Stern, Richard Martin, 1915-2001

found: Wikipedia. October 12, 2015(Richard Martin Stern; American novelist; born March 17, 1915 in Fresno, California; died October 31, 2001 in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Stern began his writing career in the 1950s with mystery tales of private investigators, winning a 1959 Edgar Award for Best First Novel, for The Bright Road to Fear; he was most notable for his 1973 novel The Tower, in which a fire engulfs a new metal-and-glass frame skyrise; Stern was inspired to write the novel by the construction of the World Trade Center in New York City; Warner Brothers bought the rights to the novel shortly after its publication for roughly $400,000, and Stern's book eventually became the movie The Towering Inferno; Stern was known for his "brainy, digressive" novels, mainly mysteries and disaster-related suspense)