Authors

Nick Petrie

Nick Petrie

Nick Petrie received his MFA in fiction from the University of Washington and won a Hopwood Award for short fiction while an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. His story “At the Laundromat” won the 2006 Short Story Contest in The Seattle Review, a national literary journal.

His first novel, The Drifter, won the ITW Thriller and Barry Awards, and was nominated for Edgar, Anthony, and Hammett Awards. He won the 2016 Literary Award from the Wisconsin Library Association and was named one of Apple’s 10 Writers to Read in 2017.  Light It Up was named the Best Thriller of 2018 by Apple Books. Both Light it Up and The Wild One were shortlisted for the Barry Award.

His books in the Peter Ash series are The Drifter, Burning Bright, Light It Up, Tear It Down, The Wild OneThe Breaker, and The Runaway. A husband and father, he has worked as a carpenter, remodeling contractor, and building inspector.  He lives in Milwaukee, where he is hard at work on the next Peter Ash novel.

If you are caught up on Lee Child, and simply can’t get enough of Jack Reacher, Peter Ash is the answer. From the first page you will be riding in his vintage pick-up truck rather than walking, but if you like heroes, stay on board.

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Don Winslow

Don Winslow

An author with an impact and a message – see Don Winslow Films

April 2022 – The start of a new trilogy – City on Fire 

April 2023 – City of Dreams

“Epic, ambitious, majestic, City on Fire is The Godfather for our generation.” – Adrian McKinty, New York Times bestselling author of The Chain

Two criminal empires together control all of New England.

Until a beautiful woman comes between the Irish and the Italians, launching a war that will see them kill each other, destroy an alliance, and set a city on fire.

Danny Ryan yearns for a more “legit” life and a place in the sun. But as the bloody conflict stacks body on body and brother turns against brother, Danny has to rise above himself. To save the friends he loves like family and the family he has sworn to protect, he becomes a leader, a ruthless strategist, and a master of a treacherous game in which the winners live and the losers die.

From the gritty streets of Providence to the glittering screens of Hollywood to the golden casinos of Las Vegas, two rival crime families ignite a war that will leave only one standing. The winner will forge a dynasty.

Exploring the classic themes of loyalty, betrayal, and honor, City on Fire is a contemporary masterpiece in the tradition of The GodfatherCasino, and Goodfellas—a thrilling saga from Don Winslow, “America’s greatest living crime writer” (Jon Land, Providence Journal).

A most unusual review – #BooksWithWallace

2020 release, “Broken.”

In six intense short novels connected by the themes of crime, corruption, vengeance, justice, loss, betrayal, guilt and redemption, Broken is #1 international bestseller Don Winslow at his nerve-shattering, heart-stopping, heartbreaking best. In Broken, he creates a world of high-level thieves and low-life crooks, obsessed cops struggling with life on and off the job, private detectives, dope dealers, bounty hunters and fugitives, the lost souls driving without headlights through the dark night on the American criminal highway.

With his trademark blend of insight, humanity, humor, action and the highest level of literary craftsmanship, Winslow delivers a collection of tales that will become classics of crime fiction.

The Trilogy

Of all the blows delivered by Don Winslow’s Cartel trilogy, none may be as devastating as the timing of “The Border,” its stunner of a conclusion. Though Winslow cannot have engineered all of this 14 years ago when he started this series, his sweeping new novel concerns subjects that put it right on the culture’s front burner: the Mexican-American border, the handling of migrant children, the opioid crisis and some barely fictionalized claims about how foreign money has bought influence at the highest level of the U.S. government.

The book’s title, “The Border,” refers to both physical and moral barriers. Winslow is well aware that both that and its cover image, which depicts a razor-wire-topped wall spreading across a desert landscape, are politically loaded. “Loaded phrases, like loaded guns, are more interesting, aren’t they?” Winslow said to Entertainment Weekly in September. As for the book’s depiction of fiercely partisan American politics, including its treatment of characters who are unmistakable versions of the current president and his son-in-law: “I know this book is going to make some people angry. I can live with that.”

Even though the first installment of this trilogy was named “The Power of the Dog,” after a biblical intimation of evil (“Deliver my soul from the sword; my love from the power of the dog,” Psalms 22:20), it only hinted at the magnitude and ferocity of what was to come. That opening novel now looks like the series’ relatively innocent prologue — and it is as blade-sharp, violent, pulse-quickening and reportorially shocking as the pinnacle of some lesser series might be.

“The Power of the Dog” is, in brief, about the first decades that bind the destinies of Art Keller, a Vietnam veteran and later D.E.A. agent, and Adán Barrera, a young Mexican who will go on to achieve the most dizzying heights of power. The book begins in a burning Mexican poppy field in 1975 (“Only in hell, Art Keller thinks, do flowers bloom fire”) and leaves Keller among more poppies in 2004. Many unspeakable acts happen in between, melding the personal with the political (Iran-contra). It is all rendered unputdownable by Winslow’s unrivaled skill at his game.

Robert Galbraith

Location – London and elsewhere in Great Britain

Robert Galbraith a.k.a. J.K. Rowling

When you browse Roaming the Arts you may note that the mission is to drive web traffic to known artists who may be familiar, but not “household names.” Thus you won’t find Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, or authors whose reach is worldwide such as James Patterson or, in this case, J.K. Rowling. They don’t need this post to send fans to their web presence.

You will also note the Word and Film connection, where it is found to be exciting when a great book has been turned into good film or television. That, in our opinion, is not easy, and is a bit rare and extremely exciting when located.

