MYSTERIES: A SENSE OF PLACE



WHERE DONE IT:

MYSTERY SERIES WITH A STRONG SENSE OF PLACE

ALABAMA

GEORGE, Anne

Sixty-something amateur sleuths and sisters Mary Alice and Patricia Anne can’t help but become involved in murder in their hometown of Birmingham

STEWART, Mike

Legal sleuth Tom McInnes solves crimes with nonstop action in Mobile

ALASKA

HENRY, Sue

State trooper Alex Jensen and his dogsled ‘musher’ girlfriend Jessie Arnold cover a lot of ground – much of it breathtaking, deadly wilderness

JONES, Stan

Raised in Anchorage by white parents, Inupiat trooper Nathan Active returns to the tribal village culture and the haunting, treeless tundra of his birth

LANE, Christopher

Inupiat Eskimo Police officer Ray Attla patrols his icy beat on a snowmobile, in these action-packed arctic procedurals

STABENOW, Dana

The real star of two series featuring gutsy, offbeat Aleut PI Kate Shugak and trooper Liam Campbell, is Alaska in all her stunning variety

STRALEY, John

Disillusioned with the legal profession, sardonic Cecil Younger washes up in the soggy splendor of Sitka, where he rights wrongs and writes haiku

ARIZONA

BROWNING, Sinclair

Trade Ellis, a part-Apache, female PI and working rancher, investigates murder

COLE, David

Cybersleuth and part-Hopi hacker Laura Winslow specializes in following the electronic trail of people wanting to stay hidden

JANCE, J. A.

Juggling the demands of her career and her family life, Sheriff Joanna Brady of Cochise County investigates crime and murder

MITCHELL, Kirk

Native American Bureau of Indian Affairs investigator Emmett Quanah Parker tracks crime on the reservation in Arizona and New Mexico with the help of FBI agent Anna Turnipseed

TALTON, Jon

Historian-turned-Deputy Sheriff David Mapstone works in Maricopa County to solve crimes and deal with internal politics

THORNTON, Betsy

A divorced New Yorker, Chloe Newcomb comes to the Dudley police department as a Crime Victim’s Counselor, but finds herself investigating crimes

WEBB, Betty

Former cop and current PI Lena Jones tracks murders in the various social levels of Phoenix

ARKANSAS

HARRIS, Charlaine

Lily Bard is a karate-kicking cleaning lady with a scarred past in small-town Shakespeare

 

HESS, Joan

Police Chief Arly Hanks seeks out the culprits of various crimes and mayhem in the sleepy Ozark town of Maggody

HESS, Joan

Bookseller Claire Malloy always finds herself mired in a good and true mystery in the college town of Farberville

CALIFORNIA, Northern

CRUM, Laura

Santa Cruz veterinarian/sleuth Gail McCarthy cares for large animals but finds plenty of opportunities to get knee-deep in murder

FOWLER, Earlene

Museum curator and folk art expert Benni Harper of fictional San Celina and her Police Chief husband Gabe Ortiz investigate crimes tied to family secrets in this small coastal town. The quilt patterns on the covers hold the clues!

KING, Laurie R.

San Francisco lesbian homicide detective Casey (Kate) Martinelli and her partner Alonzo Hawkin tackle the most dangerous cases with help from her lover, psychologist Lee Cooper, in these contemporary urban police procedurals

LESCROART, John

Attorney/sleuth Dismas “Diz” Hardy and SFPD detective Abe Glitsky often find themselves at odds in these fast-paced and twisty courtroom drama/police procedurals

MULLER, Marcia

The granddaddy of the tough-as-nails, hard-boiled female PI genre, featuring Sharon McCone

CALIFORNIA, Southern

BARRE, Richard

Ex-Vietnam vet, ex-surfer PI Wil Hardesty teases out the truth in crimes involving the fringe society of Santa Barbara

CONNELLY, Michael

Retired LAPD Hieronymous “Harry” Bosch‘s passion for justice and disdain for corruption land him in some tight spots

CRAIS, Robert

Wisecracking PI Elvis Cole and his lethal sidekick Joe Pike take on LA’s famous and infamous while trying to distance themselves from their troubled past

FARMER, Jerrilyn

Party planner and caterer Madeline Bean, who moves in moneyed Beverly Hills circles, meets up with plenty of crime, scandal and murder, along with a little romance

KAMINSKY, Stuart M.

