Mark Pryor Books In Order

Publication Order of Hugo Marston Books

Publication Order of Hollow Man Books

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Inspector Henri Lefort Books

Mark Pryor is an assistant District attorney that is best known for his work as an author of mystery novels. Mark Pryor is best known for creating Hugo Marston, a former FBI agent working security in Paris.

+Biography

Mark Pryor comes from Hertfordshire which is in England, though he currently calls the State of Texas in the United States home. The author’s professional life started in England.

There, he did all sorts of odd jobs, from instructing skiers to working as a personal trainer. By the time he was nineteen years old, the author still wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do with his life. So it made all the sense in the world for Mark to try his hand at different jobs.

Finally settling on journalism and acquiring the necessary certification, Mark Pryor began reporting for a Newspaper in Colchester, Essex where he covered the state of crime and the activities of the police. The author also encountered a few foreign assignments along the way.

The trip to the United States took place in 1994, and Mark claims that it was the weather than caused him to migrate. After settling in at Chapel Hill, North Carolina and getting his journalism degree from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Mark decided to get into law.

By 2002, the author had graduated from Duke University with a degree in law. He moved to Dallas, started practicing law and kept making progress until he finally landed a position at the Travis County District Attorney’s office.

Mark Pryor wasn’t always interested in going into law. However, crime always piqued his interest. By the time he decided to go to law school, the author was in his late twenties and he was still trying to get a sense of his purpose. He was certain that he didn’t want to do journalism anymore, though, which is why indulging his curiosity about crime by going to law school made so much sense.

Interestingly enough, Mark’s first foray into the legal field wasn’t particularly satisfying. Even after landing a job at a fancy Dallas Law firm, Mark spent three years hating his life and his job. Being an attorney wasn’t the fulfilling job he thought it would be, and he found himself wishing that he was doing something more meaningful. At the very least, Mark wanted to be in the courtroom arguing cases in front of a jury and working at his fancy law firm wasn’t doing it for him.

So the author decided to apply for and landed a job at the DA’s office.

+Literary Career

With writing, Mark Pryor wasn’t as confused. Unlike the law, which Mark approached as an experiment, the author always knew that he wanted to write. After settling into his life as a lawyer, Mark finally decided to give writing a serious chance. Getting published turned out to be quite the tough accomplishment, but the author refused to give in, persevering through his first three novels and the rejections they received before getting lucky.

Seeing as Mark has always harbored an interest in crime, it comes as no surprise that he is a crime writer. The author was inspired by the likes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie when he was young. The icons impressed Mark Pryor with their genius plotting and brilliant detectives.

In fact, it was based on the creations of Agatha and Arthur that Mark based his heroes, characters who do not need to rely on physical skills and abilities in order to solve crimes and give the bad guys their just due.

Like many mystery authors, Mark’s planning process for his books begins when he comes up with a murder. That is often the crux of the author’s story and he won’t even contemplate sitting down to brainstorm until he knows who died and how they were killed.

Once the author has crucial aspect planned out, he will then begin to flesh out the world surrounding the murder. Mark Pryor doesn’t bother plotting his novels out. He’d rather sit down, start writing and slowly but surely discover his characters. According to Mark, the best stories are the ones that develop organically.

Mark has tried plotting his books out ahead of time. But each time he sat down to write, the story diverted rather drastically from what he had initially planned. So he doesn’t even bother these days. Once Mark has a starting point, he’s more than ready to get writing.

Mark’s biggest challenge as a mystery author is getting the pacing right and providing the appropriate balance of clues. Pacing is especially tricky for Mark because his stories are void of explosions, car chases and fight scenes. So there is a danger that all the talking in his books will get boring.

He has to work hard to keep things fresh and interesting, usually by changing locations.

+The Bookseller

Hugo Marston was powerless to save his friend when Max was abducted at gunpoint. Now the head of security at the American Embassy is determined to find the elderly Paris Bookstall owner.

To achieve his goal, Hugo reaches out to Tom Green who has an interesting relationship with the CIA.

Tom and Hugo launch an investigation that provides insight into Max’s tragic past during the Second World War.

Meanwhile, tensions on the streets of Paris are growing as rival drug gangs struggle for territory. Hugo cannot afford to worry about that, though, not when other booksellers begin to disappear. When Hugo begins to dig deeper, he elicits the violent intentions of some very dangerous people.

+The Crypt Thief

When two tourists are murdered in a Paris Cemetery, the police’s attempts at locking the cemetery down do little to prevent the killer from coming back, breaking into the crypt of a Moulin Rouge dancer and disappearing with some of her remains.

Because one of the dead men was an American and the other a suspected terrorist, Hugo Marston is sent in to investigate the situation alongside the French Police.

Hugo doesn’t know what to make of the situation, especially when another dancer’s crypt is broken into. Hugo cannot figure out how the killer has remained unseen and undetected for so long.

2 Responses to “Mark Pryor”

1. gary ikeda: 2 months ago

   just finished The French Widow and thought it was one of the best Hugo Marston books you’ve written. i read all the earlier ones and had thought you were on to other characters when i came across this one and promptly purchased and read it. please keep him busy with new cases! thank you!

   Reply
2. Kathie Hayden: 4 months ago

   Am really enjoying your books! I have read the first two and am starting on the third one. I admire the way you keep the suspense up but still give little clues. I have all of the Hugo Marston novels now and when I finish them I will pick another of your series to read. Awesome characters and the plots are really different.

   Reply