Kris Nelscott: 22 books

 “Kris Nelscott can lay claim to the strongest series of detective novels now being written by an American author. “ SalonAfter attending a charity fundraiser, private investigator Smokey Dalton and his powerful girlfriend discover a critically injured woman in his neighbor’s apartment,...

“Kris Nelscott can lay claim to the strongest series of detective novels now being written by an American author.” SalonChicago, 1969: The trial of eight protestors from the Democratic Convention the previous year has the whole world watching—and all of Chicagoland on edge.Smokey...

Private detective Smokey Dalton does his best to protect his adopted family, from his 11-year-old son Jimmy to his friends, the Grimshaws.  But Smokey can’t see everything.  Jimmy notices that Lacey Grimshaw—“thirteen going on trouble,” Smokey says—skips school to hang out with an adult...

The party on Haight-Ashbury Street in San Francisco ended two years before and now only a handful of people remain to clean up the mess. One of them, the receptionist at the Free Clinic, studies medicine with the hope of becoming a doctor, but everyone—from her professors to the staff at San Francisco...

 “Kris Nelscott can lay claim to the strongest series of detective novels now being written by an American author.” SalonThe case starts out close to home: Daniel Kirkland never arrived at Yale for the spring semester. Daniel’s mother Grace, a friend of Smokey Dalton’s and his...

Madison, Wisconsin, 1972—When Detective Hank Kaplan calls Valentina Wilson to a crime scene, she wonders why. She soon finds more questions than answers in a secret room belonging to a wealthy female philanthropist, whose brutal murder the police hastily cover up. Val’s search for the truth will...

“Kris Nelscott can lay claim to the strongest series of detective novels now being written by an American author.” SalonIn the first week of the new decade, an emergency phone call shatters Chicago Private Detective Smokey Dalton’s hopes for a good 1970. His adopted son Jimmy and Jimmy’s...

“Kris Nelscott can lay claim to the strongest series of detective novels now being written by an American author.” SalonSmokey Dalton and Jimmy, the young boy he protects, have settled into a new life on Chicago’s South Side. But when Smokey gets hired to investigate the death of a black...

“This is mystery fiction at its highest, most gripping level.” Chicago TribuneOn the run after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Private Investigator Smokey Dalton has settled under an assumed name in Chicago. But history won’t leave him alone. His job in security at the Chicago...

Smokey Dalton gets a call from an old friend to help transport a battered woman and her young daughter from Madison, Wisconsin, to a shelter in Chicago. When Smokey and Marvella Walker show up at the drop site, they learn that the woman is both white and a racist. She refuses to leave with them. And...

Herodotus Award winner for Best Historical Mystery“Kris Nelscott can lay claim to the strongest series of detective novels now being written by an American author.” —SalonWho is Smokey Dalton?Private Investigator Smokey Dalton works for Memphis, Tennessee’s black community. He has almost...

Lady Sleuths have long been a mainstay of the mystery field. Agatha Christie's Miss Marple is, surely, the very model of the detective in a cozy mystery. But before -- and after! -- Miss Marple there were such sleuths as Loveday Brooke and Amelia Butterworth (both of whose complete adventures are in...

“Nelscott expertly mixes history and mystery, and readers will be happy that she intends to write more books about these distinctive people and eventful times.” —Publisher’s Weekly A former combat nurse, a former legal secretary, and the owner of one of the first women-only gyms...

Called “an outstanding series” by Booklist and “triumphant” by the Chicago Tribune, Kris Nelscott’s Smokey Dalton mysteries boast numerous awards, including finalists for the Edgar and Shamus awards. The Oregonian says: “The Nelscott series setting, in the turbulent late ’60s,...