Tough talking PI Toby Peters takes on murder and mayhem in WW II-era Hollywood – a series that combines fact with fiction and features a colorful cast of characters

MOSLEY, Walter

PI Easy Rawlins is black and shrewd – that’s why he is still walking and talking after 30 years (1930s-1960s) on the mean streets of LA

COLORADO

DAVIDSON, Diane Mott

Caterer and sleuth Goldy Bear delivers murder and recipes in cozy mysteries set in Aspen Meadows

DOSS, James D.

Ute tribal cop and rancher Charlie Moon fights crime in the Four Corners area

DUNNING, John

Cliff Janeway, Denver’s antiquarian bookseller and former homicide cop, tracks crime and rare books

CONNECTICUT

HALL, Parnell

Celebrity author and crossword puzzle maven cum detective Cora Felton always checks her clues down and across to solve the puzzle

HANDLER, David

Mitch Berger, former New York film critic, and policewoman Desiree Mitry, are quite an unlikely pair to be lovers and even more unlikely to become partners in solving crimes, but that they do through their idyllic little community of Dorset

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

ANDREWS, Robert

Hard-boiled police procedural featuring homicide detectives Frank Kearney and Jose Phelps

PELECANOS, George P.

Gritty, violent, realistic crime fiction set in inner-city DC, featuring African American PI Derek Strange, Irish-Catholic ex-cop Terry Quinn, and/or bartender Nick Stefanos

RICHMAN, Phyllis C

Food and murder come together in a cozy fashion as culinary editor Chas Wheatley turns the tables on criminals in the restaurants of the District of Columbia

ROOSEVELT, Elliott

A window opens on the political world of DC in the 30s and 40s as Eleanor Roosevelt uncovers murder in the White House and its environs

FLORIDA

BARTHOLOMEW, Nancy

Stripper Sierra Lavotini snoops out crime in Panama City

BUCHANAN, Edna

Crime reporter Britt Montero explores the seamy side of Miami

COHEN, Nancy

Saucy beautician Marla Shore plays amateur detective in Palm Heaven

GARCIA-AQUILERA, Carolina

Cuban American PI Lupe Solano solves crimes while negotiating the Cuban American scene in Miami

HIAASEN, Carl

Assorted criminals, detectives, and loony-toons create havoc throughout southern Florida

KAMINSKY, Stuart

Process server Lew Fonesca acts as an unpaid PI in Sarasota

PICKARD, Nancy

True crime writer Marie Lightfoot solves both literary mysteries and real crimes in Bahia Beach

SANDERS, Lawrence (the series is now authored by Vincent Lardo)

Millionaire PI Archy McNally solves crimes for the wealthy in Palm Beach

WHITE, Randy Wayne

Tough guy and marine biologist Doc Ford solves crimes and fights the bad guys on Sanibel Island

GEORGIA

BERRY, Linda

Policewoman Trudy Roundtree solves murders in Ogeechee with her Police Chief cousin Henry Huckabee in these folksy mysteries

BIRMINGHAM, Ruth

Female PI Sunny Childs prowls the mean streets of Atlanta

HARRIS, Charlaine

Librarian Aurora Teagarden uses her research skills in these cozy mysteries set in the Atlanta suburb of Lawrenceton

LANIER, Virginia

Amateur sleuth and bloodhound dog trainer Jo Beth Sidden solves murders in a small town near the Okefenokee Swamp using her dogs and her brains

