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Cops Crime Fiction Booklist
Page Modified: June 1, 2007
Books about Cops - Police Procedurals.
A list of books, many of which received at least one starred review (indicating a work of unusual merit) from the following review sources: Booklist (BL), Publisher's Weekly (PW), Kirkus, and Library Journal (LJ). Additional titles of interest may be included on this list. Titles are alphabetically by author.
Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine, unless noted.- All the Dead Were Strangers
Author: Black, Ethan
Publisher: Ballantine $ 24 ISBN: 0345439007 Date: 2001
PW
From the author of Irresistible and The Broken Hearts Club comes the third gripping thriller featuring NYPD detective Conrad Voort, who now must tackle his most challenging case--and the most terrifying killer--of his career.
Suggested Reading: Serial Killers
Updated 7/16/01 - Whispers in the Dark: Marti
Macalister
Author: Bland, Eleanor Taylor
Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312203799 Date: 2001
Booklist
PW
Homicide detective Marti MacAlister, and her partner, Matthew Jessenovik, are assigned a most unusual case--all they have of their victim is an arm. Meanwhile, Marti's troubled best friend Sharon is lured to the Bahamas by a man who makes Sharon's friends and family uneasy.
Suggested Reading: African American Stars
Updated 10/2/01 - Saving Room for Dessert
Author: Constantine, K.C.
Publisher: Mysterious $ 23.95 ISBN: 0892967633 Date: 2002
Kirkus
Booklist
PW
For former Air Force veteran and ex-mall security guard William Rayford, making the cut as Rocksburg's first African-American cop fulfilled one of his life's ambitions, even though it sometimes still gives him a case of the Steel City Blues. Rayford well knows this town's dark history of prejudice, but dealing with it is something else.
Suggested Reading: All Stars
Updated 7.22.02 - Partners
Author: Cray, David
Publisher: Carroll & Graf $ 25 ISBN: 0786712929 Date: 2004
LJ
In this gripping, new police procedural, the enthusiastically reviewed Cray again lays bare the ambitions and betrayals among New York City's police detectives at the same time that he explores the darker side of the criminal mind.
Updated 2.2.04 - Stalker
Author: Kellerman, Faye
Publisher: Morrow $ 25 ISBN: 0688156134 Date: 2000
PW
Cynthia Decker may be a rookie, but as the daughter of Lieutenant Peter Decker, one of LA's finest, she's no stranger to the cop's life. Her intensely protective father isn't happy that she joined the force but agrees to a shaky truce. Unfortunately, that's all about to change. What he doesn't know is that a menacing stalker has insinuated himself into Cynthia's life.
Updated 7/6/00 - The Son of John Devlin
Author: Kenney, Charles
Publisher: Ballantine Price: $ 22.95 ISBN: 0345432940 Date: 1999
PW
A riveting read as powerful as any episode of NYPD Blues or Homicide. When a letter surfaces from his long-dead father, detective Jack Devlin is pushed to reopen old wounds . . . and perhaps bring the Boston police force to its knees.
- Dark Coulee
Author: Logue, Mary
Publisher: Walker $ 23.95 ISBN: 0802733514 Date: 2000
Kirkus
After moving with her daughter to rural Wisconsin after her husband's death, Claire Watkins is enjoying being a small-town cop. But the murder of a well-liked citizen forces Claire to uncover truths that others want to keep hidden at any cost.
Updated 9/20/00 - The Big Bad City: 87th Precinct
Author: McBain, Ed
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Price: $ 25 ISBN: 0684855127 Date: 1999
PW
Ed McBain, master of the tough and funny urban cop thriller, returns with this witty, wry depiction of life and death in the 87th Precinct.
- The Last Dance: 87th Precinct
Author: McBain, Ed
Publisher: Simon & Schuster List Price: $ 25 ISBN: 0684855135 Date: 1999
PW
Kirkus
Following the success of The Big Bad City, crime fiction master author McBain delivers a gritty and witty depiction of life and death in the 87th Precinct.
- Hark!: A Novel of the 87th Precinct
Author: McBain, Ed
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 24.95 ISBN: 0743250354 Date: 2004
Booklist PW
With the same electric style that continues to garner raves, McBain again fuses gritty crime narrative, dead-on comic timing, and rich characterization to deliver one of his most satisfying capers to date. The detectives of the 87th Precinct must scramble to foil the Deaf Man's ingeniously meticulous scheme and stop him from committing the perfect crime.
