Mysterious Profiles

Biographical Quickies from Mysterious Press/Open Road

A gimmick, for sure, but an intriguing one.

Launched in April 2022, this series of digital quickies from MysteriousPress/Open Road, available on Kindle. Nook, Kobo, etc., offers a new spin on self-promotion: short but in-depth takes (30-40 digital pages) on beloved fictional detectives, written by the authors themselves.

Some are actual profiles, some are detail-loaded short stories, some are “interviews.” But they all offer new insights into what makes these bestselling sleuths tick, where their creators got the idea for them, where they’ve been or where they’re going. That sorta thing. The same thing, in fact, that I’ve tried to do on this site, but pumped up and with the added advantage of coming straight from the authors’ mouths.

Not that all the pieces were originals written for this series—many are taken from previously published sources. But if you like this site, you’ll probably get a kick out of these.

And you can bet, this being from MysteriousPress/Open Road, that plenty of the detectives (about half, at this point) are private eyes or P.I.-adjacent, including:

• Elvis Cole and Joe Pike: A Mysterious Profile (April 2022; by Robert Crais) | Kindle it!
• Jack Taylor: A Mysterious Profile (April 2022; by Ken Bruen) | Kindle it!
• Jack Reacher: A Mysterious Profile (April 2022; by Lee Child) | Kindle it!
• Charlie Parker: A Mysterious Profile (April 2022; by John Connoly) | Kindle it! 
• Hieronymus Bosch: A Mysterious Profile (April 2022; by Michael Connelly) | Kindle it!
• Dismas Hardy: A Mysterious Profile (April 2022; by John Lescroart) | Kindle it!
• Tess Monaghan: A Mysterious Profile (May 2022; by Laura Lippman) | Kindle it!
• Spenser: A Mysterious Profile (May 2022; by Robert B. Parker) | Kindle it!
• Maisie Dobbs: A Mysterious Profile (June 2022; by Jacqueline Winspear) | Kindle it!
• Jane Whitefield: A Mysterious Profile (June 2022; by Thomas Perry) | Kindle it!
• Precious Ramotswe: A Mysterious Profile (June 2022; by Alexander McCall Smith) | Kindle it!
• Amos Walker: A Mysterious Profile (June 2022; by Loren Estleman) | Kindle it!
• The Lincoln Lawyer: A Mysterious Profile (June 2022; by Michael Connelly) | Kindle it!
• Repairman Jack: A Mysterious Profile (May 2023, by F. Paul Wilson) | Kindle it!

Respectfully compiled by Kevin Burton Smith.