Gregory Bean Books In Order

Publication Order of Harry Starbranch Mystery Books

Gregory Bean was an American journalist and thriller author best known for the “Sheriff Harry Starbranch Mystery” series. He was born in 1952 Rock Springs, Wyoming to Phyllis and Keith Bean. For his schooling, he attended the University of Wyoming from where he graduated in 1975 with a bachelor’s in arts before he went back to get his master of arts in 1977. Bean published his debut novel “No Comfort in Victory” in 1995 and went on to publish three more titles in his bestselling “Sheriff Harry Starbranch Mystery” series. He got married to Pamela Sue Bower in 1974 and got divorced eight years later in 1982. He then got married to Linda with whom he got his two children Padraic and Coleman. Apart from his award-winning writing, Bean loved to read, camp and fly fish.

Between 1978 and 1980, Gregory Bean was a reporter for Wyoming News before he rose through the ranks to become an associate editor. He then moved to Howard publications in Casper Wyoming and between 1980 and 1983 he was police reporter for the “Casper Star-Tribune” newspaper. Soon after, he was promoted to assistant city editor before becoming editor of “Wyoming Horizons” between 1983 and 1985. He never did stop his career wanderlust as he moved to Freeport Illinois in 1986 and was editor of the “Freeport Journal Standard” between 1985 and 1986. 1986 saw him move to Boston, Massachusetts, where he worked as an editor for Community Newspapers Co, North Shore Sunday, Seacoast Sunday, and Merrimack Valley Sunday. In 1993, he was made Greater Media Newspapers executive editor based in East Brunswick, New Jersey. During the period between 1979 and 1985, he was also a tutor at the University of Wyoming.

“No Comfort in Victory,” the debut novel of the “Sheriff Harry Starbranch Mystery” series introduces a Denver homicide detective known as Harry Starbranch that had seen a lot in his career. He decides to leave the city in search of a better life before it became too late to undo all the damage. He had found a job in Victory, Wyoming, a sleepy town smack in the foothills of the Snowy Range with a population of 650 residents. But the peace is broken when they discover three grisly corpses. One of the victims was the sixteen-year-old daughter of a local farmer that had been raped and then strangled. Harry needs to brush up his old skills, as he will need them to not only help in resolving the misery of the crimes but also in dealing with his personal demons. It is a story set in a very wild West where the lead discovers that justice just like beauty is never so clear cut.

Harry Starbranch makes a comeback in “Long Shadows in Victory” after leaving his high-pressure job in Denver and going in search of some quiet. He is the new police chief in Victory, Wyoming where he now has to deal with a bunch of right-wing racists that have infested much of the wild West. He had been managing just fine until the calm of his new town is broken by the discovery of a body in a mine shaft. The coroner believes it had been in there for a long time. The case gets even more complicated when the local junk collector that had discovered the body is then found murdered after being brutally tortured. In the meantime, a Mexican chicken farmer and a Jewish hardware store owner find themselves the victims of some vandals. The FBI is called in to investigate the activities of the militants that have styled themselves as Posse Comitatus. The Feds believe the group is behind the recent crime wave. However, Harry believes that the crime may be the work of a large force especially when they learned that some rich summer visitor is a huge supporter of the racist militant group. The man also has a violent streak and it turns out that he has been hitting Ellen Vaughn his ex-girlfriend who Harry is developing feelings for. When the man turns up dead, his girlfriend is the lead suspect but Harry is convinced that there is something more sinister behind everything and is determined to get to the bottom of it.

Gregory Bean’s “Death in Victory” opens to Harry Starbranch devastated when Mayor Curly Ahern is charged with murder. Things are not looking good for Curly as Liam O’Bannion the victim had been shot with his gun. Just the night before, the victim had slapped Ahern’s daughter and Curly had beaten and threatened to kill him which has just made things worse for him. In the meantime, Harry found the connection between Sam Pantaleo a trucking boss and O’Bannion and thinks that he may have been involved in the murder since he was under investigation for trafficking bear bladders and paws. He has been making a lot of money selling the contraband to West Coast Asian communities but in the process infuriated local conservationists and Indians. When Harry decides that he has to go to San Francisco to investigate the case the city council holds a meeting and fires the sheriff. Things only get worse when Harry’s girlfriend gets kidnapped and it seems this is more complicated than he thought it was.