welcome to author
Loren D. Estleman's
official website

updated 04 jan 25

 


"Frames is gripping entertainment..."
Lawrence Kasdan,
Academy Award-nominated Director and Screenwriter

"Loren Estleman is the Stravinsky of hard-boiled prose--
he never hits a wrong note."
John Lescroart, author of
The First Law: A Novel

"Loren Estleman is my hero."
Harlan Coben, author of the
instant #1 New York Times bestseller
Hold Tight

"...a true professional, a writer of a sort increasingly rare...so given to his work as to spontaneously combust to genius."
THE BOSTON GLOBE

 


Who is Estleman?

Interested in more about the
man behind the words?
CLICK

What does
Estleman write?

MYSTERIES
AMOS WALKER SERIES
VALENTINO SERIES
PETER MACKLIN SERIES
DETROIT CRIME SERIES
OTHER CRIME FICTION

WESTERNS
PAGE MURDOCK SERIES
STAND-ALONE HISTORICAL
WESTERNS

OTHER WORKS
NONFICTION

What else can be found on this site?

AWARDS
LIST OF WHAT WON WHICH

BOOKS
COMPREHENSIVE
LIST

SPATTERS
BITS & PIECES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ the latest books ]

Get the latest Amos Walker P.I. novel!
Feb 11, 2025

SMOKE ON THE WATER
[ From Forge Books ]

From the master of the hard-boiled detective novel and recipient of
the Private Eye Writers of America Lifetime Achievement Award comes
Loren D. Estleman's next enthralling Amos Walker mystery, Smoke on the Water.

  As the smoke from Canadian wildfires chokes Detroit, PI Amos Walker is tasked with investigating a fatal hit-and-run. The victim is Spencer Bennett, a junior law associate with the Waterford Group, and he supposedly had a file of confidential documents on him when he died. But those documents have now gone missing, and the firm is dead set on Walker finding them. As Walker digs deeper into the events leading to Bennett's death, all signs are pointing towards the crash being anything but accidental.

  Summer in Detroit was hot enough before the smoke descended, but as the temperature rises and more bodies crop up in connection to the missing file, Walker will have to track down those documents -- and unearth why they were worth killing over -- before it's too late.




[New editions from Wolfpack Publishing! ]

Estleman entered into a multi-book deal with Wolfpack Publishing
to re-issue several historical westerns.
More covers and publishing dates will be added here as they are scheduled.

       The Bandit and Other Best Western Stories: Oct 18, 2024
       Bloody Season: Nov 15, 2024
       Gun Man: Dec 20, 2024
       The Hider: Jan 21, 2025
       The Master Executioner: Feb 4, 2025


June 2024
IRON STAR
[ From Forge Books ]

"Captivating... Estleman affectionately takes an axe to the tropes on which he built his career
while delivering a gripping story in its own right. This finds a crime fiction legend
working in a delightful new register." —Publishers Weekly

From his youth as a revolutionist to his time as a Deputy U.S. Marshal, aging lawman Iron St. John has become a larger-than-life figure—and in the process, the man has disappeared behind the myth. During his brief, unsuccessful political career, St. John published his memoirs—a sanitized version of his adventures to appeal to the masses. A generation later, the clouded truth of this giant of the Old West has been all but lost.
Now, Buck Jones, a pioneering film star, is vying for a cinematic story that will launch his career to incredible heights. He approaches Emmet Rawlings, a retired Pinkerton detective, to set the record of St. John’s life straight once and for all. Twenty years ago, Rawlings accompanied St. John on his final manhunt, and in desperate need for the funding a successful book promises, he dives deep into St. John’s past—and his own buried memories—to tell the truth about this part-time hero.
As the story of St. John unfolds, the romance of the period is stripped away to reveal a reality long-forgotten in this unvarnished, heart-racing depiction of the American West.


[ latest in The Valentino Series ]

Nov 2023

VAMP

[ From Forge Books ]

Renowned film detective Valentino is on a quest to help restore The Comet, an extinct drive-in movie theater, and his trail leads him to Leo Kalishnikov, who requests a favor first—rid him of a blackmailer from his shady past, and he'll gladly hand over the money that The Comet needs.
With only an uncashed check for a clue, Valentino embarks on a treacherous path to save not only The Comet but the last remaining print of the 1917 film Cleopatra, which has been lost for over a century. The film is somewhere in Los Angeles, and Valentino is willing to risk it all to find it. He must navigate the shady underbelly of Hollywood once more, in a dangerous adventure that threatens not only his career—but his life.




[ A stand-alone historical novel ]

March 2021

THE EAGLE AND THE VIPER

[ From Forge Books ]

Part high-octane suspense, part dire warning, The Eagle and the Viper
from multiple-award-winning novelist Loren D. Estleman
reveals how close our world came—at the dawn of a promising new century—to total war.

Praise for The Eagle and the Viper

“Fascinating premise of this standout novel... Estleman demonstrates that his versatility extends to mastery of multiple genres.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A beautifully written book that is filled with historical accuracy, The Eagle and The Viper is a page-turner.” —Mystery and Suspense Magazine

“Estleman mixes historical fact and fiction together so seamlessly that it’s impossible, unless you’re a scholar of French history, to know where one leaves off and the other begins... A fine novel, rich in historical detail and boasting a clever plot... He delivers a first-rate historical thriller.” —Booklist



Estleman's bibliomystery,
"Book Club,"
is available at The Mysterious Bookshop and is a Mysterious Bookshop Original Short Story.

"Book Club" is about the murder of a wealthy book collector and the elderly
bookshop owner who solves the crime.

Click here for the limited hardcover version (signed and numbered)
and, here for the paperback version

 

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Web site, banner design and author photo by Deborah Morgan
Split Personality logo by Loren Estleman. All rights reserved.