what happens if the creator of one of your fictional heroes dies?

actually, i do not know....
today i was looking if there will be a new book out by robert b parker, writer of the spenser novels.
no more- all i found were yesterday´s and today´s obituaries.
a lot of the authors pesonality went into his protagonists, both spenser and the harbour police chief. as i´ve read every single one of them i think i know the characters pretty well, and know that they cannot be recreated even by a fine writer, so they have effectively deceased with immediate effect.
mr parker died at his desk- writing, which he did every day for a few hours. i will miss him, as i know a bit of him, through spenser.....
so what happens is that i mourn my heroes, and in particular, mr robert b parker.