Stout, David 1942–

PERSONAL: Born May 13, 1942, in Erie, PA; son of David J. and Catherine (Yaple) Stout; married Ruth Furie (a writer). Education: University of Notre Dame, graduated 1964; State University of New York at Buffalo, M.A., 1970.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Camino Books, Inc., P.O. Box 59026, Philadelphia, PA 19102.

CAREER: Record, Hackensack, NJ, reporter; New York Times, New York, NY, reporter.

AWARDS, HONORS: Edgar Allan Poe Award for best first novel, Mystery Writers of America, 1989, for Carolina Skeletons.

WRITINGS:

Night of the Devil: The Untold Story of Thomas Trantino and the Angel Lounge Killings, Camino Books (Philadelphia, PA), 2003.

NOVELS

Carolina Skeletons, Mysterious Press, 1988.

(With wife, Ruth Furie) Hell Gate, Mysterious Press (New York, NY), 1990.

Night of the Ice Storm, Mysterious Press (New York, NY), 1991.

The Dog Hermit, Mysterious Press (New York, NY), 1993.

SIDELIGHTS: Journalist David Stout is the author of a number of crime novels, the first of which, Carolina Skeletons, was awarded an Edgar. The second, written with his wife, Ruth Furie, is Hell Gate, about a husband and wife in the midst of a breakup. They have sold their racing sloop and are delivering it to its new owner when killers board the boat seeking contraband that has been hidden there without the couple's knowledge. Publishers Weekly reviewer Sybil Steinberg wrote that "Stout deftly mixed terror, fun and sadness."

Steinberg also reviewed Stout's Night of the Ice Storm, calling it a "well-wrought, suspenseful tale." The story takes place in upstate New York where, during the ice storm of the title, a Catholic priest is murdered. When a reporter's tapes documenting the crime are found at a party two decades later, they provide clues that may reveal the killer.

The Dog Hermit is also set in wintry upstate New York. Newspaper editor Will Schafer is attempting to unravel clues to the death of a reporter covering the abduction of a young boy. A ransom has been paid, but the boy has not been returned. Meanwhile, a hermit who lives in the woods with his dog hears the voice of a child. A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that "Stout's forte is gentle understatement and the ability to merge site and characters in seamless scenes of quiet terror."

For Stout's first nonfiction book, Night of the Devil: The Untold Story of Thomas Trantino and the Angel Lounge Killings, he interviewed one of two men convicted of a 1963 crime. Frank Falco and Thomas Trantino were celebrating a successful home burglary at the Lodi, New Jersey lounge when they pistol whipped and killed two officers who were responding to complaints of noise by neighbors. Falco was shot by New York City police two days later; Trantino received the death penalty but was spared when capitol punishment was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1972. Eligible for parole in 1979, he was incarcerated until 2002. New York Times Book Review contributor Charles Salzberg wrote that Stout "offers an even-handed, well-researched account of the legal machinations that kept Trantino a prisoner, as well as a fair and sympathetic portrait of the families of the victims."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, February 1, 2003, Sarah Jent, review of Night of the Devil: The Untold Story of Thomas Trantino and the Angel Lounge Killings, p. 104.

New Jersey Monthly, June, 2003, Teresa Politano, review of Night of the Devil, p. 22.

Publishers Weekly, June 15, 1990, Sybil Steinberg, review of Hell Gate, p. 58; March 8, 1991, Sybil Steinberg, review of Night of the Ice Storm, p. 69; April 12, 1993, review of The Dog Hermit, p. 49.

New York Times Book Review, May 11, 2003, Charles Salzberg, review of Night of the Devil, p. 20.