Steve Hamilton is a mystery writer who is known for the Alex McKnight series. Apart from his Alex McKnight books, Hamilton has written ''Night Work'' and ''

The Lock Artist ''The Lock Artist'' is a standalone crime novel by American novelist Steve Hamilton. It was first published in 2010 by Minotaur Books. The story centers on a young man with a talent for lock picking. ''The Lock Artist'' has won several awards ...

''. His works have won 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 ...

Shamus Award The Shamus Award is awarded by the Private Eye Writers of America (PWA) for the best detective fiction ( P. I. = Private investigator) genre novels and short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one ...

and Barry Award.

Books

His first book, ''A Cold Day in Paradise'', won the Private Eye Writers of America/St. Martin's Press Award for best first mystery by an unpublished writer, the

Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is an organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the Edgar Award ...

for best first novel, and the Private Eye Writers of America Shamus Award for best first novel, the only first novel to win the latter two awards. That book introduced Alex McKnight, an ex-cop who rents out cabins in the small town of

Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradis ...

in Michigan's isolated

Upper Peninsula The Upper Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. – is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by t ...

for a living and becomes a reluctant private detective. Hamilton's second Alex McKnight novel, ''Winter of the Wolf Moon'' (2000), was named one of the year's Notable Books by ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'' and received a starred review from ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'', as did his next three novels: ''The Hunting Wind'', ''North of Nowhere'' and ''Blood Is the Sky'' (which won the 2004

Gumshoe Award The Gumshoe Awards are an American award for popular crime fiction literary works. The Gumshoe Awards are awarded annually by the American Internet magazine ''Mystery Ink'' (not to be confused with Mystery Inc.) to recognize the best achievements ...

). To date, ten books and one short story in the Alex McKnight series have been published and they have been translated into 12 languages. ''Night Work'' is a stand-alone novel featuring a probation officer in upstate

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. ''Night Work'' was nominated for the

Crime Writers' Association The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors’ organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its Dagger awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achievement. T ...

top award, The

Duncan Lawrie Dagger The Gold Dagger is an award given annually by the Crime Writers' Association of the United Kingdom since 1960 for the best crime novel of the year. From 1955 to 1959, the organization named their top honor as the Crossed Red Herring Award. Fro ...

. In 2006, Hamilton also won the

Michigan Author Award The Michigan Author Award is awarded annually by the Michigan Library Association to recognize an outstanding published body of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or play script. A panel of judges representing Michigan librarians and the Michigan Center ...

for his body of work. Hamilton anticipates more McKnight titles in the future. His standalone novel ''

'' won an Edgar Award for best novel, a CWA Steel Dagger for best thriller in the UK, and an

Alex Award The Alex Awards annually recognize "ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults ages 12 through 18". Essentially, the award is a listing by the American Library Association parallel to its annual Best Books for Young A ...

from the American Library Association, which recognizes books that successfully cross over from the adult market and appeal to young adult readers. ''The Lock Artist'' has been translated into seventeen different languages, including Japanese, where it was voted the number-one translated crime novel of 2012 by both the annual Kono Mystery Ga Sugoi guide and by Weekly Bunshun magazine. His 2016 novel, ''The Second Life of Nick Mason'', debuted on the ''New York Times'' bestseller list in both Hardcover Fiction and Combined Print and E-Book Fiction, and also appeared on the ''

'', ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', and National Independent bestseller lists. It was also selected as one of five finalists for the prestigious

Hammett Prize The Hammett Prize is awarded annually by the International Association of Crime Writers, North American Branch (IACW/NA) to a Canadian or US citizen or permanent resident for a book in English in the field of crime writing. It is named after crim ...

for literary excellence in crime fiction, and was nominated for a Barry Award for Best Novel of the Year.

Personal

Hamilton is married and has two kids. They live in New York. He wrote his first twelve books while working for IBM, writing at night after his family had gone to bed.

Awards

''A Cold Day in Paradise'' (1998) *1997 St. Martin's Press/Private Eye Writers of America Best First P.I. Novel by unpublished writer *1999 MWA Edgar Allan Poe for Best First *1999 PWA Shamus for Best First *1999 Finalist for Anthony Best First *1999 Finalist for Barry Best First ''Winter of the Wolf Moon'' (2000) *2001 Finalist Barry for Best Novel *2000 New York Times Notable Book List ''North of Nowhere'' (2003) *2003 Finalist Shamus for Best Novel *2003 Finalist Anthony for Best Mystery *2003 Finalist Barry for Best Novel ''Blood is the Sky'' (2004) *2004 Finalist Shamus for Best Novel *2004 Finalist Anthony for Best Mystery *2004 Gumshoe Award ''A Stolen Season'' (2006) *2007 Finalist Nero ''Night Work'' (2007) *2008 Finalist Gold Dagger (Duncan Lawrie Dagger) ''

'' (2010) *2011 Edgar for Best Novel *2011 Barry for Best Novel *2011 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award *2011 Alex Award *2011 Finalist Anthony for Best Mystery *2011 Finalist Gold Dagger (Duncan Lawrie Dagger) *2010 Finalist Dilys Award *2013 The Best Translated Mystery of the Year in Japan ( 2013 Kono Mystery ga Sugoi!) ''The Second Life of Nick Mason'' (2016) *2017 Finalist Dashiell Hammett Award *2017 Finalist, Barry for Best Novel

Bibliography

Alex McKnight Series

*''A Cold Day in Paradise'' (1998) *''Winter of the Wolf Moon'' (2000) *''The Hunting Wind'' (2002) *''North of Nowhere'' (2003) *''Blood is the Sky'' (2004) *''Ice Run'' (2005) *''A Stolen Season'' (2006) *''Beneath the Book Tower: An Alex McKnight Short Story'' (2011) *''Misery Bay'' (2011) *''Die a Stranger'' (2012) *''Let It Burn'' (2013) *''Dead Man Running'' (2018) *''Riddle Island'' (Short Story) (2020)

Nick Mason Series

* ''The Second Life of Nick Mason'' (2016) * ''Exit Strategy'' (2017) * ''An Honorable Assassin ''(coming)

Other

*''Night Work'' (2007) *''

'' (2010) *''The Bounty'' (with

Janet Evanovich Janet Evanovich (née Schneider; April 22, 1943) is an American writer. She began her career writing short contemporary romance novels under the pen name Steffie Hall, but gained fame authoring a series of contemporary mysteries featuring Steph ...

) (2021)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Steve 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American male novelists American mystery writers University of Michigan alumni Writers from Detroit 1961 births Living people IBM employees Edgar Award winners 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from Michigan Barry Award winners