Howard Engel
Howard Engel (1931-2019) was a Canadian author and broadcaster known for his significant contributions to the mystery genre, particularly through the creation of the character Benny Cooperman, a Jewish detective in a small Ontario town. Born in St. Catharines, Ontario, Engel graduated from McMaster University and initially taught before embarking on a career with the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC), where he produced literary and dramatic programs. His first novel, *The Suicide Murders*, published in 1980, received acclaim and established Cooperman, who stands apart from traditional hard-boiled detectives with his personal quirks and family values. Engel continued to write prolifically, producing additional Cooperman novels, as well as nonfiction and plays.
In 2000, Engel faced a personal challenge when he suffered a stroke that left him unable to read, yet he maintained his ability to write. He depicted this experience in his memoir, *The Man Who Forgot How to Read*, and continued to publish works, including *Memory Book*, which mirrored his own neurological struggles. Engel received numerous accolades throughout his career, including the Arthur Ellis Best Novel Award and the Order of Canada, and he was recognized for his pioneering role in Canadian crime fiction. Engel passed away in Toronto at the age of 88, leaving behind a legacy celebrated in the literary community.
On this Page
Howard Engel
- Born: April 2, 1931
- Birthplace: St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
- Died: July 16, 2019
- Place of death: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Biography
Howard Engel was born on April 2, 1931, in St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada, a small town near Niagara Falls. He attended McMaster University and graduated with a BA and a teaching certificate in 1955. He also earned a secondary teaching certificate in 1956. He briefly taught English and history in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, before pursuing a career with the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC). While at the CBC, he broadcast programs from Europe and later produced literary and dramatic programs.
In 1980, Engel wrote and published his book The Suicide Murders. This novel was popular with both readers and critics and was reviewed by The New York Times Book Review and The Washington Post Book World. Most notably, it was in this book that Engel introduced Benny Cooperman, a Jewish detective who makes his home in a small town in Canada called Grantham, based on Engel’s hometown of St. Catherines. Engel deliberately made Cooperman very different from the traditional hard-boiled detectives created by Dashiell Hammett and other writers. Cooperman, for example, loves egg salad sandwiches and dinners with his family. In addition, the small Ontario town is much different from the big city settings of many other detective novels.
Engel followed up his first novel with three more books in the Cooperman series, The Ransom Game, Murder on Location, and Murder Sees the Light. After these books were published, Engel resigned from the CBC in 1985 to become a full-time writer. A prolific writer, Engel continued to publish numerous mysteries and wrote and produced a number of award- winning radio and television plays. In 1996, he published his first nonfiction book, Lord High Executioner: An Unashamed Look at Hangmen, Headsmen, and Their Kind.
In 2000, Engel awoke one morning and realized he could no longer read. Oddly, he was still able to write, a rare condition called alexia without agraphia. He reasoned that he must have suffered a stroke, a conclusion soon confirmed by doctors. This was a difficult diagnosis for a writer; however, Engel worked hard at his rehabilitation and eventually published his eleventh Cooperman novel, Memory Book, in 2005. In this novel, Cooperman has had a blow to the head and suffers neurological damage similar to Engel’s condition. While he was in rehabilitation, Engel met Oliver Sacks, the neurologist-writer of Awakenings (1973), The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (1987), and other books. Sacks wrote the afterword for Memory Book. Three years after Memory Book, he published a new installment of the Cooperman series, East of Suez (2008). In the meantime, he also published a memoir in which he details his experiences after suffering the stroke and struggling with his inability to read as well as memory failings, titled The Man Who Forgot How to Read (2007). Cormorant Books published the historical fiction novel City of Fallen Angels in 2014 and the Cooperman novel Over the River in 2015.
Engel died of pneumonia in Toronto on July 16, 2019, at the age of eighty-eight.
A well-respected writer, Engel received many honors for his work. Among his awards were the 1985 Arthur Ellis Best Novel Award for Murder Sees the Light; the 1998 Derrick Murdoch Award, which he shared with Eric Wright; and the 1990 Harbourfront Festival Prize for Canadian Literature. In addition to earning the 2004 Matt Cohen Award, he received the inaugural Grant Allen Award in 2004 for pioneering work in Canadian crime fiction. After being named to the Order of Canada in 2007, he was given the Grand Master Award by the Crime Writers of Canada in 2014. He also held an honorary doctorate from the University of St. Catherines.
Bibliography
Dundas, Deborah. "Fellow Authors Remember Howard Engel as the Maker of the Crime Scene." Toronto Star, 24 July 2019, www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2019/07/24/fellow-authors-remember-howard-engel-as-the-maker-of-the-crime-scene.html. Accessed 29 July 2020.
Fraiman, Michael. "Acclaimed Mystery Author Howard Engel Dies at 88." The Canadian Jewish News, 18 July 2019, www.cjnews.com/culture/books-and-authors/acclaimed-mystery-author-howard-engel-dies-at-88. Accessed 29 July 2020.
Levin, Martin. "Pioneering Canadian Mystery Writer Howard Engel Lost the Ability to Read, but Didn't Let That Stop Him." The Globe and Mail, www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books/article-pioneering-canadian-mystery-writer-howard-engel-lost-the-ability-to/. Accessed 29 July 2020.
Van Koeverden, Jane. "Howard Engel, Author of the Benny Cooperman Detective Series, Dead at 88." CBC News, 16 July 2019, www.cbc.ca/books/howard-engel-author-of-the-benny-cooperman-detective-series-dead-at-88-1.5213803. Accessed 29 July 2020.