The best-selling author, who blended crime, romance and eroticism in his work, has died in Los Angeles after a long illness.

Eric Jerome Dickey scored hits with books like “Sister, Sister,” “Sleeping with Strangers,” and “Naughty or Nice,” and through his “Gideon” crime fiction series.  He also worked on the screenplay for the 1998 movie “Cappuccino”.

His publicist at Random House says, in all, Dickey wrote 29 novels that sold more than 7 million copies world wide. His final book, “The Son of Mr. Suleman,” comes out in April. The publicist offered no other details except to list four daughters as survivors.

Eric Jereome Dickey was a native of Memphis, Tennessee.

He was 59