Gage Passes Away

This comes as a shock: Leighton Gage, the author of half a dozen crime novels (including this year’s Perfect Hatred) starring Mario Silva, a middle-aged chief inspector with Brazil’s Federal Police, has apparently died. He was in his early 70s and had yet another Silva tale, The Ways of Evil Men, scheduled for publication by Soho Crime in January of next year.

A note on Leighton Gage’s Facebook page, but written by his daughter Melina Gage Ratcliffe and quoting Gage’s Brazilian wife, Eide, reads:

My mother, my sisters and I are devastated to announce the passing of our father, Leighton Gage. Thank you friends and family for all the love and support.

A message from Eide Gage:

The light of my life was extinguished last night.
Leight passed to eternity peacefully in his sleep.
Should we cry because he died or smile because he lived?

Our condolences go out to Gage’s family. We’ll offer more information here about the novelist’s demise after it is revealed.

UPDATES: The Gumshoe Site’s Jiro Kimura says Leighton Gage was 71 years old, and that he “died from pancreatic cancer on July 26 at his home in Ocala, Florida, according to his daughter.” There are also a number of condolences posted in the blog Murder Is Everywhere, to which Gage had long contributed.

READ MORE: “Obituary Note: Crime Novelist Leighton Gage,” by Juliet Grames (Soho Crime); “Leighton, a Personal Remembrance,” by Annamaria Alfieri (Murder Is Everywhere); “Leighton Gage: Mensch,” by J. Sydney Jones (Scene of the Crime).