SLAUGHTER, Karin

Coroner Dr. Sara Linton fights serial killers and sadistic murderers in these graphic mysteries set in a small rural Georgia town

TROCHECK, Kathy Hogan

Owner of the House Mouse cleaning business in Atlanta, Callahan Garrity snoops her way into murder along with her eccentric cleaning crew

HAWAII

KNIEF, Charles

Beautiful women always manage to get John Caine, a beachcomber PI, into deadly misadventures regardless of how determined he is to stay out of trouble

SHERIDAN, Juanita

Novelist Janice Cameron and her adopted sister, amateur detective Lily Wu, are drawn into murders and intrigue surrounding the native and Asian immigrant population

IDAHO

McCALL, Wendell (pseud. PEARSON, Ridley)

Los Angeles show-biz detective Chris Klick comes to the backcountry intent on fly fishing and relaxation in nature’s playground, but then the bullets begin to fly

ILLINOIS

BLAND, Eleanor Taylor

Police Detective Marti MacAlister's Lincoln Prairie (a stand-in for Waukegan) and Chicago both feature in her work as cases from both cities frequently intertwine

D’AMATO, Barbara

Freelance journalist Cat Marsala doesn’t just write about crime in Chicago, she solves them

HUNTER, Fred

Chicago cop Jeremy Ransom assists his elderly friend Emily Charters in solving murders around the city

KAMINSKY, Stuart

Experience has its advantages as the aging, but tough Chicago Detective Abe Lieberman investigates crimes, in the Jewish neighborhood on the Northside and the city at large

MATTHEWS, Alex

Oak Park psychotherapist Cassidy McCabe solves crimes as a sideline in a series that’s a combination of cozy (lots of cats) and urban action (her affluent suburb is next to the west side of Chicago)

PARETSKY, Sara

V.I. Warswaski puts the ‘i’ in PI as she unravels cases on the mean streets of Chicago and roots for her beloved Cubbies

WALKER, David J.

Malachy Foley, ex-lawyer turned PI, likes to tickle the ivories as well as tackling cases. In between jazz numbers he takes on cases to help friends and acquaintances around Evanston and the Chicago Area

INDIANA

DAMS, Jeanne M.

A historic cozy series that places the readers in the South Bend of the 1900s with unlikely detective, Hilda Johansson, a Swedish émigré working as a maid for a wealthy family

FROMMER, Sara Hoskinson

Amateur sleuth Joan Spencer finds that life in a small town can be just as dangerous when she solves murders and adapts to her old hometown

McINERNY, Ralph

Two brothers, Professor Roger Knight and PI Philip Knight, learn more than they bargained for as they solve crimes at Notre Dame

IOWA

GORMAN, Edward

Set in the late ‘50s and ‘60s, these nostalgic, small-town mysteries feature Sam McCain, lawyer and part time investigator

KANSAS

HAYES, J. M.

Comedy abounds in the lovingly described landscape of Buffalo Springs as Sheriff English and his half-brother Mad Dog fight mayhem and murder

WEIR, Charlene

Hampstead Police Chief Susan Wren finds that small town intrigues can be deadly

KENTUCKY 

McCAFFERTY, Barbara Taylor & Beverly Taylor Herald

Told in alternating voices, twin sisters and amateur sleuths Bert and Nan Tatum solve crimes and often cause double trouble around Louisville

 

McCAFFERTY, Taylor

Wise-cracking Haskell Blevins leaves the big city of Louisville to become the only PI in small-town Pigeon Fork

LOUISIANA

ABEL, Kenneth

Attorney Danny Chaisson contemporary New Orleans setting in transition and its less progressive outlying areas

ATKINS, Ace

New Orleans musicologist, ex-football player, and amateur PI Nick Travis investigates crimes that always seem to have a musical theme

BURKE, James Lee

Tough guy and sometime-police detective Dave Robicheaux fights crime in Cajun bayou country

COLLEY, Barbara

Cozy series a Garden District backdrop features Charlotte LaRue the owner of a cleaning service that caters to the District’s elite

HAMBLY, Barbara

In 1830 free man of color, musician, and amateur detective Benjamin January solves crimes in antebellum New Orleans

SMITH, Julie

Edgar winner Smith’s Skip Langdon series features a New Orleans police detective and the Talba Wallis series features an African-American PI/Poet

MAINE

BORTHWICK, J.S.

