Background
Reed Farrel Coleman was born on March 29, 1956, in Brooklyn, New York. He was raised in the Sheepshead Bay, Coney Island, Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn with his two other brothers, Jules and David.
2006
Coleman was a winner of the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original for his novel The James Deans.
2010
Coleman was a winner of the Macavity Award for Best Mystery Novel - Tower (w/Ken Bruen).
2013
Coleman after the publication of "Onion Street", the new Moe Prager prequel (and the 8th book in the series), on the setting, Brooklyn, and the time, 1967.
2013
Belfast, Ireland, United Kingdom
Coleman with Stuart Neville (Ghosts of Belfast) in Belfast.
2013
Coleman is giving a speech.
2013
Reed Farrel Coleman
2013
Reed Farrel Coleman with Stephen King.
2013
Coleman with F. Paul Wilson.
2013
"Monday Murder Mystery or What I Did Last Weekend" from a blog post by Susan Grigsby about MWA University.
2013
Reed Farrel Coleman
2013
Coleman with Steve Hamilton at the Edgars.
2013
Reed Farrel Coleman received the Edgar award.
2013
Two great authors, Bruen and Coleman.
2013
Austin, Texas, United States
On tour for Tower at BookPeople/MysteryPeople in Austin, Texas.
2013
Coleman was awarded the Audie Award for Original Work - Gun Church.
2015
Reed Farrel Coleman at the Edgar Award ceremony.
2017
Memphis, Tennessee, United States
Reed Coleman on Drake in the Morning on 98.1 The Max in Memphis.
2017
Reed Coleman signing his new novel.
2017
Marlboro Free Public Library, Marlboro, New Jersey, United States
Reed Coleman at Marlboro Free Public Library.
2017
Mysterious Bookshop, 1099, 58 Warren St, New York city, New York, United States
Reed Coleman at The Mysterious Bookshop.
2018
Cinema Arts Theater, Huntington, Long Island, United States
Reed Coleman with Lee Child.
2018
The Poisoned Pen Bookstore, 4014 N Goldwater Blvd, Scottsdale, Arisona, United States
Reed Coleman presenting his new novel.
2018
Reed Coleman at 98.1 The Max.
2019
Reed Farrel Coleman with Mark Sullivan and Larry Gandle.
2019
Reed Coleman with Ken Olin, Meg Gardiner, Gregg Hurwitz, Carrie Robb, and Jeffery Deaver.
Texas School Book Depository, 411 Elm St., Dalls, Texas, United States
Coleman at the Texas School Book Depository.
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Coleman with Megan Abbott, Chris Knopf and Paul Wilson at Lee Child's Baltimore Bouchercon party.
Reed Coleman in his youth.
Reed Coleman in his youth.
Reed's brother Jules and him in Milwaukee, circa 1977.
Reed Coleman's parents.
Memphis, Tennessee, United States
Reed Coleman with Ace Atkins at the best BBQ joint in Memphis.
Bryant Park, New York City, New York, United States
Reed Coleman at the signing event.
St. Louis County Library, St. Louis County, Missouri, United States
Reed Coleman giving a speech at the St. Louis County Library. Photo courtesy Dave Moore.
The New School, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
Coleman used to take writing classes at The New School, which is a private non-profit research university centered in Manhattan, New York City.
(Dylan Klein, an insurance investigator, teams up with ex-...)
Dylan Klein, an insurance investigator, teams up with ex-New York City Police detective Johnny MacClough as life in post-Cold War Brooklyn begins to get complicated, clients begin dying, and simple survival becomes the ultimate goal.
https://www.amazon.com/Life-Goes-Sleeping-Farrel-Coleman-ebook/dp/B003I86KEG/?tag=2022091-20
1991
(Dylan Klein, having come into some money during his last ...)
Dylan Klein, having come into some money during his last case, has given up his distinguished career as an insurance investigator to pursue his dream as a writer. But like stray light near a black hole, Klein is sucked into the vacuum of a deadly love triangle by the appearance of a mysterious woman and her subsequent execution. Klein, alarmed that his best friend - ex-New York City detective Johnny MacClough - might be involved, temporarily turns in his pen. With the questionable assistance of an alcoholic newspaper woman and a notorious criminal lawyer, Dylan Klein plunges headlong into the quicksand of organized crime and the powerful men behind it.
https://www.amazon.com/Little-Easter-Reed-Farrel-Coleman-ebook/dp/B006X03PNK/?tag=2022091-20
1993
(On the trail of a missing nephew, Dylan Klein, a former i...)
On the trail of a missing nephew, Dylan Klein, a former insurance investigator who's now a noir novelist, finds himself on the campus of an upstate New York college engaged in some highly inventive - sex with Kira Watanabe, a Japanese girl half his age, who seems determined to recreate a steamy chapter from one of Klein's own books. He ought to be a happy man. But his nephew Zak is still missing, and the girl might just be a high-priced whore hired to watch Klein by the drug dealers on whom Zak claims to have a computer disc full of information.
https://www.amazon.com/They-Dont-Play-Stickball-Milwaukee-ebook/dp/B006X0EIY0/?tag=2022091-20
1997
(December 8th, 1977: Patrick Maloney, a supposedly popular...)
December 8th, 1977: Patrick Maloney, a supposedly popular college student, walks out of a Manhattan nightspot into oblivion. It’s no wonder Maloney’s disappearance barely registers on the radar screen. Son of Sam strikes. Elvis is dead. It’s the Sex Pistols vs. the BeeGees, Studio 54 and the Dirt Lounge, est and yin/yang, gas shortages, Quaaludes, pot and polyester, Plato’s Retreat, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and the neutron bomb.
https://www.amazon.com/Walking-Perfect-Square-Prager-Book-ebook/dp/B00C6IN1OQ/?tag=2022091-20
2001
(In 1981, Moe Prager, a former NYPD cop, licensed P.I., an...)
In 1981, Moe Prager, a former NYPD cop, licensed P.I., and wine shop owner, becomes drawn into the long-cold investigation into a 1966 hotel fire that killed seventeen people - including his first love - and finds himself following a trail through the decaying Catskill borscht belt, political corruption, dark secrets, and murder.
https://www.amazon.com/Redemption-Street-Prager-Mystery-Mysteries/dp/0670032913/?tag=2022091-20
2004
(Still reeling from his wife's recent miscarriage, Moe Pra...)
Still reeling from his wife's recent miscarriage, Moe Prager is bullied into taking the case of an up-and-coming politico whose career has stalled over the suspicious disappearance of a young woman. It's been almost two years since Moira Heaton, State Senator Steven Brightman's intern, vanished on Thanksgiving Eve 1981.
https://www.amazon.com/JAMES-DEANS-Moe-Prager-Mystery/dp/1440563861/?tag=2022091-20
2005
(When former NYPD detective Joe Serpe hit bottom, he just ...)
When former NYPD detective Joe Serpe hit bottom, he just kept on going. Having lost his career to charges of corruption, his family to divorce, his partner to suicide, and his fireman brother to the tragedy of 9/11, Serpe's world is nearly empty but for his cat, Mulligan. Living in a basement apartment in a blue-collar town on Long Island, Joe spends his days filling tanks with home heating oil and his nights filling his belly with vodka. But when a young, mentally challenged man who worked for Joe's oil company is cruelly murdered, Joe Serpe rediscovers purpose and grasps for a last chance at redemption.
https://www.amazon.com/Hose-Monkey-Reed-Farrel-Coleman-ebook/dp/B005G14K04/?tag=2022091-20
2006
(The apparent suicide of his old friend and NYPD Chief of ...)
The apparent suicide of his old friend and NYPD Chief of Detectives, Larry McDonald, forces Moe back onto the decaying Coney Island streets he patrolled when he was in uniform. But now, beneath the boardwalk and behind the rusted and crumbling rides of the midway, he finds a trail of death, betrayal, and corruption reaching back to 1972.
https://www.amazon.com/Soul-Patch-Moe-Prager-Book-ebook/dp/B006WCM96S/?tag=2022091-20
2007
(For over twenty years, retired NYPD officer and PI Moe Pr...)
