Richard Mason; Author of ‘World of Suzie Wong’

Richard Mason, 78, a British novelist whose story of a prostitute, “The World of Suzie Wong,” became a best-seller and later a popular play and film. Many of Mason’s novels were based on his experiences during World War II, when he served in Burma with the Royal Air Force. “The World of Suzie Wong,” published in 1957, tells of a Hong Kong prostitute who falls in love with the artist for whom she poses. It was followed by a Broadway play and a film starring William Holden. In Rome on Monday of throat cancer.