The other day Bookstagramer thecrimebookshelf asked about “auto-buy” authors. The bad thing about being an older reader is that many of your “auto-buy” or “must-read” authors have passed away. And while in the case of Robert Ludlum and Tony Hillerman their characters have lived on through other writers, fearing its not the same, I have avoided their books.
Four Past “Must-Read” Authors
The four writers picked are:
Tony Hilerman – Joe Leaphorn – Jim Chee
The Blessing Way – Leaphorn and Chee # 1
Tony Hillerman (1925-2008) Through the years I tried to not miss one of his Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee books I was loved Jim’s battle to live in a modern world and still be true to his ancestral roots. I think I may have missed one or two books in the 17 book series.
Robert Ludlum
The Chancellor Manuscript
While most people know who Robert Ludlum ( 1927-2001) is because of his Jason Bourne novels, I loved his other works just as much. Books like The Chancellor Manuscript, The Holcroft Covenant and The Matarese Circle were among my favorites.
Stuart Kaminsky – Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov
Death of a Dissident – Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov #1
Stuart Kaminsky (1934-2009) wrote a ton of books! His two main series featured Toby Peters and Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov. Peter’s is a private investigator and the stories are set in 1940s Hollywood and involve Hollywood actors and actresses. Of the 26 books in the series I have read only one! The book I read was You Bet Your Life and featured The Marx Brothers.
Porfiry Rostnikov is an Inspector for the Moscow police department. I have read 14 of the 16 books in the series. (Note to self read Hard Currency and Blood and Rubles). The weightlifting Ed McBain reading Rostnikov is a wonderful characters as are the other members of his team and family! The stories are always engaging and overall it is a fantastic series
William G Tapply – Brady Coyne
Death at Charity’s Point – Brady Coyne #1 Amazon
William G. Tapply (1940-2009) Tapply’s Brady Coyne series consists of 28 books .Brady is a Boston attorney whose few private clients are wealthy Bostonians. Wealthy clients with big problems that of times involve murder! I have read 21 of the 28 books. As I sit here I am looking at the final book in the series Outwitting Trolls which I have yet to read. It has been sitting on my bookshelves for many years. Maybe I have been subconsciously putting off reading it because it is the last book! But hey when I finish it I still need to ward six books to finish the series!! I think I’ll go for it.
The bottom line is Brady is a terrific character and the books are always great reads. Tapply also write nonfiction books on fishing and wildlife. And Brady usually went fishing at some point in his books. He often went with his friend Doc Adams the lead character in Rick Boyer’s “Doc” Adams series which I’ll write about on another day!!
While I doubt few of you will go out and read any of the books in these series I don’t think you’d be disappointed if you did!! Enjoy!
P.S. As you can see above 2008 and 2009 were rotten years for my “must-read” authors!