Tim Baker (City Without Stars) Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Originally coming from Australia, the author Tim Baker has traveled extensively, putting all of his experiences back into his work. Working on a variety of film projects too, he has a highly unique visual style and pacing to his work, one which carries along his narrative well. Writing about such subjects as the JFK assassination, he is able to draw a sense of immediacy from his subjects that is unrivaled by other writers to date.

Early and Personal Life

Born in Sydney, Australia, the author to be Tim Baker was born and raised in a highly showbiz family. This would come to be reflected in his later career, especially after his work in film, as well as coming across in his writing style. Putting all of his experiences back into his work, he would soak in inspiration from the world around him allowing it to inform both him and his work.

Fully invested in writing and storytelling from an early age, he would work at building him and his voice from very early on. Continuing to progress his style throughout his education, he would constantly be reading and writing all the time. Over the years he would then find himself as an author, creating a style and voice that was all of his very own.

Working all across the world prior to becoming a full-time writer, he has a had a lot of experience globally over the years. Living in Rome and Madrid for some time, he then went on to live in Paris whereby he would take up writing about jazz whilst there. This would later be backed up with his work in consular operations that he’d undertake in France, whilst liaising with the authorities there.

Now living in the south of France with his wife and their son, they also have two rescue animals; a cat and a dog. Visiting many locations from across the world has given him an insight unlike any other, allowing him to approach his work in a very open manner. This is something that shall carry on for a long time to come, as he carries on writing for many years to follow.

Writing Career

In 2016 he brought out his first novel ‘Fever City’ which, whilst not a part of any overall series as such, helped to establish both him and his career as a hard-boiled crime writer. Working as a crime thriller it manages to create an overall atmosphere of darkness and foreboding as the story progresses. Knowing the genre well, it manages to build upon this allowing it become a lot more oppressive and compelling in the process.

This was later followed up with another novel titled ‘City Without Stars’ in 2018, which went in a similar vein to the first. Dealing with tough and gritty subject matter it manages to capture that sense of foreboding once more, allowing the reader to feel fully immersed within it. It also allows the reader to gain a sense of what to expect in the books to follow from Baker, as there’s definitely plenty of room to expand upon his style.

Filling his novels with colorful and exciting characters he is able to sustain the momentum of the novel throughout. Pacing himself well, he knows exactly how to build the sense of foreboding, something which his many critics have sat up and taken notice of. Setting up the action alongside the characters he allows them to play off of each other with ease, never letting either fall at the wayside.

With many fans across the world, his following is quickly growing fast, with more and more discovering his work every day. Largely thanks to his humor as well, he makes his novels accessible, which is at no detriment to his ambiance either. A master of his craft, he knows exactly how to keep his readers engaged, as his themes and ideas are universal the world over.

Still writing to this very day, he manages to create a style that’s at once compelling, as well as being highly immersive. Maintaining a strong presence both online as well as off, he has managed to make a name for himself writing dark and gritty thrillers. Building upon this legacy in the following years to come, there’s definitely a lot of room for this to carry on growing as time goes on.

Fever City

Coming out through the ‘Europa Editions’ publishing label, this was originally brought out in 2016 on the 10th of May. Working as a stand-alone title, it would help establish the overall writing career of Tim Baker that was to soon follow. Providing a mystery crime thriller, it really knows and understands its genre extremely well, bringing the past back to life in the process.

Taking place in the year of 1960, this is set in Los Angeles as it sees the child one of America’s richest men being kidnapped. Moving between a private detective trying to locate the missing child and a hit-man as the days to the notorious assassination of JFK countdown, it also sees a modern day journalist looking at the conspiracy theories surrounding the events of the fifties and sixties. With a journalist looking into these theories in the present day, he finds out that many of them may actually be true. Will he be able to keep himself safe in the process, though? Who was actually behind these mysterious set of events? Can justice really prevail in Fever City?

City Without Stars

Brought out through the ‘Faber Faber’ publishing label in 2018, this was first released on the 18th of January. Operating as a stand-alone title and not part of any series, it manages to stand upon its own two feet, working as an entirely self-contained story. Set firmly in the hard-boiled detective mode, this is somewhat gritty in its nature, as it definitely understands its genre well.

With over three hundred deaths being reported, it appears that there is an epidemic of young girls being abused and murdered. Set in Ciudad Real in Mexico, these young women are simply being thrown into the trash and union agitator Pilar knows there’s a serious issue. Realizing the numbers are closer to eight hundred, these ‘maquiladora’ girls are from the factories, as Fuentes, a non-corrupt cop, comes up against the force in his attempts to expose the truth. Will he be able to, though? Can he and Pilar stop any more deaths from occurring? What will become of the city without stars?