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October 11, 2006
Mystery Authors
Years ago I realized I needed to keep a list of authors I found worth reading. Most of the authors listed write mysteries. I intend to list only writers currently publishing. On 2/24/07 I deleted authors who, per our public library, had not published for four years. The currently-publishing criterion leaves out many good writers, like the truly great Ross Macdonald and outstanding ones like Raymond Chandler, but I've read all their stuff anyway.
I am adding writers of spy thrillers. I read a book by Vince Flynn and it was excellent, and I'm sure there are more good books in the genre.
I try to pick authors who develop interesting, likable main characters, not necessarily nice but likable, provide a complex but internally consistent and credible plot, and don't clutter things up with excessive human interest subplots, cuddly pet stories, idiosyncratic priests or widows, or complicated family relationships. Also I avoid the Agatha Christi puzzle books where a host of subtle clues supposedly lead to an inescapable solution. Very few English authors make the list, although that may be due to the language barrier.
The list is in alphabetical order. If I listed the greatest first, my top 5 would be Robert Crais, Michael Connelly, John Sandford, Michael McGarrity and James Lee Burke. Honorable mention would go to Sue Grafton, Lee Child, Janet Evanovich, Robert B. Parker, Barry Eisler, Tami Hoag, James Swain... there are a lot of good ones.
The list:
Jeff Abbott (South Texas coast locale)
Doug Allyn (Hispanic PI in inner city Detroit)
Lori Andrews (forensic geneticist, good plot & character development, inane left wing slant)
David Baldacci (Virginia setting, long, complex, convoluted plots)
Linda Barnes (tall, redhead Boston PI Carlotta Carlyle)
Richard Barre
Nancy Bartholomew
Simon Beckett (English writer, but quite good - Dr David Hunter in the Hebrides)
Alex Berenson (CIA agent John Wells)
Ethan Black (NYC police)
Lawrence Block (various NYC characters, too much conversation but good plots)
Giles Blunt (police in north woods Ontario)
Larry Bond
Todd Borg (Tahoe PI Owen McKenna, a former SF homicide cop)
James Born (Florida investigator)
Peter Bowen (DuPre in Montana)
C. J. Box (Wyoming game warden)
Robert Brace (action thrillers)
Kathy Brandt (Caribbean police diver Hannah Sampson)
Allison Brennan (Robert Brace action thrillers)
Edna Buchanan (south Florida crime stories)
Davis Bunn (who-dunnit action story with ex-special forces CPA)
John Burdett (odd, exotic; Bangkok police detective)
Jan Burke (journalist heroine, locale south of LA)
James Lee Burke (Edgar award winner, Louisiana and Montana police)
Tom Cain (international thriller, good action for a Brit writer, dumb ending)
Sean Chercover (tough Chicago PI Ray Dudgeon)
Lee Child (Jack Reacher, ex MP drifter do-gooder)
Jon Cleary (Sydnedy, Australia cop stories)
Harlan Coben (complex, lengthy plots, extensive character development)
Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch LA homocide detective)
Tom Corcoran
Phillip R. Craig Philip Craig passed away May 8, 2007, from cancer.
Robert Crais (Elvis Cole, LA PI)
Bill Crider (small town Texas sheriff)
Michael Crow (Luther Ewing spy hit man)
James Crumley
Barbara D'Amato
Patrick A. Davis
Jeffrey Deaver (forensic scientist, long twisting plots)
Peter T. Deutermann (government agent thrillers)
Christopher Dickey (war on terror thriller)
Gary Disher (Australian police stories)
Robert Doherty (spy thrillers)
Mike Doogan (Anchorage, Alaska PI ex-cop)
Sean Doolittle (quirky former arsonist solves mystery)
Bill Eidson (mysteries with sailing in New England)
Barry Eisler (John Rain Japanese-American hit man)
Aaron Elkins (paleontologist detective)
James Ellroy (LA Confidential)
Earl Emerson (Seattle fire dept.)