Murder becomes more than academic when English Fellow Sarah Deane and Professor Alex McKenzie discover trouble wherever they wander

GRAVES, Sarah.

For most people, the idea of home repairs SEEMS like murder, but to former Wall Street wiz Jacobia “Jake” Tiptree and her partner Ellie White, home repair IS murder. They may never know what condition the house will be in, but they can always be sure of a “spare” body floating around!

MEIER, Leslie.

Holiday-themed murder series featuring private investigator Lucy Stone

MARYLAND

CHAPPELL, Helen

Reporter Hollis Ball unravels mysteries in the Chesapeake Bay region with the help of her dead husband’s ghost

COCKEY, Tim

Witty undertaker/amateur detective Hitchcock Sewell solves crimes in urban, blue-collar Baltimore

LIPPMAN, Laura

Former reporter Tess Monaghan works as a medium-boiled PI in Baltimore

TALLEY, Marcia

Hannah Ives is a sassy, humorous amateur detective with quirky family, solving romantic mysteries in various Maryland locales.

WALKER, Blair S.

African American journalist and amateur detective Darryl Billups tracks serial killers in Baltimore

MASSACHUSETTS

BARNES, Linda

Tough-talking, tall, red-haired cabbie Carlotta Carlyle takes readers on a wild ride through the mean streets of Boston

BLANC, Nero.

Yet another series for crossword-lover fans as Private Investigator Roscoe Polycrates teams up with crossword-puzzle editor Belle Graham to super-sleuth across the Bay State

MINICHINO, Camille.

This is a series for those who like a little scientific fact along with their mystery or is that a little mysterious fact along with their science? Either way, retired physicist Gloria Lamerino uses her skills in both areas to get the job done

PAGE, Katharine Hall.

Caterer and minister¹s wife Faith Fairchild always seems to find trouble brewing in the most unlikely places: the basement, a lighthouse, even a bog. An added bonus is Faith’s wonderful New England recipes!

RIGGS, Cynthia.

For readers wanting an island escape, follow the adventures of ninety-year-old Victoria Trumbull as her sleuthing takes her across the lovely landscape of Martha’s Vineyard

MICHIGAN

ESTLEMAN, Loren D.

PI Amos Walker fights bad and badder guys for his clients in a decaying, corrupt Motor City

HAMILTON, Steve

Reluctant sleuth and ex-cop Alex McKnight unravels crime in Paradise, a hardscrabble small town in the Upper Peninsula

HOLTZER, Susan

Between computer consulting gigs, amateur sleuth Anneke Haagen investigates crime on the University of Michigan campus and in the Ann Arbor environs

MINNESOTA

ERICKSON, K.J.

Special Invesigator Marshall "Mars" Bahr may be nicknamed Candy Man, but he’s anything but sweet as he tracks murderers in Minneapolis and navigates the politics of city hall

FLUKE, Joanne

Bakery owner and sleuth Hannah Swenson serves up solutions to deadly events in Lake Eden in this small-town cozy series

GUNN, Elizabeth

Detective Jake Hines is from a small town, but he’s no bumpkin and it takes all his wits to stay ahead of the evil-doers in his blue-collar town of Rutherford

KRUEGER, William Kent

The rugged upper Minnesota lakes area provides an edgy, wilderness backdrop for the investigations of Cork O’Connor, sometime local sheriff, sometime PI

LOGAN, Chuck

Phil Broker, retired undercover cop from St. Paul, finds himself drawn into cases in the extremes of the northern Minnesota climate and terrain in this visceral series

