George C. Chesbro was the author of 28 books, including the
renowned Mongo mystery series. His first novel, King's Gambit, was
published in 1976, and his most recent book, Strange Prey and Other Tales of the Hunt,
was published in December 2004.
Dr. Robert Frederickson, also known as Mongo the Magnificent,
is a criminologist, ex-circus headliner, martial-arts expert, and private
eye, who also happens to be a dwarf. The Mongo series is a blend of
mystery, suspense, science fiction, and the supernatural.
In addition to the Mongo novels, Chesbro wrote several novels
featuring other characters from the Mongo universe, as well as a few
standalone novels, including Bone and 2000's The Keeper.
George Chesbro died on November 18, 2008, at the age of 68.
Updated August 27, 2010
2010-08-27 — The Beasts of Valhalla promotional materials
I recently acquired a promotional copy of The Beasts of Valhalla which included
an author photo of George Chesbro and the promotion flyer. Scans of both have
been added to the Book Cover
Gallery.
2009-08-16 — Unholy Orders reprint
I just discovered today that MJF Books (Barnes & Noble) reissued
the anthology Unholy Orders in November 2008. I found a copy at my
local B&N today for $7.98. The book includes George Chesbro's short story
"Model Town."
2009-07-30 — Another tribute article
I just found that the online magazine Mysterical-E included an
article about George in their 2008 "In Memoriam" article. The piece
on George is about 1/3 of the way down the page.
In the "no surprise" department, the planned Mongo movie with
Peter Dinklage appears to be really and truly dead now.
2009-04-07 — George's last story is in stores now!
George Chesbro's last short story, "Home Inversion," is in stores
now in the June 2009 issue of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.
It's a great story featuring Garth Frederickson.
Chesbro fan Jon Jordan has written a very nice tribute to George Chesbro in
the latest issue of Crimespree
magazine (issue 28, Jan/Feb 2009). The folks at Crimespree have made
Jon's tribute available as
a PDF download.
George Chesbro's last short story, "Home Inversion," will be
published in the June 2009 issue of
Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery
Magazine,
which should be in stores in April 2009. The story will arrive 40 years after
that same magazine published George's first short story,
"Snake in the Tower,"
in March 1969.
Long ago, we had an audio greeting from George that played when visitors
reached this site. Earlier today, I dug up the audio file so that
you can listen to George's audio greeting.
I am very sad to report that George Chesbro died this morning after an
illness.
Like all of you, I am a huge fan of George's work. My friendship with
him began in 1999 when I sent him a letter describing the fan website
that I had created for his work. He liked what I'd done, and over the
next couple of months, the fan site was transformed into Dangerous
Dwarf, the official George C. Chesbro website.
I've very much enjoyed my friendship with George and Robin over the years, and
I will miss being able to correspond with him.
I'm sure Mongo and Garth will miss him, too.
Hunter
Webmaster for DangerousDwarf.com
NEW BALTIMORE - George Clark Chesbro, 68, of New Baltimore, died
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at St. Peter's Hospital.
Born in Washington, D.C. on June 4, 1940, he was the son of the late
George W. and Maxine (Sharpe) Chesbro. An author of over 25 novels and
nearly 100 short stories, George was a recipient of an Ellery Queen
Award and had served as president of the Mystery Writers Association of
America. Earlier in his career, George had worked as a special
education teacher at Pearl River and at the Rockland Psychiatric Center
where he worked with emotionally troubled teens.
Survivors include his wife, Robin N. Chesbro; a son, Mark Chesbro;, a
daughter Michelle Chesbro; two stepdaughters, Rachael and Leah Gass; a
sister, Judith (Richard) Ragone and many nieces, nephews, great-nieces
and great-nephews.
Services are private at the convenience of the family.
In lieu of flowers, those who wish may send a remembrance in his name
to the Mohawk and Hudson River Humane Society, 3 Oakland Ave., Menands,
NY 12204.
10/21/08
New fiction! George Chesbro has sold a new short story, "Home
Inversion," to Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. We don't know
when it will appear, but as soon as I find out, I'll post it here!
The screenplay for the planned movie adaptation of An Affair of Sorcerers was
written by George C. Chesbro! Here's hoping it all pans out....
08/05/07
The Dangerous Dwarf website has been relocated to a new system at a new
datacenter. A new, more modern Discussion Forum
has been created, as well. Please feel free to join and post in the forums!
06/20/07
I've created a MySpace page for George Chesbro. If you're on MySpace,
please feel free to add George Chesbro as your "friend"!
The news continues! French director/producer Fred Garson
has acquired the movie rights to George Chesbro's 1990 novel
Bone. I'll pass on any additional news as
soon as I have it.
Good news and bad news today. The good news is that there's a new Mongo
novel! The title is Lord of Ice and Loneliness.
The bad news is that there is no U.S. publisher for the novel yet.
However, a French translation of the book will be published in France by
Rivages in June 2006. The French title is Le Seigneur des Glaces et de la Solitude, and
it can be ordered from Alapage.com, a French online bookseller. The ISBN number is
2-7436-1532-X.
It is not known at this time if or when a U.S. edition will be published. My
fingers are crossed....
04/16/06
No recent news yet about the upcoming movie. Soon, I hope....
A Chesbro Book Cover Gallery has been
added to the site. It contains scans of covers of various Chesbro editions from
around the world.
A Chesbro Author Photo Gallery has been added to
the site. It features author photos of George Chesbro from his books.
George Chesbro's 1991 short story "Priests" is being reprinted in a
new anthology, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine Presents Fifty Years of Crime and Suspense.
The anthology is edited by Linda Landrigan and will be published by Pegasus
Books in June 2006.
Thanks to George C. Chesbro, Roger Eakes, Mari Hall, Bill
Berry, Joan Scott, Becky Gilliam, and Greykell Dutton for various
help in putting this site together!
