Burnside Mystery Books In Order

Publication Order of Burnside Mystery Books

The “Burnside Mysteries” are a set of mysteries by David Chill, a best-selling mystery author from Los Angeles. The author was born and brought up in New York City and as a teenager, he went to SUNY Oswego from where he got his undergraduate degree.

He would later on move to Los Angeles and attended the University of Southern California from where he graduated with a master’s degree.

Chill made his debut when he published “Post Pattern,” the first novel of the “Burnside Mysteries.” The bestselling novel went on to win several awards including the Private Eye Writers of America contest.

Since then, he has gone on to become a prolific author with his “Burnside Mystery” series hitting many bestseller lists and garnering much critical acclaim. He now has more than a dozen novels in the series.

The author currently makes his home in Los Angeles, where he lives with his son and wife.

Chill gets the inspiration for his novels from his fascination with the subject of siblings. When he was still a teenager, his brother was the victim of a car accident and died aged only 24 and this devastated the young David.

Oddly enough, he never set out to intentionally write the story of his brother in “Post Pattern.” In fact, it was not until he was done writing the manuscript that he realized that it had some personal implications.

In many ways, he thinks writing allows him to deal with the death of his brother and explore sibling relationships. As for literary influences, he looks up to legends such as Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Robert B. Parker, and Ross Thomas.

Since many of her novels are set in Los Angeles, she is also inspired by local authors such as Walter Mosley, Les Roberts, Robert Crais, and Gar Haywood.

The lead character of the “Burnside Mysteries” by David Chill is a private investigator named Burnside. At the beginning of the series, he is described as a forty-year-old who used to play for the USC football team. After graduating from college, he had for a time worked for the LAPD before he was fired.

Putting the investigative skills he had acquired when he was a police officer to use, he decided to become a private eye. He has made a name for himself in Los Angeles as something of a white night but also one of the most effective private investigators.

Unlike other PIs, you can always count on Burnside resolutely pushing on even when most people would have quit. Many are the instances when he finds himself in dangerous situations. But always manages to get out of the hairy situations even if the action can sometimes get harrowing.

David Chill writes the Burnside mysteries with terrific characters and tight plots. The writing is sharp and crisp with action-packed scenes and snappy dialogue.

“Post Pattern” the debut novel of the “Burnside Mystery” series is the novel that introduces Burnside as the lead character. At the opening of the novel, Burnside has been hired by Norman Freeman to look into a shooting incident.

Freeman believes Robbie, his brother, could have been the target of the shooting since he is in some kind of trouble with some criminal gangs. Things get very interesting when Robbie tumbles off a balcony to his death during Norman’s bachelor party.

The police investigations had concluded that it was an accident but Burnside is convinced the man was murdered in cold blood. Norman’s fiance Ashley fears that the investigations might delay her wedding and asks him to ask Burnside to stop.

Burnside is not willing to dump all he had found and shares his findings with Harrison Freeman who is the father to both Norman and Robbie. Harrison is convinced there is foul play involved and asks Burnside to continue his investigations but now under his employ.
Set against a hot sun-drenched summer in Los Angeles, the story provides readers with an engaging and taut mystery.

“Fade Route” the second novel of the “Burnside Mystery” series opens with one of the most popular candidates for mayor murdered. The list of suspects is very short as there is only one person the candidate clashed with.
Burnside believes there is more to the case and starts a harrowing investigation in which he unearths several more people that could have their own motivations for killing the man. With the action intensifying, Burnside realizes that the case is more than the murder of a political candidate.
But then he is tipped off that the police think he could have had something to do with the murder. He now has to work even harder to find the real culprit if he is not to end up charged with homicide.
Burnside has little to go with other than his gut but keeps poking around trying to untangle a complex web that could not only destroy him but also the entire community.
It is a well-plotted mystery that keeps its readers guessing just who could have committed the crime. Burnside gets into several scapes as he works the case but ultimately comes through.

David Chill’s “Bubble Screen” opens to Burnside being called in by the owner of a local warehouse whose business has been hit by a raft of thefts. The man who went to USC, his former alma mater, wants his help finding the culprit.
But what had been mere theft becomes murder investigation and Burnside now has to do what he does best. He is soon on a trail of people whose only motivation is money. These are people that will do anything for money and once they have it will do anything including kill to keep it.
While engaged in his investigation, Burnside has to deal with Gail Pepper, his girlfriend, who has been nagging him about making a life-changing decision.
The novel combines the worlds of college football and business to make for a captivating murder mystery with an action-packed storyline, fascinating characters, and an unexpected and dramatic explosive ending.

2 Responses to “Burnside Mystery”

1. David W Chill: 2 years ago

   Hi Graeme,

   First, thank you so much for putting this together. I appreciate the time you took to do it. I did want to point out a typo, a few times you list “Burnside” as “Burnham.” While I’m sure most people move past it, I thought I should let you know. Thanks again! –David

   Reply
   • Graeme: 2 years ago

     Oops you are correct! No idea how that happened but will get it fixed immediately. Thanks David and keep up the great work!

     Reply