SANDFORD, John

First as a Minneapolis homicide detective and then as an agent for the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Lucas Davenport pursues murderers against bleak wintery settings

MISSISSIPPI

HAINES, Carolyn

PI Sarah Booth Delaney is a failure to her zany family but with the help of a ghost, she makes investigating murder highly successful

HEGWOOD, Martin

PI Jack Delmas investigates crime in Biloxi and the Gulf Coast

MISSOURI

HARRISON, Janis

River City is lucky to have florist Bretta Solomon trumping the local sheriff and solving murders

 

MacPHERSON, Rett

Genealogist Torie O’Shea uses her research skills to ferret out prime suspects in New Kassel

 

MARCY, Jean

Private Investigator Meg Darcy, along with her best friend Patrick, and her lover, police detective Sarah Lindstrom, solves dangerous cases in St. Louis

McCLENDON, Lise

Private Detective Dorie Lennox and her boss, Amos Haddam, unravel mysteries among the dark streets, dance halls, and political world of 1939 Kansas City

RANDISI, Robert

Joe Keogh, St. Louis police detective, solves grisly murders from the darker side of the city with the arch

 

TEMPLE, Lou Jane

Chef Heaven Lee is a much-married ex-lawyer who cooks up food in her Kansas City restaurant while solving culinary crimes

MONTANA

BOWEN, Peter

Award-winning fiddler, Metis Indian, part-time cattle brand inspector Gabriel Du Pre adds sometimes-deputy to his resume, along with hard-drinking and fast-driving, in Toussaint at the foot of the Wolf Mountains

CRUMLEY, James

Before relocating to Texas, dissolute hardboiled P.I.’s Milo Milodragovich and C.W. Sughrue pursued sex, drugs and justice on the Big Sky’s lunatic fringe

HARRISON, Jamie

Home to Sheriff Jules Clement, Blue Deer, set between the Absaroka and Crazy Mountain ranges, offers fertile ground for this archaeologist turned lawman

PAXSON, John

In addition to his dogged investigations as a no-nonsense PI, Ben Tripp has worked as a rancher, carpenter, journalist, and guide to this breathtaking state

NEBRASKA

WILTSE, David

Ex-Secret Service agent Billy Tee returns to his Nebraska hometown where he finds deadly intrigue and murder behind the small town’s hatred and bigotry

NEVADA

BARTON, Dan

Standup comic/amateur detective Biff Kincaid investigates crime and murder on the Las Vegas comedy circuit

DOUGLAS, Carole Nelson

Feline sleuth Midnight Louie and his human sidekick, PR officer/amateur detective Temple Barr, investigate crime and murder in Las Vegas

PHILLIPS, Gary

African American Martha Chainey, former showgirl, mob courier and amateur detective, investigates casino crimes

NEW HAMPSHIRE

DUBOIS, Brendan.

As the only survivor of a disastrous experiment, former Department of Defense agent Lewis Cole is “rewarded” with a cover as an editor of a magazine. His new idyllic life in a charming seacoast town is often disrupted by suspense and intrigue

NEW JERSEY

COHEN, Jeffrey

Aaron Tucker, an aspiring screenwriter and stay-at-home dad, is an unlikely detective in these fast-paced humorous mysteries

EVANOVICH, Janet

Intrepid bounty hunter Stephanie Plum deals with Trenton’s criminal element, her wacky family and her romantic entanglements with equal aplomb

ISENBERG, Jane

Jersey City Community College professor Bel Barrett, a woman of a certain age, lets nothing (least of all hot flashes) get in the way of uncovering a murderer

MARSHALL, Evan

Widowed literary agent Jane Stuart, who lives in Shady Hills, is an amateur sleuth who solves mysteries with the help of her cat Winky

ROSENFELT, David

Independently wealthy Paterson attorney Andy Carpenter picks and chooses his cases and serves as an engaging narrator for this series of legal thrillers