For over twenty years, retired NYPD officer and PI Moe Prager have been haunted by the secret that would eventually destroy his family. Now, two years after the fallout from the truth, more than secrets are haunting the Prager family. Moe Prager follows a trail of graverobbers from cemetery to cemetery, from ashes to ashes and back again in order to finally solve the enigma of his dead brother-in-law Patrick. He plunges deeper into the dark recesses of his past than ever before, revisiting all of his old cases, in order to uncover the twisted alchemy of vengeance and resurrection.
https://www.amazon.com/Empty-Ever-After-Prager-Book-ebook/dp/B006WCM0FI/?tag=2022091-20
2008
(Seven years have passed since the brutal murder that tore...)
Seven years have passed since the brutal murder that tore Moe Prager’s family apart and it's been six years since Moe’s brushed the dust off his PI license. But when his estranged daughter Sarah comes to him with a request he cannot refuse, Moe takes a deep breath and plunges back into the icy, opaque waters of secrets and lies. Sashi Bluntstone, an eleven-year-old art prodigy, and daughter of Sarah’s dearest childhood friend has been abducted. Three weeks into the investigation, the cops have gotten nowhere and the parents have gotten desperate. Desperation, the door through which Moe Prager always enters, swings wide open. Just as in Sashi’s paintings, there’s much more to the case than one can see at a glance.
https://www.amazon.com/Innocent-Monster-Reed-Farrel-Coleman/dp/1935562207/?tag=2022091-20
2010
(At a pre-wedding party for his daughter Sarah, Moe Prager...)
At a pre-wedding party for his daughter Sarah, Moe Prager is approached by his ex-wife and former PI partner Carmella Melendez. It seems Carmella's estranged sister Alta has been murdered, but no one in New York City seems to care. Why? Alta, a FDNY EMT, and her partner had months earlier refused to give assistance to a dying man at a fancy downtown eatery. Moe decides to help Carmella as a means to distract himself from his own life-and-death struggle. Making headway on the case is no mean feat as no one, including Alta's partner Maya Watson, wants to cooperate.
https://www.amazon.com/Hurt-Machine-Prager-Mystery-Mysteries/dp/1440531994/?tag=2022091-20
2011
(Once a literary wunderkind, author Kip Weiler now teaches...)
Once a literary wunderkind, author Kip Weiler now teaches creative writing at Brixton County Community College - a third-rate school in a rural mining town. But when he saves his class from a potential bloodbath, he is initiated by two of his students into a cult-like group that worships the essential nature of handguns and rekindles his long-absent creative spark. But as Weiler's involvement with the cult deepens and the end of his novel is in sight, the lines between art and life blur until they become unrecognizable. In this church, there's no need for red wine or wafers. In Gun Church, the blood and bodies are for real.
https://www.amazon.com/Gun-Church-Reed-Farrel-Coleman/dp/1440551707/?tag=2022091-20
2012
(PI Gulliver Dowd rescues a street kid's dog, but when the...)
PI Gulliver Dowd rescues a street kid's dog, but when the kid is found badly beaten the next day, Gulliver uncovers a new mystery.
https://www.amazon.com/Valentino-Rapid-Reads-Farrel-Coleman-ebook/dp/B00EYNQ4UE/?tag=2022091-20
2013
(It's 1967 and Moe Prager is wandering aimlessly through h...)
It's 1967 and Moe Prager is wandering aimlessly through his college career and his life. All that changes when his girlfriend Mindy is viciously beaten into a coma and left to die on the snow-covered streets of Brooklyn. Suddenly, Moe has a purpose. He is determined to find out who's done this to Mindy and why. But Mindy is not the only person in Moe's life who's in danger. Someone is also trying to kill his best and oldest friend, Bobby Friedman. Things get really strange when Moe enlists the aid of Lids, a half-cracked genius drug pusher from the old neighborhood. Lids hooks Moe up with his first solid information. Problem is, the info seems to take Moe in five directions at once and leads to more questions than answers.
https://www.amazon.com/Onion-Street-Moe-Prager-Book-ebook/dp/B00CA9DKGU/?tag=2022091-20
2013
(It all begins when PI Gulliver Dowd is approached by Elli...)
