David Stout
Encyclopedia
David Stout is a journalist and author of mystery
novels, two of which have been turned into TV movies, and of non-fiction about violent crime. For his first novel, Carolina Skeletons, he won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel.
in 1964, and a master's in English literature from Buffalo State College
in 1970. His early work as journalist was for The Erie Daily Times, The Buffalo Evening News, and The Record of Hackensack in northern New Jersey
.
In 1982, Stout changed to the New York Times where he continued to work both as reporter and editor
. In 1997 he moved to their Washington
office and became a night rewrite man
, i.e. working mainly in the office and turning information and texts received from others into articles. After 2000, Stout worked mainly for the paper's website, again including work as rewrite man. Throughout his career, Stouts responsibilities had also covered sports and domestic news. After 27.5 years with the New York Times, editor Stout took advantage of a buy-out offer in 2009 and left the newspaper. He stated he was "leaving with very warm feelings for the [New York Times]." By February 2010, the New York Times online archive listed 1425 articles by Stout.
, for which the 14-year old African-American boy George Stinney
was later charged and executed on the electric chair
, becoming the youngest child ever killed through capital punishment in the United States. Stout used the controversies surrounding Stinney's guilt and trial for a mystery story. A little less than the first half of the book is based on the facts although changing the name from George Stinney to Linius Bragg. The remainder of the book is fictional and tells the story how a nephew of the convicted unravels the truth some 40 years later. The book tells about still prevailing racial prejudice in the South, but also about Southerners—including police officers—honestly trying to uncover the truth. The New York Times, one of whose editor
s Stout was at the time of the book's publication, described the "ending of Carolina Skeletons" as "somewhat pat," but praised the novel generally as "sensitive, well-written" and "full of compassion and understanding. It is a plea for people of different ethnic and social backgrounds to understand one another and come together. The theme is sorrow and pity, not vengeance."
The novel was turned into the 1991 made-for-TV movie Carolina Skeletons (alternative title: The End of Silence), directed by John Erman
and starring Louis Gossett Jr. The movie made some changes to the book's plot, e.g., turning Gossett's character, who returns to his hometown to find out the truth about the crime, into the brother instead of the nephew of the executed boy. The boy himself was portrayed by Kenn Michael, who was nominated for a Young Artist Award
for Best Young Actor in a Television Movie for the role in 1993.
Stout's next novel was Night of the Ice Storm (1991), a fictional whodunit
about a journalist solving a murder, which had remained unsolved for some 20 years. New York Times critic Marilyn Stasio called the novel "coolly terrifying" and the plot "killingly suspenseful." She compared the novel to Carolina Skeletons in the way Stout "expertly works the genre format on more than one level," reaching "into the psychology of grown-up children tortured by unresolved love-hate relationships" and developing the story into a thriller which is "even more haunting as a fathers-and-sons drama." Moreover, finds Stasio, the story can also be read as a "regional novel" about the fictional upstate New York
town of Bessemer with its wealthy steel-and-coal past, which has now become "a symbol of stagnation for those who must decide whether to stay or leave."
In 1993, The Dog Hermit
followed: Set again against a (Thanksgiving) winter storm in a fictitious upstate New York community that had once seen better times, and starring again a journalist becoming interested in a crime, the plot evolves this time around a kidnapping case, whose young victim is abandoned to die in the forests around the rural place of Long Creek. New York Times critic Stasio praised Stout's "clean and direct [writing] style," with which he conjured "the vivid scenes of suspense he's after." Stasio also highlighted that the story offered again more than "only" a mystery plot: "Less showy, but just as sturdy, are [Stout's] sensitive observations on the absent fathers, lost children and forsaken values that go with the territory of bleak towns like Long Creek."
The novel The Dog Hermit was turned into a 1995 TV movie under the title A Child Is Missing. Directed by the TV movie and series director John Power, the cast included Henry Winkler
, Roma Downey
, and Dale Midkiff
.
and the Angel Lounge Killings (2003) about the murder of two police men in New Jersey
. (The phrase Night of the Devil had already been linked to the crime in 1981, when it was used as title for a documentary about the Trantino case.) Trantino was sentenced to death for the killings, but never executed due to the 1972 suspension of capital punishment in the United States. Trantino became a "model prisoner," but his release on parole was delayed due to pressure of police, politicians, and people close to the victims. New York Times critic Charles Salzberg praised the book for not "taking sides or moralizing about the death penalty," but instead providing an "evenhanded, well-researched account of the legal machinations that kept Trantino a prisoner, as well as a fair and sympathetic portrait of the families of the victims, who still suffer the effects of that night at the [crime scene]."
