Timothy Hallinan

Timothy Hallinan at the 2014 Texas Book Festival.

Timothy Hallinan (born 1949) is an American thriller writer, based in Southern California and Southeast Asia. In the 1990s, Hallinan created the erudite private eye Simeon Grist, who appeared in a total of six novels, all set in Los Angeles. The series was widely and well reviewed, with some titles appearing on critics "Ten Best" lists for the year in which they appeared, such as that of the Drood Review of Mystery,^[1] but did not achieve widespread popularity. Hallinan returned to publication in 2007 with a second series, set in Bangkok,^[2] where he has lived off and on since the early 1980s.^[3] The new series features a rough-travel writer named Philip ("Poke") Rafferty, who has settled in the Thai capital and is in the process of trying to cobble together a family comprising Rose, the former go-go dancer he loves, and a precocious street urchin named Miaow. The first book in the series is A Nail Through the Heart (William Morrow). In 2011 he launched a third series starring Junior Bender, private detective to Los Angeles' underworld elite.

In his non-writing career, Hallinan served as a consultant to some of America's top corporations, advising on issues of television sponsorship and audience-building. He also created a firm, Hallinan Consulting, that created educators' websites on behalf of a number of public television programs, including "The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow," "Slavery in America," and "The Supreme Court." He now writes full-time.

Hallinan lives six months a year in Santa Monica, California, and six months a year in Southeast Asia.

Novels

Simeon Grist series

Series about an erudite LA private eye. NOTE: While "Skin Deep" was the third published novel, it was actually the first written and, according to the internal chronology of the series, takes place earlier than the other Simeon Grist books.

• The Four Last Things (1989) (also: Kindle edition) ISBN 978-0-453-00650-7 LA private eye investigates a murder that leads to a new age religion
• Everything But the Squeal (1990) (also: Kindle edition) LA private eye investigates teenage runaway and a seamy aspect of LA
• Skin Deep (1991) (also: Kindle edition) ISBN 978-0-525-24978-8 LA private eye investigates television production industry players, murder and strip clubs in LA
• Incinerator (1992) LA private eye investigates pyromaniac with murderous bent
• The Bone Polisher (1993) LA private eye investigates serial killer focused on LA gay community
• The Man with No Time (1994) (also: Kindle edition) LA private eye investigates Asian crime syndicates preying on immigrant Asians

Poke Rafferty series

Thrillers set in Bangkok - a travel writer trying to make a life in the Thai capital.

• A Nail Through The Heart (2007) - Moral ambiguity, the Khmer Rouge, and child porn.
• The Fourth Watcher (2008) ISBN 0-06-125725-7 - Counterfeiting and Asian criminal syndicates
• Breathing Water: A Bangkok Thriller (2009) ISBN 978-0-06-167225-5 - mystery about Thai politics and child brokerage business.
• The Queen of Patpong: A Poke Rafferty Thriller (2010) - thriller about former Bangkok bar-girl and her history with the Thai sex-trade businesses.
• The Fear Artist (Poke Rafferty series, 2012) - Unforeseen repercussions of redecorating.
• For the Dead (Poke Rafferty series, 2014) - Miaow buys a stolen iPhone for a friend and that gets the family involved with murderers.
• The Hot Countries (Poke Rafferty series, 2015) - When a stranger shows up, wanting money and someone Poke is unwilling to give up, the Expat Bar old-timers get involved.

Junior Bender series

Comic thriller series about a Junior Bender, a thief's thief with a moral compass.

• Crashed (2010) - Thistle Downing was once America's favorite child star, and she's about to be destroyed.
• Little Elvises (2011) - Junior gets involved in a recent murder that's tied into a murder over 50 years ago involving "little Elvises," singers riding Elvis Presley's coattails.
• The Fame Thief (2013) - modern repercussions of a 60-year-old Hollywood crime.
• Herbie's Game (2014) - Herbie taught Junior everything, except Herbie's game.
• King Maybe (2016) - Junior gets in trouble with (or gives trouble to) a ruthless studio mogul called King Maybe.

External links

• Official website

References