Otto Penzler
is the president and CEO of MysteriousPress.com.
He is also the proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City and is regarded as the world’s foremost authority on crime, mystery and suspense fiction.
Penzler founded The Mysterious Press in 1975, which he later sold to Warner Books (1989). He reacquired the imprint in 2010 and it now publishes original books as an imprint at Grove/Atlantic, and both original works and classic crime fiction through MysteriousPress.com, in partnership with Open Road Integrated Media.
Penzler has won two Edgar Awards, for Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection in 1977 and The Lineup in 2010. The Mystery Writers of America awarded him the prestigious Ellery Queen Award in 1994 and the Raven–the group’s highest non-writing award–in 2003.
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Ron McLarty
Ron McLarty – R.I.P.
Ronald William “Ron” McLarty is an American actor, playwright, narrator and novelist. He is regarded as one of the country’s leading audiobook narrators, having done over 100 titles and received many Audie Awards. McLarty has appeared in numerous television series, films and stage productions. Wikipedia
McLarty is quoted as calling himself “a writer who acted” rather than an actor who wrote. His recurring role as Sgt. Belson on Spenser for Hire made Ron very recognizable, but his novels were his passion.
Read— The Memory of Running, Art in America, Traveler and others.
Sadly, Ron passed away February 8, 2020.
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William Kent Krueger
William Kent Krueger
Location-Minnesota
His novel This Tender Land is a Roaming the Arts favorite of 2020.
His Cork O’Connor series continued in 2022 with Fox Creek and his latest stand-alone in 2023, The River We Remember.
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Timothy Hallinan
Locations-Bangkok & Los Angeles
Timothy Hallinan
Latest in the Poke Rafferty Series —
Edgar, Shamus, Macavity and Lefty nominee Timothy Hallinan has written twenty-one published novels, all thrillers and mysteries, all critically praised. He currently writes two series, one set in Los Angeles and the other in Bangkok, and in 2017 he also revived his earlier series, written in the 1990s about the overeducated slacker private eye Simeon Grist. The new book, the first since 1995, is “Pulped.”
His 2014 Junior Bender novel, “Herbie’s Game,” won the Lefty Award for Best Comic Crime Novel of the year. His 2010 Poke Rafferty Bangkok novel, “The Queen of Patpong,” was nominated for the Edgar as Best Mystery of the Year.
The Junior Bender mysteries chronicle the adventures of a burglar who moonlights as a private eye for crooks. Six titles have been published to date, and “Herbie’s Game” (2015) won the Lefty Award for Best Comic Crime Novel. The other titles in the series are “Crashed,” “Little Elvises,” “The Fame Thief,” “King Maybe,” and “Fields Where They Lay,” which was on many “Best Books of 2016” lists. Coming in 2018 is “Nighttown.”
The Junior Bender books are presently in development as a primetime television series.
In 2007, the first of his Edgar-nominated Poke Rafferty Bangkok thrillers, “A Nail Through the Heart”, was published. “Hallinan scores big-time,” said Kirkus Reviews, which went on to call the book “dark, often funny, and ultimately enthralling.” “Nail” was named one of the top mysteries of the year by The Japan Times.
Rafferty’s Bangkok adventures have continued with “The Fourth Watcher,” “Breathing Water,” “The Queen of Patpong,” “The Fear Artist,” “For the Dead,” and “The Hot Countries.” Coming in 2017 is “Fools’ River.”
In the 1990s he wrote six mysteries featuring the erudite private eye Simeon Grist, beginning with “The Four Last Things,” which made several Ten Best lists, including that of The Drood Review. The other books in the series were well reviewed, and several of them were optioned for motion pictures. The series is now regarded as a cult favorite and is being revived, in one sense of the word, with “Pulped.”
He has also edited two books. “Shaken: Stories for Japan” contained original stories by top mystery writers and raised more then $100,000 for tsunami relief efforts, with every penny going straight to Japan. “Making Story: 21 Writers and How They Plot” contained practical ideas on plotting by well-known mystery and thriller writers.
Hallinan divides his time between Los Angeles and Southeast Asia, the setting for his Poke Rafferty novels. (Amazon)In addition to the Lefty, the Edgar, and the Macavity, Hallinan’s books have been nominated for the Shamus and Nero award.
