Gary Gottesfeld, 61; Writer of Mystery and Thriller Novels

Gary Gottesfeld, 61, author of psychological thrillers and former president of the Southern California Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America, died Friday at UCLA Medical Center of pancreatic cancer.

Gottesfeld’s first book was “The Violet Closet,” a paperback thriller which proved popular enough to require a second printing. He followed that with such mysteries as “White Angel” and “Blood Harvest.”

A native of New York City, Gottesfeld graduated from New York University. In addition to his own writing, he spent much of his career encouraging beginning writers, regularly conducting workshops in writing psychological mystery novels.