Wendy Hornsby (born 1947) is an American writer of

mystery fiction Mystery is a genre fiction, fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains wiktionary:mysterious, mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually prov ...

and a professor of history at

Long Beach City College Long Beach City College (LBCC) is a public community college in Long Beach, California, United States. It was established in 1927 and is divided into two campuses, the Liberal Arts Campus (LAC) in Lakewood Village and the Trades, Technology, an ...

. Hornsby's published work began in 1987 and 1990 with two

police procedural The police procedural, police show, or police crime drama is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasises the investigative procedure of police officers, police detectives, or law enforcement agency, law enforcement agencies ...

s set in

Orange County, California Orange County (officially the County of Orange; often initialized O.C.) is a county (United States), county located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population ...

, and featuring history teacher Kate Teague and police officer Roger Tejeda. Since 1992, she has published more than a dozen novels about documentary filmmaker Maggie MacGowen and homicide detective Mike Flint of the

Los Angeles Police Department The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...

, as well as many short stories. Hornsby names "hard-boiled California authors" such as

Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...

Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett ( ; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the characters he created are Sam Spade ('' The Ma ...

, and

Ross Macdonald Ross Macdonald was the main pseudonym used by the American-Canadian writer of crime fiction Kenneth Millar (; December 13, 1915 – July 11, 1983). He is best known for his series of hardboiled novels set in Southern California and featur ...

as influences on her work, and she especially praises

Margaret Millar Margaret Ellis Millar (née Sturm; February 5, 1915 – March 26, 1994) was a Canadian-American mystery and suspense writer. Born in Berlin, Ontario (the city would change its name to Kitchener in 1916), she was educated at the Kitchener-Wate ...

's ''Stranger in My Grave'', which combined "the social conscience of hard-boiled detectives and a well-rounded, beautifully realized character in her Tom Aragon. More than any other author, Mrs. Millar has been my role model."

Critical reception

Hornsby's "Nine Sons" won an

Edgar Allan Poe Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor ...

for "best short story" from the

Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is a professional 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 E ...

in 1992. Her other awards include an Orange Coast Fiction award (1987); an American Reader award (1992), and a Reviewers Choice award (1993). Writing in ''The St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers'', Jean Swanson says, "Hornsby's mysteries are often commended for their well-written sex scenes, as well as for their realistic depiction of urban violence" and how crime can damage city neighborhoods. "She also seems to have tapped into a vast well of stories about the old days in the LAPD, when cops routinely beat up suspects and just as routinely had sex with hookers and groupies."

Bibliography

Kate Teague crime series * ''No Harm'' (1987) * ''Half a Mind'' (1990) Maggie MacGowen crime series * ''Telling Lies'' (1992) * ''Midnight Baby'' (1993) * ''Bad Intent'' (1994) * ''77th Street Requiem'' (1995) * ''A Hard Light'' (1997) * ''In the Guise of Mercy'' (2009) * ''The Paramour's Daughter'' (2010) * ''The Hanging'' (2012) * ''The Color of Light'' (2014) * ''Disturbing the Dark'' (2016) * ''Number 7, Rue Jacob'' (2018) * ''A Bouquet of Rue'' (2019) Short story collection * ''Nine Sons: Collected Mysteries'' (2002)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hornsby, Wendy 1947 births 20th-century American women writers American crime fiction writers Writers from Los Angeles Living people University of California, Los Angeles alumni 21st-century American women writers California State University, Long Beach alumni Long Beach City College faculty