Thomas Chastain

{{short description|American novelist}} {{Citation style|date=September 2009}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2025}} {{Infobox writer | embed = | honorific_prefix = | name = Thomas Chastain | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | pseudonym = Nick Carter; Thomas Chastain, Jr. | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1921|1|17}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|1994|9|1|1921|1|17}} | death_place = Manhattan, New York City | resting_place = | occupation = | language = | nationality = | citizenship = USA | education = | alma_mater = | period = | genre = Crime fiction | subject =  | movement = | notable_works = Who Killed the Robins Family? | spouse =  | partner =  | children = | relatives = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | years_active = | module = | portaldisp =  }}

'''Thomas Chastain''' (January 17, 1921 – September 1, 1994) was an American author of crime fiction. He is best known for his bestseller ''Who Killed the Robins Family? And Where and When and Why and How Did They Die?'' as well as the sequel to that work.<ref name=nyt/> He served as the president of Mystery Writers of America in 1989. He was also known as Nick Carter and Thomas Chastain Jr.

==Career== Chastain was born in Canada but grew up in the south of the United States. He attended Johns Hopkins University and worked in Baltimore, Maryland, and New York City writing copy for newspapers, magazines and advertising.<ref name=nyt/>

Chastain has worked as an author of crime fiction and mystery since his first work, ''Judgment Day'', was published in 1962. He became a novelist full-time in 1974.<ref name=nyt/> Before the success of those novels, Chastain wrote a series of crime novels featuring Max Kauffman the Deputy Chief Inspector for New York City.

His most well known work, ''Who Killed the Robins Family? And Where and When and Why and How Did They Die?'' (1983),<ref name=nyt/> was a mystery novel about the murder of a wealthy cosmetics firm owning family, in which the solution to the mystery was not revealed. Readers were to guess who had committed the crimes and submit their guesses to the publisher. The first reader to guess correctly received a cash prize. Four married couples from Denver answered 39 of the 40 questions in the book correctly and won the $10,000 prize.<ref name=nyt/> The book sold over 1 million copies and was top of the ''New York Times'' best-seller in January 1984.<ref name=nyt/> A sequel entitled ''The Revenge of the Robins Family'' (1984) was released; while not as successful it also sold well.<ref name=nyt/>

He served as the president of Mystery Writers of America in 1989.<ref name=nyt/> Chastain authored several other novels including ''Pandora's Box'' (1974), ''Where the Truth Lies'' (1988) with Helen Hayes and ''The Prosecutor'' (1992).<ref name=nyt/> Over the course of his career he also worked as a newspaper reporter and editor. He co-wrote (with Sam Simon) the story of ''The Simpsons'' episode "Black Widower".<ref name="Reiss">{{cite video |people=Reiss, Mike |date=2003 |title=The Simpsons season 3 DVD commentary for the episode "Black Widower" |medium=DVD |publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref>

Chastain died September 1, 1994, aged 73, from lung cancer at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan.<ref name=nyt>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/02/obituaries/thomas-chastain-73-author-of-best-selling-mystery-novels.html |title=Thomas Chastain, 73, Author Of Best-Selling Mystery Novels |work=New York Times |author=Pace, Eric |date=September 2, 1994}}</ref> He was married to Louise until his death and had a brother and a sister.<ref name=nyt/>

==Selected bibliography== *''Judgment Day'' (1962) *''Death Walk'' (1971) *''Assassination Brigade'' (under the pseudonym Nick Carter) (1974) *''Pandora's Box'' (1974) *''911'' (1976) *''Vital Statistics'' (1977) *''High Voltage'' (1979) *''The Diamond Exchange'' (1981) *''Nightscape'' (1982) *''Who Killed the Robins Family? And Where and When and Why and How Did They Die?'' (1983) *''Where The Truth Lies'' (1988) *''Perry Mason in the Case of Too Many Murders'' (1989) *''Perry Mason in the Case of the Burning Bequest'' (1990) *''The Prosecutor'' (1992)

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Sources== *''Contemporary Authors Online'', Gale, 2009. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC *"Thomas Chastain." St. James Guide to Crime & Mystery Writers, 4th ed. St. James Press, 1996. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC

==External links== *{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822181414/http://www.chastaincentral.com/content/thomasc.html |title=The official Thomas Chastain website|date=mdy}} *{{IMDb name|0153951|Thomas Chastain}} *[http://www.classiccrimefiction.com/thomas-chastain.htm Thomas Chastain bibliography] at Classic Crime Fiction

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chastain, Thomas}} Category:1921 births Category:1994 deaths Category:20th-century American novelists Category:American crime fiction writers Category:American male novelists Category:Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state) Category:20th-century American male writers