R. Lawson Gamble Books In Order

Publication Order of Zack Tolliver, FBI Books

Publication Order of Johnn Alias Books

Publication Order of Tales of Yawa Books

Publication Order of Images of America Books

R Lawson Gamble is an award-winning and bestselling mystery author best known for the “Zack Tolliver, FBI” series of novels. Gamble was born and brought up in New Jersey, very near the border with New York. He was born to a family of musicians and readers and as an adult, she got a bachelor in music and went on to be a professional singer in Provence, Rhode Island, and Boston, Massachusetts, where he performed opera and oratorio. He later got a job with a private school in Boston, where he was Music Chairperson and also took on several responsibilities including Dean of Students and Soccer coach. After more than three decades at the school, Gamble moved to California in 2009 as he wanted to become a fiction author. His first published work was “The Other,” the first of the “Zack Tolliver, FBI” series of novels. He currently has more than ten fiction works and a historical work on the Los Alamos Valley. Given his expertise as a historian, he researched Salomon Pico a local bandit, which resulted in him featuring in a documentary on the real-life Zorro.

Gamble spent his childhood on 50 acres of farmland in central New Jersey and was often to be found with a book in hand. Since his father believed they were watching too much TV, he unplugged the family’s TV and this forced the young Gamble to find something else for entertainment. He started reading books and was soon so into it that he would read with a flashlight under the blanket when he was banished from the living room. During this time, he read a lot of mysteries though he has asserted that his biggest inspiration was “Sherlock Holmes” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He still remembers one chapter that concluded with “They were the footsteps of a gigantic hound” even though it has been years since he wrote the novel. Even though he did very little writing, he would go into two other careers and it was not until 2011 that he started writing. He Published “The Other,” the debut novel of his “Zack Tolliver, FBI” mystery series in 2013. He never intended to write a series but the response for the novel was so good he could not resist it. R Lawson’s lead in the novels is Zack Tolliver, a man he created as a polar opposite to the classic Federal agents he had read about in Native American novels. He created the man to be a since and likable character that is struggling to understand the meaning of mysticism.

R Lawson Gamble lives in Los Alamos, California from where he writes his novels. His Zack Tolliver novels are mystery crime fiction in which his lead protagonists change setting from novel to novel. With new settings come different political undercurrents, history, and cultures, all of which combine to make for an intriguing mystery. Nonetheless, much of the structure of the novels does not change as Eagle Feather and Zack Tolliver remain the same as well as their friends, associates, and relatives. There is usually a murder mystery, lots of suspense and action, police procedures, accurate topography, well researched accurate history, an element of the paranormal and/or mysticism, and Native Americans from different nations.

Gamble’s debut novel “The Other” is a pulsating and fast-paced dialogue-driven mystery novel that combines a touch of the paranormal to make for a great story. The novel evokes dramatic imagery and a rapid pace that will drive one to bed to read it. It introduces Zack Tolliver, an FBI agent who lives in Arizona and works to resolve a range of murder mysteries. At the opening of the novel, the body of a little blonde girl is found on the white sun-washed cliffs of Arizona. She had been found on a flat mesa and initial investigations indicate that she had been killed by a bear. But when Zack arrives at the site with a Navajo sidekick/guide they realize that the prints nearby change from animal to human after a few paces. The evidence points to a local recluse that had been acting very strangely ever since he tragically lost his wife and child. They believe they have their man but in no time at all, it is open once again as the two race off to the deserts of California. Another small girl has been killed and left on some lonely hill and the two investigators cannot find out who is responsible. It seems that there may be some paranormal beings involved but Zack cannot be too sure.

“Mestaclocan” by R Lawson Gamble asks whether there are paranormal creatures on Earth that humans are not yet aware of. Could they be walking among and preying on us? Marty O’Bannon does not have such practical considerations when he looks at the thirty-something beautiful woman lying against the wall of the bunker. Even without checking out her throat, he can tell from where he stands that her throat has been slit. She is just one of three who have been killed in such a manner and he immediately calls Zack Tolliver to come to take a look. Zack is very interested in the case, particularly when he learns that she had been killed in the same manner another had been in San Francisco and Los Angeles. If he is not stopped, he is likely to kill again. Libby Whitestone his wife will not like it when he tells her that he has to go to San Francisco. His supervisor at the FBI field office in Tuba City, Arizona will also not be happy about it but he needs to track down and stop the killer. He calls up Eagle Feather, his Navajo hunting guide and they head off to track down the deranged killer.

R Lawson Gamble’s “Zaca” opens to the disappearance of a farmworker. Another worker had taken his place and had been careful to maintain the same numbers but Rufus Reyes the rancher is not fooled. He runs a small operation and everyone that works for him is known to him personally. Not long after, another worker goes missing and this time no one replaces him. The worker’s wife is hysterical and Reyes has to find help with these frequent disappearances. In the meantime, Zack Tolliver is at the Allan Hancock College, where he had been asked to deliver a lecture to the Criminal Justice calls by his friend Dr. Susan Apgar. Zack had accepted the call to give a lecture as he believed it would be a great jaunt on the California coast. but when Rufus calls him up he has to cut short his plans as he has to make plans for dealing with a case that has murder, rival cartels, drug smuggling, and an old foe. But even as he finds new clues, the mystery grows deeper, the danger grows and the victims pile up.