It all begins when PI Gulliver Dowd is approached by Ellis Torres, a street kid, on Valentino Pier in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. Ellis has lost his dog, and after Gulliver helps to find the dog for him, they go their separate ways. So when Ellis is discovered beaten, unconscious and left for dead not far from the pier early the following morning, Gulliver is horrified - and suspicious. He sets out to find the attacker and learn why the boy was targeted. What Gulliver uncovers by way of bizarre clues - amidst threats of danger to himself and his loved ones - leads him on his most curious case yet. Undeniably, there is something amiss at Valentino Pier.
https://www.amazon.com/Valentino-Pier-Gulliver-Mystery-Rapid/dp/1459802098/?tag=2022091-20
2013
(Gulliver Dowd is a little person in a world of hurt. Afte...)
Gulliver Dowd is a little person in a world of hurt. After his sister, an NYPD policewoman, is murdered, he becomes a licensed PI. Dowd is shocked to discover that his mysterious new client is Nina, his high-school girlfriend and the one true love of his life. But the real surprise is yet to come. Nina hires Gulliver to find her runaway daughter, convincing him to take the case only when she confesses that the missing girl is Dowd's daughter too, the product of their high-school romance. When he takes the case, Dowd must travel from an exclusive girls' academy to a Mafia don's mansion to seek the answer to his newfound daughter's disappearance.
https://www.amazon.com/Dirty-Work-Gulliver-Mystery-Rapid/dp/1459802063/?tag=2022091-20
2013
(Megan Abbott, author of Dare Me Drunk, alone, and racked ...)
Megan Abbott, author of Dare Me Drunk, alone, and racked with guilt over the tragic death of his girlfriend Pam, Moe Prager is destined for oblivion. But destiny takes a detour when a shadowy figure from Moe's past reappears to beg for Moe's help in locating her missing daughter. As a reluctant, distracted Moe delves into the case, he discovers that nothing is as it seems and no one involved is quite who or what they appear to be.
https://www.amazon.com/Hollow-Girl-Prager-Mysteries-Paperback/dp/1440573018/?tag=2022091-20
2014
(It’s been a long time since Jesse Stone left Los Angeles,...)
It’s been a long time since Jesse Stone left Los Angeles, and still longer since the tragic injury that ruined his chances for a major league baseball career. When Jesse is invited to a reunion of his old Triple. A team at a hip New York City hotel, he is forced to grapple with his memories and regrets over what might have been. Jesse left more behind him than unresolved feelings about the play that ended his baseball career. The darkly sensuous Kayla, his former girlfriend and current wife of an old teammate is there in New York, too.
https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Parkers-Blind-Jesse-Stone-ebook/dp/B00INIXG2U/?tag=2022091-20
2014
(In the wake of a huge storm, three bodies are discovered ...)
In the wake of a huge storm, three bodies are discovered in the rubble of an abandoned factory building in an industrial part of Paradise known as The Swap. One body, a man’s, wrapped in a blue tarp, is only hours old. But found within feet of that body are the skeletal remains of two teenage girls who had gone missing during a Fourth of July celebration twenty-five years earlier. Not only does that crime predate Jesse Stone’s arrival in Paradise, but the dead girls were close friends of Jesse’s right hand, Officer Molly Crane.
https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Parkers-Devil-Jesse-Novels-ebook/dp/B00SI0B7WE/?tag=2022091-20
2015
(Gulliver Dowd is finally on the verge of unraveling the m...)
Gulliver Dowd is finally on the verge of unraveling the mystery behind his sister’s murder when the man who is supposed to give him the scoop, NYPD Detective Sam Patrick, is gunned down on the Coney Island Boardwalk. As Dowd delves into Patrick’s accidental shooting, he uncovers a pattern of corruption and deceit involving organized crime and the police. But there are tough choices to be made. Just how much is Gulliver willing to sacrifice in order to find out why his sister was murdered and to unmask the killer?
https://www.amazon.com/Boardwalk-Gulliver-Mystery-Rapid-Reads/dp/1459806743/?tag=2022091-20
2015
(Gus Murphy thought he had the world all figured out. A re...)
