The Lineup: The World's Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives

A great recurring character in a series you love becomes an old friend. You learn about their strange quirks and their haunted pasts and root for them every time they face danger. But where do some of the most fascinating sleuths in the mystery and thriller world really come from? What was the real-life location that inspired Michael Connelly to make Harry Bosch a Vietnam vet tunnel rat? Why is Lee Child's Jack Reacher a drifter? How did a brief encounter in Botswana inspire Alexander McCall Smith to create Precious Ramotswe? In The Lineup, some of the top mystery writers in the world tell about the genesis of their most beloved characters—or, in some cases, let their creations do the talking. The following characters (and their creators) are featured in this collection:



Jack Taylor by Ken Bruen



Jack Reacher by Lee Child



Hieronymus Bosch by Michael Connelly



Charlie Parker by John Connolly



Elvis Cole and Joe Pike by Robert Crais



Lincoln Rhyme by Jeffery Deaver



Inspector Morse by Colin Dexter



Charlie Resnick by John Harvey



Bob Lee Swagger by Stephen Hunter



Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus by Faye Kellerman



Alex Delaware by Jonathan Kellerman



Dismas Hardy by John Lescroart



Tess Monaghan by Laura Lippman



Rambo by David Morrell



Mallory by Carol O'Connell



Spenser by Robert B. Parker



Lou Boldt by Ridley Pearson



Charlotte and Thomas Pitt by Anne Perry



Aloysius X. L. Pendergast by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child



John Rebus by Ian Rankin



Precious Ramotswe by Alexander McCall Smith