John Sandford, born John Roswell Camp (born February 23, 1944), is an American ''New York Times'' best-selling author, novelist, a former journalist and recipient of the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

Early life

Camp was born in

Cedar Rapids Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and northeast of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city. ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

, the son of Anne Agnes (Barron) and Roswell Sandford Camp. His mother's family was German and Lithuanian. He received a bachelor's degree in American history and literature and a master's in journalism, both from the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

. From 1971 to 1978, Camp wrote for ''

The Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

and started writing for ''

The Saint Paul Pioneer Press The ''St. Paul Pioneer Press'' is a newspaper based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. It serves the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. Circulation is heaviest in the east metro, including Ramsey, Dakota, and Washington counties, a ...

'' as a features reporter; in 1980 he became a daily

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...

. That year, he was a Pulitzer finalist for a series of stories on Native American culture. In 1985, during the Midwest

farm crisis A farm crisis describes times of agricultural recession, low crop prices and low farm incomes. The most recent US farm crisis occurred during the 1980s. Crisis of the 1920s and 1930s A farm crisis began in the 1920s, commonly believed to be a ...

, he wrote a series entitled "Life on the Land: an American farm family," which followed a typical southwest Minnesota farm family through the course of a full year. For that work, he won the annual

Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing The Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Journalism. It has been awarded since 1979 for a distinguished example of feature writing giving prime consideration to high liter ...

and the

American Society of Newspaper Editors The American Society of News Editors (ASNE) was a membership organization for editors, producers or directors in charge of journalistic organizations or departments, deans or faculty at university journalism schools, and leaders and faculty of ...

award for Non-Deadline Feature Writing. He worked part-time at the ''Pioneer Press'' in 1989 and left the next year. Camp is an avid fiction reader himself. When asked in 2018 "What's your favorite book of all time?" by the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

, he responded, "An impossible question. If you put a gun to my head—say a .40-caliber Walther PPQ, or maybe a .45 ACP Colt Gold Cup—I'd say ''The Once and Future King'', by T. H. White." Both weapons he mentioned make appearances in many of his novels. Camp is a personal friend and hunting companion of fellow Minnesota author Chuck Logan (author), Chuck Logan.

Fiction writer

In 1989, Camp wrote two novels that would each spawn a popular series. ''The Fool's Run'' (Kidd series) was published under his own name, but the publisher asked him to provide a pseudonym for ''Rules of Prey'' ("Prey" series), so it was published under the name John Sandford. After the "Prey" series proved to be more popular, with its charismatic protagonist Lucas Davenport, ''The Fool's Run'' and all of its sequels were published under John Sandford. In 2007, Camp started a third series (also under the name John Sandford), featuring Virgil Flowers, who is a supporting character in some of the "Prey" novels, including ''Invisible Prey'' and ''Storm Prey''.

Bibliography

Prey series

Lucas Davenport is the protagonist of the "Prey" series. In the first three novels, he is a maverick detective with the Minneapolis Police Department. At the end of ''Eyes of Prey'', he's forced to resign to avoid excessive force charges, partly due to his knowledge of the connection of a senior police officer to that case. He returns in ''Night Prey'' as a deputy chief (a political appointment), running his own intelligence unit. Beginning with ''Naked Prey'', Davenport is an investigator for the Public safety department, Minnesota Department of Public Safety's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), acting occasionally as a special troubleshooter for the governor of Minnesota in politically sensitive cases. He serves in that capacity through ''Gathering Prey'', at the end of which he quits working for the BCA, later becoming a United States Marshal, United States marshal. The novel ''Mind Prey'' was sold for a TV movie, and Davenport was portrayed by Eriq LaSalle. Another of the novels, ''Certain Prey'', was adapted into a movie in 2011 by USA Network starring Mark Harmon as Davenport. #''Rules of Prey'' (1989) #''Shadow Prey'' (1990) #''Eyes of Prey'' (1991) #''Silent Prey'' (1992) #''Winter Prey'' (1993) #''Night Prey'' (1994) #''Mind Prey'' (1995) #''Sudden Prey'' (1996) #''Secret Prey'' (1998) #''Certain Prey'' (1999) #''Easy Prey'' (2000) #''Chosen Prey'' (2001) #''Mortal Prey'' (2002) #''Naked Prey'' (2003) #''Hidden Prey'' (2004) #''Broken Prey'' (2005) #''Invisible Prey'' (2007) #''Phantom Prey'' (2008) #''Wicked Prey'' (2009) #''Storm Prey'' (2010) #''Buried Prey'' (2011) #''Stolen Prey'' (2012) #''Silken Prey'' (2013) #''Field of Prey'' (2014) #Gathering Prey, ''Gathering Prey'' (2015) #''Extreme Prey'' (2016) #''Golden Prey'' (April 25, 2017) #''Twisted Prey'' (April 24, 2018) #''Neon Prey'' (April 23, 2019) #''Masked Prey'' (April 14, 2020) #''Ocean Prey'' (April 13, 2021) #''Righteous Prey'' (October 4, 2022)