Stout's latest publication, The Boy in the Box: The Unsolved Case of America's Unknown Child (2008), is again a non-fiction book. It tells the story of the unsolved death of America's Unknown Child, a young, unidentified boy found in Philadelphia on February 25, 1957. Stout had already published a New York Times article about the crime at the beginning of 2007, the year of the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the boy's body.
Mystery fiction
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
novels, two of which have been turned into TV movies, and of non-fiction about violent crime. For his first novel, Carolina Skeletons, he won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel.
Biography and career as journalist
Stout obtained a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Notre DameUniversity of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
in 1964, and a master's in English literature from Buffalo State College
Buffalo State College
The State University of New York College at Buffalo, referred to as Buffalo State College, often referred to colloquially as Buff State, is a public, liberal arts college in Buffalo, New York, United States and is part of the State University of New York. Buffalo State was founded in 1871 as the...
in 1970. His early work as journalist was for The Erie Daily Times, The Buffalo Evening News, and The Record of Hackensack in northern New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
.
In 1982, Stout changed to the New York Times where he continued to work both as reporter and editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
. In 1997 he moved to their Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
office and became a night rewrite man
Rewrite man
The rewrite man is a newspaper reporter who works in the office, not on the street, taking information reported by others and crafting it into stories. It is rarely used as an actual title. The term rewrite man is something of a misnomer. Some are women, of course. Rewrite men do not just...
, i.e. working mainly in the office and turning information and texts received from others into articles. After 2000, Stout worked mainly for the paper's website, again including work as rewrite man. Throughout his career, Stouts responsibilities had also covered sports and domestic news. After 27.5 years with the New York Times, editor Stout took advantage of a buy-out offer in 2009 and left the newspaper. He stated he was "leaving with very warm feelings for the [New York Times]." By February 2010, the New York Times online archive listed 1425 articles by Stout.
Career as author
Since the late 1980s, Stout has published four books about fictional and non-fictional violent crime cases. In 2003, a short note in a New York Times article about one of Stout's books described Stout's perspective on "violent crime [to be] unsentimental" and suggested that his approach may be shaped by "his own motives and his own demons from the strangling murder of an aunt.1988-1993: Novels
For his first novel Carolina Skeletons, published in 1988, Stout received the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel. The book is based on the true story of the 1944 murder of two girls in South CarolinaSouth Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, for which the 14-year old African-American boy George Stinney
George Stinney
George Junius Stinney Jr. was, at age 14, the youngest person executed in the United States in the 20th century.The question of Stinney's guilt and the judicial process leading to his execution remain controversial....
was later charged and executed on the electric chair
Electric chair
Execution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...
, becoming the youngest child ever killed through capital punishment in the United States. Stout used the controversies surrounding Stinney's guilt and trial for a mystery story. A little less than the first half of the book is based on the facts although changing the name from George Stinney to Linius Bragg. The remainder of the book is fictional and tells the story how a nephew of the convicted unravels the truth some 40 years later. The book tells about still prevailing racial prejudice in the South, but also about Southerners—including police officers—honestly trying to uncover the truth. The New York Times, one of whose editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
s Stout was at the time of the book's publication, described the "ending of Carolina Skeletons" as "somewhat pat," but praised the novel generally as "sensitive, well-written" and "full of compassion and understanding. It is a plea for people of different ethnic and social backgrounds to understand one another and come together. The theme is sorrow and pity, not vengeance."
The novel was turned into the 1991 made-for-TV movie Carolina Skeletons (alternative title: The End of Silence), directed by John Erman
John Erman
John Erman is an American television and film director, actor and producer.Born in Chicago, Illinois, Erman spent the early years of his career, after a few small roles in films such as The Cosmic Man , directing episodes of such primetime series as Peyton Place, The Fugitive, The Outer Limits,...
and starring Louis Gossett Jr. The movie made some changes to the book's plot, e.g., turning Gossett's character, who returns to his hometown to find out the truth about the crime, into the brother instead of the nephew of the executed boy. The boy himself was portrayed by Kenn Michael, who was nominated for a Young Artist Award
Young Artist Award
The Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist...
for Best Young Actor in a Television Movie for the role in 1993.
