John Lescroart (; born January 14, 1948) is a ''New York Times'' bestselling author known for his series of legal and crime thriller novels featuring the characters Dismas Hardy, Abe Glitsky, and Wyatt Hunt. His novels have sold more than 10 million copies, have been translated into 22 languages in more than 75 countries, and 18 of his books have been on the ''New York Times'' bestseller list.

Early life and education

Lescroart was born in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

, and graduated from Junípero Serra High School in

San Mateo, California San Mateo ( ; ) is a city in San Mateo County, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula. About 20 miles (32 km) south of San Francisco, the city borders Burlingame to the north, Hillsborough to the west, San Francisco Bay and Foster C ...

(Class of 1966). He earned a B.A. in English with Honors at

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

in 1970.

Career

Before becoming a full-time writer in 1994, Lescroart was a self-described "Jack of all trades", who worked as a word processor for law firms as well as a bartender, moving man, house painter, editor, advertising director, computer programmer, and fundraising executive. Through his 20s, he was also a full-time singer-songwriter-guitarist, and performed under the name Johnny Capo, with Johnny Capo and his Real Good Band. In addition to more than 20 novels, Lescroart has written several screenplays. He is an original founding member of the group

International Thriller Writers International Thriller Writers (ITW), was founded October 9, 2004, at Bouchercon XXXV, the "World Mystery and Suspense Conference", in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Six months later, some 150 authors with more than one billion books sold worldwide ...

In other media

He appeared as a contestant on the game show ''

Tic Tac Dough ''Tic-Tac-Dough'' is an American television game show based on the paper-and-pencil game of tic-tac-toe. Contestants answer questions in various categories to put up their respective symbol, ''X'' or ''O'', on the board. Three versions were produ ...

'' in 1979, as well as on ''

The Joker's Wild ''The Joker's Wild'' is an American television game show that aired at different times between 1972 and 2019. In the show, contestants answer questions based on categories determined randomly by a mechanism resembling a slot machine. The show's ...

'', ''

Blank Check A blank cheque in the literal sense is a cheque that has no monetary value written in, but is already signed. In the figurative sense, it is used to describe a situation in which an agreement has been made that is open-ended or vague, and theref ...

'', and ''

Headline Chasers ''Headline Chasers'' is a syndicated game show that ran daily from September 9, 1985 to May 23, 1986, with reruns airing until September 5. The series was hosted by Wink Martindale, who also created the series and was its executive producer, with J ...

''. Additionally, under Crow Art Records, Lescroart has released several albums, including a CD of piano versions of his songs performed by Antonio Gala. He has for some time been writing and living in

Davis, California Davis is the most populous city in Yolo County, California. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 66,850 in 2020, not including the on-campus population of the University of California, Davi ...

Awards and honors

Lescroart's first novel, ''Sunburn'' (1981), won the San Francisco Foundation's Joseph Henry Jackson Award for best as yet unpublished novel by a California author, beating Anne Rice's ''

Interview With the Vampire ''Interview with the Vampire'' is a gothic horror and vampire novel by American author Anne Rice, published in 1976. It was her debut novel. Based on a short story Rice wrote around 1968, the novel centers on vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac ...

''. ''Dead Irish'' (1989) and ''The 13th Juror'' (1994) were nominees for the Shamus and

Anthony Awards The Anthony Awards are literary awards for mystery writers presented at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention since 1986. The awards are named for Anthony Boucher (1911–1968), one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America. Among the ...

for Best Mystery Novel, respectively; additionally ''The 13th Juror'' is included in the International Thriller Writers publication "100 Must-Read Thrillers Of All Time." ''Hard Evidence'' (1993) is named in ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Ultimate Reading List''. His novel ''Guilt'' (1997) was a Reader's Digest Select Edition choice. ''The Mercy Rule'' (1998), ''Nothing But the Truth'' (2000), and ''The Suspect'' (2007) have been major market Book Club selections. ''The Suspect'' was also the 2007 One Book Sacramento choice of the Sacramento Library Foundation, and was chosen by the American Author's Association as its 2007 Book of the Year. ''Damage'' (2011) made '' Entertainment Weekly's'' "Must List." In 2007, Lescroart was awarded the American Author Medal for ''The Suspect''. In 2008, he was part of the California Library Laureates, in association with the California State Assembly. He has twice been the spotlighted guest at the International Thriller Writer's Thrillerfest, and in 2012, he was the guest of honor at Left Coast Crime. In 1998, he appeared in ''The Best American Mystery Stories'', edited by

