Martin Limón (born November 21, 1948) is an American writer of mystery fiction. He is the author of fourteen books in the Sueño and Bascom series, including ''Jade Lady Burning'' and the short story collection ''Nightmare Range'', inspired by his time in Korea.

Biography

Limón retired from military service after twenty years in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

, including ten years in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

in five tours starting 1968. Similar to his main character Sueño, Limón extensively studied Korean language, taking night classes at the University of Maryland Far East Division alongside civilian workers and foreign spouses during his time in Korea and claiming he earned the most credits in the Korean language for a U.S. soldier at the time. Unlike Sueño, he was never a CID officer and calls his career "exceedingly undistinguished," working in many odd jobs, writing for Stars and Stripes, serving as an artillery gun crew chief, working in military intelligence, managing an NCO club and even earning extra money by learning

card counting Card counting is a blackjack betting strategy, strategy used to determine whether the player or the dealer has an advantage on the next hand. Card counters try to overcome the casino house edge by keeping a running count of high and low valued c ...

. He lives near

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

.Martin Limó
"author homepage"
''Soho Press''.

Bibliography

The Sueño and Bascom Novels

#''Jade Lady Burning'' (1992) #''Slicky Boys'' (1997) #''Buddha's Money'' (1998) #''The Door to Bitterness'' (2005) #''The Wandering Ghost'' (2007) #''G.I. Bones'' (2009) #''Mr. Kill'' (2011) #''The Joy Brigade'' (2012) #''The Iron Sickle'' (2014) #''The Ville Rat'' (2015) #''Ping-Pong Heart'' (2016) #''The Nine-Tailed Fox'' (2017) #''The Line'' (October 2018) #''GI Confidential'' (October 2019) #''War Women'' (November 2021)

References

External links

Author's homepage at Soho Press
{{DEFAULTSORT:Limon, Martin American mystery writers American crime fiction writers 21st-century American novelists 1948 births Living people 21st-century American male writers