34 Black Authors of Crime Fiction Everyone Needs to Read
June 11, 2020
I wasn’t going to post anything this week. After all, this blog is dedicated to crime fiction and the writing life; not to current events and social change. Thus I didn’t want to distract from the important conversations, essays and articles being led/written by individuals much more qualified than I to address the injustices and civil protests seen across America (and the globe) in recent weeks.
But then I thought maybe I could add to the conversation rather than distract from it by putting aside crime fiction this week and instead writing about my own experiences as an aspiring anti-racist. (No, by “aspiring” I don’t mean I was a racist and then tried not to be; rather that I’ve always considered myself to be an inclusive and open-minded humanist but have realized that, when it comes to race and institutional racism, I still have a lot to learn.) So, I started to write an open letter—to myself—calling myself out for past indiscretions during interactions with black (and other POC) friends and acquaintances. However, about a thousand words into my letter, I realized two things: 1) it was a rambling mess; and 2) I had somehow managed to take the critical events currently happening in and beyond the US … and make them about ME.
So I nixed the letter, and did some more thinking. Then I realized there was a way—a simple one, really—for me to show support for the #BlackLivesMatter movement via my blog while also keeping the blog focused on crime fiction … all without making the whole damn thing about me.
So, without much further ado, I’m honored to share with you a list of 33 black authors of crime fiction everyone needs to read. Mind you, this is by no means an exhaustive list. Nor is it simply my list. While I have read and immensely enjoyed works by each of the featured authors, they are widely considered to be amongst the most influential and talented writers of their respective generation. Point is, each author listed is an outstanding writer (not just an outstanding black writer). I’ll leave it to you to explore each and discover some new favorite authors/books—and revisit some old ones.
Wherever possible, I’ve provided links to the authors’ official websites so that readers may learn more about each writer and check out their books (and hopefully BUY some!). For the authors who don’t have a formal website, I’ve provided a link either to their Amazon page or to their profile page on the African American Literature Book Club’s website.
Chester Bomar Himes was the twentieth century’s most prolific black writer and masterfully captured the spirit of his times, confronting sex, racism, and black identity. In his best-selling novel, If He Hollers Let Him Go, Himes created a brutally frank portrait of racial politics, but he became famous for his acclaimed Harlem Detective series. In 1958 he won France's Grand Prix de Littérature Policière. Two of his novels were made into feature films: Cotton Comes to Harlem directed by Ossie Davis in 1970 and A Rage in Harlem starring Gregory Hines and Danny Glover in 1991.
In 1969, fleeing oppression, Himes moved to Moraira, Spain, where he died in 1984 from Parkinson's Disease.
Although Eleanor Taylor Bland was 48 when her first crime novel—Dead Time—was published in 1992, it's hard not to consider her a true pioneer of crime fiction. This is thanks largely to her groundbreaking protagonist, Marti MacAlister—a black female police detective working in a Midwestern American town. With MacAlister, Bland created a tough yet beloved heroine who defied the stereotypes of African American women in U.S. popular culture.
Bland was highly skilled at bringing in characters who had remained on the periphery of or completely missing from the crime fiction of her times. And in doing so, she greatly broadened the appeal of the genre and inspired countless authors of color to follow in her footsteps. Just as gritty and as resilient as her characters, Bland was diagnosed with Gardner's disease in the 1970s and was told she had only a few years to live. She fought that disease and had several bouts with cancer, and didn't succumb until June 2nd, 2010.
Iceberg Slim, also known as Robert Beck, was born in Chicago in 1918 and was initiated into the life of the pimp at age eighteen. He briefly attended the Tuskegee Institute but dropped out to return to the streets of the South Side, where he remained, pimping until he was forty-two. After several stints in jail he decided to give up the life and turned to writing.
Slim folded his life into the pages of seven autobiographical novels. Catapulted into the public eye, Slim became a new American hero, known for speaking the truth whether that truth was ugly, sexy, rude, or blunt. Slim died at age 73 in 1992—one day before the Los Angeles riots.
Barbara Neely was a novelist, short story writer and activist who wrote murder mysteries. Her first novel, Blanche on the Lam (1992), introduced the protagonist Blanche White, a middle-aged mother, domestic worker and amateur detective. The book earned Neely an Agatha Award for best first novel in 1992; an Anthony Award for first best novel in 1993; the Go on Girl! Award from the Black Women's Reading Club for the best debut novel; and a Macavity Award for first best mystery novel in 1993.
