Here is the second installment of Authors That You Might Want to Check Out.  Once again they are in no particular order.

John Sandford, a pseudonym for John Camp a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, writes about two different, but related characters, Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers. Davenport is an independently wealthy former computer game developer that across the Prey series is Chief of Detectives with the Minneapolis MN police department and moves to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.  His charm is his willingness to cut a few corners in the process of solving crimes and his association with interesting characters, not the least of which is a Catholic nun.  Over the years Davenport fathers a child out of wedlock, has his life saved by a surgeon whom he marries, has two more children and adopts another. Virgil Flowers is a three-time divorced detective with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and reports to Davenport.  Flowers usually is working cases in out-state Minnesota and is more than a bit unconventional.  He does not like to carry his gun, usually trailers his fishing boat with him as he moves about the state and often ignores what Davenport says.  The last Flowers Book, Shock Wave, was just released and concerns the attempts to stop a “Big Box” store from coming to a small town and in addition to being a solid mystery, explores the issues when large retailers move into rural America.  Earlier Sandford wrote a short series of books featuring Kidd, an artist, computer wizard and professional criminal.  The books are fast paced and enjoyable, but as they were written a few years ago, the technology is out-of date.

A part native american former law enforcement officer, Cork O’Conner, is the protagnanist in the books by William Kent Krueger.  The books are set in northern Minnesota – on the Iron Range – and Krueger weaves O’Conner’s native american heritage, personal life, his time as a law enforcement office and out of that position throughout the series.  At least once in every novel O’Conner visits Henry Meloux, the Ojibwe medicine man and Cork’s spiritual adviser, and we are treated to a little Native American lore.  Krueger’s character development is superb as he deals with the sometimes tension between the Native American population and the non-native group and mixes very different personalities in each book.  I read his latest book, Northwest Angle, yesterday and once again Krueger did not disappoint.

Another prolific writer with an interesting mix of character that serve as the centerpieces of his books is Stuart Woods.  They range from Stone Barrington, an ex New York policeman turned lawer whose friend is Dino Bacchetti, a New York Police Lieutenant, on to Holly Baker and Ed Eagle .  Barrington pilots his own plane, drives a armored Mercedes, has terrible luck with women – his latest is killed a few days after they married – and Bacchetti’s ex father-in-law is reputed to have mob ties. And that’s just the beginning. With Holly Baker, a beautiful ex Major in the Army, small town police chief and on to an elite group within the FBI, we have her Doberman Pincer – Daisy – her father Ham, ex-military and a crack shot, that mix in with rotating cast of characters.  Native American Lawyer, Ed Eagle one of the top criminal defense lawyers in the country as you might expect repeatedly gets involved in cases where his client is not guilty. In each of these series, while not necessary to read the Barrington, Baker and Eagle books in the order they were written and published, there is carry-through which makes reading them in order a more satisfying experience.  An interesting aside, the author, Stuart Woods, is a pilot and the planes that Stone Barrington flies in the books parallel the planes that Woods actually owns or owned and flew.

Over the years I have read and completely enjoyed Michael Connolly’s books.  Rather than go through all of them I will talk here about the last three that I’ve read.  The lastest one, The Fifth Witness, features Mickey Haller, a defense lawyer’s defense of an accused killer.  Well written and I guarantee that you will not see the ending coming.  Prior to that I read The Reversal where Defense attorney Mickey Haller changes sides to prosecute the high-profile retrial of a child murderer, with LAPD Detective Bosch as lead investigator. Third I read Nine Dragons a somewhat dark novel where Detective Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch is on a mission to rescue his daughter from the back-streets of Hong Kong.  Don’t get me wrong, while Nine Dragons is a little dark it is a great read. Haller and Bosch are recurring protagonists in Connolly’s novels but are not the only ones.  I think I have read everything Connolly has written and find his writing as good as it gets.  A new Harry Bosch novel, The Drop, is due out November 28th and I have it pre-ordered to my Kindle.

I would be remiss if I did not talk about Tony Hillerman.  Hillerman passed away in 2008 but left an amazing legacy of novels about two Navajo policemen, Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee.  The Leaphorn/Chee books, and there are 18 of them, are sited in the Four Corners area in Northern Arizona. In addition to the police work aspects of the books Hillerman explores Navajo heritage and beliefs. Particularlly with Chee, Hillerman explores the areas of Traditional Singers and other beliefs including the Sweat Lodge.  If you have not tried Hillerman you owe it yourself to give one a try.

That’s it for today.  There are others and there might be a Chapter 3 to this saga.