Christopher Valen Books In Order

Publication Order of John Santana Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Christopher Valen is an American author that writes detective novels. The author has harbored a love for mysteries for as long as he can remember. Valen believes that he is living the dream because he gets to earn a living out of the one thing he truly loves.

+Biography

Christopher Valen does a lot of traveling. However, his life has almost always revolved around the Twin Cities. The author believes he was pretty ordinary as a child. He was a decent enough student. He also played a variety of sports as a teenager.

He went so far as to win accolades as a boxer and a baseball player in high school and in college. Along with his brown belt in Tae Kwon Do, many of Christopher Valen’s classmates might be surprised to learn that he went into publishing.

It wasn’t always obvious that the author would take to writing with so much fervor, at least not from the outside. Those closest to Christopher, however, will tell you that he has been reading since he was a child.

Christopher doesn’t know what got him into reading. But he does remember stumbling upon the Hardy Boys books and devouring them because he couldn’t get enough. Christopher believes that it was those books that made him such a diehard fan of mysteries.

And while the author didn’t know for certain that he would become a published author, he was fairly certain that writing had a place in his future. This was proven in high school when Christopher showed an affinity for journalism. He took a course that should have started him on a journey steeped in writing.

However, college changed things. Rather than studying journalism, Christopher Valen decided that his talents would be best utilized in teaching. So he got his degree in English and a Master’s in Special Education and went about putting his skills to good use.

The author’s more notable role was as a tutor for Juvenile delinquents, though he eventually moved on to college where he became a professor. Despite veering off the publishing course, Christopher never stopped reading. He consumed both fiction and nonfiction novels and that allowed his imagination to grow.

Later on in life, Christopher took a writing course from Will Weaver. Weaver wrote ‘A Gravestone Made of Wheat’. Christopher Valen was aware of the book and its Hollywood movie adaptation and he quickly found that Will Weaver was the best person to show him the writing and publishing ropes.

With the Will Weaver course behind him, Christopher could no longer afford to sit back and let his writing talents go to waste. He now knew what it took to write and publish a novel, so he put that information to good use by writing ‘White Tombs’, his first novel.

Putting the novel together was no easy task. Christopher found that there was a big difference between creating a neat concept for a book and actually distilling that concept into a story with a beginning middle and end.

But Christopher did not allow the challenges of writing to inhibit him. He threw himself into the process, going so far as to hound the members of the St. Paul Police Department and the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department as he went about researching his story for ‘White Tombs’ and gaining an understanding of the workings of law enforcement.

Christopher Valen doesn’t regret choosing to go into teaching instead of Journalism. Not only does he find the area fulfilling but teaching also gives him the time to write his books. Additionally, he appreciates the steady income it provides him while he pursues writing and publishing.

Christopher believes that every serious aspiring writer should work hard to acquire and maintain a day job. The author wants to dispel the notion that published writers are wealthy people.

Only a select few writers make enough money solely from writing to actually survive. Most professional writers need an actual job that they can depend on to survive while they write and try to get their books published.

Christopher believes that an aspiring writer with a day job has a greater chance of being successful in the long run. That is because he or she will have the capacity to focus on the writing instead of getting caught up in the search for quick money.

Aspiring authors without day jobs normally get so desperate to make money that they sacrifice the integrity of their craft for the sake of quick success.

Christopher Valen has never looked at financial success as the objective of the books he writes. While he wouldn’t mind making more money from his books, Christopher is simply pleased that there are people in the world that like his books and who keep encouraging him to write more.

+White Tombs

There is a killer in St. Paul’s close-knit Hispanic community, one that is brazen enough to take the life of a prominent leader. Despite the biting cold, Detective John Santana makes it his mission to solve the murder, if only for the sake of the widow.

Unfortunately for John, the case just keeps evolving. Every suspect he sets his eyes on dies. And it doesn’t help matters that Internal Affairs has its sights set on his alcoholic partner and his eager trigger finger.

As the case heats up and the clues grow more bizarre, John Santana begins to question whether he can survive the investigation, what with an assassin on the loose and police brass determining that the case might be better off without him.

Christopher Valen’s first book introduces a loner of a detective who left Colombia to escape tragic circumstances. Now he is caught up in the chaos surrounding the death of two prominent Hispanic citizens.

+Bone Shadows

No one should have batted an eye when a war veteran suffering from PTSD ended up dead in the Mississippi river. After all, the river has been playing host to bodies of young men for a long time.

However, this time, Detective John Santana makes it his goal to figure out if there was foul play behind the veteran’s death. To solve his case, John must maneuver the machinations of an ambitious reporter, a troubled FBI agent, and an attractive Private Eye.

3 Responses to “Christopher Valen”

1. Kent Peterson: 2 years ago

   I never knew Christopher, growing up just a couple blocks away in Richfield, Minnesota. He was my older brother, Tom’s age and I was the same age of his younger sister, Judy. She recently passed away and I plan on attending her memorial service in June. I’m so sorry for your loss. Judy’s smile and personality was one of a kind. As I became deeply engrossed in fellow Minnesotan author, John Sanford, my brother encouraged me to read your works. I look forward to the way you tie in Minnesota geography and landmarks as Sanford did. It made me feel like I was right there watching action. Being 5 years your junior, I saw many of the football and baseball games you starred in at Richfield High School. Maybe I will see you at Judy’s memorial service. Take care!

   Reply
2. Dean Lambert: 3 years ago

   I played two sports(Baseball & football) with Christopher in High School. Never knew of his boxing or martial arts endeavors. Also never knew of his pension for reading or becoming an acclaimed author. I have read his first four books in the past 3 weeks or so and am amazed at his ability for plot twists. I’ve never been a real big reader but I cannot put his books down…having grown up in the Twin Cities area, I find it fun to see different references in the books to my own experiences…like he told me in an email, ‘Maybe I was meant to read his books!” I think that’s so…and I am not regretting it.

   Reply
   • Dean Lambert: 3 years ago

     I’ve read three more of Christopher’s books and they just keep getting better. One I read in one day and another in two days…could not put them down… the suspense and intrigue is magnetic….literally found it hard to put the books down…

     Reply