In December 2019, the Mystery Writers of America named her their 2020 Grand Master winner.
Neely also won two awards for her activism. They include “Community Works Social Action Award for Leadership and Activism for Women's Rights and Economic Justice” and “Fighting for Women's Voices Award”—both from the Coalition for Basic Human Needs.
Following a brief illness, Neely died just this a few months ago—on March 2, 2020—at the age of 78.
Born and raised in Harlem, Grace F. Edwards was a beacon of hope, brilliance, and dedication within the New York literary scene. In 1992, Edwards became the first African American author signed to Doubleday.
She was the author of seven novels, including a four-book murder mysteries series featuring her best-known character, Mali Anderson. Edwards was the 1999 winner of the Fiction Honor Book award from the Black Caucus of the American Literary Association.
She earned her master’s degree in Creative Writing from the City University of New York, and was a YADDO fellow. Edwards served as a professor of Creative Writing at Hofstra University, Marymount Manhattan College, the College of New Rochelle, and Hunter College. In addition, she reviewed books for The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times, and was the secretary of The Harlem Writers Guild. She stepped up to the role of director of the guild upon the death of its longtime leader, Bill Banks.
Edwards died of natural causes on February 25th of this year.
Attica Locke’s latest novel Heaven, My Home (September 2019) is the sequel to Edgar Award-winning Bluebird, Bluebird. Her third novel, Pleasantville, was the winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was also long-listed for the Bailey’s Prize for Women’s Fiction. The Cutting Season was the winner of the Ernest Gaines Award for Literary Excellence.
Her first novel Black Water Rising was nominated for an Edgar Award, an NAACP Image Award, as well as a Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was short-listed for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. A former fellow at the Sundance Institute’s Feature Filmmaker’s Lab, Locke works as a screenwriter as well. Most recently, she was a writer and producer on Netflix’s When They See Us and the also the upcoming Hulu adaptation of Little Fires Everywhere. A native of Houston, Texas, Attica lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband and daughter.
Walter Mosley is one of the most versatile and admired writers in America today. He is the author of more than 43 critically acclaimed books, including the major bestselling mystery series featuring Easy Rawlins.
His work has been translated into 23 languages and includes literary fiction, science fiction, political monographs, and a young adult novel. His short fiction has been widely published, and his nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times Magazine and The Nation, among other publications.
Mosley is the winner of numerous awards, including an O. Henry Award, a Grammy and PEN America’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He lives in New York City.
Kyra Davis is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Just One Night, Pure Sin and Sophie Katz series. Just One Night has been optioned for television by Anonymous.
Before publishing her first book, Sex, Murder And A Double Latte in 2005, Davis supported herself and her son as a marketing manager for a sports club. She studied at The Fashion Institute Of Design and Merchandising and Golden Gate University.
Davis now lives with her husband (director and screenwriter, Rod Lurie), her teenage son (proud science-geek and Hawaiian-Shirt-aficionado), dog (champion eater and guardian of the backyard…no squirrel will dare set foot in it) and gecko (the gecko doesn’t do much).
Gar Anthony Haywood is the Shamus and Anthony award-winning author of twelve crime novels, including the Aaron Gunner private eye series and the Joe and Dottie Loudermilk mysteries.
His short fiction has been included in the Best American Mystery Stories anthologies, and Booklist has called him “a writer who has always belonged in the upper echelon of American crime fiction.”
He has written for network television and both the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. He and his wife Donna currently make their home in Denver, Colorado.
Dorothy Koomson is the award-winning author of fifteen novels.
The Ice Cream Girls and The Rose Petal Beach were both shortlisted for the popular fiction category of the British Book Awards in 2010 and 2013, respectively. Her gripping domestic crime thriller, Tell Me Your Secret, has been a UK Sunday Times Bestseller.
Koomson’s novels have been translated into over 30 languages,
After briefly living in Australia, Dorothy now lives in Brighton.
Glenville Lovell is the author of four novels, several short stories and a number of prize-winning plays.
In 1995, his first novel, Fire in the Canes, was published by Soho Press to wide acclaim, as was his second novel, Song of Night, published in 1998.
Too Beautiful To Die, published by Putnam, introduced volatile black ex-cop Blades Overstreet as a new though somewhat reluctant hero, and garnered praise and comparisons to some of the most illustrious names in the mystery/thriller genre. This was followed by Love and Death in Brooklyn.
