Richard Helms Books In Order

Publication Order of Eamon Gold Books

Publication Order of Judd Wheeler Books

Publication Order of Pat Gallegher Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Anthologies

Richard Helms is an American published author of fiction novels.

Richard has been a North Carolinian all his life. He worked in the position of forensic psychologist but retired from doing active practice in 2005. He had been working at that job well over two decades. There was one point where he was the sole court psychologist for four North Carolina counties. It was easy to become a mystery writer and even made sense as the next evolution of his career.

Helms walked away from his career to teach college in Charlotte. He retired in 2016 from teaching and began writing on a full-time basis. It was a solid move as he now has a total of twenty-two novels published. His twenty-second novel came out in 2022 from Level Best Books.

Helms has received multiple nominations for the Shamus Award. He won for his 2021 novel. Helms has been nominated multiple times for the Derringer Award. He has won that award as well and was one of two writers ever to win the distinguishment while being nominated in another separate category during the same year.

The author was nominated for many awards for a short story featuring Pat Gallagher. In 2011, that story won him nominations for an ITW Thriller Award, Macavity Award, and a Derringer Award. It won him the Thriller Award as well.

He also edited and was the publisher of a short story website from 2007 to 2011. There were many stories published on the site that got nominations including the Spinetingler Award, the Derringer Award, and the Bouchercon Anthony Award.

Helms served as the President of the Southeast Regional Chapter of the M.W.A. for 2011 and 2012. He also belonged to the National Board of Directors of the M.W.A. In 2017, he received a SEMWA Magnolia Award for his contributions to the chapter.

Helms also had the honor of seeing one of his short stories included along with 19 other works in a compilation of mystery tales. His story also received a nomination for a Derringer Award in 2020. He also received another nomination for the Derringer Award in 2020 for his story “The Cripplegate Apprehension”. It marked the third time that the author had been nominated for stories in two categories.

One of his Gallegher books was considered for a PWA Shamus Award. It did however win a different award. His novel Brittle Karma, an Eamon Gold novel, earned him a Shamus Award in 2021.

In 2022, a short story won him a Shamus Award and a Macavity Award.

Helms loves to write but has plenty of hobbies. He is married to his wife Elaine, and they reside in Charlotte, North Carolina. They have two children that are now adults. He enjoys woodworking. gourmet cooking, traveling, amateur astronomy, simracing, and spending time with his grandchildren.

Joker Poker is the first novel by Richard Helms in the Pat Gallegher series. If you are searching for something new and fun to read, give this story a try!

Main character Pat Gallegher has spent years running away from his life. First, he was a seminary student, but then he flunked out of that. He then failed in his other jobs, leading to him in the place that he finds himself today.

Now this man finds himself in the middle of his life, fresh into his forties, playing comet at a dive bar in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter. But it is just one simple meeting with a woman named Clancey Vincouer that changes everything. Nothing he did could have planned him for the conversation that the two of them are about to have.

He hears her interesting story of an affair that she had with a man named Sammy Cain. The fling with the con man was fun, but it ended abruptly when he disappeared. Clancey is worried that her wealthy and influential husband Lester has had Sammy killed. Gallegher agrees to take on responsibility of looking for Sammy and track down the con man.

As he tries his best to find Cain. he comes across an arrangement Clancey’s husband has with the local mob. But a twist happens when Lester Vincouer is discovered dead. The worst part about all this? He’s been framed for the murder in a clever way. This one’s going to be tough to get out of.

Now he’s not only looking for Sammy Cain, but he’s got to track down the person that really killed Lester. There are plenty of people out there who appear to have a good working motive for doing so. That includes an attractive redhead that Gallagher has fallen for nearly instantly.

With a detective not far behind, Gallegher does not have long to find out who killed Lester. It’s eat or be eaten, and he doesn’t want to go down for murder when he didn’t do it. Can Pat Gallegher figure out who’s behind the crime before he has to do the time? Read this novel to find out!

Voodoo That You Do is the second novel in the Pat Gallegher series by Richard Helms. If you liked the first book, check out this exciting sequel starring Pat Gallegher!

When Pat witnesses the murder of a friend, he’s down and out. But he’s still active and willing to help out a young girl that was run away from home. In this instance, home is her stepfather, who is the leader of a Vietnamese mob.

Meanwhile, the head of the Italian mafia enlists Gallegher’s help to try and find the killers. The suspects are Haitian teens, and it appears that they may have been hired to do the deed to instigate a mob war between the Vietnamese and the Italians. Can Gallegher stop a war between the two factions from happening? And will a love interest end happily or in tears?

Anything could happen, and that is exactly what he is afraid of. There’s a lot riding on these stakes, and Gallegher is determined to make sure that if someone is going down, it’s not going to be him. Read Voodoo That You Do and find out what happens and whether full on violence breaks out or whether Pat can avoid a crisis.