Keeping Up with Crider

As regular readers of this page know, 76-year-old Texas author-blogger Bill Crider is currently undergoing home hospice care for prostate cancer. His family and friends have kindly been providing health updates on Bill’s Facebook page, including this one from his younger brother, Cox Robert “Bob” Crider, which is dated January 7, 2017:

Bill is still with us. He is still taking liquid nutrition by mouth. We have trained in-home health aides who are here 7 hours a day, and family members all the time, so he is getting good care. He still enjoys conversations but does not read, watch TV, or do Facebook anymore—but we try to keep him tuned in on what's going on.

When he was placed in Hospice Care, the doctor told him he had about 4 to 8 weeks left. That was 6 weeks ago. … I think he is gonna beat that 8 weeks for sure. But he is ready to go now because he “does not want to be any trouble to anyone.” Yep, that's my bro!

And this message, also from his brother, dated January 13:

Bill continues to weaken some each day, but is still with us and systems still working.

One message I found particularly interesting had to do with Crider’s fiction writing. I’d feared that 2017’s Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery, Dead, to Begin With (Minotaur), would be the last novel we’d see from this fine writer. But I am glad to learn I was mistaken. This update, again from Bob Crider, was posted on January 12:

Bill is fretting that his last book will not be on the market before he passes from this world. He sent it to his agent back in October. He has me checking Amazon every day to see if it is available yet.

I think it will arrive on the market the same day he departs. The title of the book is That Scoundrel Death. There is some irony in that …

Finally, if you would like to send Bill Crider a message of thanks or hope, his Facebook page now provides the appropriate postal address: Bill Crider, 1606 S. Hill St., Alvin, TX 77511.