Born in a chattel house in Parish Land, Christ Church, a village on the island of Barbados, he grew up surrounded by sugar cane, shadows and word-magicians. With storytelling all around him: in kitchens, under flamboyant trees at night, in rum shops, he spent as much time picking dunks and golden apples from his backyard as he did "pickin' words from big-people mouths," as his grandmother used to say. Many of these stories turned up in his first novel Fire in the Canes.
Lovell now lives in New York and is currently working on a new Blades Overstreet book and another novel set in Barbados.
Paula L. Woods is the author of Inner City Blues and Stormy Weather. Inner City Blues won the Macavity Award for best first mystery, and was followed by other novels featuring its heroine—L.A. policewoman Charlotte Justice.
Woods has also edited an anthology of African-American crime literature and co-edited (with Felix H. Liddell) three anthologies of African American literature illustrated with African American fine art
She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and her boxer.
Valerie Wilson Wesley is the author of A Glimmer of Death (an Odessa Jones Mystery), to be published next year, as well as the popular Tamara Hayle Mystery series, three novels, and two paranormal romances under the pen name Savanna Welles.
Her novels and mysteries are published in Germany, France and the UK. In 2000, she received the Best Book award from the American Library Black Caucus Association—for her novel Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do.
Wilson is a former executive editor of Essence magazine.
Penny Mickelbury’s many books reflect her continued interest in the things that sparked her imagination as a child: History and Mystery. She's author of the Mimi Patterson/Gianna Maglione Mysteries—five books and counting—published by Bywater Books. In addition, Mickelbury has two novels of historical fiction, with more to come.
Mickelbury is the recipient of the Audre Lorde Estate Grant and a Residency at the Hedgebrook Women Writers Retreat. She was also a 2019 Inductee with the Washington Post Metro Seven into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame.
She lives in Los Angeles, CA, and her favorite activities are—no kidding—reading and writing. She also loves travel, yoga and swimming.
Frankie Y. Bailey, PhD, is a professor in the School of Criminal Justice University at Albany (SUNY). She studies crime history, and crime and mass media/popular culture and material culture. She is the author of five mysteries featuring amateur sleuth Lizzie Stuart and two police procedurals novels featuring Albany police detective Hannah Stuart.
Whether she is engaged in academic research and non-fiction writing or researching and writing crime fiction, Frankie’s mantra is “dig deeper.” She believes, “Every crime deserves context.” When making presentations to her varied audiences, she strives to engage, inform, and serve as a catalyst for lively discussions about social issues.
Robert Greer is, first and foremost a professor of pathology, medicine, surgery, and dentistry at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center where he specializes in head and neck pathology and cancer research—but he’s also a damn fine crime writer. In 1986 he founded The High Plains Literary Review and continues to serve as its editor-in-chief. Greer has had dozens of short stories appear in national literary magazines, and has written numerous novels, including the popular The C.J. Floyd Mystery Series.
In 1983, Dr. Greer’s research group was the first in the world to report a synergistic link between smokeless tobacco use and human papillomaviruses in certain cancers of the mouth. That research is the basis for the plot of his novel The Devil's Hatband (Book 1 in the CJ Floyd series).
In addition to writing, medicine, and research, Greer reviews books for a Denver National Public Radio affiliate, KUVO, and raises cattle on a ranch in Wyoming.
Persia Walker is a native New Yorker who has spent a good deal of her life living abroad, including years in Germany, Brazil and Poland.
Walker has had a lot of jobs. She’s worked as a radio announcer, news writer, a freelance editor, book cover designer, real estate agent and diplomat-cum-armchair detective. (Really? Yes, really.)
Her books reflect her fascination with history and her love of those old black-and-white movies, a.k.a. film noir. Her stories are set in New York City, most likely because, despite her attempts at settling elsewhere, she really is a New Yorker at heart.
“New York,” she says, “is like that old lover you can’t quite get rid of. You know the kind. Most everybody has or has had one. You keep trying to end the whole thing, permanently, but it just keeps drawing you back.”
Walker is back in the United States, living in the Washington DC area with her extremely lovable marmalade tabby named “Sunday.” Walker has no plans to move overseas ever again. Then, again … hmm.
Terris McMahan Grimes is an award-winning author. Somebody Else’s Child, the first book in her Theresa Galloway mystery series, won an unprecedented double Anthony Awards for best first novel and best paperback original. She has also the won the Chester Himes Black Mystery Writers Award. Grimes’ work tends to focus on the African American family, particularly mother/daughter relationships.
