If you’ve seen the movies Gone, Baby Gone, Shutter Island, or Mystic River you’ve experienced the work of one of the most promising mystery/thriller novelists emerging on the scene today: Dennis Lehane. He is in fact the author of ten novels:
- Moonlight Mile
- A Drink Before the War
- Darkness, Take My Hand
- The Given Day: A Novel
- Prayers for Rain
- Gone, Baby, Gone
- Sacred: A Novel
- Boston Noir
- Mystic River
- Shutter Island
Lehane has also authored a collection of short stories published as Coronado Stories (P.S.) which are said to be “suspenseful, surreal, romantic, and tragically comic” with the tales journeying “headlong into the heart of our national myths” to reveal that the truth awaiting us which is not what we might expect.And should you happen to be a television fan as much as a mystery novel fan and you’ve been fortunate enough to see the critically acclaimed HBO series The Wire, there’s a good chance you’ve come across his work there, too since he wrote three episodes between 2004 and 2008. If you haven’t yet seen The Wire you may want to give it a look since it is a tightly written and suspenseful drama set on the mean streets of Baltimore.His latest work, Moonlight Mile (released November 2010) is a definite consideration should you happen to belong to a mystery book club since Lehane’s website contains a handy Reading Group Guide that your club might find useful.The bottom line is that this is the guy to watch as he continues to release stellar fiction. We’re hoping that the rumor on the street that Moonlight Mile has already been optioned for Hollywood is true since Gone, Baby, Gone is most deserving of a follow up.Let’s stay tuned and see what happens. This could be good.