Vince Flynn, best-selling Minnesota author, dies

St. Paul native crime writer Vince Flynn has died.

Simon and Schuster publicist David Brown confirmed Flynn's death Wednesday morning. The best-selling author of the Mitch Rapp series of thriller novels was said last year that he'd been diagnosed with stage III metastatic prostate cancer in 2010.

Flynn was the author of best-sellers like "The Last Man," which topped the New York Times Best Seller list in October 2012. His previous book, "Kill Shot," topped the same list in February. In all, he was the author of 14 books and has another book scheduled for publication on Oct. 8.

Flynn had talked publicly about his battle with cancer and the difficulty it posed for finishing "Kill Shot." He said his illness prevented him from doing a book tour to coincide with the novel's release.

Flynn kept ties with his St. Paul roots throughout his life, and attended St. Thomas Academy and the University of St. Thomas. He started his professional career with Kraft General Foods and at one point tried to become a Marine pilot, but was disqualified for medical reasons. He later worked with United Properties, a Twin Cities commercial real estate firm. He self-published his first novel, "Term Limits," in 1997.

In 2000, he discussed his book "The Third Option" with MPR's Greta Cunningham on All Things Considered. Listen to that conversation.

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