The Irresponsible Reader On…Self-Published Crime Fiction

(updated 7/29/22)
Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week

From the first moment that people did the strange thing of asking me to talk about their books on my blog, I’ve been impressed by the quality of a lot of what’s been published by authors going out on their own, taking all the risks, shouldering all the responsibility and doing all the work to get their words, their dreams, their blood, sweat, and tears. This should be celebrated—it’s definitely appreciated, as we’re trying to show this week.

Because I completely forgot to plan, I didn’t have a lot of new-to-me Self-Published works to talk about this week, so primarily I’m dusting off and updating these posts from last year–highlighting the self-published works that I’ve blogged about over the last few years—just a sentence or two. Hopefully, this’ll be enough to make you click on the link to the full post. Beyond that, it’d be great if I inspired you to add a few of these to your TBR. Also, be sure you check out the other posts over at the SPAAW Hub.

Today we’re going to be looking at Self-Published Crime Fiction–vigilantes, police, private eyes, people who have no business at all near a crime…you name it, I love this stuff. This tl;dr list also proves that I was right to break these lists down by genre.

bullet Kind Hearts and Martinets by Pete Adams—a near-to-retirement D. I. with a rag-tag team investigates terror threats, murders, and bike thefts.
bullet Cause and Effect: Vice Plagues the City (my post about it)
bullet Irony in the Soul (my post about it)
bullet Cats, Cannolis and a Curious Kidnapping by Cheryl Denise Bannerman—a mystery writer finds herself the target of a kidnapper and has to employ everything her characters have done to save her own life. Which sounds more dire than this cute novel actually ever achieves. (my post about it)
bullet Fiona Griffiths by Harry Bingham—Fiona is a DC in the South Wales Police with a secret diagnosis from her adolescence that gives her a particular and peculiar approach to murder inquiries.
bullet Talking to the Dead (my post about it)
bullet Love Story, with Murders (my post about it)
bullet The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths (my post about it)
bullet This Thing of Darkness (my post about it)
bullet The Dead House (my post about it)
bullet The Deepest Grave (my post about it)
bullet The City That Barks and Roars by J. T. Bird—Anthropomorphic animals in a 1950s-esque civilization, a pair of detectives hunting for a missing colleague. (my post about it)
bullet Death Stalks Kettle Street by John Bowen—a man with pretty severe OCD is sure that people in his neighborhood are being killed, but the authorities don’t see it–and his turn is coming. (my post about it)
bullet DI Hannah Robbins by Rebecca Bradley—DI Hannah Robbins novels follow Robbins and her team as they solve murders–she’s got a great team and the novels have some of the best hooks around.
bullet The Twisted Web (my post about it)
bullet Kill for Me (my post about it)
bullet Dead Blind by Rebecca Bradley—A Detective adjusting to prosopagnosia (“face blindness”) tries to keep the condition under wraps while leading his team investigating an international organ smuggling ring. Great hook, strong execution. (my post about it)
bullet The Butcher by Nathan Burrows—a darkly comic tale about brothers struggling to keep their farm and butcher shop alive, until they develop a new sausage recipe. (my post about it)
bullet The Shoulders of Giants by Jim Cliff—A rookie P.I. (inspired more by fiction than reality), is on the hunt for a missing college student. (my post about it)
bullet Don’t Get Involved by F J Curlew—a slow burn of a novel about some street kids in Kyiv who find a large amount of drugs and a Scottish teacher in town to help their schools. (my post about it)
bullet Criminal Collective by Russell Day—a collection of short stories and a novella from one of my favorite crime writers. (my post about it)
bullet Jeremy Barnes by Robert Germaux—tired of teaching, Jeremy Barnes becomes a P.I. These books have a very Spenser-vibe to them and are great comfort food. I thought I’d read them all, but I just noticed that I overlooked one. Yay!
bullet Small Bytes (my post about it)
bullet Leaving the LAW (my post about it)
bullet Hard Court (my post about it)
bullet In the Eye (my post about it)
bullet Daniel Hays Mysteries by Robert Germaux—Daniel Hays heads the Special Assignment Squad —- a Major Crimes squad set up to help smaller cities in the county around Pittsburgh–hunts down serial killers in these entertaining thrillers.
bullet Small Talk (my post about it)
bullet One by One (my post about it)
bullet DC Smith Investigation by Peter Grainger—I’ve listened to these on audio, but the novels are self-published. Smith is a former DCI who’s voluntarily demoted down to Detective Sergeant so he can actually work cases–in his own idiosyncratic way. There is something indescribably charming about these books, I can see myself re-reading these for years.
bullet An Accidental Death (my post about it)
bullet But For the Grace (my post about it)
bullet Luck and Judgement (my post about it)
bullet Persons of Interest (my post about it)
bullet In This Bright Future (my post about it)
bullet The Rags of Time (my post about it)
bullet Time and Tide (my post about it)
bullet A Private Investigation (my post about it)
bullet Lake Investigations by Peter Grainger—a spin-off/continuation of the above. Just as good, just as addictive.
bullet Songbird (my post about it)
bullet On Eden Street (my post about it)
bullet Catch & Neutralize by Chris Grams—Members of a vigilante group that takes down criminals who’ve gotten away with crimes against women and children find themselves in a very hairy situation. (my post about it)
bullet DoubleBlind by Libby Fischer Hellmann—A Chicago PI looks into the death of a friend’s aunt. She’s also mistaken for an abused wife on the run. One of these is leading to someone trying to kill her. Will Georgia Davis figure out which it is in time? (my post about it)
bullet The Secret of Rosalia Flats by Tim W. Jackson—following the death of his father, a man returns to his Caribbean island childhood home to look into what happened. (my post about it)
bullet Afton Morrison by Brent Jones—the story of a Children’s Librarian with impulses to become a serial killer. No really. It’s twisted. It’s fun. It has some heart, too.
bullet Go Home, Afton (my post about it)
bullet See You Soon, Afton (my post about it)
bullet Nice Try, Afton (my post about it)
bullet Time’s Up, Afton (my post about it)
bullet Cooking for Cannibals by Rich Leder—an Ex-con trying to go straight, a behavioral gerontologist, and a group of senior citizens get into hot water with an experimental drug and competing criminal organizations. (my post about it)
bullet Let There Be Linda by Rich Leder—I can’t sum this up in a sentence or two–a comic crime novel set in L.A. full of interweaving plotlines. (my post about it)
bullet McCall & Company: Workman’s Complication by Rich Leder—a struggling actress takes over her late father’s P.I. Agency (my post about it)
bullet The Lion’s Tail by Luna Miller, Aidan Isherwood (Translator)—a retired physician turns to a new career as a P.I. An early case turns out to be too much for her to tackle on her own and she recruits some help from people in her neighborhood, creating her own Baker Street Irregulars. (my post about it)
bullet San Diego Dead by Mark Nolan—a modern-day privateer and his dog are on the run from a vengeful drug mob. (my post about it)
bullet How the Wired Weep by Ian Patrick—you’re not going to see me say something negative about a Patrick novel, but this one is special. a Gut-wrenching, taught look at a police informant and his detective handler as they try to take down a local drug lord. (my post about it)
bullet The Warrior Series by Ty Patterson—Once upon a time, I think we’d call these books “Men’s Adventure” novels. Former Delta operative (and some friends) now run a covert-ops group.
bullet The Warrior (my post about it)
bullet The Reluctant Warrior (my post about it)
bullet Dead Down East by Carl Schmidt—a part-time PI gets sucked into investigating the death of his state’s governor (my post about it)