Sue Grafton Sue Taylor Grafton (April 24, 1940 – December 28, 2017) was an American author of detective novels. She is best known as the author of the "alphabet series" ('' "A" Is for Alibi'', etc.) featuring private investigator Kinsey Millhone in the f ...

, for "The Adventure of the Giant Rat of Sumatra". Libraries Unlimited has included Lescroart in its publication ''The 100 Most Popular Thriller and Suspense Authors.'' Eighteen of John Lescroart's novels have been

The New York Times Best Seller list ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...

Bibliography

*''Sunburn'' (Pinnacle, 1981)

Auguste Lupa series

t is strongly hinted in these books that Lupa (the son of Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler) later becomes Nero Wolfe, although Wolfe is never mentioned by name.] #''Son of Holmes'' (Donald I. Fine, 1986) #''Rasputin's Revenge'' (Donald I. Fine, 1987) Lescroart's most popular works are a series of legal and crime dramas taking place in and around San Francisco, beginning with the thriller ''Dead Irish''. They center around the adventures of ex-cop and lawyer, Dismas Hardy, and his best friend, officer Abe Glitsky, among many other friends and associates. His newest works introduce Wyatt Hunt, working as a private investigator. Although they are often performing together in the story, the books can be distinguished by which character is the main protagonist. Hardy's daughter, Rebecca, first appears as the main character in the novel ''The Fall'', following her graduation from law school and joining Hardy's law firm as an associate attorney.

Dismas Hardy (featured protagonist)

#''Dead Irish'' (Donald I. Fine, 1989) #''The Vig'' (Donald I. Fine, 1990) #''Hard Evidence'' (Donald I. Fine, 1993) #''The 13th Juror'' (Donald I. Fine, 1994) #''The Mercy Rule'' (Delacorte, 1998) #''Nothing But the Truth'' (Delacorte, 1999) #''The Hearing'' (Dutton, 1999) #''The Oath'' (Dutton, 2002) #''The First Law'' (Dutton, 2003) #''The Second Chair'' (Dutton, 2004) #''The Motive'' (Dutton, 2004) #''Betrayal'' (Dutton, 2007) #''A Plague of Secrets'' (Dutton, 2009) #''The Ophelia Cut'' (Atria Books 2013) #''The Keeper'' (Atria, 2014) #''Poison'' (Atria, 2018) #''The Rule of Law'' (Atria, 2019) #''The Missing Piece'' (Atria, 2022)

Rebecca Hardy (featured protagonist)

#''The Fall'' (Atria, 2015)

Abe Glitsky (featured protagonist)

#''A Certain Justice'' (Donald I. Fine, 1995) #''Guilt'' (Delacorte, 1996) #''Damage'' (Dutton, 2011) The events of ''A Certain Justice'' happen chronologically between Parts IV and V of Guilt. Lescroart wrote ''A Certain Justice'' before ''Guilt'', and in the course of writing it, he came up with Wes Farrell's account of the trial that made him lose faith in the law. After finishing ''Justice'', he decided ''Guilt'' would go both backwards and forwards and tell the whole story of Mark Dooher.

Wyatt Hunt

#''The Hunt Club'' (Dutton, 2005) #''Treasure Hunt'' (Dutton, 2010) #''The Hunter'' (Dutton, 2012)

Gina Roake

*''The Suspect'' (Dutton, 2007)

Stand Alone Books (no featured protagonist)

*''Fatal'' (Atria, 2017)

References

External links

*
Official Facebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lescroart, John 1948 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American male novelists American male screenwriters American thriller writers People from Davis, California Writers from Houston People from San Mateo, California University of California, Berkeley alumni Novelists from Texas 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from California Screenwriters from California Screenwriters from Texas Junípero Serra High School (San Mateo, California) alumni