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William Bernhardt

Goodreads Author

Born

Oklahoma City, The United States

Website

http://www.williambernhardt.com

Twitter

wbernhardt

Genre

Thriller, Mystery, Nonfiction

Member Since

November 2008

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/willbern

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William Bernhardt is the author of over sixty books, including the bestselling Daniel Pike and Ben Kincaid legal thrillers, the historical novels Challengers of the Dust and Nemesis, three books of poetry, and the ten Red Sneaker books on fiction writing.

In addition, Bernhardt founded the Red Sneaker Writers Center to mentor aspiring writers. The Center hosts an annual writers conference (WriterCon), small-group seminars, a monthly newsletter, and a bi-weekly podcast. More than three dozen of Bernhardt’s students have subsequently published with major houses. He is also the owner of Balkan Press, which publishes poetry and fiction as well as the literary journal Conclave.

Bernhardt has received the Southern Writers Guild’s Gold Medal Award William Bernhardt is the author of over sixty books, including the bestselling Daniel Pike and Ben Kincaid legal thrillers, the historical novels Challengers of the Dust and Nemesis, three books of poetry, and the ten Red Sneaker books on fiction writing.

In addition, Bernhardt founded the Red Sneaker Writers Center to mentor aspiring writers. The Center hosts an annual writers conference (WriterCon), small-group seminars, a monthly newsletter, and a bi-weekly podcast. More than three dozen of Bernhardt’s students have subsequently published with major houses. He is also the owner of Balkan Press, which publishes poetry and fiction as well as the literary journal Conclave.

Bernhardt has received the Southern Writers Guild’s Gold Medal Award, the Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author Award (University of Pennsylvania) and the H. Louise Cobb Distinguished Author Award (Oklahoma State), which is given "in recognition of an outstanding body of work that has profoundly influenced the way in which we understand ourselves and American society at large." He has been nominated for the Oklahoma Book Award eighteen times in three different categories, and has won the award twice. Library Journal called him “the master of the courtroom drama.” The Vancouver Sun called him “the American equivalent of P.G. Wodehouse and John Mortimer.”

In addition to his novels and poetry, he has written plays, a musical (book and score), humor, children stories, biography, and puzzles. He has edited two anthologies (Legal Briefs and Natural Suspect) as fundraisers for The Nature Conservancy and the Children’s Legal Defense Fund. OSU named him “Oklahoma’s Renaissance Man.”

In his spare time, he has enjoyed surfing, digging for dinosaurs, trekking through the Himalayas, paragliding, scuba diving, caving, zip-lining over the canopy of the Costa Rican rain forest, and jumping out of an airplane at 10,000 feet. In 2013, he became a Jeopardy! champion winning over $20,000.

When Bernhardt delivered the keynote address at the San Francisco Writers Conference, chairman Michael Larsen noted that in addition to penning novels, Bernhardt can “write a sonnet, play a sonata, plant a garden, try a lawsuit, teach a class, cook a gourmet meal, beat you at Scrabble, and work the New York Times crossword in under five minutes.”
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Combine Editions
William Bernhardt’s books

Average rating: 4.1 · 45,837 ratings · 2,477 reviews · 99 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Last Chance Lawyer (Daniel Pike #1) 4.26 avg rating — 5,511 ratings — published 2019 — 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
	Primary Justice (Ben Kincaid #1) 3.92 avg rating — 2,886 ratings — published 1991 — 24 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
	Court of Killers (Daniel Pike #2) 4.22 avg rating — 2,224 ratings — published 2019 — 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
	Blind Justice (Ben Kincaid #2) 4.04 avg rating — 2,024 ratings — published 1992 — 25 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
	Trial by Blood (Daniel Pike #3) 4.34 avg rating — 1,583 ratings — published 2019 — 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
	Twisted Justice (Daniel Pike #4) 4.39 avg rating — 1,411 ratings — published 2020 — 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
	Perfect Justice (Ben Kincaid, #4) 3.98 avg rating — 1,546 ratings — published 1994 — 17 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
	Final Verdict (Daniel Pike #6) 4.52 avg rating — 1,341 ratings — published 2021 — 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
	Deadly Justice (Ben Kincaid #3) 4.06 avg rating — 1,467 ratings — published 1993 — 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
	Judge and Jury (Daniel Pike #5) 4.41 avg rating — 1,346 ratings — published 2020 — 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

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William Bernhardt's Blog

Five Ways Writers Can Spark Creativity

This guest blog comes from Kristin Savage. Kristin is a freelance writer who has a degree in Creative Writing, experience in the publishing industry, and expertise in marketing strategies for authors. She runs her own FlyWriting blog. You can find her on Facebook.
_______________________________________________________________

One of the biggest challenges a writer can face is a lack of creativity.

Series by William Bernhardt

Ben Kincaid (19 books)
by

William Bernhardt (Goodreads Author)

4.04 avg rating — 22,147 ratings

Daniel Pike (8 books)
by

William Bernhardt (Goodreads Author)

4.32 avg rating — 14,356 ratings

The Red Sneaker Writers (8 books)
by

William Bernhardt (Goodreads Author)

4.22 avg rating — 1,838 ratings

Splitsville Legal Thriller (3 books)
by

William Bernhardt (Goodreads Author)

4.30 avg rating — 1,636 ratings

Susan Pulaski (2 books)
by

William Bernhardt (Goodreads Author)

3.81 avg rating — 1,215 ratings

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Yesteryear

by Caro Claire Burke

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A Crime in Holland (Inspector Maigret)

by Georges Simenon

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The Grand Banks Café (Inspector Maigret)

by Georges Simenon

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William liked Demetri Papadimitropoulos's review of The Superman Wars: A Battle for Truth, Justice, and an American Icon: "The Hero, the Contract, and the Men Left Standing Beneath the Cape Reading “The Superman Wars” as a moving history of authorship, erasure, and the long afterlife of a bad bargain By Demetris Papadimitropoulos \| March 29th, 2026 Superman can outrun bulle" Read more of this review »
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Quotes by William Bernhardt (?)

“Insanity is my dominant characteristic. - Christina McCall”
― William Bernhardt, Naked Justice

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“But we don't live in a perfect world. We live in a world where gossip passes for news, and sensationalism passes for journalism. - Christina McCall”
― William Bernhardt, Naked Justice

4 likes

“Practicing law is not about winning. It's about justice. Simple, naked justice. It's about finding the truth. - Judge Sarah L. Hart”
― William Bernhardt, Naked Justice

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The Mystery, Crim...: Winner Chosen: Group Read: Sept 15-Oct 14 2010	45	220	Sep 13, 2010 09:34PM
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William’s Quotes

“Insanity is my dominant characteristic. - Christina McCall”
― William Bernhardt, Naked Justice

5 likes

“But we don't live in a perfect world. We live in a world where gossip passes for news, and sensationalism passes for journalism. - Christina McCall”
― William Bernhardt, Naked Justice

4 likes

“I still believe in good and bad, in black and white, in right and wrong. I believe the guilty should be punished. I believe the law enforcement community has an obligation to make the world a better place, a safer placce. And I believe that with dedication and hard work, everyone can make a difference. Even lawyers. - Jack Bullock”
― William Bernhardt, Naked Justice

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“Nothing was more tiresome than a candidate who started to believe his own spin.”
― William Bernhardt, The Game Master

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“The best way to play poker is to act like Jesus but play like the devil.”
― William Bernhardt, The Game Master

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