SHERMAN, Beth

Enjoy a day at the beach without sand and sunburn with Anne Hardaway, a ghostwriter and amateur sleuth who lives on the Jersey shore

NEW MEXICO

BREWER, Steve

Albuquerque PI Bubba Mabry, a self-described “recovering redneck”, lives and works in a different Southwest: his world has strip malls, take-out pizza and skin heads

HAVILL, Steven

Undersheriff Bill Gastner and Chief Deputy Estelle Reyes-Guzman investigate crime and murder as they struggle with the changes in their small rural town

MCGARRITY, Michael

A desire to provide a sense of justice to the cases that cross his path keeps Kevin Kerney on the right track during a long career in law enforcement

SHELTON, Connie

Female PI and CPA Charlie Parker partners with her brother in a PI agency to solve crimes and murders

SLATER, Susan

Native American psychologist/amateur detective Ben Pecos investigates crime and murder among the Navajo and Tewa Indians in New Mexico

NEW YORK

BENJAMIN, Carol Lea

Rachel Alexander, dog trainer and PI, lives in Greenwich Village with a pit bull named Dash (after Dashiell Hammett) and often solves crimes involving other dogs and dog owners

BLOCK, Lawrence

Matthew Scudder, initially an angst-ridden, alcoholic ex-cop and unlicensed PI, has changed with the times but still continues to investigate New York City crimes

BOWEN, Rhys

When fiery Irish immigrant Molly Murphy lands on Ellis Island in 1901, her ambition is to become a PI. Her efforts in that direction make entertaining reading

DEAVER, Jeffrey

Forensic techniques are at the forefront of the Lincoln Rhyme mysteries as the quadriplegic criminalist uses his encyclopedic knowledge of hidden NYC to find killers

FAIRSTEIN, Linda

Like her creator, Alexandra Cooper is an Assistant D.A. and head of the Sex Crimes Unit in Manhattan. Fairstein’s first-hand experience lends her novels a nail-biting authenticity

GLASS, Leslie

NYPD detective April Woo is a fish out of water when she is transferred from her Chinatown beat to the Upper West Side. She struggles to be both a tough, effective cop and submissive Chinese daughter

McBAIN, Ed

Although the city in the 87th precinct novels is called ‘Isola’, it is unmistakably New York City that is being described in McBain’s long-running police procedural series

THOMPSON, Victoria

The contrasting lives of the rich and the poor in Gilded Age New York City add depth to these mysteries featuring Sarah Brandt, a midwife whose work puts her in contact with all levels of society

VACHSS, Andrew H.

Burke, a former soldier of fortune, works outside the law as a self-appointed vigilante in the urban jungle of NYC, targeting child abusers and pedophiles in this hardest of hard boiled series

NORTH CAROLINA

BALLARD, Mignon

Whimsical cozies featuring angelic sleuth Augusta Goodnight, who assists various amateur detectives in unraveling mysteries in the rural Carolinas

MALONE, Michael

Police procedurals set in small-town North Carolina, featuring police chief Cuddy Magnum and Justin Savile

MARON, Margaret

Small-town judge Deborah Knott dispenses justice and solves crimes in rural NC, surrounded by a colorful cast of family and friends

SHABER, Sarah R.

Forensic historian and college professor Simon Shaw digs up the past while getting to the bottom of crimes in and around Raleigh

OHIO

GAUS, Paul L.

Sheriff Bruce Robertson, Pastor Caleb Troyer and Professor Michael Brandon uncover dark deeds behind the bucolic setting of an Amish community in Central Ohio, giving a fascinating look into Amish society

HIGHTOWER, Lynn S.

