Austin S. Camacho Books In Order

Publication Order of Felicity O'Brian and Morgan Stark Books

Publication Order of Hannibal Jones Books

Publication Order of Austin S. Camacho Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Austin S. Camacho Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Austin S. Camacho is a mystery thriller author best known for the “Hannibal Jones Mystery” series. His short fiction has been featured in a range of anthologies including “Dying in a Winter Wonderland” from Wolfmont Press. The collection was a 2008 Top Ten Bestseller for the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. Camacho also had some of his fiction featured in Frankie Y. Bailey’s “African American Mystery Writers” collection that went on to earn an Edgar nomination.

Camacho was born in New York but spent much of her childhood in Saratoga Springs. For college, he went to New York’s Union College in Schenectady and graduated to go into the military, where he was a weapons repairman. He did not repair weapons for long as he soon moved into broadcast journalism for the military, which is a field that was more appropriate given his education and training. During his stint with the military, he was involved in anchoring news, news writing, public affairs assignments and video editing and camera work. During his years in the military, he moved around a lot from Belgium, Missouri, Georgia, California, Maryland and even the Middle East during Desert Storm. He also finished his bachelor’s degree and got his masters as he rose in rank to become Sergeant First Class. During his spare time, he began writing manuscripts for his mystery and adventure stories set in the many exotic locations he had been to. He left the army soon after but continued writing for the Defense Department until he retired. Austin Camacho is actively involved with the writing community and is a member of the International Thrillers Writers, Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. He currently lives with his family in Upper Marlboro in Maryland.

Austin Camacho started writing when he was in grade school as he had an intense love for comics. He also loved reading adventures and on some level thought that he could write and tell better stories. In high school, she wrote a story about all his friends that he titled “Mission Impossible.” He had a portable typewriter on which he would write a few pages every night and show it to his friends in the morning. Camacho had never been good at sports and he also did not participate in clubs and hence it was great to find something that his friends thought he was good at. With his friends always asking him about the progress of the story, he thought that maybe that is what he should do as a career. His work with the military made his writing easier as it made it easier to research fighting and weapons. He also got to have an experience of settings that most other writers do not get to see. This gives his novels a more realistic feel as he has been to the Middle East and to the cities in Europe and North America that are the setting of his novels. Working with the military also gave him a certain work ethic, mindset and trained him in time management. When he got into broadcast journalism later in life, he was able to apply his military discipline to become a better and more dedicated author.

Camacho’s “Hannibal Jones” series always has a surprise that surprises both the readers and even the lead character Hannibal. The theme of the series is the advancing and rising of one man’s spirit. Hannibal starts out as a man with odd quirks and several flaws. This is expected given that he lived in a time when such quirks were expected of the most effective investigators of the 1940s. Over time, he becomes a more enlightened and worldly man and the anger issues that were common on the earlier novels such as “The Troubleshooter” are smoothed out. Apart from the “Hannibal Jones” series, Camacho also writes the “Felicity O’Brian and Morgan Stark” series which is different thematically and in the setting. In a recent interview, the author said that Hannibal Jones novels are usually about crimes or murders committed in the city while the O’Brian and Stark series are usually all about international events that tend to be broader and bigger in scope and theme. He is hoping to one day combine them into one but has not found an idea that fits but is thinking of some anti-terrorist caper.

“The Troubleshooter” by Austin S. Camacho opens to an eighteen-year-old boy named Kyle who is sickly and dying from leukemia. As the members of the influential and rich family die one after the other they come to the realization that there is a man who could stop all the carnage. Their father had gone missing when Kyle was born but it has been eighteen years and the trail must surely have gone gold. They contact the self-styled knight and troubleshooter named Hannibal Jones who is happy to take the challenge. They have only a fortnight to find the father and Hannibal finds himself following a twisted path of greed, conspiracy, and deception. He finds a woman that could be the boy’s illegitimate sister, a man that may know about his father and a woman that may be her mother. The investigation takes him from Mexico to Washington as the chase becomes more dangerous and the chance of surviving the ordeal worsens with each revelation.

“Collateral Damage” the second novel of the Hannibal Jones series opens to Bea Collins in desperate straits. Her fiancé Dean just went missing and Bea believes something bad has happened to him rather than he has walked out on her. Hannibal Jones comes in and like everyone else, he is skeptical until he starts his investigations. He finds Dean in a run-down apartment confused and dazed, and now accused of killing a coworker. Hannibal’s mission is now to prove the man’s innocence. All the evidence says that Dean is the killer but he has amnesia and cannot remember a huge chunk of what happened in the past few weeks. To get to the truth, Hannibal has to trawl through his past where he learns that he had been linked to another homicide. The homicides have destroyed the lives of many loved ones of the victims and now Hannibal has to solve all three homicides to prevent any more deaths and save Dean from the electric chair.

“The Troubleshooter” by Austin Camacho tells of a high powered attorney in Washington D.C. He just purchased a block of flats in the CBD hoping to provide low-cost housing for families. But then he goes to inspect the building and finds it occupies by hookers, winos, and drug dealers who are squatting in it and have no intention of making way for good families. Hannibal Jones is called in to help get out the squatters but they are one step ahead. They have called for backup and Hannibal arrives to find goons smoking crack pipes and bearing guns prepared to fight the eviction. He learns that the local crime boss used the influence of his father who has links with the mob to mobilize the goons that have invaded the property. But for Hannibal, this is not only about saving the investment of his client but about the future of a small boy and a neighborhood. Nothing is going to stop him.