Eleanor Taylor Bland wrote a police procedure involving an African-American police detective named Marti MacAlister and her Polish partner from a small town. His stories take place in Lincoln Prairie, Illinois and are based in the city of Waukegan, a true suburb of Chicago where he lived. She began the series in the early 1990s, while working as an accountant. He died in 2010. I read the first book in the series in 2003 and made a note to find the rest of the series. His books deal with racist and sexist themes. She is still on my list of books to read.

Perhaps the best known writer on police procedures was Ed McBain. His legal name was Evan Hunter, which he created from the schools he had attended. His real name was Italian and he grew up in New York. One of his earliest jobs was as a teacher, which was the basis for his first major job, The Blackboard Jungle. Later it was made into a movie. McBain / Hunter died of cancer in 2005. His series 87th Precinct became one of the first television series and influenced many successful television crime dramas. It has put me off starting the series due to the long list of titles. I know I read several in my teens and enjoyed them. He is an important series writer to know and I look forward to addressing his prolific offerings in the future.

John D. MacDonald was just plain fun to read. I’ve read all of your Travis McGee books, some of them twice. McGee lived on a boat in Florida and was a salvage expert. For fifty percent of the shot, he would save or find what you were looking for. Sometimes he would get into his rostrum on issues of the day, especially the environment and developers in Florida. There is even a website with his terse phrases. His books give him an interesting perspective on the 1960s and 1970s, when MacDonald was in his forties and fifties. MacDonald wrote many non-series books, but you can distinguish Travis McGee’s by the color of their titles. He influenced many writers today, including Stephen King and Dean Koontz. He died in 1986.

Barbara Seranella created a likeable character in her series Munch Mancini. Trying to pursue his heroin addiction, he gets a job as an auto mechanic. She tries to stay away from people, who were her friends during her non-sober days, but it’s not easy. Seranella’s life paralleled her characters in many ways. He died in 2007 of liver disease, but his stories are very much alive and recommended.