Gus Murphy thought he had the world all figured out. A retired Suffolk County cop, Gus had everything a man could want: a great marriage, two kids, a nice house, and the rest of his life ahead of him. But when tragedy strikes, his life is thrown into complete disarray. In the course of a single deadly moment, his family is blown apart and he is transformed from a man who believes he understands everything into a man who understands nothing. Divorced and working as a courtesy van driver for the run-down hotel in which he has a room, Gus has settled into a mindless, soulless routine that barely keeps his grief at arm’s length.
https://www.amazon.com/Where-Hurts-Murphy-Novel-Book-ebook/dp/B00WDP82KA/?tag=2022091-20
2016
(Former Suffolk County cop Gus Murphy returns to prowl the...)
Former Suffolk County cop Gus Murphy returns to prowl the meaner streets of Long Island's darkest precincts, with a Russian mercenary at his back, in the stunning second installment of Reed Farrel Coleman's critically acclaimed series, now in paperback. Gus Murphy and his girlfriend Magdalena are put in harm's way when Gus is caught up in the distant aftershocks of heinous crimes committed decades ago in Vietnam and Russia. Gus's ex-priest pal, Bill Kilkenny, introduces him to a wealthy businessman anxious to have someone look more deeply into the brutal murder of his granddaughter.
https://www.amazon.com/What-You-Break-Murphy-Novel/dp/0425283224/?tag=2022091-20
2016
(Jesse Stone is preoccupied with the women in his life, bo...)
Jesse Stone is preoccupied with the women in his life, both past, and present. As his ex-wife Jenn is about to marry a Dallas real-estate tycoon, Jesse isn't too sure his relationship with former FBI agent Diana Evans is built to last. But those concerns get put on the back burner when a major Boston crime boss is brutally murdered. Despite all evidence to the contrary, Jesse suspects it's the work of Mr. Peepers, a psychotic assassin who has caused trouble for Jesse in the past.
https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Parkers-Jesse-Stone-Novel/dp/0425279065/?tag=2022091-20
2016
(When the daughter of the most powerful Mafia don in New Y...)
When the daughter of the most powerful Mafia don in New York goes missing, the don’s right-hand man comes to Gulliver Dowd for help. Problem is, the right-hand man and Dowd despise each other. Plus, the don knows who murdered Dowd’s sister, Keisha, but refuses to share that knowledge with Gulliver. Still, Dowd makes a devil’s deal and hunts for the girl. Old secrets and lies boil to the surface, threatening to destroy the lives of everyone involved. But who has the girl?
https://www.amazon.com/Love-Fear-Gulliver-Mystery-Rapid/dp/1459806778/?tag=2022091-20
2016
(Jesse Stone, still reeling from the murder of his fiancée...)
Jesse Stone, still reeling from the murder of his fiancée by crazed assassin Mr. Peepers, must keep his emotions in check long enough to get through the wedding day of his loyal protégé, Suitcase Simpson. The morning of the wedding, Jesse learns that a gala 75th birthday party is to be held for folk singer Terry Jester. Jester, once the equal of Bob Dylan, has spent the last forty years in seclusion after the mysterious disappearance of the master recording tape of his magnum opus, The Hangman's Sonnet. That same morning, an elderly Paradise woman dies while her house is being ransacked. What are the thieves looking for? And what's the connection to Terry Jester and the mysterious missing tape?
https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Parkers-Hangmans-Sonnet-Jesse/dp/0425280268/?tag=2022091-20
2017
(The opioid epidemic has reached Paradise, and Police Chie...)
The opioid epidemic has reached Paradise, and Police Chief Jesse Stone must rush to stop the devastation in the latest thriller in Robert B. Parker's New York Times-bestselling series. When a popular high school cheerleader dies of a suspected heroin overdose, it becomes clear that the opioid epidemic has spread even to the idyllic town of Paradise. It will be up to police chief Jesse Stone to unravel the supply chain and unmask the criminals behind it, and the investigation has a clear epicenter: Paradise High School.
https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Parkers-Bitterest-Jesse-Stone/dp/0399574972/?tag=2022091-20
2019
(Jesse Stone is back on the job after a stint in rehab, an...)
Jesse Stone is back on the job after a stint in rehab, and the road to recovery is immediately made bumpy by a series of disturbing and apparently racially motivated crimes, beginning with the murder of an African American woman. Then, Jesse's own deputy Alisha - the first black woman hired by the Paradise police force - becomes the target of a sophisticated frame-up. As he and his team work tirelessly to unravel the truth, he has to wonder if this is just one part of an even grander plot, one with an end game more destructive than any of them can imagine.
https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Parkers-Colorblind-Jesse-Stone-ebook/dp/B078LSJNQF/?tag=2022091-20
2019
(The collection includes stories featuring Reed’s most pop...)
