If you can make the memorial service, do so. If you can’t, buy a book from David Thompson’s store — we just lost the most passionate bookseller in the business, and one of the finest people I’ve ever known.
It’s impossible to overstate the sense of loss that David Thompson’s far-too-early passing brings to the many who knew him. I remember our meeting — at Alafair Burke’s apartment following the Edgars, when my first book was out and I was a stranger to all and David, as was his way, made it a point to try and make me feel as if among old friends. Amazing how swiftly he could do that. By the next time I saw him, he truly felt like an old and dear friend, and he always will. I’m thinking now of each visit to the store, of each meal shared and each book recommended and each deeply appreciated encouragement, and I’m overwhelmed by just how wonderful those memories are and thus how profound the sadness. David was about passion: for McKenna, for books, writers, friends, customers, dogs and all others who came his way. No one was more generous, more encouraging, and more sincere. My stops in Houston were, and will be, treasured moments because of the time spent with David and McKenna, all of the meals and drinks and laughs. His legacies are many and they are powerful and they are scripted in sincerity and generosity and compassion, truly rare levels of all the best qualities in a man.