Grimes grew up in West Oakland, where her novel Smelling Herself is set. She walked the same streets to and from Thompkins Elementary School that Bernadine—the hero of Smelling Herself—walked. Grimes has fond memories of growing up in the Chestnut Court Apartment Complex and graduating from McClymonds High School.
She earned a BA Degree in English from California State University, Chico, and is an alumna of the Master of Fine Arts, Creative Writing Program at Antioch University, Los Angeles. She writes from her home studio in Sacramento, California.
Leye Adenle, winner of the first ever Prix Marianne in 2016, is a Nigerian writer living and working in London. His short story “The Assassination” in the anthology Sunshine Noir was a finalist for the 2017 CWA short story dagger award. His novels include the critically acclaimed Easy Motion Tourist and When Trouble Sleeps.
Leye has written several short stories under his own name, and over a hundred satirical pieces under various other names.
Leye comes from a family of writers, the most famous of whom was his grandfather, Oba Adeleye Adenle I, a former king of Oshogbo in South West Nigeria. Leye has no intentions of ever becoming King.
Rachel Howzell Hall is the author of seven novels, including the critically-acclaimed Detective Elouise Norton series. Her standalone thriller They All Fall Down was published in April 2019 and pays homage to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. The third in her Lou Norton series, Trail of Echoes, received a coveted Kirkus Star and was one of Kirkus Reviews’ “Books That Kept Us Up All Night.”
Her novels Land of Shadows and Skies of Ash (Forge) were included on the Los Angeles Times' “Books to Read This Summer” for 2014 and 2015, and the New York Times called Lou Norton “a formidable fighter—someone you want on your side.” Lou was also recently included in The Guardian's Top 10 Female Detectives in Fiction." Hall is also collaborating with James Patterson and BookShots on “The Good Sister” in the New York Times bestselling The Family Lawyer.
A featured writer on NPR's acclaimed Crime in the City series and the National Endowment for the Arts weekly podcast, Hall has also served as a mentor in AWP's Writer to Writer Program and is currently on the board of directors of the Mystery Writers of America. She was named one of Apple iBooks' “10 Authors to Read in 2017.”
She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter.
S.A. Cosby is an Anthony award winning writer from Southeastern Virginia. His upcoming novel Blacktop Wasteland (due out July 14, 2020) has already garnered rave reviews from the likes of Walter Mosley, Lee Child, and Dennis Lehane, and is widely expected to by Cosby’s breakout book. His previous books—Brotherhood of the Blade and My Darkest Prayer—were no slouches themselves.
Cosby’s short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines. His short story “The Grass Beneath My Feet” won the Anthony Award for Best Short Story in 2019.
Cosby’s writing has been called “gritty and heartbreaking” as well as “dark, thrilling and tragic.” His style and tone is influenced by his varied life experiences, which include but are not limited to being a bouncer, construction worker, retail manager, and—for six hours—a mascot for a major fast food chain inside the world's hottest costume.
When he isn't crafting tales of murder and mayhem, he assists the dedicated staff at J.K.Redmind Funeral home as a mortician's assistant. He is also known as one hell of a chess player.
Oyinkan Braithwaite is the author of My Sister, the Serial Killer, which won the 2019 LA Times Award for Best Crime Thriller, the 2019 Morning News Tournament of Books, the 2019 Amazon Publishing Reader’s Award for Best Debut Novel, and the 2019 Anthony Award for Best First Novel. The book was also shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2019, as well as for the Goodreads Choice Awards 2019 in the Mystery & Thriller and Debut Novel categories, not to mention being shortlisted for the British Book Awards 2020 in two categories, and for the Book Bloggers’ Choice Awards 2020.
In addition, My Sister, the Serial Killer was long-listed for the Booker Prize 2019, and for the 2020 Dublin Literary Award. The novel is being translated into 30 languages and has also been optioned for film.
Braithwaite is a graduate of Creative Writing and Law from Kingston University.
Tracy Clark is a native Chicagoan who writes mysteries set in her hometown while working as an editor in the newspaper industry. She is a graduate of Mundelein College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, and the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she earned her MA.
Since reading her first Nancy Drew mystery, Clark has dreamed of crafting mysteries of her own, mysteries that feature strong, intelligent, independent female characters, and those who share their world. Cass Raines, ex-cop turned intrepid PI, is such a character.
In addition to her Cass Raines novels, Clark’s short story “For Services Rendered,” appears in the anthology Shades of Black: Crime and Mystery Stories by African-American Authors.