If you're a self-published author that I've featured on this blog and I didn't mention you in this post and should have. I'm sorry (unless you're this guy). Please drop me a line, and I'll fix this. I want to keep this regularly updated so I keep talking about Self-Published Authors.

Previous

On Eden Street (Audiobook) by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson: Grainger is at the Top of His Game for this one

Next

The Friday 56 for 7/29/22: The Shoulders of Giants by Jim Cliff

8 Comments

  1. Bob Germaux

    Hey, H.C., thanks for including my Jeremy Barnes and Daniel Hayes books in your list. Much appreciated. I started a 6th JB mystery a few months ago, but then got sidelined by my second knee replacement surgery (which went well on July 6th). The rehab is tough and time-consuming, but I’ll get back to JB soon. Meanwhile, I assume the only Jeremy Barnes book you haven’t read yet is “Speak Softly.” I look forward to your review at some point. Enjoy the rest of your summer, my friend.

    • HCNewton

      ’twas a somewhat bittersweet moment when I realized I hadn’t read Speak Softly yet–I was happy to have another JB, but annoyed that I’d missed it.

      Recovery and your health take precedence over work on the new book (I suppose 🙂 ), glad you’re taking care of yourself. Just know I’ll be first in line when it’s done.

      • Bob Germaux

        And you’ll be at the top of my list to get a copy when I finish it.

  2. Thanks for including me on your list! I haven’t been writing as much lately, but I’m always happy to see Afton get some love. 🙂

    • HCNewton

      Absolutely my pleasure, sir! I do check from time to time to see if you’ve put something new into the world–if you do decide to, I’ll be happy to see it!

Read Irresponsibly, but please Comment Responsibly

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén