Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Crime Fiction Alphabet: Letter H

Crime Fiction Alphabet: H is for Harry Stoner P.I.

Harry Stoner was created by Jonathan Valin (1947-), Harry is in his mid forties and resides in Cincinnati. He runs a one man agency and drives a rusted old Pinto. Jonathan Valin took a break from mystery writing, after writing eleven Stoner mysteries in 14 years, to help found Fi, a magazine of music criticism. He now works as an editor and reviewer for magazines.


Novels

The Lime Pit (1980)
Final Notice (1980)
Dead Letter (1981)
Day of Wrath (1982)
Natural Causes (1983)
Life's Work (1986)
Fire Lake (1987)
Extenuating Circumstances (1989)
Second Chance (1991)
The Music Lovers (1993)
Missing (1995)

Short Stories 


"Loser Takes All" (Fall 1991, Vol. 4, No. 4, The Armchair Detective)



Film

 
Final Notice
1989 USA Network
Gil Gerard as Harry Stoner
Also starring Steve Landsberg, Melody Anderson,
Jackie Burroughs, Kevin Hicks, Louise Fletcher,
David Ogden Stiers.
Based on the novel by Jonathan Valin
Teleplay by John Gay
Directed by Steven Hilliard Stern
Produced by Jay Bernstein.




Various Covers  





















Awards

Anthony Award nominee, Best Novel
Life's Work (1986)


Shamus Award winner, Best Novel
Extenuating Circumstances (1989)

Shamus Award nominee, Best Novel
Second Chance (1991)

Read more about the Crime Fiction Alphabet meme here.
Crime Fiction Alphabet

4 comments:

  1. Scott - I have to say I love those covers! And thanks for reminding me of Harry Stoner. I very much need to refresh my memory...

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  2. I remember seeing that movie! I like the cover on Fire Lake, makes me want to read it. I will put his name on my wish list for roaming old bookstores!

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  3. Thanks for visiting and the comments. I enjoyed reading this series.

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  4. The Valin books certainly impressed me at the time, especially in their leanings towards horror, which at the time was something of a novelty for me at least in the PI genre. I remember quite liking the Gil Gerard TV-Movie actually as a reasonable adaptation (within the confines of network TV of course).

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