WingfieldR DThe crime writer R D Wingfield, who died on 31 July, 2007 aged 79, changed the face of crime fiction with his creation of the unconventional police hero, Detective Jack Frost.After two decades of success as a writer of radio dramas, Mr Wingfield’s talents for dialogue and complex mystery plotlines brought him into the world of crime fiction. But it took 12 years for his celebrated novels to be published, and his chain-smoking rebellious detective was only introduced to the world in the late 1980s.The dishevelled, caustic detective was immortalized in hit television series ‘A Touch of Frost’, starring David Jason, but the writer was never happy with the TV screen interpretation and claimed to never watch it. He regretted the softening up of his original style and dialogue, saying: "I have nothing against David Jason as Frost at all, he just isn't my Frost".But the legendary character could very easily have never existed at all, as Mr Wingfield called himself “a reluctant author…thoroughly disenchanted with the grind of writing full-length novels”.Rodney David Wingfield was born on 6 June, 1928, in Hackney, London. He was educated at the Coopers Company School, which was evacuated to Somerset during World War Two, and then held several junior office jobs in the East End.He went on to become a sales clerk with the Fina oil company, devoting all his spare time to writing short, one or two act plays . His talents were recognised in 1968, when BBC Radio bought Wingfield’s 45-minute play ‘Compensating Error’. It was well-received and the BBC quickly commissioned two more dramas, prompting Mr Wingfield to leave his office job and become a professional radio playwright.Mr Wingfield spent the next 20 years producing popular, well-crafted radio drama, and also turned his hand to comedy, penning a humorous secret agent series for Kenneth Williams. He gained a reputation as an accomplished mystery writer, skillfully interweaving multiple plotlines featuring small-time criminals.In 1972, he came to the attention of Macmillan who gave Mr Wingfield a £50 non-returnable advance to write a crime novel. But the publishers rejected his first novel, ‘Frost at Christmas’, in which he debuted the character Detective Jack Frost that would eventually make his career.After this initial rejection, Mr Wingfield wrote a radio play, ‘Three Days of Frost’, that was broadcast in 1977 with Leslie Sands as the eponymous detective. Twelve years after the Macmillian commissioning, ‘Frost at Christmas’ was eventually published in Canada where the main character was described as “bright, insolent, sardonic, sloppy and fearless” by the Toronto Globe.The novel was finally published in the UK in 1989 and followed by a second book in 1990 based on Mr Wingfield’s radio play ‘A Touch of Frost’. He wrote five more novels in the hit series, but Frost only became a household name in 1992 with the popular TV dramatization starring David Jason.After losing his beloved wife Phyllis in 2004, Mr Wingfield lived a quiet life in Basildon Essex. He kept his long battle with cancer a secret and spent his final months completing his sixth novel, ‘A Killing Frost’.Mr Wingfield died of cancer on 31 July, 2007, and is survived by his only son, Philip. His final novel will be published posthumously in April 2008."Despite being a reluctant novelist, Mr Wingfield created one of the most enduringly popular characters in crime fiction. He captivated readers and audiences with his clever plots, black humour, and realistic depiction of the red tape and internal politics stifling the police force.Mr Wingfield was a very private man who refused the many invites to literary festivals and crime fiction conventions. His stubborn nature often caused tensions with publishers and producers; he submitted his acclaimed serial ‘The Killing Season’ under a pseudonym following a row with the BBC in 1984.His popularity will continue long after his death, with generations of dedicated fans. Mr Wingfield had a significant impact on crime writing, reviving a genre previously dominated by predictable village murder mysteries.Fellow crime writer Stuart MacBride pays tribute to his hero: ‘His death is a terrible loss to everyone who loves brilliantly written crime fiction. Rodney's plots were twisted, layered and interwoven; his characters flawed, funny and human; his sense of pace and dialogue second to none. If I can ever manage to be even a third as good a writer as he was I'll consider myself to be very lucky indeed. He'll be sorely missed.’
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