Stout's next novel was Night of the Ice Storm (1991), a fictional whodunit
Whodunit
A whodunit or whodunnit is a complex, plot-driven variety of the detective story in which the puzzle is the main feature of interest. The reader or viewer is provided with clues from which the identity of the perpetrator of the crime may be deduced before the solution is revealed in the final...
about a journalist solving a murder, which had remained unsolved for some 20 years. New York Times critic Marilyn Stasio called the novel "coolly terrifying" and the plot "killingly suspenseful." She compared the novel to Carolina Skeletons in the way Stout "expertly works the genre format on more than one level," reaching "into the psychology of grown-up children tortured by unresolved love-hate relationships" and developing the story into a thriller which is "even more haunting as a fathers-and-sons drama." Moreover, finds Stasio, the story can also be read as a "regional novel" about the fictional upstate New York
Upstate New York
Upstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York...
town of Bessemer with its wealthy steel-and-coal past, which has now become "a symbol of stagnation for those who must decide whether to stay or leave."
In 1993, The Dog Hermit
Hermit
A hermit is a person who lives, to some degree, in seclusion from society.In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Christian who lives the eremitic life out of a religious conviction, namely the Desert Theology of the Old Testament .In the...
followed: Set again against a (Thanksgiving) winter storm in a fictitious upstate New York community that had once seen better times, and starring again a journalist becoming interested in a crime, the plot evolves this time around a kidnapping case, whose young victim is abandoned to die in the forests around the rural place of Long Creek. New York Times critic Stasio praised Stout's "clean and direct [writing] style," with which he conjured "the vivid scenes of suspense he's after." Stasio also highlighted that the story offered again more than "only" a mystery plot: "Less showy, but just as sturdy, are [Stout's] sensitive observations on the absent fathers, lost children and forsaken values that go with the territory of bleak towns like Long Creek."
The novel The Dog Hermit was turned into a 1995 TV movie under the title A Child Is Missing. Directed by the TV movie and series director John Power, the cast included Henry Winkler
Henry Winkler
Henry Franklin Winkler, OBE is an American actor, director, producer, and author.Winkler is best known for his role as Fonzie on the 1970s American sitcom Happy Days...
, Roma Downey
Roma Downey
Roma Downey is an actress, singer, and producer, from Derry, Northern Ireland. She is best known as Tess's angel/employee, Monica, the main character of the TV series Touched by an Angel. She is also the wife of television producer, Mark Burnett.-Early life:Downey was born and raised in Derry...
, and Dale Midkiff
Dale Midkiff
Dale Alan Midkiff is an American actor.-Early life:Midkiff was born in Chance, Maryland, the son of Joyce and Thomas Midkiff. He attended Edgewood High School near Baltimore. His first acting experience came playing Jack in a production of Jack and the Beanstalk for a local children's theater. His...
.
Since 2003: Non-fiction
A few years later, Stout turned to writing non-fiction books and published Night of the Devil: The Untold Story of Thomas TrantinoThomas Trantino
Thomas Trantino is an American convicted murderer who was sentenced to life in prison for the execution style shooting deaths in 1963 of two police officers in Lodi, New Jersey. He was sentenced to death by electrocution, which was commuted to life in prison after the death penalty was abolished...
and the Angel Lounge Killings (2003) about the murder of two police men in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. (The phrase Night of the Devil had already been linked to the crime in 1981, when it was used as title for a documentary about the Trantino case.) Trantino was sentenced to death for the killings, but never executed due to the 1972 suspension of capital punishment in the United States. Trantino became a "model prisoner," but his release on parole was delayed due to pressure of police, politicians, and people close to the victims. New York Times critic Charles Salzberg praised the book for not "taking sides or moralizing about the death penalty," but instead providing an "evenhanded, well-researched account of the legal machinations that kept Trantino a prisoner, as well as a fair and sympathetic portrait of the families of the victims, who still suffer the effects of that night at the [crime scene]."
Stout's latest publication, The Boy in the Box: The Unsolved Case of America's Unknown Child (2008), is again a non-fiction book. It tells the story of the unsolved death of America's Unknown Child, a young, unidentified boy found in Philadelphia on February 25, 1957. Stout had already published a New York Times article about the crime at the beginning of 2007, the year of the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the boy's body.
Overview of Stout's books
- Carolina Skeletons (1988) – novel, based on a true story
- Night of the Ice Storm (1991) – novel
- The Dog Hermit (1993) – novel
- Night of the Devil: The Untold Story of Thomas Trantino and the Angel Lounge Killings (2003) – non-fiction
- The Boy in the Box: The Unsolved Case of America's Unknown Child (2008) – non-fiction
External links
- David Stout about his work as rewrite man at the New York Times' Continuous News Desk (5-page article incl. a picture of David Stout)
- or: (print version of the same article: all on one page, without the picture) (crediting Stout as author of his two novels that were turned into TV movies)