G. H. Ephron (Boston neuropsychologist)
Loren Estleman (Amos Walker, hard-boiled Detroit PI)
Janet Evanovich (female bounty hunter, humor)
Robert Fate (Baby Shark west Texas pool pro / fem fatale)
Joseph Finder (action thrillers)
Vince Flynn (espionage action thrillers)
G. M. Ford (Seattle settings, characters Leo Waterman or Frank Corso)
Frederick Forsyth (famous for Day of the Jackal)
Brian Freeman (homocide detective Jon Stride in Vegas, or Duluth)
Rick Gadziola (Jake Morgan, ex Boston police, gambling addict. Not great but readable)
Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza (Chief Espinosa in Rio de Janeiro)
Brent Ghelfi (Moscow ganster and covert military agent Volk in Moscow; noir, tres noir)
Sue Grafton (Kinsey Milhone, Santa Barbara PI)
Elizabeth Gunn (police procedural in small town Minnesota)
David Hagberg (Kirk McGarvey, CIA agent extraordinaire)
Jim Michael Hansen (Bryson Coventry, Denver homocide lieutenant)
Lee Harris (NYC police stories)
Donald Harstad
Steven F. Havill (New Mexico sheriff Bill Gastner)
Jonathan Hayes (New York City forensic pathologist)
Sue Henry (Alaska musher heroine)
Joseph Heywood (UP Michigan conservation officer)
Jack Higgins (English spy thrillers and police procedurals)
James Hime (Jeremiah Spur ex-Texas ranger, rancher)
Tami Hoag (police in Minnesota, LA)
Daved Housewright (Minnesota ex homocide cop)
Harry Hunsicker (Dallas PI Hank Oswald)
Gregg Hurwitz (US Marshall Tim Rackley in LA)
Arnaldur Indridason (Iceland police procedural)
Graham Ison (London police procedural)
Stuart M. Kaminsky (Chicago police detective Abe Lieberman)
H. R. F. Keating (English police procedural)
Jonathon Kellerman (LA psychologist Alex Delaware)
Jack Kerley (Mobile, Alabama homocide detective
Jonathon King (ex-Philadelphia cop in the Everglades)
Henry Kisor (deputy in western Upper Peninsula, Sioux ancestry)
William Kent Krueger (northern Minnesota sheriff)
Jon Land (action - adventure, read Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong novel)
Joe R. Lansdale (humorous but violent misadventures of Texas good ole boys Hap and Leonard)
John Lantugua (Willie Cuesta, Cuban-born Miami PI)
Ward Larsen (spy thriller)
Mike Lawson (Congressional investigator Joe DiMarco, Washington skulduggery)
Dennis Lehane (tough Boston PI)
Martin Limon (Hispanic US Army MP in Korea)
Laura Lippman (Baltimore reporter-turned-PI Tess Monaghan)
Robert Littell (espionage thrillers)
Chuck Logan (Phil Broker, ex cop, investigator in Minnesota)
John Lutz
Scott Mackay (homocide detetctive in Toronto's Chinatown)
John Mackie (author is retired NYPD)
Steve Martini
Peter May (Scottish writer; mystery, action, foreign setting, implausible sloppy plots)
Michael McGarrity (New Mexico police detective Kevin Kerney)
Adrian McKinty (Belfast-born international adventurer Michael Forsythe)
Patrick F. McManus (Sheriff Bo Tully, Blight, Idaho - not serious but fun reading)
Richard Montanari (Philadelphia homicide cops, suspense)
Marcia Muller (San Francisco woman PI)
Jo Nesbo (Oslo, Norway cop story, long, complex plot, extensive character development)
Robert B. Parker (Spenser, et al)
T. Jefferson Parker (Orange County & San Diego detectives)
James Patterson (Washington D.C. homocide cop)
Ridley Pearson (Seattle homocide cop)
Thomas Perry (Shadow Woman and other mysteries)
Peter Pringle (English spy thriller with botanist secret agent Arthur Hemmings)
Bill Pronzini (San Francisco nameless detective)
Frederick Ramsay (Ike Schwartz, police chief in rural Virginia)
Robert Randisi (St. Louis police detective Joe Keough)
Kathleen J. Reichs (Toronto forensic anthropologist)
Stella Rimington (British counterespionage officer Liz Carlyle)
Rick Riordan (San Antonio locale)
J. D. Robb (bitchy female homocide lieutenant, set in future)
Kinley Rboy (low key southwest Florida PI Harry Brock)
David Rosenfelt (NJ defense lawyer solves whodunit)
S. J. Rozan (complex plots, NYC settings)
Greg Rucka (NYC bodyguard)
John Sandford (series with "prey" in title, very tough cop)
Julian Jan Savarin (Berlin cop Muller, espionage-type cases)
Barbara Seranella (female auto mechanic, biker background)
John Shannon (Jack Liffey in LA)
Connie Shelton (Albuquerque female PI)
David J. Sherman (LA PI Jack Murphy, plot weak)
Daniel Silva (spy thrillers, Gabriel Allon, art restorer and spy)
Dan Simmons (ex-con PI Kurtz)
Dana Stabenow (Alaska state trooper, bushpilot girlfriend)
Mike Stewart (Mobile Bay lawyer who does more investigating than law)
James Swain (retired cop / gambling expert Tony Valentine)
Jon Talton (Pheonix sheriff stories)
William G. Tapply (Brady Coyne, Boston lawyer / sleuth + Maine guide Stoney Calhoun)
Aimee & David Thurlo
Judith Van Giesen
Vince Van Patten (with help from Robt. Randisi, murder on the professional poker tour)
Randy Wayne White (Florida gulf side boating settings)
Stephen White (Colorado psychotherapist / sleuth)
Matthew Williams (Michigan UP reporter)
Don Winslow (San Diego surfer dude PI Boone Daniels)
Thomas W. Young (pilots, other heroes of Afghan war)
Posted by rob at 05:18 PM | Comments (0)