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Jo A. Hiestand

Goodreads Author

Born

in The United States

Website

http://www.johiestand.com/

Genre

Mystery

Member Since

May 2010

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/anglophilejo

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Jo A. Hiestand is the author of two British mystery series. While this may not seem so unusual, Jo was born in -- and still lives in -- St. Louis, Missouri.
To get around the technical difficulties dictated by living in one country and writing about another -- especially about police procedures and crime detection, of which she has no personal experience -- she travels to Britain every few years for research. It was on one such trip that she met English police Inspector Tony Eyre (now retired) who supplied police information for her first novel, "Death of an Ordinary Guy." Since then, two other English police officers have become close friends of hers and help with police procedure, catching American words that creep into her writing, and re Jo A. Hiestand is the author of two British mystery series. While this may not seem so unusual, Jo was born in -- and still lives in -- St. Louis, Missouri.
To get around the technical difficulties dictated by living in one country and writing about another -- especially about police procedures and crime detection, of which she has no personal experience -- she travels to Britain every few years for research. It was on one such trip that she met English police Inspector Tony Eyre (now retired) who supplied police information for her first novel, "Death of an Ordinary Guy." Since then, two other English police officers have become close friends of hers and help with police procedure, catching American words that creep into her writing, and reading the novel manuscripts to eliminate police inaccuracies.

This is all well and good, but nothing beats hands-on experience for writing. Since one of her series features a team of police detectives from the Derbyshire CID and her other highlights an ex-cop who investigates cold cases on his own, Jo knew she'd either have to commit a crime to get first-hand police knowledge or enroll in a citizen's police academy course. The latter seemed safer, so she signed up through a St. Louis county's PD. It was there that she met future co-author police officer Paul Hornung. As Paul remembers their first ride-along, they talked more about writing than about police work. During several ride-alongs they established a bond through these two mutual interests; eventually they agreed to collaborate on books. They've done this with Paul supplying information, writing the fights scenes, and finally writing some of the chapters as one of the series characters. Writing together is definitely fun but sometimes a challenge. Neither knows specifically what the other person's chapter will be, as the storyline is never fully detailed to the other. This is so each can read the other's work with a fresh eye, untainted by "what I meant to say."

Jo took a short respite from novel writing to try her hand with a play. Her contest-winning play "Teething Pains" was produced on stage in 2010. She flatly denies that her fear of dentistry was instrumental in selecting the subject.

Her love of writing, board games and music combines in "P.I.R.A.T.E.S.", the mystery-solving game that uses maps, graphics, song lyrics, and other clues to lead the players to the lost treasure. She also enjoys walking through the woods, playing guitar and harpsichord, her animals (pets as well as backyard wildlife), and reading.

Jo realizes she's living many authors' dreams. Who else has three police officers helping her commit murder?
- Amazon.com ...more

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Combine Editions
Jo A. Hiestand’s books

Average rating: 4.14 · 432 ratings · 245 reviews · 82 distinct works • Similar authors

	Siren Song 3.51 avg rating — 35 ratings — published 2010 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hide and Seek (The McLaren Mysteries Book 12) 4.76 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 2020 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Death of an Ordinary Guy 3.32 avg rating — 25 ratings — published 2004 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Overdue 4.82 avg rating — 17 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Low Road 4.69 avg rating — 16 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	An Unwilling Suspect 4.12 avg rating — 17 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sainted Murder 3.14 avg rating — 22 ratings — published 2005 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	On The Twelfth Night of Christmas 3.24 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 2005 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Cottage: A McLaren Mystery 4.79 avg rating — 14 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Shadow in the Smoke 4.33 avg rating — 15 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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4 posts
Jo A. Hiestand's Blog

Taking the plunge

I've started writing the twelfth McLaren mystery. This may seem odd to some folks because the eleventh book, Black Moon, is still with the editor. But I need to keep busy. I need a project. So I plotted the next novel. It took me several weeks because I kept thinking of different circumstances and story lines. When I finally settled on one, I then had to come up with the title. I debated between t Read more of this blog post »

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Published on July 23, 2019 10:05 • Tags: british-mystery, derbyshire, mclaren-mystery, mystery-novel

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Series by Jo A. Hiestand

Taylor & Graham Mysteries (10 books)
by

Jo A. Hiestand (Goodreads Author)

3.44 avg rating — 98 ratings

McLaren Case Mysteries (5 books)
by

Jo A. Hiestand (Goodreads Author)

3.79 avg rating — 52 ratings

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Jo’s Recent Updates

Jo is now friends with Heather
May 17, 2024 05:17AM · like

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Jo’s Friend Comments

Comments (showing 1-3) post a comment »

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message 3: by Eva

Aug 15, 2010 02:29PM

I took the test and they say we were 72% aligned in our taste of books.

I, too, am a mystery author.

I wrote RESURRECTION DIVA and it has garnered some very good reviews. I'd love for you to read it and tell me what you think.

Best thoughts,

Eva Batonne

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message 2: by Jo

May 10, 2010 04:52PM

Beth wrote: "Hi Jo,
Thanks for befriending this fellow mystery author on Goodreads!"

Hey, we're all in this together. We may as well find strength in numbers....

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message 1: by Beth

May 10, 2010 03:27PM