Obituaries : Charles Willeford; Wrote Hoke Moseley Novels

MIAMI â€”  Novelist Charles Willeford, known for his works featuring the colorful Miami homicide detective Hoke Moseley, died of a heart attack Sunday. He was 69.

Willeford had spent decades writing everything from paperback fiction to poetry to an autobiographical account of war.

“I was taken with his dark humor. I almost had a guilty enjoyment of it,� said Jared Kieling, a senior editor of St. Martin’s Press, publisher of the first three Moseley books. “There was an outrageousness that stood out from the commonplace books in the category.�

Willeford’s most recent book, “The Way We Die Now,� was published this month by Random House. He wrote 13 novels before the Moseley series, which also included “Miami Blues,� “New Hope for the Dead� and “Sideswipe.�

Willeford recently began attracting national recognition.

“The shame of it is that this was shaping up to be the year of Charles Willeford,� said Mitch Kaplan, owner of Books & Books in Coral Gables, Fla. “A week ago, some collectors came in the store looking to buy anything they could get from him.�

In his novels, Willeford described details of south Florida life, from the effect of chinch bugs on a lawn to cockfighting.

“Miami Blues,� “New Hope for the Dead� and “Sideswipe� were published between 1984 and 1987.

Willeford, a high school dropout, served in the Army during World War II. He began teaching in 1964 as a humanities instructor at the University of Miami.