Simeon Grist Books In Order

Publication Order of Simeon Grist Mystery Books

Author Timothy Hallinan pens the “Simeon Grist” series, which is from the mystery genre. The series began with “The Four Last Things” which was published in the year 1989. After releasing six books, his publisher gave up on the series, forcing Simeon into a limbo, a place that characters go when they get dropped.

Timothy finally realized that this limbo that Simeon was left in was actually a real place and he was stuck here. It made him aware that these adventures he remembered (which also make up the first six books) were someone else’s writing, so he could not take any credit for writing them. This is where “Pulped”, the first new story since the nineties comes in.

The first novel that Timothy completed from the series was called “Skin Deep”, which is the third book to get published. It was also the third book that he had written, with the first two being terrible. It made Timothy just glad that “Skin Deep” actually turned out as well as it did. Less than two weeks after giving it to his agent, he had a contract for three books.

The main character, Simeon, is over educated (he has four degrees) and works as a private investigator that is based in the city of Los Angeles. Before being a private investigator, he worked at UCLA as an English professor.

“The Four Last Things” is the first novel in the “Simeon Grist” series and was released in the year 1989. Simeon Grist knows every part of Los Angeles. All the sex and where to buy it, every rip off that can be found from Venice to City Hall, and the great seductions.

So when he gets hired by a record company in Hollywood to shadow someone named Sally Oldfield (who is believed to be embezzling money). He finds that she is wrapped up in The Eternal Moment Church, which is a religious scam that is worth millions of dollars. It is built around a channeler that is only twelve years old and a man’s voice, a man that has supposedly been dead for the last millennium.

Sally is found, but she is dead. Simeon realizes that he is now the next target of some entity that is very flesh and blood. One that waits near sin and salvation to show him the brutal reality of just four final things heaven, judgment, hell, and death. These are revelationsthat he could really live without.

Fans of the novel enjoyed the likable, believable, and full characters that populate the well written novel. The main character of this is just offbeat enough while still caring, intelligent, and full of witty observations. The plot intrigues and pulls the reader right in. some were even laughing while they read the book. After reading just this book, some have made plans to read more of the series.

“Everything But the Squeal” is the second novel in the “Simeon Grist” series and was released in the year 1990. Simeon is hired to find a girl named Aimee Sorrell (age thirteen), who ran away from her home in Kansas so that she could be a star in Hollywood. Her trail leads Simeon right to the morgue.

He finds that he is deep in a sketchy underworld full of teen hustlers, losers, and pimps. He uses his goddaughter Jessica and a certain young computer genius that is attracted to her. With their help, he finds a huge interstate ring that involves a talent agency, kiddy sex that is pretty high tech, and a crooked cop.

Fans of the novel found that this combined some big action, humor, brutal violence, and pathos to show that Hallinan is great at writing the private eye story. This book was pretty tough to put down, after it hooks readers with a great story line and some human like characters. Even for those that have already read these books, these are books that people cannot put down for very long, feeling that they stay up late to read them.

“Skin Deep” is the third novel in the “Simeon Grist” series and was released in the year 1991. Grist is paid a bunch of money he cannot turn down to play watchdog to the kind of man that he would prefer to just through a window. Toby Vane is prime time television’s golden boy right now, with a gee-whiz grin and some chiseled features hide off a deep dark secret. It would take the shine off his millions of women fans that adore him. Occasionally, he finds a woman and beats her up, and is not all that picky about it either.

Some of the women that get near Toby start to die, and Simeon needs to figure out whether he is keeping a killer safe. Or if one of the many enemies that Toby has is trying to get him put away for the rest of his life. Simeon meets a gorgeous woman named Nana, and the whole situation turns personal really quickly.

Fans of the novel were riveted by this gutsy and vibrant sharp noir story. Some found these to be a modern day successor to Raymond Chandler they are that good. There is the right amount of action in the book, with some great one liners that Simeon gives, which makes the dialogue sharp.

“Incinerator” is the fourth novel in the “Simeon Grist” series and was released in the year 1992. Grist goes head to head with his scariest foe, it is a mad man that sets the homeless on fire. Simeon gets pulled into the investigation, entirely against his will, he finds that this Incinerator has a major advantage.

Many years back, the pair met each other, and this Incinerator has been hanging on to hatred and resentment for years now. While helpless homeless people start being set on fire while on Skid Row, Simeon has to search Los Angeles’ wastelands, not to mention the depths of his past to find a killer’s face.

Fans of the novel found this to be a reading roller coaster ride. This character, Simeon, is one of the classic hard boiled detectives from California. The repartee engages, there is effective prose, and some witty characterizations; this is an author with some genuine ability here.