuscript Collection at the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyomin ...

, in

Laramie, Wyoming Laramie is a city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States. The population was estimated 32,711 in 2019, making it the third-largest city in Wyoming after Cheyenne and Casper. Located on the Laramie River in southeaste ...

Personal life

Prather's wife, Tina Hager, died in April 2004 after 58 years of marriage.

Awards and honors

* Private Eye Writers of America Lifetime Achievement Award (1986) * Twice served on the board of directors of the

Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is an organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the Edgar Award, ...

Bibliography

Shell Scott novels

* ''Case of the Vanishing Beauty'' — 1950 * ''Bodies in Bedlam'' — 1951 * ''Everybody Had a Gun'' — 1951 * ''Find This Woman'' — 1951 * ''Dagger of Flesh'' — 1952 * ''Darling, It's Death'' — 1952 * ''Way of a Wanton'' — 1952 * ''Always Leave 'em Dying'' — 1953 * ''Ride a High Horse'' a.k.a. ''Too Many Crooks'' —1953 * ''Pattern for Panic'' — 1954 * ''Strip for Murder'' — 1956 * ''The Wailing Frail'' — 1956 * ''The Deadly Darling'' — 1957 * ''Have Gat - Will Travel'' (short stories) — 1957 * ''Three's a Shroud'' (novelettes) — 1957 * ''The Scrambled Yeggs'' (published in 1952 as ''Pattern for Murder'' under pseudonym "David Knight") — 1958 * ''Slab Happy'' — 1958 * ''Take a Murder, Darling'' — 1958 * ''Over Her Dear Body'' — 1959 * ''Double in Trouble'' (with Stephen Marlowe, co-starring Marlowe's series character Chester Drum) — 1959 * ''Dance with the Dead'' — 1960 * ''Dig That Crazy Grave'' — 1961 * ''Shell Scott's Seven Slaughters'' (short stories) — 1961 * ''Kill the Clown'' — 1962 * ''Dead Heat'' — 1963 * ''The Cockeyed Corpse'' — 1964 * ''Joker in the Deck'' — 1964 * ''The Trojan Hearse'' — 1964 * ''Dead Man's Walk'' — 1965 * ''Kill Him Twice'' — 1965 * ''The Meandering Corpse'' — 1965 * ''The Kubla Khan Caper'' — 1966 * ''Gat Heat'' — 1967 * ''The Cheim Manuscript'' — 1969 * ''Kill Me Tomorrow'' — 1969 * ''The Shell Scott Sampler'' (short stories) — 1969 * ''Dead-Bang'' — 1971 * ''The Sweet Ride'' — 1972 * ''The Sure Thing'' — 1975 * ''The Amber Effect'' — 1986 * ''Shellshock'' — 1987 * ''The Death Gods'' - 2011

Other novels

* ''Lie Down, Killer'' — 1952 * ''The Peddler'' — 1963 (published in 1952 under pseudonym "Douglas Ring") * ''The Peddler'' - 2006 by Hard Case Crime As David Knight * ''Pattern for Murder'' — 1952 (published in 1958 as ''The Scrambled Yeggs'' under Prather's name) * ''Dragnet: Case No. 561'' — 1956 As Douglas Ring * ''The Peddler'' — 1952 (published in 1963 under Prather's name)

As editor

* ''The Comfortable Coffin'', stories by

Ellery Queen Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1929 by American crime fiction writers Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee and the name of their main fictional character, a mystery writer in New York City who helps his police inspector father solve ...

, Evan Hunter,

Stanley Ellin Stanley Bernard Ellin (October 6, 1916 – July 31, 1986) was an American mystery writer. Ellin was born in Brooklyn, New York. After a brief tenure in the Army, at the insistence of his wife, Ellin began writing full time. While his novels are ...

, Erle Stanley Gardner, and others

Notes

References

* Reilly, John M., editor. ''Twentieth Century Crime and Mystery Writers'' (St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1980): entry * ''Marquis Who’s Who in America'' (2002 edition): entry
The Richard S. Prather / Shell Scott Website
Archived - Last: 26 June 2012 - Visit: 26 June 2021

External links

at the Internet Book List {{DEFAULTSORT:Prather, Richard S. 1921 births 2007 deaths 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American male novelists American thriller writers American sailors American mystery writers Shamus Award winners Writers from California Riverside City College alumni 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers United States Merchant Mariners of World War II