Policemen To Combat Wits With - more mysteries

These are strictly American policemen and women at work. These books are not "cozy", in fact some have quite graphic violence.

Suzanne Chazin - With a twist on regular police stories, her series stars Georgia Skeeham, a fire marshal in NYC.  I held my breath and turned the pages as fast as possible.  These are non-stop excitement.


Patricia Cornwell - When it comes to forensics any list worth its salt has to include Cornwell's Dr. Kay Scarpetta and also Kathy Reichs' Temperance Brennan.


Jeffery Deaver - Well known for his Lincoln Rhyme series he now has a new heroine, Kathryn Dance, a brilliant interrogator and body language expert with the California Bureau of Investigation.  She first appeared in the Lincoln Rhyme book, Cold Moon, and I was hoping we would see more of her.


Tony Hillerman - This Grand Master of mystery writing has 18 books (and they are all great) featuring his two characters Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, Navaho tribal police officers.  Some books feature one or the other and many feature both.


JA Jance - She has three different characters, but my favorites are JP Beaumont, a Seattle policeman and Joanna Brady, a sheriff in Arizona. In two of her books they even work together.


JA Konrath - The Jack Daniels series.  "Jack" is a female Lt. in the Chicago Violent Crimes Division.  She's hard-nosed, has gray in her hair and is a good read.  All the books have titles of drinks. The first in the series is Whisky Sour.  Start there.


Archer Mayor - If you live in Vermont and you like mysteries surely you are reading the Joe Gunther series already.  If you don't live in the Green Mountain State these books will make you want to visit.


Ed McBain - McBain started his 87th Precinct series in 1956 and the last was published just after his death in 2005.  They are considered THE definition of the "procedural" due to the accuracy of the police work described.  They are dead-pan and violent.


Colin Wilcox - Here is a very good "procedural" writer.  His character, Frank Hastings, is a co-commander of the SFPD Homicide division.  Wilcox is not as well known as many current "hot" authors, but his books are solid.


Stuart Woods - Woods has many non-series books that seldom disappoint and a series character Holly Barker, a former military police commander and now a police chief in a small Florida town.

By the way - did you know that September is the National Get A Library Card Month?  Your local library will have books by these authors, and if they don't they will get them for you on InterLibrary Loan.  Use your library!