Judith Van Gieson Books In Order

Publication Order of Neil Hamel Books

Publication Order of Claire Reynier Books

Publication Order of Judith Van Gieson Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Judith Van Gieson is one of the well known novelists from America who has written a number of highly successful books based on the mystery and thriller genres. Judith has written several popular children’s books, a few short stories, as well as a collection of some famous poetry. As for the mystery novels, she has written a total of 13 of them. The short stories written by author Judith have appeared in a few mystery anthologies. In the first mystery & thriller series written by her, there are 8 books featuring the primary character in the form of a female attorney cum sleuth from Alburquerque named Neil Hamel. All the books of this series have been published by the HarperCollins publication. The works of Neil Hamel as depicted by author Judith in the series often involve the issue related to the environment. Some of the important issues that she deals with include the wildfires and the endangered species. The novels of this series were released in Japan, Germany, and England. It was also optioned by the CBS. One of the books in the series titled ‘The Lies That Bind’ went on to become a finalist of the Shamus Award in the category of the best detective novel of the year.

Overall, the series was awarded with the Literary Spirit of Magnifico Award. The second book written by author Judith is titled as ‘Claire Reynier’. This series is comprised of a total of 5 books, all of which feature the main protagonist in the form of heroine Claire Reynier. The books of the series were published as paperback editions by the Signet publication. The hardcover edition of the series was released by the New Mexico University Press. There is one more edition of the series that was released by the Thorndike publication. In the novels of the Claire Reynier series, author Judith has depicted Claire as working as a librarian and archivist at the Southwestern Research Center located at the New Mexico University. One of the major portions of the series deals with the history of New Mexico and its rare artifacts. An initial book in this series titled as ‘The Stolen Blue’ went on to become a finalist in the race for winning the Reveiewer’s Choice Award. One more book in the series won the Zia Award that was presented to author Judith by the New Mexico Press, and was a finalist for the prestigious Barry Award.

The Zia Award was given to author Judith in the category of the Best Fiction Work by a female writer from New Mexico. Author Judith Van Gieson was born on January 1, 1941 in The United States. A couple of author Judith’s books from the Neil Hamel series were included in the list of the best 100 books of New Mexico. She was announced as one of the winners in the list after a year of voting by the readers, writers, and librarians. The result came out in the year 2012 at the New Mexico Centennial. Both the mystery series written by author Judith are regarded as the IMBA and regional bestsellers. As of today, author Judith lives in the North Valley of Alburquerque. Currently, she is working to expand her own publishing company as well as to develop a short travel memoir. All the books written by author Judith are available in the major formats of ebooks such as Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Sony, and iPad. Apart from all her achievements as an established novelist, author Judith has achieved the unique feat of writing an article titled ‘Writing First Chapter’ in the well known book called ‘Now Write Mysteries’.

The Neil Hamel series written by author Judith consists of 8 books in total which were published between the years 1988 and 1998. Its first book was titled as ‘North of the Border’ and was released in the year 1998 by the New Mexico University Press. This book introduces the main character of Neil Hamel for the first time. The plot of the book opens up with the depiction of murder on one side of the border and a killer on the other side. In between both of them stands Niel Hamel, who seems to be highly passionate about serving for the truth. A man called as the Kid is shown as the par time lover of Neil and a car mechanic by profession. But, somehow she misses the Kid. On one occasion, Neil makes a trip to Mexico for doing a favor for a man whom she should have not done the favors. Due to this, she ends up discovering the corpse of a Mexican lawyer. When she comes across the corpse, Neil finds that it has a pink colored diamond ring and his throat was cut throughout with a sharp object. After returning back to Alburquerque, she cannot help but keep thinking about the brutal murder of the Mexican lawyer. Neil Hamel decides to investigate the matter on her own and find the truth behind the murder. She intends to make the human predators pay for their brutal actions and let justice be served.

The next book in the Neil Hamel series written by author Judith was released in the year 1989 by the UNM. It was titled as ‘Raptor’. In this book, it is shown that Neil Hamel has many things happening in her life in Alburquerque, including a stable law practice, a lover called Kid, and a tequila stash. But, seems to be under a debt of her heart to her dearest aunt named Joan, and after her death, she is compelled to travel to Montana in search of a rare bird. This bird is known to be no ordinary creature with wings, but an Arctic falcon which is popularly known as a near mythic figure. It appears to be quite a cool killer. While pursuing this elegant species, Neil Hamel comes across a murder case and discovers a dead body plunged from a cliff. Very soon, she gets involved in the investigation of a murder case. The case seems to bring together the militant environmentalists, an Arabian prince, the federal investigators, as well as the high stake poachers. And a while, Neil Hamel herself becomes the target of a few human predators and has no where to run except the wilderness. The place appears to be so dark and frightening that she does not find any shelter. As she begins to have the feeling that she will not be able to make out alive from the wilderness, she hears an inner voice becomes confident enough to fight all the odds. Eventually, Neil goes on to solve the murder case and makes the culprits pay for their crimes.