Michael Kilian, 66; Columnist Also Wrote Novels and the ‘Dick Tracy’ Comic Strip

Michael Kilian, 66, a veteran Chicago Tribune columnist who also wrote mystery novels, nonfiction on public affairs and the “Dick Tracy” comic strip, died Wednesday in Chicago after a long illness.

The Toledo, Ohio, native spent nearly 40 years at the Tribune, writing on subjects ranging from politics and military affairs to show business, the arts and the niceties of “high society.”

Kilian, who got into journalism through the City News Bureau of Chicago in the mid-1960s, covered presidential campaigns for the Tribune beginning in 1968 and went to Washington in 1977, writing a column for the newspaper that often was laced with satirical humor.

Kilian’s 24 books include mysteries set during the Civil War and the 1920s as well as novels about terrorism and presidential intrigue. He also co-wrote nonfiction books, including a critique of the defense establishment.