I’ve written several times about the passing of an actor, but today I’m going to take a moment to mention the passing of one of my favorite all-time authors. Nelson DeMille died at 81 on Sept. 17, 2024, of esophageal cancer and it’s always tough when you lose someone who has entertained you most of your adult life.
DeMille is best remembered for a variety of novels featuring men such as himself – he was decorated while serving in 
combat in Vietnam. His main characters are military/law enforcement folks, but he’s also dabbled in stories about terrorism, society and espionage. You can see part of my DeMille section of a bookcase at our home here in Naples, Fla. in the photo at the top.
The first novel by DeMille that I read was “By the Rivers of Babylon” from 1978 and followed by “Cathedral” in 1981. The former is about bombs 
aboard jetliners and the latter about an fictional takeover of St. Patrick’s Cathedral by the IRA.
However, it was “The Charm School,” a Cold War espionage thriller from 1988, that vaulted DeMille into my personal stratosphere of writers that includes Frederick Forsyth, Ken Follett, the late Jack Higgins, Joseph Wambaugh and Gonzo journalist (the late) Hunter S. Thompson.
DeMille’s stories were always carefully 
crafted, layered and written with intelligent details that were almost a lesson about whatever geographic region in which he set his stories.
My favorite novel by DeMille is “Up Country” from 2002, a tale in which a somewhat-early-retiree from the U.S. Army’s military police/intelligence arm is sent back to Vietnam on a mission to find out about the murder of a U.S. officer during the Tet Offensive of 1968. As the character, like DeMille himself, had served in Vietnam on two tours, it was both a mission and a homecoming of sorts. (BTW … this is a good stand-alone novel, too, although its main character is in other DeMille works).
By the late 2010s, DeMille had co-authored a couple of novels with his son, Alex, but I never read them since I’m kind of an author-purist and don’t enjoy co-written books, as they never reach the quality of an author’s independent work.
As I’ve grown older, I find fewer and fewer authors to follow and so, with the passing of DeMille and last year’s loss of terrific Florida-style novelist Tim Dorsey, my list of favorite authors is getting more “lates” than are still writing.
So, if you haven’t already read one of his works, check out Mr. DeMille. You won’t be disappointed … I guarantee it.
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