Top 20 American crime writers
From gripping psychological thrillers and forensic mysteries to fast-paced legal dramas and detective fiction, American crime writers have produced some of the genre’s most memorable books and characters. Here, we take a look at 20 American crime writers and some of the standout novels that have made their mark on crime fiction.
Jeffrey Deaver
The author of over thirty novels, Deaver has topped the bestseller lists around the world. His most well-known characters are Lincoln Rhyme, a quadriplegic detective, and Amelia Sachs, his protégé.
In The Vanished Man, a killer flees the scene of a homicide at a prestigious Manhattan music school and locks himself in a classroom. Within minutes, the police have him surrounded. Then a scream rings out, followed by a gunshot. The police break down the door. The room is empty. Rhyme and Sachs are called in to investigate.
J.L. Carrell
Jennifer Lee Carrell is the author of three novels and numerous articles. Her crime thrillers feature Shakespeare scholar and theatre director Kate Stanley.
In Shakepeare’s Secret, on the eve of the Globe’s production of Hamlet, Kate Stanley’s eccentric mentor Rosalind Howard gives her a mysterious golden box, claiming to have made a ground-breaking discovery. Before she can reveal it to Kate, the Globe burns to the ground and Roz is found dead — murdered in the strange manner of Hamlet’s father. Inside the box Kate finds the first piece in a Shakespearean puzzle, setting her on a deadly, high-stakes treasure hunt.
Michael Connelly
Michael Connelly has written twenty-nine novels and numerous short stories, notably featuring LAPD Detective Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch and criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller.
The ninth book in the Harry Bosch series, Lost Light, sees the new PI investigating the case of a production assistant murdered four years earlier during a film set robbery. The LAPD thinks the stolen money was used to finance a terrorist training camp. Thoughts of the original murder victim were lost in the federal zeal, and when Bosch decides to reinvestigate, he quickly falls foul of both his old colleagues and the FBI.
Tom Clancy
Seventeen of Tom Clancy’s novels were bestsellers, and more than 100 million copies of his books are in print – many featuring series favourite Jack Ryan who worked for the CIA before becoming President of the United States.
In The Bear and the Dragon, newly-elected President Ryan has found life has gotten no easier: in Moscow, someone has tried to take out the chairman of the former KGB with a rocket-propelled grenade. Things are unstable in Russia, but even more disturbing may be the identities of the potential assassins. Were they political enemies, the Russian Mafia, disaffected former KGB? Or, Ryan wonders, is something far more dangerous at work here?
Harlan Coben has over 60 million books in print. His series kicked off featuring former basketball player turned sports agent Myron Bolitar.
Play Dead finds ex fashion model and successful business woman Laura Ayars’s perfect world shattered on her honeymoon as her sports superstar husband goes for a swim and never returns. But what has happened to David – can he really be dead? Laura begins to uncover a conspiracy which reaches deep into the past, and is now slowly beginning to destroy everyone involved. Someone will do anything to keep Laura away from the awful truth – and she has no idea who she can trust…
Read more: Where to start with Harlan Coben
Jeff Abbott
Jeff Abbott has also penned over fifteen novels and a myriad of short stories, many featuring CIA Agent Sam Capra.
In Panic, one of Abbott’s standalone novels, Evan Casher had a perfect life: great parents, his first girlfriend and a huge online following for his films. But when he comes home from school to find his father missing and his mother dead, Evan’s going to learn the hard way that the people he trusted most were the people he knew least.
Michael Crichton was a writer and filmmaker, best known as the author of Jurassic Park and the creator of ER.
In State of Fear, a physicist dies in Paris after performing a laboratory experiment for a beautiful visitor. In the jungles of Malaysia, a mysterious buyer purchases deadly cavitation technology, built to his specifications. In Vancouver, a small research submarine is leased for use in the waters of New Guinea. And in Tokyo, an intelligence agent tries to understand what it all means. A fast-paced techno-thriller.
Linwood Barclay
Linwood Barclay is the bestselling author of thirteen novels, four of which feature father Zack Walker.
In No Time for Goodbye, Cynthia Archer awakes with a nasty hangover and a feeling she is going to have an even nastier confrontation with her mom and dad. But then she discovers the house is empty, with no sign of her parents or younger brother Todd. In the blink of an eye, without any explanation, her family has simply disappeared. Twenty-five years later Cynthia is still haunted by unanswered questions until a letter arrives that chills Cynthia to the core…
Jed Rubenfeld
The author of two novels, Jed Rubenfeld is an expert on constitutional law, privacy, and the First Amendment.
The Interpretation of Murder is inspired by Sigmund Freud’s 1909 visit to America, accompanied by protégé Carl Jung. When a young debutante is discovered bound, whipped and strangled in a luxurious apartment overlooking the city, the mayor of New York calls upon Freud to use his revolutionary new ideas to help the surviving victim recover her memory of the attack, and solve the crime. But there are those in very high places determined to stop the truth coming out and Freud’s startling theories taking root on American soil.
Gillian Flynn
A former television critic for Entertainment Weekly, Gillian Flynn’s novels are all standalone psychological thrillers.
In Gone Girl Amy Dunne mysteriously disappears her husband Nick is left wondering what he really knew about her. The police suspect Nick. Amy’s friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn’t true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they weren’t made by him. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone. So what really did happen to Nick’s beautiful wife?