Detective Sonora Blair handles homicides and home life, as the single mom struggles to solve murders on the Cincinnati streets and keep her family together

ROBERTS, Les

Between munching down at delis and various Cleveland eateries, Slovenian-American Milan Jacovich investigates cases and rights the wrongs

OKLAHOMA

BERNHARDT, William

Tulsa attorney Ben Kincaid specializes in defending clients with the odds stacked against them

COOPER, Susan Rogers

Sheriff Milt Kovak of Prophesy County, Oklahoma understands the criminal mind better than he understands the women in his life

OREGON

FREEMAN, Mary

Landscaper and amateur sleuth Rachel O’Connor digs for clues in the rich soil and gentle maritime climate of bucolic Rain County, in these gardening cozies

WILHELM, Kate

When not charging around the state to defend the innocent and catch the guilty, crusading attorney Barbara Holloway calls the liberal town of Eugene home

PENNSYLVANIA

HADDAM, Jane

Gregor Demarkian is the formidable retired head of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit. With complex characters and plots, Haddam’s Demarkian novels don’t shy away from controversial subjects and big themes

MARTIN, Nancy

When Nora Blackbird, a Philadelphia debutante fallen on hard times, takes a job as a society columnist, she doesn’t expect the dead bodies that come her way

MYERS, Tamar

For a real sense of Pennsylvania Dutch country lifestyles and tasty recipes besides, the Magdalena Yoder light mysteries can’t be beat

ROBERTS, Gillian

As if teaching at a Philadelphia prep school weren’t exciting enough, Amanda Pepper is frequently drawn into the cases being investigated by C.K. Mackenzie, her policeman boyfriend

SCOTTOLINE, Lisa

Scottoline’s Edgar Award-winning series features the all female Rosato & Associates law firm, operated by Bennie Rosato

STROHMEYER, Sarah

Though Bubbles Yablonsky is a successful beautician in the steel country town of Lehigh, she finds she has an unexpected talent for investigative journalism (and crime solving)

SOUTH CAROLINA

BROWN, Steve

Former lifeguard now private detective Susan Chase investigates crime in costal SC contemporary themes and Gen-X appeal

CHILDS, Laura

Cozies set in the tea shops of Charleston and featuring tea purveyor Theodosia Browning

DELOACH, Nora

African-American mother and daughter team, Candi and Simone Covington, solve cozy mysteries in small town SC

HART, Carolyn G.

Annie and Max Darling, sleuths and owners of the Death on Demand mystery bookstore, unravel mysteries in the South Carolina Low Country

SOUTH DAKOTA

ADAMS, Harold

Evocative, homespun, Depression-era mysteries featuring Carl Wilcox, ex-con, sign painter, and sometime investigator

TENNESSEE 

McCRUMB, Sharyn

Legends, folktales and modern life merge in these highly textured Appalachian mysteries featuring Sheriff Spencer Arrowood

 

VILLATORO, Marcos M.

Detective Ramilia Chacón of the Nashville Homicide Unit solves grisly murders in these police procedurals

 

WOMACK, Steve

Police reporter turned private eye, Harry James Denton investigates crime on the rough streets of Nashville

TEXAS

ABBOTT, Jeff

Texas judge Whit Mosley and police detective Claudia Salazar investigate murder in the Gulf Coast town of Port Leo

ALBERT, Susan Wittig

Former Houston lawyer/herbal shop owner/amateur detective China Bayles investigates crime and murder in the Texas Hill Country

KAHN, Sharon

Rabbi’s widow and amateur detective Rudy Rothman keeps her eye on things in and around her small Jewish community and manages to solve crimes

LANSDALE, Joe R.

Two friends Hap Collins, a heterosexual white man and Leonard Pine, a gay African American man, team up to solve crimes in East Texas

RIORDAN, Rick

San Antonio PI and part-time English professor Jackson “Tres” Navarre investigates crime while attempting to prove himself as a teacher

SMITH, Barbara Burnett

Cozy series set in Purple Sage features wife and mother Jolie Wyatt, who’s also a radio reporter and aspiring writer

VERMONT

LEITZ, David

Sportsman Max Addams is always fishing - fishing for supper, fishing for clues, fishing for bodies. . .

