James L. Thane Books In Order

Publication Order of Sean Richardson Books

Publication Order of Flathead Valley Mystery Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

James L. Thane is a renowned American writer of crime fiction, mystery, and thriller stories. He is famous for writing the Sean Richardson book series. This series has become widely popular and found many takers across the globe. Recently, Thane has begun a new series called the Dave Matthews series. The first book of this series has already been published and Thane has started working on its sequel as well. Author Thane was born in Hamilton, Montana, and brought up in northwestern Montana. He has worked several jobs before finally setting down as a full-time writer. He has performed duties as a dry cleaner, sawyer, auto parts salesman, janitor, college professor, and ambulance driver. When Thane was employed as a historian, he came up with the idea of writing a nonfiction book. Without thinking much, he completed the writing part and published it to great success.

Thane also penned several articles for journals and magazines. As a reader, he loves to read crime fiction a lot. It was his interest in crime stories that enabled him to try his hand at writing a suspense story. The outcome was his debut book called No Place To Die, which came out in 2010. This novel is also the first one to feature the main protagonist Sean Richardson. Thane has described Sean Richardson as a homicide detective from Phoenix. He followed it up with a couple more books in the subsequent years. Thane says that it was his mom and dad who introduced him to the crime fiction world at a very young age and motivated him to become an avid reader. His parents were huge fans of Agatha Christie and Erle Stanley Gardner and they made him their fans as well.

Thane developed his writing interests by penning articles about intramural basketball matches in the newspaper of his high school. In addition to writing several full-length novels, Thane has also written and produced a couple of TV series for the PBS affiliate. When he is not busy with his writing projects, Thane likes to indulge in reading, listening to music, watching movies, hiking, playing tennis and golf, etc. Currently, he has houses in Lakeside, Montana and Scottsdale, Arizona and divides his time between them.

The Sean Richardson series written by author James L. Thane is comprised of three books released between 2010 and 2018. All three books feature the chief protagonist as Phoenix homicide detective Sean Richardson. The debut book of this series is entitled ‘No Place To Die’. It was released by Leisure Books in 2010. The central characters mentioned in this novel include Beverly Thompson, Sean Richardson, and Carl MacLean. Initially, Beverly is introduced as an attorney from Phoenix. She gets kidnapped just after reaching home in Phoenix in her car. To her shock, the kidnapper shoots down her husband and her dog in front of her. And just before Beverly passes out under the effect of chloroform, she hears the kidnapper saying her name and claiming that it was nice to see her again.

Sean Richardson is on the road to go and meet his wife in a nursing home when he hears about the murder of a man and his dog in the garage of his house. Immediately after Sean arrives at the crime scene, he realizes that the woman is in the captivity of the culprit. There is hardly any evidence left behind by the murderer. The only thing Sean Richardson has at the moment is the ballistics report that identifies the weapon used to kill the man and the dog. When Beverly gains consciousness, the gunman reveals himself to her as Carl MacLean. But, she doesn’t seem to remember him. Carl tells her that he planned this revenge for many years. Just like Beverly, he holds several others responsible for what he has become. After years of planning, Carl has finally started to make everyone he holds responsible to pay for what he has lost. He decides to hold on to Beverly Thompson for some time and have fun with her while dealing with the others in his list of targets.

Another excellent book penned by Thane in this series is called ‘Until Death’. It was published in 2013 by Thomas and Mercer, after its initial release in 2011. Once again, the story takes place in Phoenix, Arizona; and features the essential characters in the form of Maggie McClinton, Sean Richardson, and Julie. The novel opens by mentioning that the personal life of Sean Richardson has undergone a lot of changes. He has lost his beloved wife, who was on life support for a long time. As a result, he finds himself in loneliness and grief. In the meantime, Sean’s detective partner, Maggie McClinton, is having doubts about her recently widowed boyfriend. Maggie likes Sean and his 2 daughters, but she thinks that if she indulges in a love affair with him, it would result in an abrupt end to her career as a police detective.

On the other hand, an exclusive escort of the city loses her black book, which lands into the hands of a brutal killer. He decides to use the book as a hit list to kill the most respectable and richest men of Phoenix. Shortly after, Maggie McClinton and Sean Richardson learn that a serial killer is roaming freely in the city and hunting down the elite men one after the other. They become shocked to find the brutal, methodical ways he uses to torture and kill the victims. It becomes very clear that the killer is taking revenge for losing something or someone very precious by making the rich people pay with their lives. Sean and Maggie spring into action as soon as they get a lead about the culprit. They don’t know who the next victim is, but one thing that they know for sure is that with people keeping secrets, the victim could be anyone. So, they keep a tight watch on the activities of all the important people of the city and provide them with tight securities. Now, they just wait for the killer to make a move and get trapped in their setup. This novel also received a lot of praise from the readers and the critics like the previous installment and went on to become widely successful.

One Response to “James L. Thane”

1. ERIC C WELCH: 2 years ago

   Love this project. Thanks.

   Reply