Clark is currently writing her next Cass Raines mystery and binge-watching “Game of Thrones”.
Kellye Garrett writes the Detective by Day mysteries about a semi-famous, mega-broke black actress who takes on the deadliest role of her life: Private Detective. The first book in the series, Hollywood Homicide, won the Agatha, Anthony, Lefty, and the Independent Publisher (“IPPY”) awards for best first novel, and was named one of BookBub’s “Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time.”
The second book in the series, Hollywood Ending, was featured on the TODAY show’s “Best Summer Reads of 2019” and was nominated for both an Anthony and a Lefty award.
Prior to writing novels, Kellye spent eight years working in Hollywood, including a stint writing for Cold Case. She now works for a leading media company and serves on the Board of Directors for Sisters in Crime. She also is a co-founder of Crime Writers of Color.
John Vercher’s debut novel, Three-Fifths, was published in September 2019 by Agora—the diversity-focused imprint of Polis Books—and was named one of the best books of 2019 by the Chicago Tribune. In addition, the novel was listed as a Best Debut Novel by CrimeReads, and was a 2020 nominee for a Lefty Award (for Best Debut Novel) as well as an Edgar Award for Best First Novel.
Vercher is a contributing writer for Cognoscenti—the thoughts and opinions page of WBUR Boston. Two of his essays published on race, identity, and parenting were picked up by NPR, and he has appeared on WBUR’s Weekend Edition. His non-fiction work has also appeared in Entropy Magazine and CrimeReads.
Vercher lives in the Philadelphia area with his wife and two sons. He has a Bachelor’s in English from the University of Pittsburgh and an MFA in Creative Writing from the Mountainview Master of Fine Arts program, and served as an adjunct faculty member at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia.
A writer since childhood, Gordon continued writing through college but put literary endeavors on hold to finish medical school and Family Medicine residency training. Her medical career established, she returned to writing fiction.
Gordon won a Lefty Award and multiple Lone Star Literary Bloggers’ Choice Awards, was nominated for an Agatha Award, became a finalist for a Silver Falchion Award, and was chosen one of Suspense Magazine’s best debuts of 2016.
She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, and the Crime Writers of Color. Gordon is represented by Paula Munier of Talcott Notch Literary Services, LLC and published by Henery Press.
She blogs with the Miss Demeanors—one of “Writers’ Digest‘s 2017 Best 101 Websites for Writers”—and with the Femmes Fatales, and she hosts the Cozy Corner podcast.
Originally from the Mid-Atlantic region, Gordon bounced around the country chasing jobs. She landed in Chicagoland, where she indulges her love of classical music, fine whiskies, travel, and ghost stories.
Hammett Award and Nero Prize-winning novelist Stephen Mack Jones is the author of the critically acclaimed thrillers August Snow and Lives Laid Away—the latter of which was short-listed for the CWA-UK “Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award.”
Once-upon-a-time he worked in advertising and marketing communications for which he is deeply sorry and promises never to do that again. Mr. Jones lives in suburban Detroit and has three adult children that mostly like him. He's at either one most days--except Thursdays. Thursdays are reserved for pie. And writing. Mostly pie.
Rachel Edwards debut psychological thriller, Darling, has received high praise from countless big names in the crime fiction world ever since the book’s launch in May 2018.
Edwards born and raised in the UK by her Jamaican mother and Nigerian father. She is delighted to have been “born on three continents at once,” and identifies as many things: a black British author; a wife and stepmother; a London-loving resident of the Shires; a heartbroken Europhile and a diehard Soul II Soul fan.
Rachel read French with English at King’s College London. After a graduate stint in publishing, her break into fiction came in her twenties when she was engaged to craft literary sauce for her first editor, Rowan Pelling. She then won a national fiction award from The Arts Council which comprised mentoring from the acclaimed novelist Catherine Johnson. She has since written for Marie Claire and many other publications, freelancing for more than ten years until 2016 when she chose to focus full-time on her fiction.
Lauren Wilkinson’s debut novel, American Spy, was a Washington Post bestseller, an NAACP Image Award nominee, an Anthony award nominee, and an Edgar Award nominee. It was short-listed for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, was a Barnes & Noble Book of the Month, a PBS book club pick, and was included on Barack Obama’s 2019 Recommended Reading List.
