I met him just once, very briefly, in a book- signing line at
the 1983 Bouchercon; he was given the Grandmaster Award that
year, and Stephen King flew in from Maine to introduce JDM. I
taught two of his books to my high school jr. and sr. classes
in Mystery Fiction. ( Deep Boue and Empty Copper)
Years later, as I read through some of the letters and other
items in the Collection at the Univ. of Florida in
Gainesville, I began to sense his need for privacy in order
to work.
In 1990 I met his son, Maynard, at the 4th JDM Conference in
Ft. Lauderdale. We happened to be sitting near each other and
began to talk. We had a very personal conversation about
JDM's last weeks before his death after heart surgery.
Maynard served as his nurse, so to speak, after JDM became
quite upset with the nurse who had been caring for him in the
hospital. . Maynard and I email occasionally, mostly about
copyright problems with the Estate and would-be JDM
imitators. I think Maynard is very much like his father:
private, but caring.
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