Kidd series

#''The Fool's Run'' (1989), by John Camp; reissued 1996 as by Sandford #''The Empress File'' (1991), by John Camp; reissued 1995 as by Sandford #''The Devil's Code'' (2000) #''The Hanged Man's Song'' (2003) Kidd also has a prominent role in ''Silken Prey'' and ''Extreme Prey''.

Virgil Flowers series

The protagonist of the series, Virgil Flowers, is described as tall, lean, late thirties, three times divorced, with long hair and often wears t-shirts featuring rock bands. Virgil works at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). Prior to the BCA he was in the United States Army, Army and the military police, then the police in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Saint Paul. Lucas Davenport, main character of the Prey series of books, recruited him into the BCA. Virgil is an avid outdoorsman who loves fishing, and is often towing his boat, even when on duty. He is also a writer for outdoor and hunting magazines, as well as a photographer. #''Dark of the Moon'' (2007) #''Heat Lightning'' (2008) #''Rough Country'' (2009) #''Bad Blood'' (2010) #''Shock Wave'' (2011) #''Mad River'' (2012) #''Storm Front'' (2013) #''Deadline'' (2014) #''Escape'' Clause (2016) #''Deep Freeze'' (October 17, 2017) #''Holy Ghost'' (October 2018) #''Bloody Genius'' (2019) Virgil Flowers also has a prominent role in ''Ocean Prey'' and ''Righteous Prey''.

Singular Menace series (with Michele Cook)

#''Uncaged'' (2014) #''Outrage'' (2015) #''Rampage'' (2016)

Letty Davenport series

Featuring Letty Davenport, daughter of Lucas Davenport of the "Prey" series #''The Investigator'' (2022) ISBN 978-0593328682 #''Dark Angel'' (2023) ISBN 978-0593422410

Other fiction books

*''The Night Crew'' (1997) *''Dead Watch'' (2006) *''Saturn Run'' (with Ctein) science fiction (2015) ; 0-399-17695-0

Short stories

*"Lucy Had a List." Published in ''Murder in the Rough: Original Tales of Bad Shots, Terrible Lies, and Other Deadly Handicaps from Today's Great Writers'' (2006), a short story anthology by notable authors, the fourth title in the sports mystery series edited by Otto Penzler.

Nonfiction books

*''The Eye and the Heart'' (1988) *''Plastic Surgery'' (1989) *''Murder in the Rough'' (2006)

Awards and nominations

1986,

for Feature. Series of articles on Farming Family. Pioneer Press Dispatch 1986 Distinguished Writing Award. American Society of Newspaper Editors. 1980,

Nomination. Series of articles on Native Americans. St Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch

References

External links

*
Fantastic Fiction Author Page
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sandford, John 1944 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers American mystery writers American crime fiction writers American columnists American male novelists American people of German descent American people of Lithuanian descent Novelists from Minnesota Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing winners University of Iowa alumni 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers