A.B.’s Comments (group member since Aug 30, 2016)

A.B.’s comments from the Cops Writing Crime group.

Now the second fellow Australian I discovered today, and thanks again to Brenda for this one.
Karen M Davis is an ex-cop who has published a couple of novels recently. The first one is Sinister Intent

Back to Britain now, and many thanks to Kerri for this inclusion. Mike Thomas is an ex-cop from Wales.
His first novel is Pocket Notebook

The first of the suggestions you sent me - many thanks to Brenda for this one. And the first of two surprises for me today with Australian authors. The first is J.M. Peace, who I believe is still a serving cop.
Her first novel from last year is A Time to Run

And the third American I found is John M Wills, ex-cop and ex FBI agent. He also writes across genres. I've picked one of his crime ones at random, Targeted

The next American I found is Dorothy Uhnak, an ex-cop who wrote a string of crime novels from the 1960s to 1990s. She is now deceased.
I've picked one at random, The Bait.

My web search did also locate 3 American candidates. The first is James Byron Huggins. Whilst almost all of his work seems to be in other genres, I did find at least one crime novel, Maggie Magdalene, so he qualifies for the group list.

Our next author is another British ex-cop, Luke Delaney. I have to confess I do have one of his novels sitting on my daunting "to read" pile, so I will get there! I'm listing the one I have, Cold Killing

Our first British ex-cop author to join our list, Clare Mackintosh. I found Clare when I was trawling the web searching for ex-cops as writers of crime fiction, and it was fairly unproductive search I must say.
I'm listing her first book I Let You Go

So last night I did a topic entry for the 4 authors I've read along the way (plus my own debut effort.
I've also gone back and sequentially numbered each author topic - more names are coming in so the list is expanding already - many thanks!
So far, then, we've got 2 from the USA, 2 from Australia, and 1 from France.
Dashiell Hammett & Joseph Wambaugh & P.M. Newton & A.B. Patterson & Laurent Guillaume
On to the list of those I've yet to have the pleasure of reading. My "to read" pile will be growing even faster now!

Hi Paula,
Over in Western Australia, although I live in Sydney now.
I did most of my detective time in child abuse and then vice, so seen a lot of the worst, and this certainly influences my writing. After the cops and moving to Sydney, I've spent a lot of years investigating government corruption, so that also influences my fiction.
Cheers, Andrew
Paula wrote: "Thank you Andrew. I'm looking forward to some great recommendations and discussions.

Where were you a cop if you don't mind me asking?"

And a huge welcome, Paula, our first member (aside from myself)! Look forward to some great discussions.
Paula wrote: "Hello, I am Paula and I am not a cop but I am a fan of books about cops. Especially like the ones written by cops or ex-cops and yes I can tell the difference.

I do read books for review. I post ..."

A prolific crime author and ex-cop from the U.S., Joseph Wambaugh.
I first read his work when I was still a cop, and its realism really resonated with me.
Lots of books to choose from here, but I'm listing up first The Choirboys

My next ex-cop author hails from France, the only one I'm aware of so far.
White LeopardWhite Leopard by Laurent Guillaume is a great hard-boiled read. To date, I believe it is his only one that has been translated into English.

And the only other fellow-Australian I know of who fits our group is P.M.NewtonP.M. Newton.
The first of hers is The Old School

Given that I started this group because I'm interested in finding out more about those cops and ex-cops like myself who have taken to authoring crime, I'm one of two Australians on the list to start with.
My debut novel Harry's World A.B. Pattersoncame out last year.

I'm going to start the list with a grand-master of the hard-boiled genre, Dashiell HammettDashiell Hammett. Whilst he wasn't a cop, he was a PI and then went on to write about crime from that perspective, so he qualifies for this group. And his masterpieces do so much more!
Just one of his: The Continental Op

It's time to start the list. All suggestions for inclusion are welcome. My initial list to follow shortly.

Welcome to you, if you've arrived here!
As a crime-writer who is also an ex-copA.B. PattersonHarry's World, I was pondering how many others like me are out there, and what their work is like, so I started this group. More postings to follow on what I know to date...