Ms. Rowling, writing as Robert Galbraith, had ducked under our radar, and in all honesty was found by taking note of the HBO series C.B. Strike, where the first four books in the series have been presented with book five, Troubled Blood, in production. Whether looking for a good read or the next show to stream, Galbraith has created characters in Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott who will live in your consciousness for some time.

Good news for fans : Book six in the series, The Ink Black Heart, available August 30, 2022

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Robert B. Parker’s Beloved Characters

Location – Boston Area

Spenser / Jesse Stone / Sunny Randall

and the old west with – Cole and Hitch

With the passing of Robert B. Parker, now over ten years ago, his estate has engaged numerous authors to continue his legacy, but more so, to satisfy the longing his readers have for these characters. Throughout, television has engaged these characters. Spenser for Hire as a series, Jesse Stone in regularly released TV movies and a Cole & Hitch western – Appaloosa.

Now, Ace Atkins continues the Spenser series, Michael Brandman, (3) and Reed Farrell Coleman (5) added Jesse Stone stories from 2012-2019, Robert Knott contributed five Cole & Hitch westerns and most recently Mike Lupica, known for his books and sports commentary, has brought back Sunny Randall in three books and is about to publish his second novel in continuation of the Jesse Stone saga.

In this editor’s opinion, they are all gifts and well worthy of keeping these iconic characters alive in fiction. Having only recently finding out about Mike Lupica’s four entries in the mix, I read them all and will continue to do so. What fun to hang out in Boston with Sunny and Jesse. Thank you all.

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Robyn Carr

Robyn Carr

Virgin River – on Netflix

Robyn Carr is a RITA® Award-winning, eleven-time #1 New York Times bestselling author of almost sixty novels, including the critically acclaimed Virgin River series. The fourth novel, THE BEST OF US, in her fan-favorite Sullivan’s Crossing Series was released in Jan. 2019. Robyn’s new women’s fiction novel THE VIEW FROM ALAMEDA ISLAND, released in April 2019, deputed on four bestseller lists: The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and Publisher’s Weekly! Robyn is a recipient of the Romance Writers of America Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award 2016, and in 2017, VIRGIN RIVER was named one of the HarperCollins 200 Iconic Books of the past 200 years. The Virgin River Netflix Series season 2 is now streaming on Netflix (Nov. 2020) with season 3 amd more coming soon. Robyn currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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Book Club Reads – 20 for 20

Book Club Reads – 20 for 20

Culled from the favorites of three east coast book clubs.

Please write with your book club favorites – info@roamingthearts.com

It is time to compile a 2021 list. Tell us what you loved. #bookclub

 

American Dirt- Jeannine Cummins
Apeirogon-Colum McCann
Ask Again, Yes –Mary Beth Keane
Behold The Dreamers –Imbolo Mbue
Bel Canto –Ann Patchett
Born A Crime- Trevor Noah
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman
Fates and Furfies – Lauren Groff
In The Midst of Winter – Isabel Allende
Mrs. Hemingway – Naomi Wood
Pachinko –Min Jin Lee
Tattooist Artist of Auschwitz – Heather Morris
The Extraordinary life of Sam Hell- Robert Dugoni
The Great Alone – Kristin Hannah
The Great Believers –Rebecca Makkai
The Inn At Lake Devine –Elinor Lipman
The Man with a Load of Mischief –Martha Grimes
The Snow Child – Eowyn Ivey
The Storyteller’s Secret – Sejal Badani
This Tender Land-William Kent Krueger

Steve Ulfelder

Steve Ulfelder

Steve Ulfelder is the author of four mystery novels featuring unlikely hero Conway Sax. He’s also a freelance writer and co-owner of an auto-racing business.

Purgatory Chasm, Steve’s debut, was published by Minotaur/Thomas Dunne Books in 2011. It was nominated for the Edgar and Anthony Awards in the Best First Novel category, and was named Best First Mystery by RT Book Reviews. The second Conway Sax novel, The Whole Lie, was published in 2012, with Shotgun Lullaby following in 2013. Book four, Wolverine Bros. Freight & Storage, was named Best PI Novel of 2014 by the Sons of Spade blog.

A new hero and new series : One Mississippi – Available now

Archer Dixon: 37 years old, Ivy educated, smart, funny, well read – but he never has amounted to much. He’s been reduced to bartering handyman services for a roof over his head. Having staggered all his life from job to job, Arch is a newly minted private detective. His first case looks easy-peasy – but when he starts digging, things quickly grow tangled. Before Arch knows it, he’s in the middle of a gang war between Nigerian car thieves and murderous Russians.

Hank Phillippi Ryan

Location-Boston

Hank Phillippi Ryan

A nationally bestselling author of 11 mystery novels, Ryan has won multiple prestigious awards for her crime fiction: five Agathas, three Anthonys, the Daphne, two Macavitys, and for The Other Woman, the coveted Mary Higgins Clark Award. National reviews have called her a “master at crafting suspenseful mysteries” and “a superb and gifted storyteller.”

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.

Ann Beattie

Ann Beattie

American writer of short stories and novels whose characters, having come of age in the 1960s, often have difficulties adjusting to the cultural values of later generations. Beattie graduated from the American University in Washington, D.C., in 1969 and received a master of arts degree from the University of Connecticut in 1970. Her short stories were published in The New Yorker and other literary magazines beginning in the early 1970s. She published her first collection of stories, Distortions, in 1976. Her first novel, Chilly Scenes of Winter, also appeared in 1976; it was subsequently adapted as the film Head over Heels (1979), which was later rereleased as Chilly Scenes of Winter (1982).

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