Jerry Rodriguez, RIP

Jerry Rodriguez, whose crime novels THE DEVIL'S MAMBO and REVENGE TANGO were published by Kensington Books, lost his battle with cancer on Sunday. He was 46. The New York Daily News has the story and author Ivan Sanchez pays tribute to Rodriguez on his MySpace blog:

In this day and age when we cyber-the-hell out of everything picking up the phone becomes a chore to us. I wish I would have picked up the phone one last time to actually check on the brother. Maybe he would have picked up, maybe he wouldn't have… But if we spoke I'm sure he would have shown the same grace, poise and quick wit he always did.

 

The guy was beyond intelligent and I looked forward to learning a lot from him as the years went on. I only hoped that after ten years of writing and learning from him and Jeff we'd keep the promise we made to change the face of Latino literature.

 

I only knew him for a short time but he impacted my life greatly. He will be missed… I guess God needed a talented, intelligent, funny Latino writer to help him pass the time.

(Thanks to Jason Starr for alerting me to the news)

Comments

[Jason Starr]

I met Jerry about two years at Bouchercon in Madison. He came up to me in the book room and and we hit it off right away. It turned out we both went to the same high school (Midwood in Brooklyn) and from the get-go we were like old friends. Jerry and Ken Bruen also hit it off and the three of us hung out for most of the weekend at the hotel bar, pretty much laughing non-stop (that's what I remember most about Jerry, his wonderful sense of humor). After the convention, I stayed in touch, hanging out a few times in the city. I also read his books, The Devil's Mambo and Revenge Tango and thought they were classics, two of the finest noir novels of recent years (I also think they are important neo-Latino literature). Jerry was one of the kindest, funniest, bravest, most talented people I've ever known. He left us way, way too early. RIP, buddy.

[Ken Bruen]

Jerry was one of those wondrous shining lights you rare and rarely encounter
Jason Starr and I had dedicated The Max to him
I hope he knows
And that my main character in my coming standalone is also named for him
he was in the words of Gary Philips, one cool cat
I was graced to have him as friend and my heart is broken
Rest well amigo
Ken Bruen

[Steven]

This is terrible news. A cool cat indeed. Cancer is a heartless bastard.

[Todd Robinson]

A talent taken too soon.
I was lucky enough to meet with Jerry upon learning that we'd be under the same publisher - he for his novels, me for my anthologies. We both shared our excitement in moving into the strange new world of publishing and looked forward to working together one of these days. Another one of those days that, sadly, I'll never get to share with him. Jerry was a gift of a man - both as a writer and as a human being. We were all lucky to see, if only for a moment, the light of his work.