Updated 7.19.04 - Under
the Color of
Law: Kevin Kerney
Author: McGarrity, Michael
Publisher: Dutton $ 23.95 ISBN: 0525946047 Date: 2001
Kirkus
When Kevin Kerney is installed as Santa Fe's new police chief, he's welcomed with the brutal stabbing of the wife of a U.S. ambassador. Before Kerney can investigate, an FBI antiterrorism team takes over the case--forcing Kerney to watch from the sidelines as the case is closed with trumped-up evidence. Refusing to accept the FBI's whitewash, Kerney's hunt for the truth becomes more sinister.
Updated 5/17/01 - Once In, Never Out
Author: Mahoney, Dan
Publisher: St Martin's List Price: $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312182287 Date: 1998
Kirkus
New York Detective Brian McKenna is on a high-priority search for an Irish-born waitress, Meaghan Maher; her brother, a priest, is an aide to the Cardinal of the Archdiocese of New York. McKenna tracks Meaghan to Iceland, but soon is chasing a man with ties to Ireland, the NYPD and a series of unsolved murders linked with other bombings. Now, McKenna knows the St. Patrick's Day Parade will be the bomber's next target - unless McKenna finds him first.
- Bellows Falls
Author: Mayor, Archer
Publisher: Mysterious List Price: $ 22 ISBN: 08902966378 Date: 1997
PW
NYTBR Notable
Vermont homicide detective Joe Gunther takes on a disturbing case of spousal abuse, police corruption and murder in his latest outing. Asked to conduct a minor Internal Affairs investigation in Bellows Falls, Gunther has to work quickly to separate fact from fiction - but nothing he's heard will prepare him for what he's about to see.
- Tucker Peak
Author: Mayor, Archer
Publisher: Mysterious $ 23.95 ISBN: 0892967242 Date: 2001
PW
An overworked sheriff and a string of condo burglaries at a luxurious upstate ski resort have Lt. Joe Gunther and the newly-minted Vermont Bureau of Investigation digging deep for clues. But it doesn't take long for Joe to find the most likely thief missing--and his girlfriend dead.
Updated 10/11/01 - Gatekeeper
Author: Mayor, Archer
Publisher: Mysterious $ 23.95 ISBN: 0892967668 Date: 2003
Booklist
Fresh off his critically acclaimed, and New York Times Notable Book, The Sniper's Wife, Mayor returns with another classic Joe Gunther novel, the 15th in the series.
Updated 10.8.03 - The Surrogate Thief
Author: Mayor, Archer
Publisher: Mysterious $ 24.95 ISBN: 089296815x Date: 2004
Kirkus PW
The latest installment in the classic Joe Gunther series finds the Vermont detective on his most personal and dangerous case yet.
Updated 9.18.04 - A Cruel Season for Dying
Author: Moore, Harker
Publisher: Penzler $ 24.94 ISBN: 0892967749 Date: 2003
Booklist
In this chilling series debut, Japanese-American homicide detective James Sakura must hunt down a brutal killer stalking the streets of New York. When an eight-year-old girl becomes the next victim, Sakura must use all of his instincts to see into the heart of a monster who believes he is waging a war against God.
Updated 5.29.03 - Death in Paradise
Author: Parker, Robert B.
Publisher: Putnam $ 23.95 ISBN: 0399147799 Date: 2001
PW
Detective Jesse Stone's post-baseball game celebration in the idyllic New England hamlet of Paradise is interrupted when the body of a teenage girl is found shot and dumped in the lake. It soon becomes clear the girl had a taste for the wild life--her parents never report her missing and don't claim her body. All Jesse has to go on to find her killer is a school ring on a gold chain and a hunch.
Updated 7/18/01 - Bliss Jumps the Gun
Author: Sloan, Bob
Publisher: Foul Play List Price: $ 22.95 ISBN: 0393047504 Date: 1999
PW
New York City homicide detective Lenny Bliss's biggest mistake wasn't bungee-jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge. The mistake was handing his gun to the previous jumper, a young Chinese girl who has now disappeared.
- The Middle of Nowhere:
Lenny Bliss
Author: Sloan, Bob
Publisher: Atlantic $ 23 ISBN: 0871138727 Date: 2003
Kirkus
In its starred review, Publishers Weekly called Bliss Jumps the Gun "the book for the mystery reader who's looking for something fresh and strong." Now Sloan has once again created an intricate plot and characters that will keep readers on the edge on their seat.
Updated 3.13.03 - Black Water Transit
Author: Stroud, Carsten
Publisher: Norton $ 24.95 ISBN: 0385335784 Date: 2001
Kirkus
PW
Acclaimed nationally bestselling author Stroud pens a novel of suspense that draws on the NYPD and that city's meanest streets. A tough, gritty look at what happens when a pretty good guy takes on the really bad ones.
Suggested Reading: Hard-Boiled/Noir
Updated 6/21/01
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