The Amazing Mr. Rifkin

“Shepard Rifkin, who turns 90 this year, is not famous--but he’s led one of the most interesting lives of any author I know,” says Charles Ardai of Hard Case Crime. “During World War II, he survived being torpedoed in the North Atlantic; after the war ended, he joined the crew of the famous S.S. Ben Hecht”--the sister ship of the Charles MacArthur, perhaps? -- “which was captured while trying to run the British blockade of Palestine ...”

As a birthday present, Hard Case is rescuing from out-of-print limbo what could well be Rifkin’s best mystery. The Murderer Vine (originally published in 1970) is about the killing of three young civil-rights workers in Mississippi, and the father of one of them who hires a New York private eye to find the men responsible--and not come home until they are dead.

Happy 90th, Mr. Rifkin. Keep writing.