MAYOR, Archer

Joe Gunther is a hard-boiled gumshoe who's more at home in Vermont's rugged mountains and small towns than in the big city where he stalks the bad guys.

WRIGHT, Nancy Means

Being a single mother running a Vermont farm sounds like more than enough to keep Ruth Willmarth plenty busy, but somehow murder and intrigue always seem to come her way

VIRGINIA

BROWN, Rita Mae

Cozy whodunits set in the Virginia Piedmont, featuring postmistress Harry Haristeen and her cat Mrs. Murphy

CORNWELL, Patricia

Dark thrillers featuring forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta who is often involved in the hunt for serial killers

MCCRUMB, Sharyn

Forensic anthropologist and amateur sleuth Elizabeth MacPherson solves mysteries in the Appalachian region

MCMILLAN, Ann

During the Civil War, a widowed white nurse, Narcissa Powers, and an African American healer, Judah Daniel, solve mysteries together in Richmond

WASHINGTON

COLBERT, Curt

Gumshoe Jake Rossiter and his Gal Friday, Miss Jenkins, duke it out with the bad guys in this hardboiled series that vividly evokes Seattle in the 1940’s

DAHEIM, Mary

Newspaper editor Emma Lord is a softboiled sleuth in the little ski town of Alpine, while Judith McMonigle Flynn’s cozies are set in her Seattle B&B

DERESKE, Jo

Librarian Miss Wilhelmina Zukas ferrets out clues in the picturesque North Puget Sound town of Bellehaven

EMERSON, Earl

Hardboiled PI Thomas Black walks the mean, wet streets of Seattle, while tough-baked fire chief Mac Fontana snuffs out crime in the nearby foothills.

FORD, G.M.

In two Seattle series, wise guy PI Leo Waterman stumbles after slimeballs, while crime writer Frank Corso confronts pure evil in the slick city streets

HOYT, Richard

Although based in Seattle, offbeat detectives John Denson and Willie Prettybird sleuth all over the Northwest in this sly, softboiled series

MOODY, Skye

Sassy U.S. Fish and Wildlife agent Venus Diamond solves crimes while protecting the fragile environment of Western Washington’s wild places

PEARSON, Ridley

Police sergeant Lou Boldt and forensic psychologist Daphne Matthews make a formidable team as they comb Seattle for clues

WALTER, Jess

Troubled homicide detective Caroline Mabry looks for answers in Spokane’s seamy side, in this gritty, hardboiled series

WEST VIRGINIA

BILLHEIMER, John

Federal transportation inspector, Owen Allison, investigates crime and corruption in rural West Virginia

WISCONSIN

HOUSTON, Victoria

Around Loon Lake people catch more than fish, as small town Police Chief Lew Ferris and townsfolk net the bad guys

LOGUE, Mary

After the death of her husband, Claire Watkins moves with her daughter to western Wisconsin to become a Deputy Sheriff, but murder and mayhem follow.

WYOMING

BOX, C. J.

Game warden Joe Pickett, an everyman hero, patrols the rugged grandeur of the Wyoming high country, enforcing the laws of man and nature

COEL, Margaret

Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden and Father John O’Malley investigate crimes on the Wind River Indian Reservation in a series that offers an authentic look at Native Americans, past and present

SWIFT, Virginia

Mustang Sally Adler, a country singer with a past, returns to her hometown of Laramie to begin a new career as history professor – and amateur detective

NOTE

No series have been listed for Delaware, North Dakota or Rhode Island.

This bibliography has been developed by members of the RUSA CODES Readers Advisory Committee:

Shelley Ekeroth

Mary Jo Eyth

Joanna Hazelden

Deanne Holshouser

Merle Jacob

Jon J. Kadus

Heather Lawson

Carol Nahrwold

Melissa Rice

Joyce Saricks

Jacqueline Sasaki

Barry Trott

David Wright

May 2004

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