Daniel Woodrell, 'Winter's Bone' author who coined 'country noir' genre, dead at 72

Daniel Woodrell, the acclaimed author of “Winter’s Bone” and other American novels that captured the essence of the Missouri Ozarks he called home, died Friday.

The 72-year-old’s wife, Katie Estill-Woodrell, told the New York Times that he died at their home in West Plains, Missouri, after a battle against pancreatic cancer. He previously beat colon cancer in the early 2010s.

The celebrated author coined “country noir” as his own genre, which he described as “where quiet lives meet fierce consequences,” according to his X bio .

Woodrell was the last of his family to remain in the Missouri Ozarks, which served as inspiration for his storied literary collection. When he was a teenager, his family picked up and moved to Kansas City — which he despised because it was full of “raw dirt”