Reporter and author Bill Granger dies

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CHICAGO, April 24 (UPI) -- Novelist and Chicago newspaperman Bill Granger has died at a veterans home in Illinois at the age of 70.

The man who wrote that loving Chicago is "like loving a woman with a broken nose," enjoyed a career in journalism that stretched from 1963 to 1999, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Tuesday.

Granger reported for United Press International, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Daily Herald and the Chicago Tribune.

In addition to writing feature stories and television criticism, Granger reported from hot spots such as Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Colleagues said he liked nothing better than getting a scoop and heading off to a favorite journalists' watering hole to brag or argue about it.

Granger was the author of 26 books, most of them thrillers and mysteries.

He won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1981 for his novel "Public Murders," which centered on the investigation of a tourist slaying in Chicago's Grant Park.

Granger's wife Lori said he suffered a series of strokes when he was about 58.

In addition to his wife, Granger is survived by his son Alec and a sister, Ruth Wellens.

A private memorial service is planned.