James Lee Burke
Location – New Orleans/Iberia Parish Louisiana
James Lee Burke, a rare winner of two Edgar Awards, and named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, is the New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty novels and two collections of short stories. He lives in Missoula, Montana.
Author Interview from July 2010
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Florida Writers
Going to Florida?
Don’t Forget to Write!
Florida. True, it is the land of retirement, sunshine, Disney, traffic, crime, and hurricanes. Let’s not forget environmental and immigration problems. What a great place to write about. Some who write Florida fiction make it to the best-seller list some don’t. Most, however, write a darn good story.
John D. McDonald’s Travis McGee set the standard for Florida crime fiction. Prominent on bookstore shelves is Miami Herald columnist Carl Hiaasen. His quirky novels are “laugh out loud” events, even if they don’t always make it to critical acclaim at the box office (i.e. Striptease.) In memory, I have never recommended a Hiaasen book to a friend and gotten anything but terrific reactions.
The list of well known writers boiling just below superstar status is a fairly long one. On it are some of my favorites. Some would qualify as mystery writers, some, a half step away, suspense/crime. Others have simply created memorable characters, many reappearing, and all enormously engaging. Laurence Shames, Randy Wayne White, James W. Hall, Les Standiford, John Lutz, Paul Levine, Ed McBain’s “Matthew Hope” series and the unforgettable Charles Willeford, who although deceased may have been the “writers writer” in the Florida genre.
In the past several years several writers have emerged as best-selling Florida writers. Jeff Lindsay, the creator of Showtime series character, Dexter has four books to date featuring the intrepid “Dark Passenger.” James Grippando is hot and so is James O. Born.
If Key West has ever enchanted you, authors Laurence Shames and Tom Corcoran can put you there in a fashion that most tourists would surely miss. They each have casts of characters, recurring in their books, zany New York transplants, good guys and bad guys, funny guys and hard guys. Sometimes a minor character in one story becomes central in another. Throughout their work; humor, love, unusual criminals and unlikely heroes abound. It may have been Hemingway’s town once, with Shames and Corcoran, it’s a whole different trip.
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Paul Levine
Location-South Florida
Paul Levine
Author Paul Levine is an American born writer who loves to write in the genre of crime fiction and legal thriller. He was born in Williamsport in the state of Pennsylvania on 9th January, 1948. He completed his graduation in the year 1969 from Pennsylvania State University. Soon for The Daily Collegian newspaper he became the editor in chief, while his stay in Pennsylvania State University. In the year 1973 from the University of Miami, he received his J.D. Before becoming a writer, author Paul Levine was a lawyer and was a partner along with other positions at Lewis & Bockius, Morgan and was also working on television as a legal commentator. He started writing from 1990 onward and since then he is an active member and has written 19 novels and the translation of his novels have been done in 21 languages. There are two series that he has written so far. The first one is Jake Lassiter and the other one is Solomon & Lord. Both of the titles of the series are based on the main protagonist in the books.
Jake Lassiter has appeared in 10 novels of the American author Paul Levine. Jake is shown as a lawyer who was an ex-Penn State linebacker once. Booklist has described the character of Jake Lassiter as among the characters that are most entertaining in the genre of contemporary crime fiction. Perry Mason was good, but he didn’t have as much charisma as Jake Lassiter, says The Miami Herald. Steve Solomon and Victoria Lord are two arguing lawyers who have appeared in four novels of author Paul Levine. Both characters have been loved by many people and have been praised by many critics. Los Angeles Times named To Speak for the Dead by author Paul Levine as among the 10 best mysteries of the year. The character of Jake Lassiter was described as of Travis McGee holding a law degree. A movie was made by adapting the book in the year 1995 and the named was “Jake Lassiter: Justice on the Bayou” The actor in the leading character was played by Gerald McRaney in the role of Jake Lassiter and it was produced by Stephen J. Cannell. He has written 9 Scorpions and in the year 1999, he moved to Los Angeles from Florida after his friend Don Bellisario gave him an invitation. He came and became a writer of JAG, a CBS military series. The show aired from 1995 to 2005 and he has written 21 plays in it. For excellence in Florida fiction, he has been given John D. MacDonald Award. (Book Series in Order)
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David Mitchell
David Mitchell
Location – London (Soho) and around the world.
Check out the 2012 film version of Cloud Atlas on Netflix.
Extended Interview – w/ Neil Gaiman @ virtual Politics & Prose Bookstore
David Mitchell was born in Southport, Merseyside, in England, raised in Malvern, Worcestershire, and educated at the University of Kent, studying for a degree in English and American Literature followed by an M.A. in Comparative Literature. He lived for a year in Sicily, then moved to Hiroshima, Japan, where he taught English to technical students for eight years, before returning to England. After another stint in Japan, he currently lives in Ireland with his wife Keiko and their two children. In an essay for Random House, Mitchell wrote: “I knew I wanted to be a writer since I was a kid, but until I came to Japan to live in 1994 I was too easily distracted to do much about it. I would probably have become a writer wherever I lived, but would I have become the same writer if I’d spent the last 6 years in London, or Cape Town, or Moose Jaw, on an oil rig or in the circus? This is my answer to myself.” Mitchell’s first novel, Ghostwritten (1999), moves around the globe, from Okinawa to Mongolia to pre-Millennial New York City, as nine narrators tell stories that interlock and intersect. The novel won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize (for best work of British literature written by an author under 35) and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award. His two subsequent novels, number9dream (2001) and Cloud Atlas (2004), were both shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. In 2003, he was selected as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists. In 2007, Mitchell was listed among Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in The World. Mitchell’s American editor at Random House is novelist David Ebershoff. (Goodreads)
His latest novel (July 2020) Utopia Avenue tells the fictional story of a British band of the same name, who emerged from London’s psychedelic scene in 1967, against the backdrop of real world characters and events.
Check it out on Goodreads (Click cover below)
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