Rodney Whitaker, a.k.a. Trevanian, 74; Author Wrote 'Eiger Sanction'

Rodney William Whitaker, the mysterious mystery writer best known as Trevanian, the author of such international bestsellers as "The Eiger Sanction," has died. He was 74.

Whitaker died Wednesday in the West Country of England of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

His 1972 blockbuster "The Eiger Sanction," which was adapted as a 1975 movie starring Clint Eastwood, was Trevanian's first and perhaps best-known novel. In it, art historian and sometime assassin Jonathan Hemlock (Eastwood in the film) is sent to kill an enemy agent during a mountain climbing expedition on Switzerland's majestic Eiger.

Some derided that novel and "The Loo Sanction" in 1973 as pale James Bond derivatives. The author considered them intentional Bond spoofs. Whatever they were, they sold millions of copies and established him as a must-read mystery writer.

Among the other Trevanian novels were cult-favorite "Shibumi" in 1979, the romantic "The Summer of Katya" in 1983, the western "Incident at Twenty-Mile" in 1998 and his last, the semi-autobiographical "Crazyladies of Pearl Street," published in June.

For years, Whitaker studiously avoided interviews or publishers' promotions that would reveal his actual identity. Many speculated that "Trevanian" was actually novelist Robert Ludlum, a rumor Whitaker put to rest.

In a rare interview, he told the New York Times Book Review in 1979 that he wrote "under five different names on several subjects: theology, law, aesthetics, film

The eclectic author, using the pseudonym Nicholas Seare, wrote the medieval parody "1339 or So

An educator in communication and dramatic arts, Whitaker wrote nonfiction books under his own name. Among those was "The Language of Film" in 1970.

He also wrote under the names Benat LeCagot and Edoard Moran. Were there others? Even the staid comprehensive anthology Contemporary Authors noted: "It is difficult to determine how many works he has published with other names."

His writing has been compared to that of Emile Zola, Bond's creator Ian Fleming, Edgar Allan Poe and Chaucer. Unlike many popular mystery authors, Whitaker never turned out formulaic books.

Each seemed a separate and unique creation, linked only by what the Washington Post in 1983 described as "a consistently high level of craftsmanship, a certain playfulness of style and a pervasive message that things are not what they seem."