The collection includes stories featuring Reed’s most popular PI protagonist, Moe Prager. As a bonus, the collection contains the never before published story “Magic Bullet” co-authored with award-winning writer Peter Spiegelman. Also included is some of Coleman’s published poetry.
https://www.amazon.com/Short-Stack-Reed-Farrel-Coleman/dp/1794240888/?tag=2022091-20
2019
Reed Farrel Coleman was born on March 29, 1956, in Brooklyn, New York. He was raised in the Sheepshead Bay, Coney Island, Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn with his two other brothers, Jules and David.
Coleman used to take writing classes at The New School, which is a private non-profit research university centered in Manhattan, New York City.
Before resolving to the genre of mystery and thriller writing, Reed worked as a food salesman, a car leasing agent, a restaurant trainer, an air freight manager, a truck driver, as a cab driver. Having studied poetry originally and his first published work in poetry, for several years, he was also the co-editor of a well-known poetry journal. About twenty years ago he got bored with his day job and decided to take a night class in the detective fiction which sealed his fate as a mystery writer.
Reed Farrel Coleman has published fourteen novels under his own name and a pen name Tony Spinosa. He began with Life Goes Sleeping (1991), which led to the three-volume Dylan Klein Series. In 2001, Reed Coleman published Walking the Perfect Square, a gritty story about Moe Prager, a retired New York cop that becomes embroiled in the hunt of a missing college student. After putting a sizable blacklist with that first novel, Coleman continued to gather energetic raves for subsequent Prager novels such as the Redemption Street published in 2004 and the Shamus-award winning, Anthony, Barry winning The James Dean published in 2005. The Bleak House publishers also liked The James Deans, therefore in 2007; Moe returned with his 1990’s based Soul Patch. The novel is thought to have a George Pelecanos story in it rooted in the early 70s and the 90s. The Mystery Writers of America thought so highly of it too and nominated Coleman for the Edgar Award. Since then, Coleman has written one more novel starring Prager; Empty Ever After.
Reed is also a graphic novel writer with a high concept; in 2011 he wrote a novel with the title Hurt Machine, the following year the Gun church was published.
Reed is a published poet and for several years worked as a co-editor of the journal Poetry Bone. He has edited the short story collection, Hard-boiled Brooklyn. His essays and short stories have appeared in Mystery Readers Journal, Wall Street Noir, Damn Near Dead, Brooklyn Noir 3, Crime Spree Magazine, These Guns for Hire, Expletive Deleted among several other publications.
Today, Coleman is an adjunct English instructor at Hofstra University as well as a founding member of Mystery Writers of America University.
(On the trail of a missing nephew, Dylan Klein, a former i...)
1997(Former Suffolk County cop Gus Murphy returns to prowl the...)
2016(Dylan Klein, an insurance investigator, teams up with ex-...)
1991(Jesse Stone is back on the job after a stint in rehab, an...)
2019(Gulliver Dowd is finally on the verge of unraveling the m...)
2015(Still reeling from his wife's recent miscarriage, Moe Pra...)
2005(The apparent suicide of his old friend and NYPD Chief of ...)
2007(Dylan Klein, having come into some money during his last ...)
1993(It’s been a long time since Jesse Stone left Los Angeles,...)
2014(Once a literary wunderkind, author Kip Weiler now teaches...)
2012(In the wake of a huge storm, three bodies are discovered ...)
2015(Seven years have passed since the brutal murder that tore...)
2010(Megan Abbott, author of Dare Me Drunk, alone, and racked ...)
2014(The opioid epidemic has reached Paradise, and Police Chie...)
2019(For over twenty years, retired NYPD officer and PI Moe Pr...)
2008(It all begins when PI Gulliver Dowd is approached by Elli...)
2013(When the daughter of the most powerful Mafia don in New Y...)
2016(PI Gulliver Dowd rescues a street kid's dog, but when the...)
2013(At a pre-wedding party for his daughter Sarah, Moe Prager...)
