Denise Hamilton is an American crime novelist, journalist and editor of the Edgar award-winning anthologies ''Los Angeles Noir'' and ''Los Angeles Noir 2: The Classics''. Hamilton's five Eve Diamond crime novels have been short-listed for many awards, including the

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

in mystery, Willa Cather award in literary fiction and the UK's Creasey Dagger Award.

Career

Hamilton's novels draw on the city's history, politics, diversity, and culture, and she calls her hometown of Los Angeles “The Ultimate Femme Fatale". Her first novel, ''The Jasmine Trade'', was a national bestseller that grew out of a ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' story she wrote about parachute kids – wealthy Asian immigrant children who live alone in big homes while their parents remain in Asia taking care of family business. When Hamilton filed her story, a ''Times'' editor asked Hamilton's supervisor to check her facts because she found it hard to believe such an outlandish tale was real. Hamilton's sixth novel, ''The Last Embrace'', was a 1940s Hollywood noir inspired by the disappearance of

Jean Spangler Jean Elizabeth Spangler (September 2, 1923 – disappeared October 7, 1949) was an American actress who appeared in bit parts in several Hollywood films in the late 1940s. She garnered public attention for her mysterious disappearance in la ...

, a starlet linked to L.A. gangster

Mickey Cohen Meyer Harris "Mickey" Cohen (September 4, 1913 – July 29, 1976) was an American gangster, boxer and entrepreneur based in Los Angeles during the mid-20th century. Early life Mickey Cohen was born on September 4, 1913, in New York City to Je ...

. Her seventh novel, ''Damage Control'', was published by Scribner in September, 2011. Before turning to fiction, Hamilton was a staff writer for the ''Los Angeles Times'', reporting on the city's sprawling multicultural suburbs. During this time, Hamilton also spent six months in former

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

on a

Fulbright Fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

and traveled widely in

Eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

and

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...

, and the former Soviet Union during the waning days of Communism, reporting on political, cultural, and economic trends. The ''Los Angeles Noir'' anthologies, (

Akashic Books Akashic Books is a Brooklyn-based independent publisher. Akashic Books' collection began with Arthur Nersesian's ''The Fuck Up'' in 1997, and has since expanded to include Dennis Cooper's "Little House on the Bowery" series, Chris Abani's Black ...

) have been translated into French, Italian, and Russian. The first volume features 17 stories set in different L.A. neighborhoods by authors

Michael Connelly Michael Joseph Connelly (born July 21, 1956) is an American author of detective novels and other crime fiction, notably those featuring LAPD Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch and criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller. Connelly is the bes ...

Janet Fitch Janet Fitch (born November 9, 1955) is an American author. She wrote the novel ''White Oleander'', which became a film in 2002. She is a graduate of Reed College. Fitch was born in Los Angeles, a third-generation native, and grew up in a fam ...

Patt Morrison Patt Morrison is a journalist, author, and radio-television personality based in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles and Southern California. Media Morrison is a writer for the ''Los Angeles Times'', with the weekly '' 'Patt Morrison Asks' '' ...

Susan Straight Susan Straight (born October 19, 1960) is an American writer. She was a National Book Award finalist for the novel ''Highwire Moon'' in 2001. Biography Susan Straight attended John W. North High School in Riverside, California and took classes ...

Hector Tobar In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...

, and others. ''Los Angeles Noir Volume 2: The Classics'' reprints stories by

James M. Cain James Mallahan Cain (July 1, 1892 – October 27, 1977) was an American novelist, journalist and screenwriter. He is widely regarded as a progenitor of the hardboiled school of American crime fiction. His novels ''The Postman Always Rings Twice ...

, Paul Cain,

Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...

James Ellroy Lee Earle "James" Ellroy (born March 4, 1948) is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a telegrammatic prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, sta ...

Ross Macdonald Ross Macdonald was the main pseudonym used by the American-Canadian writer of crime fiction Kenneth Millar (; December 13, 1915 – July 11, 1983). He is best known for his series of hardboiled novels set in Southern California and featur ...

Walter Mosley Walter Ellis Mosley (born January 12, 1952) is an American novelist, most widely recognized for his crime fiction. He has written a series of best-selling historical mysteries featuring the hard-boiled detective Easy Rawlins, a black private inv ...

, noir pulp queen

Leigh Brackett Leigh Douglass Brackett (December 7, 1915 – March 18, 1978) was an American science fiction writer known as "the Queen of Space Opera." She was also a screenwriter, known for ''The Big Sleep'' (1946), '' Rio Bravo'' (1959), and '' The Long Goo ...

, and Macdonald's wife

Margaret Millar Margaret Ellis Millar (née Sturm; February 5, 1915 – March 26, 1994) was an American-Canadian mystery and suspense writer. Born in Berlin, Ontario, (the city would change its name to Kitchener in 1916), she was educated at the Kitchener-Wa ...

, and range from 1930s to 1990s Los Angeles. Hamilton also writes ''Uncommon Scents'', a monthly perfume column for the ''Los Angeles Times.''

Bibliography

Eve Diamond series

*''The Jasmine Trade'' (2001) *''Sugar Skull'' (2003) *''Last Lullaby'' (2004) *''Savage Garden'' (2005) *''Prisoner of Memory'' (2006)

Standalones

*''The Last Embrace'' (2008) *''Damage Control'' (2011)

Editor

*''Los Angeles Noir short story anthology'' *''Los Angeles Noir 2: The Classics''

Notes

External links

Official websiteFacebook page

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Denise Living people American thriller writers American women novelists Women mystery writers Novelists from Los Angeles 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers American women journalists 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women writers Los Angeles Times people Women thriller writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers Year of birth missing (living people)