Southwest Authors

Best Selling Authors Of The Southwest

A short list of some of my favorites. Click on their names (in red) to see their websites

Sandi Ault – The “Wild” Series – Wild Indigo; Wild Inferno; Wild Sorrow; Wild Penance. Sandi teaches writing classes when she’s not writing another exciting mystery. She is also the proud companion of a beautiful wolf named Chaco.

Craig Johnson – The Walt Longmire Mystery Series – The Cold Dish; Death Without Company; Kindness Goes Unpunished; Another Man’s Moccasins; The Dark Horse; Junkyard Dogs; and As The Crow Flies, to name just a few. Additionally, his character Walt Longmire is now the star of a television series. You can find it on Netflix.

Tony Hillerman – The incredible series set on the Navajo Reservation featuring Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Sgt. Jim Chee – Too many titles to list here. Click on Mr. Hillerman’s name to connect to a comprehensive listing and synopsis of his books.

Anne Hillerman – The talented daughter of Tony Hillerman agreed to continue her father’s amazing series about Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Sgt. Jim Chee. Spider Woman’s Daughter debuted in October 2013, and has already garnered awards. The second book, Rock with Wings, has also done very well. The next book in the saga is due soon. Anne has a long list of other, non-fiction books, she has written.

Margaret Coel – The Wind River Series – Mystery novels about the Arapaho people living near Wyoming’s Wind River Reservation. Features Father John O’Malley & Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden – 14 mystery novels in this series, plus her stand-alone mystery, Blood Memory.

J. Michael Orenduff – The Pot Thief Who series – Set in Albuquerque, NM, alleged pot-thief Hubie Schuze sells pots he crafts in his own shop (and sometimes ones he has liberated from midnight digs!) Often as not, Hubie becomes involved with a murder that he must either solve or be sent to prison for. Orenduff is a fine, funny storyteller, and in the process you learn a lot about pots and southwest history.

Pari Noskin Taichert – Sasha Solomon Mystery Series – The Clovis Incident; The Belen Hitch; The Socorro Blast

Michael McGarrity – The Kevin Kearney Mysteries – Kevin Kearney wears many hats. In several of the books in the series is the Chief of Police in Santa Fe, NM. The long list of books continues to grow.

Judith Van Gieson – Judith writes exciting mysteries and teaches others who aspire to the writing life. She writes the Niel Hamel mystery series, the another mystery series featuring UNM Librarian Claire Reynier. Judith has also started her own publishing company, ABQ Press.

Melody Groves – A talented western writer and interesting and active lady. One of her most beautiful books is Hoist a Cold One! a coffee-table book featuring the lush photography of her husband, Myke, and vivid descriptions written by Melody. It covers historic bars in the Southwest United States. Check out Melody’s web site for a list of her other wonderful books.

Paula Paul – Paula is a talented writer of mysteries, historical fiction, and literary fiction. Among her books is the award-winning novel, Crazy Quilt, and her intriguing tale of Catherine the Great entitled Sins of the Empress. Paula’s latest book, Forgetting Tommie, is available on Kindle.

Aimee & David Thurlo – Authors of the highly successful Elah Clah mystery series and other mystery and romance series set in the Southwest.

Joseph Badal – Author of a series of mystery/thrillers: The Pythagorean Solution; The Nostradamus Secret; Terror Cell; Evil Deeds. The Shell Game is a chilling look at the country’s financial crisis told in the form of a thriller/mystery. He’s also written The Lone Wolf Agenda and Ultimate Betrayal. These books use some actual historical events to springboard into the compelling books Joe has written. Stay tuned. He has more coming soon.

Margaret Tessler – The Sharon Salazar Series – Sharon is a lawyer and part of a large, loving and quirky family. Her personal life frequently thrusts her in the middle of a murder case, and she must find the killer. Her books are:Tangled Webs; Class Disunion; Black Widow – White Lies; Deadly Triangle, and Casting Shadows. She also has a book about her travels in an RV for seven years,Life In The Slow Lane.

Edith Duven Flaherty – An assortment of mysteries and intriguing characters including: When Winter Comes; The War In Dover’s Landing, Death Web, Little Boy Lost. Edie recently published parts one and two of her autobiography. The first is entitled Home Before Dark, which won first place for the Life Stories category in the Writers Digest 2009 International Self-Published Book Awards. Part Two is The Navy Years. Her last book is another mystery, The Christmas Tree Murder, which debuted in December 2013. She had started another mystery to be titled Deadly Flowers, but unfortunately, she passed away in March 2014 at age 90, with the book unfinished. She was an extraordinary writer and a member of our critique group. We miss her talent, her sage advice, and her lovely gentle soul. Some of her books are available at iUniverse.com or Xliberis.com. Edie did not have her own website.

Robert Kresge – Rob is the author of the Warbonnet Series, which currently consists of four books, and the Macavity nominated historical fiction book Saving Lincoln. Check out his website for more information and a list of titles.