Bruce Alexander Books In Order

Publication Order of Sir John Fielding Books

Bruce Alexander was one of the noteworthy novelists from America, who was famous for writing historical, nonfiction, mystery, thriller, biography, and memoir novels. His real name was Bruce Cook and used to use the name Alexander in place of Cook in his name as a pseudonym for writing his books. Author Bruce was born in the year 1932 and died on November 9, 2003. He was particularly popular for developing a novel series revolving around a blind Englishman living in the 18th century as well as a thriller series featuring an American-Mexican detective from the 20th century. Author Bruce’s birth took place in Chicago. When he was a child, his family used to change residence very often as his father used to work as a train dispatcher used to get assigned to new assignments frequently. Later, author Bruce went on to earn a degree in the subject of literature from the Loyola University in Chicago. In his lifetime, he married twice. The first woman with whom he got married was Catherine Coghlan. The two had a total of 3 children named Bob, Ceci, and Katy. Author Bruce got married for the second time to a concert violinist named Judith Aller in the year 1994. During the late 1950s, author Bruce used to work as a translator in Frankfurt, Germany, under the service of the United States Army. He was also involved in some public relations work at that time. After this, he changed his interest towards journalism and joined the National Observer as an editorial staff in the year 1967 in Washington, D.C. He used to cover mostly music, books, and movies. After some time, the newspaper agency folded, after which author Bruce worked as a book editor. Between the years 1984 and 1990, he was associated with the Detroit News, the Los Angeles Daily, and the USA Today.

As the years passed, Bruce went on to become a senior editor at the newspaper agency called Newsweek. In between the course of his journalism career, author Bruce used to find time for writing as a freelancer. He used to sell his works to publications like the National Catholic Reporter. In the later stages of his life, he gained much success as a novelist, which allowed him to begin writing full time. Eventually, author Bruce left journalism and became an established author. The first book written by him was a work of nonfiction titled The Beat Generation. It was published in 1971 by the Charles Scribner & Sons publication. This was followed by a biography of famous screenwriter named Dalton Trumbo in the year 1977. In the year 2015, the biography was adapted into a movie with the same title. The first novel written by author Bruce was based in Chicago and titled Sex Life. This book was released in the year 1978. Following this, author Bruce wrote a total of 4 books that featured a detective from Los Angeles named Antonio Cervantes. At the same time, he also wrote a book series about a blind magistrate named Sir John Fielding. He is the real life founder of the first police force of London. Author Bruce received a lot of appreciation for the success of this detective series. Bruce continued to write nonfiction books throughout his writing career. Some of the prominent ones include a book on musical history, a story about the German author Bertolt Brecht. Some of the final books written by him were released posthumously. The death of author Bruce occurred due to stroke on 9th November, 2003. He took his last breath at the medical center called Queen of Angels Hollywood Presbyterian, located in California.

The Sir John Fielding series written by author Bruce Alexander consists of 11 books in total, which were released between the years 1994 and 2005. One of the books published initially in this series is titled as ‘Murder in Grub Street’. This book was published in the year 1995 by Berkley publication. At the introductory sequence of this book, author Bruce has described a brutal crime that appeared to be wicked as well as easily solvable. A printer from Grub Street was brutally murdered while sleeping along with all his family members and a couple of apprentices. The building was locked from the outside and when the police arrives at the crime scene, they find a mad poet with a bloody axe in his hand. It appeared that the culprit of the brutal crime was found and it would be a difficult task to provide justice in the case. But, when Sir Fileding comes to know about the case, he thinks that there is much more in the case that what is seen through the naked eye. It is his habit to find the truth in any case than to find the culprit. With the help of a 13 year old assistant named Jeremy Proctor, Sir Fielding continues to investigate the case further. Later, it is revealed that the truth behind the gruesome massacre was much more deadly and evil than the crime itself.

Another intriguing book written in the series by author Bruce is titled as ‘Person or Persons Unknown’. The Berkley Crime Books once again published the book in the year 1997. Author Bruce has set the plot of this story in London, England, United Kingdom, at the time of the year 1770. The main characters depicted by him in this book include John Fielding, Oliver Goldsmith, and Jeremy Proctor. At the start of the story, Sir Fielding is shown as being famous for co-founding the first police force in London, called as the Bow Street Runner. He is also shown to have a magistrate’s fairness, keen intellect, and the uncommon ability of a detective. Whenever a crime takes place in the city, he considers it his responsibility to solve it. Everything about him seemed even more remarkable because of the fact that he could not see. The events that follow in the life of Sir Fielding and his young ward and assistant Jeremy Proctor, force them to come across a series of crimes that hit close to their homes. They come to know that several prostitutes have been killed in the city. The crime spot chosen by the killer is Covent Garden, which also show some troubling implications about his identity. Being frustrated and baffled by the crimes, Sir Fielding comes up a desperate and daring plan to catch the killer. However, the consequences of his plan seemed to be quite terrible and unexpected.

4 Responses to “Bruce Alexander”

1. Heather Y: 5 months ago

   I dearly love the Fielding Series & have read through the entire set 3 times & feel as if they are family. I actually begin to miss the characters after a span of time & wish there were at least a dozen more books. The common sense, respect, selflessness, kindness, manners, appreciation, & civility shown to others is so heartwarming in contrast to our current, broken world. Each story is full of twists & turns & draws the reader into trying to solve the mystery right up to the ending. I feel cheated that we lost Bruce Alexander too soon but his marvelous books will live on as a tribute to his genius.

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2. Jill Carr: 2 years ago

   just discovered your website. I’ve searched for Bruce Alexander books which I’ve only recently begun to read and was wondering if he’d written more than I’ve read. Was very pleased to read his bio which was very informative. Thanks for your website!

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   • Graeme: 2 years ago

     You’re welcome Jill – thanks for taking the time to comment 🙂

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   • Marisa P.: 2 years ago

     Quite a few years ago I was lucky to find and buy all 11 books in the Sir John Fielding series! I even mailed them to my daughter to read. I’m now re-reading this series since quite a few years have gone by.Now I want to find his other books after reading this article. Thanks!

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