Eric Jerome Dickey, Bestselling Author Whose Novels Focused on Black Life, Dies at 59

Writer Eric Jerome Dickey poses at the 12th Annual L.A. Times Festival of Books on the U.C.L.A. campus in 2007 in Los Angeles. Dickey died Jan. 3 after a long illness. He was 59.

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Bestselling author Eric Jerome Dickey, whose novels depicted romance, erotica and suspense from the Black perspective, including Milk in My Coffee, Sleeping with Strangers and Friends and Lovers, has died. He was 59.

He died in Los Angeles on Jan. 3 after a long illness, his longtime publicist confirmed Tuesday.

His publisher, Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Random House, referred to the popular writer as “an iconic author and friend” on social media.