ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Discover Mystery Authors, add new writer names to your list

Updated on July 30, 2016

Many fine writers have earned a wide audience. For each writer that has name recognition, there are many more terrific mystery writers whose names are not on the NY Time's list, but deserve to be on a mystery reader's list. Here is a small sampling of authors I have enjoyed over the years. If any of these teasers interest you, click the link to read a HubPage with more detail on the author and books. Who are your favorite mystery authors who deserve wider recognition? I'd like to hear your comments below.

Robert B. Parker, RIP

Robert B. Parker has long been a favorite of mine. He was a prolific author, with over 60 books published. The best things about Parker's books were the characterizations and the dialogue. Boy,  could he write dialogue! Robert B. Parker died in January 18th, 2010 in Massachusetts. His last book was Split Image, a Jesse Stone and Sunny Randal novel.

Discover Andrea Camilleri, and enter mysterious Sicily

Take an idiosyncratic police Inspector, surround him with quirky good guys and bad guys, place them in a funny yet sad Sicily, add Camilleri's way with words and out come an engaging Montalbano mystery. That would be Salvo Montalbano, the Sicilian Inspector created by Andrea Camilleri in Italian, sprinkled with Sicilian dialect.

Discover Andrea Camilleri here...

Discover Harold Adams, the mystery writer who stirred the dust

Harold Adams is one of those writers who are able to create a sense of time and place with a few words. His stories are placed in South Dakota in the 1930's. His protagonist is a drifter just trying to survive but who makes an impact at the end of the day. Adams' spare books let the story and characters blow the dust over you; make you weary with the day's effort; and somehow lets the hopefulness of the human spirit leak through.

Discover Harold Adams here...

Discover Laurence Shames, the mystery writer with the smiling simile

In his Key West series, Shames typically takes a person displaced from "up North", has him drift into Key West to find a new life. That new life may involve a dead body or two, some unusual characters and results in a lot of reader smiling. The stories are fun to read, but what really appeals to me is Shames' writing style. Shames uses the simile liberally and artfully to bring Key West and his characters to the reader. His words carom through the paragraphs like clever balls in a pinball machine; scoring jackpots of vivid description and bonus smiles of recognition.

Discover Laurence Shames here...

Discover Donna Leon, the mystery writer who takes us to Venice

The Commissario Brunetti series is sometimes a police procedural, sometimes a whodunit, sometimes a comic opera, and occasionally plays like "Father does not know best". Guido Brunetti has a good life in Venice. While being a police official there makes him cynical, his soul won't allow him to quit. Donna Leon writes the life of a man that you would like to know and spend time with. He is a perfect series character, and this is a great series. If you can't travel to Venice, this series is a very good trip for the mind.

Discover Donna Leon...

Discover Lee Child, the mystery writer who makes the pages turn

The mark of a good suspense writer is not only the ability to write a great yarn, but the ability to keep the pace and focus on what's happening now. That makes a page-turner. Lee Child writes page-turners with the best of them. Lee Child writes about Jack Reacher, a larger than life hero. When you go up against the bad guys, you want Reacher on your side.

Discover Lee Child...

Discover Jon A Jackson, the mystery writer and his Fang

Jon Jackson's detective series is known as the Detective Sergeant Fang Mulheisen series. I see at as three interwoven series: some feature Mulheisen, some feature Grootka, and some feature Service. Jon Jackson is an interesting guy: a writer; a teacher of writing; an ax fan (that's a sax max); a cigar aficionado; an angler; a Detroit guy, gone Montanan.

Discover Jon A. Jackson...

Click thumbnail to view full-size
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)