Mauro Azzano Books In Order

Publication Order of Ian McBriar Books

Mauro Azzano is a renowned author of mystery, thriller, and suspense stories. He hails from Vancouver, Canada, and is particularly well known for creating the Ian McBriar Mystery book series. Azzano is widely popular for his work in the mystery genre. He is regarded as one of the top-rated authors of the current time in this genre. Author Azzano was born in Italy’s Veneto region. His parents relocated to and lived in different places while he was growing up. As a result, he was brought up in eastern Canada, Australia, and Italy. When the decision to come up with a place to live for the rest of his life came on his shoulders, he chose the West Coast. Azzano is still living there with his family. Most of the time, he can be found working on his novels. In his spare time, Azzano likes to participate in half marathons. He undergoes dedicated practice sessions several months before every race.

Besides writing mystery novels, Azzano is also involved in teaching at the college level. The chief protagonist created by him in the form of a police detective based in Toronto, Ian McBriar, is very much liked by the fans of mystery stories. They have hailed this character and Azzano’s books with good reviews and appreciations. In the books, Azzano has described Ian McBriai as a Metis from Esterhazy, Saskatchewan. As the series begins, McBriar is seen moving to Toronto to become a priest. He has a great belief in the Catholic preachings. But, when his mother undergoes an untimely death, it breaks his heart from within. After that, Ian McBriar decides to undertake the profession of a police detective and help catch culprits and criminals. He has a partner in the form of Frank Burghezian, an ex-Green Beret. Frank is more concerned about the outcome than the procedure followed to reach there, unlike McBriar.

Author Azzano believes everyone has weaknesses and strengths and are happy with some areas of their traits while trying to change some others. Likewise, he has also given McBriar some good traits and a few flaws. Azzano thinks McBriar resembles him in many ways. Just like him, McBriar also experiences culture shock when he moves into a new town with a completely different environment. Other than the strong male characters, Azzano has also added some fine female characters that help to keep the story interesting with their effective roles. At times, Azzano ends up adding more passion into his stories. He claims the reason for this is him being an Italian.

For doing the research before attempting to writing any book, he doesn’t have any set process. In fact, he considers himself awful at doing research. Sometimes, he looks up the internet for descriptions of death scenes. Usually, Azzano finds those descriptions too gruesome and tries to tone them down so as not to make his readers detracted from the main story. There have been many personal experiences that Azzano has used as inspiration in developing the scenes of the Ian McBriar books. A typical writing process of Azzano consists of writing down things in a journal or diary whenever any idea strikes his mind. And when he sits down to write the manuscript, he uses the diary as a reference to move forward. He always keeps a check on where the plot is going so that the story doesn’t become boring or too predictable.

Azzano wishes to visit Venice, the hometown of his parents, to write one of his books. He is in love with the place and wants to spend hours sitting on the front porch every day to work on his novel for a period of one year. Azzano’s cooking interests have found a way into his books. As a person, he is highly motivated and determined. It was after facing 110 rejections that he was able to find a publisher for his first novel. So, he advises all aspiring writers to not give on their hopes and keep doing the hard work until they succeed. He also wants them to be true to themselves and their craft.

The Ian McBriar Mystery series written by author Mauro Azzano began with the 2014 novel entitled ‘The Dead Don’t Dream’. It was released by the Black Opal publication. This book introduced Ian Stuart McBriar in the role of a homicide detective in Toronto. In the opening scene, McBriar is shown lying in the drainage with a gunshot wound. He is shot by the man he was pursuing and is getting closer to death with the passage of every second. The story moves ahead to show that McBriar was working on a case in which two young boys were brutally assaulted. One of the boys turns out to be a local underworld man’s son. Throughout the story, Ian McBriar is haunted by the tragic deaths investigated by him and all the lives that have been destroyed in front of his eyes. He struggles with the haunting memories and finds it difficult to get hold of his sanity.

Later, in his attempt to track down the killer, he gets too close and gets attacked him in a desperate strike. After the gunshot wound gets healed, McBrair starts the investigation again and finally succeeds in catching the killer before more innocent lives are taken. The next installment of this series is known as ‘Death Works at Night’. It was also published by the Black Opal Books in 2014. This book opens by mentioning that Ian McBriar has become a detective sergeant. He gets a call at midnight informing him about a death. When he begins investigating the case, McBriar finds that there was no clear motive. Also, it doesn’t take him much time to find the primary suspect, who doesn’t seem to have a solid alibi.

The more McBriar investigates, the darker the search for truth becomes. While Ian McBriar is busy with the investigation, he also worries about confessing his love to a woman that he has started to care about. The woman already has a son from her previous marriage and McBriar cannot wait to start his family with them. As the book comes to an end, McBriar achieves triumph in conquering prejudice, bigotry, and his personal tragedies. He also owns the love of his life and sets himself on the course of starting a happy family with her.