In his Monday, July 7 column in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Alton Area Post section, Pat Gauen
had an interesting collection of trivia questions related to the metro area. Here are the
questions and answers.
St. Louis has its share of popular authors, some of whose works are noted here. In addition,
several books have as their setting the St. Louis area. Some of both are is this section.
One of John Sandford's more recent offerings in the "Prey" series,
MORTAL PREY,
has a St. Louis connection.
A historical novel set in Missouri during the Civil War is
ENEMY WOMEN by Paulette Jiles.
Jiles writes about the degrading conditions endured by an unjustly accused female prisoner
during the Civil War in St. Louis. The details the author unearthed via her research
add much to our knowledge of those times. Here's a
review.
Read MOre, a statewide initative of local libraries to involve Missouri citizens in reading
and discussing the same book, has selected ENEMY WOMEN as their 2003 read. Here's their
website.
Here's a random selection of books about St. Louis from Amazon.com.
To see a different selection of books in the table above, simply "refresh" this page.
All of the following selections have a St. Louis connection, either by author or by
setting. I don't pretend that this is a complete listing. You may recognize some of the authors'
names or some of the locations.
Here are a few of them:
This historical novel takes place at Jefferson Barracks, which is on the far south
side of St. Louis, near the Mississippi River, during the Black Hawk wars of the mid 19th century.
It is
THE GOOD JOURNEY by Micaela Gilchrist.
About
MURDER IS THE DEAL OF THE DAY by Robert J. Randisi and Christine Matthews,
the St. Louis Post Dispatch says that
if Nick and Nora Charles, those sophisticated sleuths of 1930s
fiction and movie fame, were around these days, they might resemble Gil and Claire Hunt,
the fictional detectives created by this pair of St. Louis writers.
They appear in this first suspense novel which
the authors hope will become a series.
Newest in the Gil and Claire series is
THE MASKS OF AUNTIE LAVEAU.
Randisi has written another novel that takes place
in St. Louis, the second in a series with the fictional detective, Joe Keough, called
IN THE SHADOW OF THE ARCH. His wife, Marthayn Pelegrimas, has also written other novels.
Did you know author Ridley Pearson lives in St. Louis?
Here's some
information about him from bookreporter.com. He has a website at
RidleyPearson.com. For a listing of his books, look
here.
Elaine Viets, a former St. Louis Post Dispatch columnist, has a series of mysteries
whose main character is Francesca Vierling, herself a newspaper reporter. One of those is
BACKSTAB.
Another of Viets' St. Louis area thrillers is
RUBOUT. Viets' newest is
SHOP TIL YOU DROP.
You can find a complete listing of Viets' books using Amazon's search facility.
Omaha lawyer,Richard Dooling, according to St. Louis Post Dispatch writer, Harry Levins, has done it
again. With
BRAIN STORM,
he has written a whacky, offbeat, zany and wildly funny novel.
Young computer-geek lawyer, Joseph T. Watson, who works for the St. Louis's most
prestigious law firm, finds himself appointed by a judge to defend an indigent
murder suspect. After his firm cuts him loose, he finds himself in all kinds of
trouble. Levins says no plot summary can do justice to this book. The author knows
the city and makes lots of references to familiar places there. And it's set
in the near future when the federal courts have moved into the new Thomas F. Eagleton
courthouse.
Dooling has a new one,
BET YOUR LIFE that came out in November, 2002.
Author Rett MacPherson created a lively female sleuth in her first book,
FAMILY SKELETONS and we meet her again in
A VEILED ANTIQUITY.
The story takes place in the fictional town of New Kassel, MO
on the Mississippi River just south of St. Louis. A resident is killed in an apparently
accidental fall at her home. Victory "Torie" O'Shea, genealogist, amateur detective and
unofficial town historian, finds evidence that the fall was murder. In a Halloween
setting, the plot comes to a satisfying climax. St. Louis readers will enjoy the
many references to area locations.
MacPherson's newest is
KILLING COUSINS.
Previously recommended
St. Louis books and authors:
