Biggest remaining News star Lupica slips out

MIKE

Lupica, the most wellknown byline at the Daily News, is out.

Aside from producing his sports and general interest columns at the teetering tabloid, he had been a prolific writer of young adult sports novels.

Now he’s apparently ready to step into writing adult thrillers full time for Penguin, as the author for a revival of the Sunny Randall detective series that was started by the late best-selling novelist Robert B. Parker.

“Mike left the Daily News,” said a spokeswoman for Esther “Lobster” Newberg, Lupica’s agent at ICM. “He’s already written one Randall novel, ‘ Blood Feud,’ set to publish in late November, and is about to start his second.”

Down the road, he is also going to write a novel for the Jesse Stone series that Parker had started.

Parker, who passed away in January 2010, wrote 40 novels featuring the private detective character Spenser, who was the basis for the “Spenser: For Hire” show.

Lupica, who was once pulling in close to $1 million a year at the News, nearly lost his gig in 2016 but opted for a big pay cut to save his job that time.

Because he was under contract, his name did not appear among the 98 staffers who were let go in late July when Tronc, the Chicagobased owner, bounced half its newsroom.

But his byline had not appeared in the paper since mid-July. He did not return calls seeking comment.

Play ball

The Artists & Writers kick off the 70th annual charity softball game at historic Herrick Field in East Hampton on Saturday, and the early buzz is that former President Bill Clinton will make an appearance.

Clinton umpired for the game back in 1988 when he was still gov- ernor of Arkansas. His debut novel with James Patterson, “The President Is Missing,” has sold more than a million copies in all formats, so he’d certainly qualify as a writer. But he’s expected to be a fan only, sources said.

The Writers, always looking for ways to add firepower to their lineup, reached out to legendary Mets and Cardinals first baseman Keith Hernandez, who earlier this year published a memoir, “I’m Keith Hernandez.”

But Hernandez is going to be in Miami for his day job broadcasting Mets games. “We were a day early. He’s getting back to the Hamptons on Sunday,” shrugged The New Yorker’s Ken Auletta, co-captain of the Writers.

Leif Hope, the manager of the Artists, was a little more successful in his recruitment. He landed Michael Mukasey, former attorney general under George W. Bush, as the umpire.

Robert Clohessy, who plays Lieutenant Sid Gormley, trusted aide to Commissioner Frank Reagan on the CBS hit “Blue Bloods,” is expected to take a star turn for the Artists.

Alec Baldwin, a former big gun for the Artists, is expected to be on hand. “Baldwin will be on the scene; whether he makes the game or not, I don’t know,” said Hope.

Author and CNN commentator Carl Bernstein is expected to take his customary post behind the plate for the Writers.

The start time has been pushed back two hours this year, to 4 p.m., so fans can get in more beach time. Proceeds from the event benefit East End charities.

Hard time

The surprise hit of the summer belongs to a writer who won’t be doing any bookk signings — because he’s in jail.

But that has not stopped a bidding war from breaking out to try to sign the film rights to “Cherry” by first-time novelist Nico Walker.

At press time, Hollywood studios were said to be bidding. His agent, Jason Richman, did not return a call, but one source close to the action said that the number of studios circling was at least six.

The book hit Tuesday with a first printing of only 20,000, but the Knopf imprint of Penguin Random House has already gone back to press twice to add another 10,000 copies to the pipeline.

Walker, a former medic in the Iraq War in 2005 and 2006, received seven citations for his service on some 200 combat missions.

But he returned to Ohio traumatized and suffering from PTSD, and soon slipped into unemployment, depression and a heroin habit.

To support his habit, he went on a spree, robbing 11 banks in four months in the Cleveland area before being arrested in 2011 and ppleading guilty in 2012, when he was sentenced to 11 years. He was encouraged to write his life story by Matthew Johnson, coowner of the small independent Tyrant Books. The gritty war story, which took four years to write, is earning rave reviews. New York magazine dubbed the book “the first great novel of the opioid epidemic.” Booklist called it “a masterpiece.” Walker used his advance to pay back $30,000 of the $40,000 he was said to have robbed during his four-month spree. He’s scheduled for release in November 2020.