Flynn’s Rapp latest character to outlive creator

The Associated Press

Author Vince Flynn’s counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp is not the only literary character to have new adventures after his creator’s death. Others include:

— James Bond. Novelist Ian Fleming, who died in 1964, wrote 14 books and short story collections featuring his iconic, debonair British superspy. Other writers, including Kingsley Amis, John Gardner, Raymond Benson, Jeffery Deaver and William Boyd, have written new Bond adventures, some modern-day and some set in the 1960s. The latest, Boyd’s “Solo,” the 38th Bond book, was published in 2013 to commemorate the series’ 60th anniversary.

— Scarlett O’Hara. The estate of Margaret Mitchell has authorized two sequels to “Gone With the Wind” — Alexandra Ripley’s “Scarlett” (1991) and Donald McCaig’s “Rhett Butler’s People” (2007). Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books (also Flynn’s publisher) plans a prequel, McCaig’s “Ruth’s Journey,” this fall that gives the back story of Mammy, O’Hara’s devoted house slave.

— Spenser. The estate of crime writer Robert B. Parker, who died in 2010, has authorized at least three novels by Ace Atkins that continue Parker’s series about the Boston private investigator.

— Jason Bourne. Thriller writer Robert Ludlum penned three novels featuring the globe-trotting adventurer. After Ludlum’s death in 2001, author Eric Van Lustbader wrote nine sequels; the latest, “The Bourne Ascendency,” was published this year. (Flynn’s new ghostwriter, Kyle Mills, has written three novels under Ludlum’s name.)

— Hercule Poirot. Agatha Christie’s estate has licensed a new mystery about her famous Belgian detective. “The Monogram Murders,” by British crime fiction author Sophie Hannah, is to be published in September.

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Associated Press writer Hillel Italie contributed from New York.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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