Richard S. Prather

Richard Scott Prather (September 9, 1921 – February 14, 2007[1]) was an American mystery novelist, best known for creating the "Shell Scott" series.[2] He also wrote under the pseudonyms David Knight and Douglas Ring.

Richard S. Prather
1964 Trident Press publicity photo
1964 Trident Press publicity photo
BornRichard Scott Prather
(1921-09-09)September 9, 1921
Santa Ana, California, U.S.
DiedFebruary 14, 2007(2007-02-14) (aged 85)
Pen nameDavid Knight
Douglas Ring
Alma materRiverside Junior College
GenreMystery
Spouse
Tina Hager
​
​
(m. 1945; died 2004)​

Biography

Prather was born in Santa Ana, California[2] and spent a year at Riverside Junior College (now Riverside Community College).[3] He served in the United States Merchant Marine during World War II, 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[4] in Riverside, California. 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, and sued them in 1975. He gave up writing for several years and grew avocados. In 1986, he returned with The Amber Effect. In 1987, Prather's penultimate book, Shellshock, was published in hardcover by Tor Books. He donated his papers to the Richard S. Prather Manuscript Collection at the University of Wyoming, in Laramie, Wyoming.

Personal life

Prather's wife, Tina Hager, died in April 2004 after 58 years of marriage.[4]

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

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 — 1955
  • 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

Notes
  1. The Independent (Feb. 27, 2007): "Richard S. Prather: Creator of the private eye Shell Scott", by Jack Adrian Archived 2007-03-03 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Carlson, Michael (29 March 2007). "Richard S Prather". Guardian Media Group. The Guardian. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  3. Fox, Margalit (16 March 2007). "Richard S. Prather, Author of Naked Mysteries, Dies at 85". A. G. Sulzberger. The New York Times. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  4. Rourke, Mary (8 March 2007). "Richard S. Prather, 85; author of Shell Scott mysteries in '50s and '60s". Los Angeles Times Communications LLC. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 20 February 2021.

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
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