Rich Curtin (Moab, Utah)

Location – Moab, Utah

Rich Curtin writes a mystery series, featuring Deputy Sheriff, Manny Rivera. He is everything you would want in a hero. and more. Rich Curtin is one of a few fine authors who take the big city police procedurial into the back country setting.

With each mystery comes a travelogue of southeastern Utah featuring Moab and the surrounding majestic landscape. Along with strengh of character, Curtin delivers stories steeped in the history and culture of the area. Now, Moab has grown in popularity as a destination not to be missed the in southwest. Spend some time there with Manny Rivera before you go. And, once you read one of the books in the series and look at some pictures, you will want to go.

Laura Lippman

Location – Maryland

Laura Lippman was a reporter for twenty years, including twelve years at The (Baltimore) Sun. She began writing novels while working full-time and published seven books about “accidental PI” Tess Monaghan before leaving daily journalism in 2001.

Her work has been awarded the Edgar ®, the Anthony, the Agatha, the Shamus, the Nero Wolfe, Gumshoe and Barry awards.

She also has been nominated for other prizes in the crime fiction field, including the Hammett and the Macavity. She was the first-ever recipient of the Mayor’s Prize for Literary Excellence and the first genre writer recognized as Author of the Year by the Maryland Library Association. Ms. Lippman grew up in Baltimore and attended city schools through ninth grade.

After graduating from Wilde Lake High School in Columbia, Md., Ms. Lippman attended Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Her other newspaper jobs included the Waco Tribune-Herald and the San Antonio Light.

Dina Greenberg

In the Fall of 2021 Dina published her first full novel, Nermina’s Chance.

In the realm of discovering new writers, it is often by chance.

Enjoying this book. Great chance.

War sears its imprint on the human spirit in infinite ways.

After her family is murdered and her body ravaged by Serbian soldiers, Nermina Beganović’s only chance of survival is to flee her Bosnian homeland during the Balkan War, circa 1992.

Nermina’s Chance by Dina Greenberg reimagines the essence of family and plumbs the depths of a mother’s ardent connection to her daughter.

“Nermina’s Chance in less expert hands would have ended up as a drifting trilogy. Dina Greenberg has kept her story together in one tight and suspenseful narrative, intricately woven. She has given us a cast of main characters each worthy of their own novel. Rarely does a story blend so meaningfully the horrors of war, the possibilities and limits of love, and the human need for family. If you give Nermina’s Chance a chance, you will soon be turning the last page.”

Clyde Edgerton, author of Walking Across Egypt and The Night Train

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

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 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. The Sunny Randall character continues now with Alison Gaylin providing the narrative and wearing Sunny’s shoes quite well.

In this editor’s opinion, they are all gifts and well worthy of keeping these iconic characters alive in fiction. I read them all and will continue to do so. What fun to hang out in Boston with Spenser, Sunny and Jesse. Thank you all.

C.J. Box

Location – Montana/Wyoming

C. J. Box

C. J. Box is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 27 novels including the Joe Pickett series. He won the Edgar Alan Poe Award for Best Novel (Blue Heaven, 2009) as well as the Anthony Award, Prix Calibre 38 (France), the Macavity Award, the Gumshoe Award, two Barry Awards, and the 2010 Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Award for fiction. He was recently awarded the 2016 Western Heritage Award for Literature by the National Cowboy Museum as well as the Spur Award for Best Contemporary Novel by the Western Writers of America in 2017. Over six million copies of his books have been sold in the U.S. and abroad and they’ve been translated into 27 languages. Two television series based on his novels are currently in development.

Watch “Big Sky” on ABC & Joe Pickett on Paramount+

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.

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

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)

Mother’s Day and Other Stories

A book of short stories written by Roaming the Arts webmaster.

Mother’s Day and Other Stories is comprised of six short stories. The first three take place on Mother’s Day weekend. As in modern life, cell phones play a role. The stories weave family, growing up with and without, and the role of chance in life. Filled with seriousness and humor, they are quick reads with memorable characters and events.

from Kirkus Review: Schwartz thoughtfully addresses real life dilemmas that other writers may overlook, such as the question of deleting a parent as a cell phone contact after the loved one’s death: “There at the top of her favorites list was the name ‘Mom.’ She had not had the will to delete the contact. Would anyone?” His use of a question is particularly effective here, provoking uncomfortable reflections from readers. It is also compelling to learn how each of the tales is interlinked–which the author reveals incrementally.

And in the Life Imitates Art category — check out this related story: A bittersweet Thanksgiving for the grandmother and teenager who met via an accidental text in 2016 — A grandmother accidentally invited a stranger to her Thanksgiving dinner via text message. Ever since, they’ve celebrated the holiday together and despite the pandemic, this year was no exception. Watch VIDEO

Order a copy of — Mother’s Day and Other Stories

See Kirkus Review

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