Lauren earned an MFA in fiction and literary translation from Columbia University, and has taught writing at Columbia and the Fashion Institute of Technology. She was a Center for Fiction Emerging Writer’s Fellow, and has received support from both the MacDowell Colony and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program. Her writing has appeared in Granta, The Believer, New York magazine and The New York Times, among other publications. Lauren splits her time between New York and Los Angeles where she works as a writer for television. (Author photo by Niqui Carter)
Originally from Detroit, Cheryl A. Head now lives on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., where she has navigated a successful career as a writer, television producer, filmmaker, broadcast executive and media funder. Her self-published debut novel, Long Way Home: A World War II Novel, was a 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Award finalist in both the African American Literature and Historical Fiction categories.
Head's Charlie Mack Motown Mystery series (published by Bywater Books) was a 2017 Lammy finalist. Book five of the acclaimed series, Find Me When I'm Lost, is due out July 28.
When not writing fiction, Head consults on a wide range of diversity issues. She is currently the Director of Inclusion for the board of the Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS) whose mission is education and the promotion and recognition of lesbian literature.
Nikki Dolson is a highly respected author of primarily of short fiction. Her work has been published in such crime fiction zines as Shotgun Honey, Tough, Thuglit, and Bartleby Snopes.
In addition to her short fiction, Dolson wrote the novel, All Things Violent, and has put together a short story collection, Love and Other Criminal Behavior, which will be out in just a few days—June 16. (Available for pre-order now.)
Jason Overstreet’s debut novel, The Striver’s Row Spy, and his follow-up spy thriller, Beneath the Darkest Sky, achieved critical acclaim and place the author firmly on the map of rising stars in crime fiction.
Overstreet grew up in Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico. He attended two Southern California universities, earning a B.A. and M.S. before spending ten years in the field of education. After attending UCLA’s Professional Program in Screenwriting, he turned to writing fiction full time. He lives in Los Angeles.
Juno Rushdan draws from real-life inspiration as a former U.S. Air Force Intelligence Officer to craft sizzling romantic thrillers. However, you won’t find any classified leaks here. Her stories are pure fiction about kick-ass heroes and strong heroines fighting for their lives—as well as their happily-ever-after. Rushdan’s Final Hour series has enjoyed both commercial and critical success.
Although a native New Yorker, Rushdan’s wanderlust has taken her across the globe. She considers herself blessed to have a husband who shares her passion for travel, movies, and fantastic food. Rushdan has visited more than twenty different countries and has lived in England and Germany. She currently resides in Virginia with her supportive hubby, two dynamic children, and spoiled rescue dogs.
Jacob Ross is a novelist, short story writer, editor and creative writing tutor. His crime fiction novel, The Bone Readers won the inaugural Jhalak Prize in 2017. His literary novel Pynter Bender was published to much critical literary acclaim and was shortlisted for the 2009 Commonwealth Writers Regional Prize and chosen as one of the British Authors Club’s top three Best First Novels. His latest book is Tell No-One About This, a collection of stories written over a span of forty years, including from "Song for Simone" (1986) and "A Way to Catch the Dust" (1999) and more than a dozen new ones. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has been a judge of the V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize, the Olive Cook, Scott Moncrieff and Tom-Gallon Literary Awards. Jacob is Associate Fiction Editor at Peepal Tree Press, and the editor of Closure, Contemporary Black British short stories.
Aaron Philip Clark is a native of Los Angeles, CA. He is a novelist and screenwriter. A self-described "son of the city," Clark takes pleasure in exploring the many facets of Los Angeles and enjoys hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains.
His most recent novel, Under the Color of Law—inspired by his experiences in the LAPD— was published by Thomas & Mercer in October 2021 to wide critical acclaim.
Thank you very much for taking the time to check out the trailblazing, talented and ascending authors listed above … and thank you for (hopefully) adding to the diversity of your bookshelves. I can honestly say that when I started reading crime fiction from the perspective of black (and other POC) writers and their characters, I discovered entirely new worlds—and not just FICTIONAL ones.
As I mentioned earlier, this is not an exhaustive list. Consider it an active, evolving one—so feel free to share the names of any black authors of crime fiction you’d like to add. You can do so via the comments section below, or, if you prefer, you can send me the name(s) of the author(s) via email HERE, and I’ll add them to the appropriate category above.)
ON HIS BEST DAYS, ZERO SLADE IS THE WORST MAN YOU CAN IMAGINE. HE HAS TO BE. IT'S THE ONLY WAY TO SAVE THE LOST GIRLS.