2011(December 8th, 1977: Patrick Maloney, a supposedly popular...)
2001(The collection includes stories featuring Reed’s most pop...)
2019(It's 1967 and Moe Prager is wandering aimlessly through h...)
2013(Jesse Stone, still reeling from the murder of his fiancée...)
2017(Jesse Stone is preoccupied with the women in his life, bo...)
2016(When former NYPD detective Joe Serpe hit bottom, he just ...)
2006(Gus Murphy thought he had the world all figured out. A re...)
2016(Gulliver Dowd is a little person in a world of hurt. Afte...)
2013(In 1981, Moe Prager, a former NYPD cop, licensed P.I., an...)
2004Coleman has employed a depth touch in the creation of characters. His books are populated by realistic individuals. They not only are flawed but are conflict-driven fiction. They further display surprising superiority which is part of human character.
Here is what Coleman stated about his own writing process: "It’s all a ritual and it begins with coffee, the paper, doing the crossword puzzle. Then it’s downstairs to my office. I answer my emails and devote 15 minutes max to Facebook. I need absolute silence to write. No music, no noise at all."
Quotations:
"I’m not particularly interested in rich people. I’m interested in the struggle, real-life struggles. Although I have a great job, I grew up, if not poor, then pretty close to the poor. Five of us lived in a four-and-a-half room rented apartment. I lived in the same room as my two brothers. My dad worked in supermarkets. My mom was a secretary. My wife grew up in a single-parent household near Detroit. I drove a truck, worked as a waiter, sold cars. It’s people who do these things, who live in constant want that interest me."
"I’m not sure my process has changed, but I’ve changed as a writer. I’ve never stopped being influenced by other writers. My writing has become slightly more refined. For me, the more I write, the better I get at it. When I no longer feel I’m getting better as a writer, that’s when I’ll stop."
"I suppose all my novels, series or standalones, share at least two essential themes. You can never truly know someone else because it’s impossible to know yourself. And that violence sends echoes through time and reverberates in the future."
"I try very hard not to occupy myself with worries about the marketplace. It’s difficult enough to produce 100,000 words twice a year without these added concerns. That said, I’m not blind. At the moment, PI fiction isn’t very popular. At the beginning, PI fiction was the big tree in a small orchard. Now it’s just one of the trees in a big orchard, and some of the fruit is going unpicked or rotting on the limbs. There’s some great PI stuff out there, but there doesn’t seem to be a vast yearning for it. Yet I’m very hopeful. I think PI fiction surges when we have worries about our political system. The PI is symbolic of the one against the many, the solitary citizen against the state and the system. The PI is the redeemer, the person who sets the universe back on course. We’ll see."
"Procrastination is death for your career. A writer is only a writer when he or she is writing. Thinking isn’t writing, research isn’t writing, doing anything other than writing isn’t writing. Either give yourself a page or word goal for the day. Meet it and feel good about yourself. Don’t meet it and feel guilty or disappointed. It should be like working out. When you miss a day, you feel bad about it."
"I believe the best place to find characters is in the mirror. So while I can create a character’s appearance or preferences for food, women, dress, etc., through an external process, I have to look inside myself for emotional resonance or it comes off as inauthentic. I have always plumbed my own “kishkas” (guts in Yiddish) in order to bring my characters alive. Even characters my readers see as minor have full emotional lives to me."
"I don’t preset what I’m going to do. That’s one of the reasons I don’t outline. I let the book be what it wants to be. But given the subject matter of the plot and the seriousness of the crimes, it was destined to be a dark book. I do believe, however, there is a strong sense of hope in it as well. In the end, the critics and readers will make up their own minds about that."
Reed Coleman is a member and a former executive vice president of the Mystery Writers of America.
Coleman says, though, that his single greatest writing influence was his college poetry professor, David Lehman, who provided "permission to be a writer and... the first clues on self-editing". When the weather is warm, he plays basketball five or six days a week. he also plays golf. He does all the cooking in the house. Colemans stated that if he had to go back and choose another path, it would have been to be a chef.
Reed Coleman is married to Rosanne Coleman. They have been married for 32 years and have two grown children, Kaitlin and Dylan. They live in the wilds of Suffolk County on Long Island with two Siamese cats, Cleo and Knish.