Jeffery Deaver (born May 6, 1950) is an American mystery and crime writer. He has a bachelor of journalism degree from the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

and a J.D. degree from

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

and originally started working as a journalist. He later practiced law before embarking on a career as a novelist. He has been awarded the Steel Dagger and Short Story Dagger from the British

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. ...

and the Nero Award from The Wolfe Pack. He is also a three-time recipient of the Ellery Queen Reader's Award for Best Short Story of the Year and a winner of the British Thumping Good Read Award. His novels have appeared on bestseller lists around the world, including ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', Italy's '' Corriere della Sera'', ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'', and the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

''.

Life and career

Deaver was born near Chicago in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. His mother was an artist, and his father an advertising writer. His sister Julie Deaver is an author of

young adult In medicine and the social sciences, a young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence, sometimes with some overlap. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages ...

novels. The book that inspired him to write was ''From Russia With Love'', a

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

novel by

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his ...

. Deaver's most popular series features Lincoln Rhyme, a

quadriplegic Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of Motor control, motor and/or Sense, sensory function in the Cervical vertebrae, cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weak ...

detective, and

NYPD The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

Detective Amelia Sachs. Deaver's 2001 book ''The Blue Nowhere'' features criminal hackers (one using social engineering to commit murder), as well as a law enforcement

computer crime Cybercrime encompasses a wide range of criminal activities that are carried out using digital devices and/or networks. It has been variously defined as "a crime committed on a computer network, especially the Internet"; Cybercriminals may exp ...

unit. In this book, Deaver gives credit to

Lee de Forest #REDIRECT Lee de Forest {{redirect category shell, {{R from move{{R from other capitalisation ...

, the inventor of the Audion (also known as the

triode A triode is an electronic amplifier, amplifying vacuum tube (or ''thermionic valve'' in British English) consisting of three electrodes inside an evacuated glass envelope: a heated Electrical filament, filament or cathode, a control grid, grid ...

tube), who is thus considered to have opened the world to electronic development. Deaver edited '' The Best American Mystery Stories 2009''. Three of Deaver's novels have been made into films: * ''A Maiden's Grave'' adapted as '' Dead Silence'' (1997) * '' The Bone Collector'' (1999) * '' The Devil's Teardrop'' (2010) Additionally, ''The Bone Collector'' has been adapted as a television series, '' Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector''. ''Tracker'', a television series based on his novel ''The Never Game'', premiered in 2024. Deaver also created the characters and—in a collaboration with 14 other noted writers—wrote the 17-part serial thriller '' The Chopin Manuscript'' narrated by Alfred Molina that was broadcast on Audible.com from September 25 to November 13, 2007. It is also available in print. Deaver was chosen to write a new

novel: '' Carte Blanche'' is set in 2011 and was published on May 25, 2011. He is the second American author to write Bond novels, after Raymond Benson.

Bibliography

Standalone works

* ''Mistress of Justice'' (1992) * ''The Lesson of Her Death'' (1993) * ''Praying for Sleep'' (1994) * ''A Maiden's Grave'' (1995) * ''Speaking in Tongues'' (2000) * ''The Blue Nowhere'' (2001) * ''Garden of Beasts'' (2004) * '' The Chopin Manuscript'' (2008) ( collaborative fiction) * ''The Bodies Left Behind'' (2008) * ''Edge'' (2010) * ''The October List'' (2013) * "Buried" (2020) (''Amazon Short Stories'')

Rune Trilogy

# '' Manhattan Is My Beat'' (1988) # '' Death of a Blue Movie Star'' (1990) # ''Hard News'' (1991)

John Pellam (Location Scout series)

