Osman Earns Widespread Gratitude

More than a handful of blog and Facebook posts have been written over the last 24 hours in memory of Chantelle Aimée Osman, the senior editor at Simon & Schuster’s audio-first imprint, Simon Maverick, who has died at age 45. They make clear that she was a valuable influence on many authors and a treasured source of support for friends.

Novelist Kelli Stanley (The Reckoning) calls Osman “an extraordinary person, friend, editor, crime-fiction community leader, and all-around great human being. She lit up every room she was in and the hearts of all who knew her.” Glen Erik Hamilton (Island of Thieves) describes her as “vibrant, magnetic, smart as hell, and a superb conversationalist,” while Janet Rudolph, the editor of Mystery Readers Journal and blogger at Mystery Fanfare, recalls Osman as “a witty, warm, smart, funny, supportive woman. And quite the fashionista!” Tori Eldridge (Hawai’i Rage), with whom Osman worked for years, says, “Chantelle was one of those rare people who changed lives and positively impacted the literary community and everyone within her reach. Her absence leaves a hole that may take all of us to fill.”

For such a young woman, Osman boasted an impressive résumé. Before joining Simon Maverick, she had served as an acquiring editor at Amazon Publishing. Prior to that, she’d helped found Agora Books, an imprint of late, lamented independent press Polis Books, “focusing on crime fiction and horror with unique social and cultural voices—themes which still hold a special place in her heart,” according to a biographical note on her Web site. It adds: “She was named a Publishers Weekly Rising Star honoree in 2020, and was the former editor in chief of RT Book Reviews magazine, and is a (recovering) lawyer, and professor at the LIU Brooklyn Polk School of Communication MFA in Writing and Publishing.” Osman co-wrote graphic novels, penned non-fiction writing guides, “and served as the editor of multiple anthologies, including the acclaimed Jewish Noir, Volume 2 from PM Press.” She even found time to be a creative consultant for a reimagined Dick Tracy comic.

Any of us would be lucky to receive the outpouring of appreciation being given to Osman right now. One of the most poignant remembrances comes from librarian turned reviewer and blogger Lesa Hostine, who explains that Osman became “one of my best friends in Phoenix after my husband died in 2010.” She admits, however, that during that time, “I don’t know that I ever knew her. I never knew her age or what she did since she wasn’t practicing law. She spoke several languages, traveled the world, said she was teaching writing workshops. I said she was a spy. Once, I even met her at a museum wearing a trench coat, a fedora, and sunglasses. Our times together were filled with laughter, conversation, and joy.”

I can’t claim to have known Chantelle Aimée Osman well. My memory is that we met only twice. The first occasion was at the 2011 Bouchercon in St. Louis, when The Rap Sheet and her then-active crime-fiction blog, The Sirens of Suspense, were vying for the Anthony Award for Best Web Site/Blog. (We both lost.) My only other opportunity to spend time with her came during the 2016 Bouchercon in New Orleans, when we suddenly found ourselves in a corner together at some publisher’s elbow-to-elbow cocktail party. She impressed me as kind, thoughtful, and rather quiet, with a quick smile in a beautiful face and an unexpected modesty—somebody I could have enjoyed being around longer. But it was a busy convention, there were so many other people to see, and I never again connected with her. Reading all of today’s tributes to Chantelle, I realize that was my loss.

READ MORE: “To Chantelle,” by Rob Hart.