It's sad when a favored author dies

Whenever I land on the Barnes & Noble web site, after I've done the searching that I clicked there to do, I always do searches for my favorite authors. I check for any upcoming books from them, and note the future release date on my calendar (NERD!). One of my faves, Elizabeth Peters, writes a series of books about an early-1900s-era Egyptologist, Amelia Peabody, and her husband, Radcliffe Emerson. They are primarily mysteries, but Peters' grasp of Egyptology has always intrigued me. Peabody and Emerson squabble, are stubborn, love each other immensely, and are always having an adventure. They have a son, Ramses, who, through the course of the books, grows up to be quite swoon-worthy, and eventually falls in love, marries, and has children, and they all have adventures themselves.
Peters is always the first author I check out on my random hunts. Yesterday, B&N had nothing upcoming for her, even though the last book came out a couple years ago, which is the usual time frame between tomes. So, I made the extra three-click effort to go to the author's web site. Peters' real name is Barbara Mertz, and she's written so many books under both those names and even another pen name, as well. Her web site is well cared for, and is usually quite up-to-date.
Sadly, the last time the site had been updated was in August last year: with a couple paragraphs thanking all Peters/Mertz's loyal fans for their outpouring of love and support after the passing of Mertz earlier that month. ... Damn. ... She was 85 years old, and had a very full and engaging life, and loved her readers, and adored her characters, and blah, blah, blah. I'm super sad that she's gone. Selfishly, sure, I want to know what happens next. But mainly I'm sad because I always feel like it's such a waste of knowledge when someone is no longer a resource for others. I'll hope that she'd imparted as much of her wisdom as she could, but the fear that hers is a voice lost forever is real.
Also, I'm totally jealous that she had more than one idea that turned into several series of books, and I wish I could do that. The Mummy Case, above, is the first book in the Amelia Peabody series that I read, and even though it was a few books deep into the story, I fell in love. I quickly picked up all the preceding volumes, and then was voracious about reading them, and all the books that followed. I'm going to miss reading more about Peabody and Emerson, and Ramses and Nefret. I'll console myself with re-reading the Peabody books in my library ... for the hundredth time.