# ''Shallow Graves'' (1992) # ''Bloody River Blues'' (1993) # '' Hell's Kitchen'' (2001)

Lincoln Rhyme

# '' The Bone Collector'' (1997) # '' The Coffin Dancer'' (1998) # '' The Empty Chair'' (2000) # '' The Stone Monkey'' (2002) # '' The Vanished Man'' (2003) (includes an appearance by Parker Kincaid) # '' The Twelfth Card'' (2005) (includes an appearance by Parker Kincaid) # '' The Cold Moon'' (2006) (Introduces Kathryn Dance) # '' The Broken Window'' (2008) # '' The Burning Wire'' (2010) # ''The Kill Room'' (2013) # ''The Skin Collector'' (2014) # ''The Steel Kiss'' (2016) # ''The Burial Hour'' (2017) # ''The Cutting Edge'' (2018) # ''The Midnight Lock'' (2021) # ''The Watchmaker's Hand'' (2023)

Kathryn Dance

# ''The Sleeping Doll'' (2007) (includes a brief appearance by Lincoln Rhyme) # ''Roadside Crosses'' (2009) # ''XO'' (2012) (includes a brief appearance by Lincoln Rhyme) # ''Solitude Creek ''(May 12, 2015)

Parker Kincaid

* '' The Devil's Teardrop'' (1999) (introduces Parker Kincaid, includes a scene with Lincoln Rhyme)

Colter Shaw

# ''The Never Game'' (2019) # ''The Goodbye Man'' (2020) # ''The Final Twist'' (2021) # ''Hunting Time'' (2022) # ''South of Nowhere'' (2025) # ''Captivated'' (short) (2019) # ''The Second Hostage'' (short) (2020) # ''Forgotten'' (short) (2021) # ''The Deadline Clock'' (short) (2022)

James Bond

* '' Carte Blanche'' (2011)

Collections

* ''A Confederacy of Crime'' (2001) * '' Twisted'' (2003) * '' More Twisted'' (2006) (includes a story featuring Lincoln Rhyme) *''Trouble in Mind'' (2014) (includes two stories featuring Lincoln Rhyme, one story featuring Kathryn Dance and one story featuring John Pellam) * ''The Lineup: The World's Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives'' (2009) (Includes a short Mysterious Profile about Lincoln Rhyme)

Anthologies

* ''Faceoff'' (2014) (includes Lincoln Rhyme vs. Lucas Davenport in “Rhymes With Prey,” by Jeffery Deaver and John Sandford * ''Nothing Good Happens After Midnight'' (2020) edited by Jeffery Deaver (includes his story "Midnight Sonata") and includes Rhys Bowen, Linwood Barclay, Heather Graham, et al.

Adaptations

* '' Dead Silence'' (1997) A

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

film based on ''A Maiden's Grave''. Starring James Garner, Kim Coates,

Marlee Matlin Marlee Matlin (born August 24, 1965) is an American actress, activist, and author. Deafness, Deaf since she was 18 months old, Matlin is known for her portrayals of deaf women, and for her activism on behalf of deaf individuals in Cinema of the ...

and Lolita Davidovich. * '' The Bone Collector'' (1999) A feature film based on '' The Bone Collector''. Starring

Denzel Washington Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor, producer, and director. Known for his dramatic roles Denzel Washington on screen and stage, on stage and screen, Washington has received List of awards and nominations ...

Angelina Jolie Angelina Jolie ( ; born Angelina Jolie Voight, , June 4, 1975) is an American actress, filmmaker, and humanitarian. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Angelina Jolie, numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards ...

, Queen Latifah, Michael Rooker and Ed O'Neill. * ''The Devil's Teardrop'' (2010) A Lifetime television film based on '' The Devil's Teardrop''. Starring Tom Everett Scott and Natasha Henstridge. * '' Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector'' (2020) An NBC television series, based on ''The Bone Collector''. Starring Russell Hornsby and Arielle Kebbel. * '' Tracker'' (2024) A CBS television series, based on ''The Never Game''. Starring Justin Hartley, Robin Weigert, Abby McEnany, Eric Graise, Fiona Rene, and Wendy Crewson.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deaver, Jeffery Living people 1950 births American mystery writers People from Glen Ellyn, Illinois Nero Award winners 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists Novelists from Illinois American male novelists 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers