Sunday, August 16, 2009

John R. Baker, R.I.P.

I found out today that my friend John Baker from Charleston passed away last night. John and I never met in person, but we corresponded for nearly thirty years. I don't recall for sure how we got in touch, but he may have gotten my address from Mike Avallone. John was a mystery fan who read all sorts of books, but he had a special fondness for hardboiled private eye novels and had read everything by Avallone, Richard S. Prather, Mickey Spillane, and dozens of other authors. He traded letters with a lot of them, too, typed or handwritten letters because while John eventually gave the Internet a try, he still preferred the old-fashioned way of corresponding.

Like many of us, he kept a list of everything he read and was always on the lookout for new authors he might like, or old authors whose books he wanted to reread. In one of his last letters to me, he asked if I remembered the author of a private eye series set in Tokyo and featuring an ex-G.I. who was a karate expert. I suggested he might be thinking about the Burns Bannion series by Earl Norman, and that turned out to be right.

Not surprisingly, John was also a Mike Shayne fan, and in 1984 I came out of my "retirement" as Brett Halliday to write one final Shayne story, "Fishing for Murder", which featured John and a friend of his as characters and used some of his plot suggestions. I think he enjoyed appearing in a Shayne story like that.

It hasn't quite soaked in on me that next week or next month, there won't be an envelope in the mailbox with John's distinctive handwriting on it. He sometimes signed his letters, "Your faraway friend, John". Maybe a little farther away now, John, but still a friend.

9 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

This is so sad. Such a long relationship without once meeting. I can see this becoming more common through the Internet. I am very sorry.

Randy Johnson said...

Sorry to hear about this. Losing a long time friend does hurt.

Cullen Gallagher said...

My sincere condolences, James.

Anonymous said...

He sounds like quite a guy. Sorry for your loss, James.

Ed Lynskey

Frank Loose said...

Illustrates the power of the written word, that ya'll were friends this long through correspondence.

Charles Gramlich said...

I'm sorry to hear this. My thoughts go out to you and to the others who will miss him.

Rittster said...

My condolences. It's always difficult losing a friend, even a "faraway" friend. But like you said, now he's just a little farther away.

Take care,
B.Ritt

Gary Dobbs/Jack Martin said...

My thoughts are with you. Just because you never met doesn't make the friendship any less. Like Pattie says with the internet this type of thing will become far more common. Rest in peace fellow reader.

Ricky Lee Grove said...

Very sorry to read about the death of your friend, John Baker. I'm sure he would be very happy to read your tribute here. Take care.