Bruce Alexander Cook

Bruce Alexander Cook (born April 7, 1932 in Chicago , Illinois , † November 9, 2003 in Hollywood , California ) was an American journalist and writer . He also published numerous detective novels under the pseudonyms Bruce Alexander and Bruce Cook .

life and work

Cook was born in Chicago in 1932, the son of a train dispatcher. Due to his father's job, he often had to change his place of residence in his childhood. As a result, he spent his youth in California and Arizona before his family moved back to Chicago. His interest in writing was aroused early on. After graduating from Loyola University in Chicago with a degree in literature , he married Catherine Coghlan. In the late 1950s he was employed as a translator in the US Army in Frankfurt, Germany.

After completing his military service, he began a writing career with articles in numerous public publications in Chicago. He also worked as a freelance writer for publications such as the National Catholic Reporter . Cook subsequently worked as a critic for the National Observer , as a book editor for the Detroit News and USA Today . He was a writer for the Los Angeles Daily News from 1984 to 1990.

As a writer, he published his first book The Beat Generation in the genre of non-fiction with Charles Scribner's Sons in 1971 . In 1973 Cook also wrote a book of musical history, Listen to the Blues, and in 1993, The Town That Country Built: Welcome to Branson, Missouri . This was followed by a biography of Dalton Trumbo and a biography of the German poet Bertolt Brecht , Brecht in Exile .

He published his first novel Sex Life about the sexual revolution in 1978 in Chicago. Under the pseudonym Bruce Cook , Bruce Alexander wrote four detective novels with the serial hero Antonio "Chico" Cervantes, a Mexican private detective in Los Angeles . Since the publisher did not want to pay enough for further novels, Cook stopped writing on this fictional character.

In 1994 he published under the pseudonym Bruce Alexander the first title Blind Justice of a historical detective novel series about the judge Sir John Fielding , magistrate and founder of the first police unit in London, who lived in the 18th century. The novels followed: Murder in Grub Street (1995), Watery Grave (1996), Person or Persons unknown (1997), Jack, Knave and Fool (1998), Death of a Colonial (1999), The Color of Death (2000 ), Smuggler's Moon (2001), An Experiment in Treason (2002) and The Price of Murder (2003), which appeared shortly before his death. The novels have been published in ten countries and nine languages.

His last novel in the Sir John Fielding series, Rules of Engagement , was still in the works when Cook died in 2003. His widow and the writer John Shannon completed his work. The novel was published in 2005. After his death, the novel The confessions of William Shakespeare was published in 2004 .

In 1994 he married his second wife, the concert violinist Judith Aller . From his first marriage to Catherine Coghlan, he had three children. Bruce Alexander Cook died of a stroke on November 9, 2003 in Hollywood, California.

Publications (selection)

Under the name Bruce Alexander

Sir John Fielding cycle

• Blind Justice. Berkley Books, New York 1994, ISBN 0-425-15007-0 -.
  • German: Behind closed doors. Goldmann, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-442-72012-5 .
• Murder in Grub Street. Berkley Books, New York 1995, ISBN 0-425-15550-1 .
  • German: The second truth. Goldmann, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-442-72107-5 .
• Watery Grave. Warner Books, London 1996, ISBN 0-7515-2020-9 .
  • German: The wrath of the righteous. Knaus, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-8135-0063-2 .
• Person or persons unknown. Putnams, New York 1997, ISBN 0-399-14309-2 .
  • German: From an unknown hand. Goldmann, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-442-72704-9 .
• Jack, knave and fool. Putnams, New York 1998, ISBN 0-399-14419-6 .
  • German: The last concert. Verlag btb, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-442-72775-8 .
• Death of a Colonial. Putnams, New York 1999, ISBN 0-399-14564-8 .
  • German: Deadly inheritance. Goldmann, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-442-72910-6 .
• The color of death. Putnams, New York 2000, ISBN 0-399-14648-2 .
  • German: Who knows the truth. Goldmann, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-442-72911-4 .
• The smuggler's moon. Putnams, New York 2001, ISBN 0-399-14774-8 .
• An experiment in treason. Putnams, New York 2002, ISBN 0-399-14923-6 .
• The price of murder. Putnams, New York 2003, ISBN 0-399-15078-1 .

Under the name Bruce (Alexander) Cook

• The Beat Generation. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York 1971, ISBN 0-684-12371-1 .
• Listen to the blues. Scribner's, New York 1973, ISBN 0-684-13376-8 .
• Dalton Trumbo . Scribner's, New York 1977, ISBN 0-684-14750-5 .
• Sex life. M. Evans, New York 1978, ISBN 0-87131-263-8 .
• Break into exile. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York 1983, ISBN 0-03-060278-5 .
• Mexican standoff. Franklin Watts, New York 1988, ISBN 0-531-15089-5 .
• Rough cut. St. Martin's Press, New York 1990, ISBN 0-312-05149-2 .
• Death as a career move. St. Martin's Press, New York 1992, ISBN 0-312-06946-4 .
• The town that country built. Welcome to Branson, Missouri. Avon Books, New York 1993, ISBN 0-380-77095-4 .
• The sidewalk Hilton. St. Martin's Press, New York 1994, ISBN 0-312-11062-6 .
• Young Will. The confessions of William Shakespeare . St. Martin's Press, New York 2004, ISBN 0-312-33573-3 .
• Rules of Engagement. Putnam, New York 2005, ISBN 0-399-15242-3 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Bruce Alexander Cook in the catalog of the German National Library
• Interview with Tom Nolan in January magazine , Fall 1999, accessed July 24, 2009
• Library of Congress online catalog , accessed July 27, 2009.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Biographical data from Bruce Alexander Cook Born in Chicago, Illinois, USA on 7 Apr 1932 to Robert Neal Cook and Private Moon. He passed away on Nov 9, 2003 in Los Angeles, California, USA. found on Ancestry
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Los Angeles Times, November 18, 2003 http://articles.latimes.com/2003/nov/18/local/me-cook18 , accessed July 26, 2009.
3. ↑ http://www.thefreelibrary.com/AUTHOR,+EX-DAILY+NEWS+BOOK+EDITOR+BRUCE+COOK+DIES.-a0110087463 , accessed on July 26, 2009.
4. ^ ^{A b} New York Times, November 16, 2003 http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/16/nyregion/bruce-alexander-cook-71-crime-writer.html, accessed July 28, 2009.
5. ↑ http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2004/12/bruce_cook_trib.php accessed on July 26, 2009.
6. ^ Publisher's description of Young Will via the Library of Congress http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/description/hol053/2004046755.html, accessed July 27, 2009.