Wilcox, Stephen F. 1951-

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WILCOX, Stephen F. 1951-

PERSONAL: Born February 5, 1951, in Rochester, NY; son of Frederick Elias and Catherine (Holland) Wilcox; married Pauline Bennett (a project consultant), May 27, 1972; children: Bennett Elias. Education: Monroe Community College, A.S.; St. John Fisher College, B.A., 1978. Hobbies and other interests: Contemporary music, baseball, public-policy issues, home remodeling.

ADDRESSES: Home—25 Hulburt Ave., Fairport, NY 14450.

CAREER: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, NY, reporter, 1977-81; freelance writer, 1981—. Military service: U.S. Army, 1971-73; became private first class.

MEMBER: Mystery Writers of America.

WRITINGS:

"T. S. W. SHERIDAN" MYSTERIES

The Dry White Tear, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1989.

The St. Lawrence Run, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1990.

All the Dead Heroes, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1992.

The Green Mosaic, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1994.

"ELIAS HACKSHAW" MYSTERIES

The Twenty-Acre Plot, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1991.

The Nimby Factor, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1992.

The Painted Lady, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1994.

The Jericho Flower: A Hackshaw Mystery, iUniverse (Lincoln, NE), 2002.

"THUMBPRINT" MYSTERIES

The Hard Time Cafe, Contemporary Books (Lincolnwood, IL), 1998.

Purgatory Prayers, Contemporary Books (Lincolnwood, IL), 1998.

The Hidden Men, Contemporary Books (Lincolnwood, IL), 1999.

SIDELIGHTS: Stephen F. Wilcox is the author of several mystery series. In his first novel, The Dry White Tear, he introduced protagonist T. S. W. Sheridan, a writer and amateur crime solver. In this story Sheridan learns that a past tragedy, in which bootleggers were responsible for a fire that claimed eighteen lives, may be related to a recent murder. Among the ensuing mysteries featuring sleuth Sheridan is All the Dead Heroes, in which the protagonist uncovers murder and corruption in the world of professional baseball. James Jay Gould, writing in the Syracuse Herald-American, reported that in All the Dead Heroes Wilcox succeeds in "deftly blending popular culture and history into a very credible and entertaining murder mystery."

Another of Wilcox's mystery series features Elias Hackshaw, a middle-aged reporter in rural New York State. Hackshaw first appeared in The Twenty-Acre Plot, in which he uncovers an unsavory land-development scheme. Hackshaw is also the hero of The Nimby Factor, where he becomes embroiled in a landfill controversy that leads to a murder.

Wilcox once told CA: "I write mysteries for the same reason that I and millions of others choose to read them: for the stimulation provided by a challenging plot (in this case, creating one rather than trying to figure out one); for the great variety to be found in the genre; for a comfortable escape to a world where right, at the very least, has a fighting chance to overcome wrong; and, perhaps most important, because mystery writing is a great medium for a storyteller.

"I must admit that, when I first left work as a newspaperman to try my hand at storytelling, it was so-called literary fiction I had in mind. But I soon found myself at a dead end, wrestling with pieces of a rather aimless and self-indulgent coming-of-age story that, I finally realized, wasn't something I wanted to read, let alone labor to write.

"Coincidentally—or maybe not—I'd just finished reading a mystery, so I set out to try my hand at a whodunit. The result was The Dry White Tear. But coincidence had no role in my decision to set each of the first three Sheridan mysteries in the small towns of upstate New York. To begin with, the sages advise to 'write about what you know,' and as one who has lived almost all his life in upstate New York, it wasn't a difficult decision to place my novels there. And there may have been a bit of reverse snobbery involved too. To most people who've never traveled to the state, 'New York' means tall buildings, Broadway, and street crime. I wanted to introduce readers to the other New York—the place of ancient mountains and small vineyards, farm communities and blue-collar cities, Great Lakes, deep forests, and the people who inhabit them.

"Of course, as much as I appreciate the charms of upstate life, I also have a sense of humor about it. I started a second mystery series, featuring a small-town newspaper editor, part-time house restorer, and full-time gadfly named Elias Hackshaw. Unlike Sheridan and other more traditional sleuths, Hackshaw hates mysteries, is repelled by violence, and wants only to be left alone to pursue his interests in old houses, youngish women, and friendly card games. Unfortunately for him, fate keeps leaving dead people in his path. But Hackshaw somehow manages to overcome the turmoil, keeping in mind that the first rule of preservation is self-preservation."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 1994, review of The Green Mosaic, p. 890.

Publishers Weekly, May 4, 1990; October 12, 1992, p. 66; January 10, 1994, review of The Painted Lady, p. 48; July 25, 1994, review of The Green Mosaic, p. 37; July 15, 2002, review of The Jericho Flower: A Hackshaw Mystery, p. 58.

San Francisco Chronicle, September 22, 1991.

Syracuse Herald-American, August 16, 1992, James Jay Gould, review of All the Dead Heroes.