Michael Craven Books In Order

Publication Order of John Darvelle Mystery Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Before he became an author, Michael Craven served as a creative director and an advertising writer. While working as an advertising writer, Craven had the opportunity of working with some of the biggest agencies in the country, on national and worldwide accounts. The Detective and the Pipe Girl is one of Michael Craven’s most recent novels. In Detective and the Pipe Girl, Michael Craven introduced the readers to John Darville, a one of a kind Los Angeles detective. Due to the author’s exceptional writing skills, the book was nominated for a Shamus Award and a Nero Wolf Award as well. Michael Craven’s most recent novel titled, The Detective and the Chinese High Fin came out on 21 June 2016. Despite the fact that Michael Craven was born in New York City, he was raised in Jacksonville, Florida. After living in Florida for quite some time, Craven relocated to New York City, a place where he currently lives.

Michael Craven Best Books

The Detective & the Pipe Girl

Contemporary LA is the setting for this brilliant neo-noir mystery that revolves around an exceedingly beautiful young actress, who happens to be the mistress of one Arthur Vonz, a critically acclaimed film director. Vonz seeks the services of a private investigator one, John Darville, who then narrates the story with a philosophical bent and a wry sense of humor to track one Suzanne Neal and give her a letter. Suzanne had kept her details a secret from him when they had met the first time. Darville locates her, but before she could pass down the message to Vonz, she is brutally killed. As Darvelle continues with the investigation, he can uncover an exceedingly complicated prostitution operation that involves the pipe girls. The pipe girls are hookers who exclusive for the wealthy and exceedingly prominent people who can never tolerate or afford indiscretion.

The trail eventually leads Darvelle, the protagonist to an exceedingly powerful actor, a deadly serious pimp, a former mobster and an exceedingly clever insight into what a specific tattoo meant. With that said, the Detective and the Pipe Girl is a well-plotted book that introduces the readers to an exceedingly quirky and thoughtful detective. Despite the fact that Darvelle is exceedingly serious with his work, he still does not take himself exceedingly serious. The plot is full of twists and turns while the characters have some memorable quirks. The mystery, on the other hand, was not only solid but was also quite surprising. Thus this was not just a genre exercise.

Body Copy

Body Copy is another brilliantly written book, by renowned author, Michael Craven. In Body Copy, the author introduces the readers to Donald Tremine, a former champion surfer, and an ex-husband who turned into a private eye detective. Apart from Donald, the author also introduces the readers to one Nina Aldeen, who happens to be the niece to Roger Gale, an assassinated bigwig. One year after Roger was brutally killed, Nina seeks the services of Donald Tremaine, to find out who was responsible for Roger’s killing. However, the main reason why the police officers were not able to solve the crime was due to a lack of evidence and clues. Nina’s uncle was an advertising mega star, who had been found bashed and strangled to death in his office. No one seems to know why Roger was killed, however, the main suspect is the owner of a rival company. After leaving his old bulldog to get some rest, Roger begins by interviewing Gale’s co-workers, stepson, and widow. However, Roger comes up empty, since none of the people that he interviewed provided anything useful.

However, it does not take long before Roger begins to track down Gale’s mistress and as a police detective who had worked on the case. He also discovers that Gale’s ad-rival was somehow connected to the local mob. Roger’s investigation eventually leads him to Atlanta, where he has a chance of meeting some of his fans from the days when he was a pro-surfer and a bevy of beauties as well. Because every good private investigator needs a friend within a police department, Roger’s friend is one, John Lopez. Apart from John, Roger also has another part-time and overexcited sidekick, Marvin. Marvin is not a private investigator but rather struggling actor and Roger’s next-door neighbor. By making use of a classic style of writing, author Michael Craven employs humor throughout this novel.

The Detective and the High Chinese Fin

The Detective and the High Chinese Fin is a first person narrative, where we meet with one John Darville, a private detective who not only enjoys his job but is also great at it. To ensure that his skills are on point, John is a regular at gun range practice. From time to time, John runs and swims to stay fit. To sharpen his reflexes, John plays Ping-Pong against the wall at extremely high speeds. The story begins as Darvelle is called to solve the mystery of what happened to Mrs. Murial’s wedding ring. Mrs. Murial is an exceedingly rich and thoroughly unpleasant woman. The quickly solved mystery, in turn, introduces the readers to Darvelle, the main character and establishes his skill sets both investigative and interpersonal, while at the same time opening the book to a much larger mystery.

One fine morning Darvelle receives a call from Mike Ott, the police lieutenant who asks John to look into a cold case, the killing of one Keaton Helton. Keaton was a thoroughly unlikeable son of wealthy parents who after many years of angering every one that he knew is killed in the driveway with just one shot. Each of the suspects had an airtight alibi. John enters into the world that he knows nothing about. The plot is exceedingly tight, while the action is convincing and Darvelle highly believable. As the exceedingly complex plot develops, the author Michael Craven explores various elements of the protagonist’s interests in the side comments that enrich this novel. Some of the well-drawn characters include Jim Douglas, the man who taught him to fight and Marlon the Marlin, who is a former mob member who resides in a boat after retiring from the mob.