Crime Fiction's Sexiest Authors of 2011

This blog post has been in the works for almost a year now. The seed was planted waaaaaay back in January when my attention was pointed to this post called You Know You're an English Major If...Probably about a third of the way down the list, you'll notice the entry, "You consider authors to be sex symbols."

I reckon I have to admit to being in that camp. I do think it's sexy to be smart and creative and funny, so with People Magazine releasing their Sexiest People issue, and Salon.com weighing in on their Sexiest Men, I thought it was high time I got my post ready for public consumption. And I'm all about gender equality, so come back on Friday for the ladies' turn.

People puts the honorees into categories, and I've done the same. I have 5 honorees and a "Sexiest Man Alive." So here we go:

THE SEXIEST WRITER-ATHLETE 

Those shorts are sexy, Tom!

Tom Schreck runs, boxes, plays basketball...I don't think swimming in the hot tub counts, but that's o.k. He is a black belt in karate even though he gave up "wearing pajamas" to wear robes. Other factors that contribute to Tom being on this list are his sense of humor, his kindness, and his love of animals.

Tom writes the Duffy Dombrowski series, the fourth of which, VEGAS KNOCKOUT, will be out from Thomas and Mercer in May.

SEXIEST TRIPLE-SERIES WRITER

New Reeds, old Reeds, they're all Great Reeds!

At least right now there are three. Since he's a long way from retirement, we don't know how many series Reed Farrel Coleman will ultimately end up with. Reed seems to work in 3s. He's won the Shamus Award three times - as well as three other awards: the Barry, the Macavity and the Anthony; he has three series: Moe Prager, Joe Serpe/Bob Healy, Dylan Klein; and he's published in three formats: novel, short story and poem.

Reed is gregarious; he wields his sarcastic wit as effectively as his pen; and he's always up on the latest hair styles! In all seriousness, when I first met Reed in person, I was more than a little intimidated. But it took round about 30 seconds to know he's one of the nicest people you'll have the chance to meet.

This year Reed releases two new books. GUN CHURCH is an audiobook original, and you'll be hearing more about that soon. And HURT MACHINE is the latest Moe Prager novel, due out next month.

SEXIEST AWARD-WINNING WRITER

King of the...Pier?

Self-confidence is sexy, right? Well, Brad Parks has plenty of that! And did you know Brad won the 2010 Shamus award?! The cockiness is part of the facade Brad sports (well, maybe not all facade..) but under that is a supportive, generous, funny individual with a grand imagination and love of life.

Brad writes the Carter Ross mystery series. His third installment, THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, will be out in March from Minotaur Books.

SEXIEST WRITER UNDER 30

"I've got it all up here."

O.k., so most folks grumble when they discover that Michael Koryta is as wildly talented and polished as he is and he hasn't celebrated his 30th birthday yet. But, I just look at it this way, I should be able to enjoy his new books all the way until they spread my ashes. Right? If you ever listen to Michael talk about his craft all you can hear is passion. And I completely love that he works with the Exotic Cat Preserve to rescue the great creatures. He's smart and witty and deserves his place on the list.

Michael's latest novel, THE RIDGE, was released this past summer. He informed us via Twitter that his next book will be a Vampire kitten/PI novel hybrid - I'm just kidding. He did say that but in jest. He's returning to a classic crime novel, but I don't have release date for that.

SEXIEST WRITER ON TV

The hat shadow is covering the five o'clock shadow.

Since the commercial is now showing, I can say the winner of this category is Marcus Sakey. And no, his hair played no role in the decision. When I first met Marcus' wife g.g. she explained that we all have dreams and aspirations in life, Marcus' are just usually higher than most. That was when he was training to climb Mt. Rainier. Marcus is full of life and always ready for the next challenge. This year that challenge was a television series called Hidden City, scheduled to begin airing next month.

One of the "extras" to Marcus' character that boosted him onto this list was his ability to make people feel like SUPERSTARS, no matter how ordinary. Look at me...I went from author groupie to high powered lawyer in less than 300 pages!

Marcus' latest release is THE TWO DEATHS OF DANIEL HAYES. He's hard at work on his new novel, but obviously had to take time out for that television thing! I'll have more about that at a later date.

And drum roll please....

JEN'S SEXIEST MALE WRITER ALIVE

Gregg Hurwitz! My first chance to meet Gregg in person was my first visit to L.A. for the book festival back in 2009. I had already discovered THE CRIME WRITER and was so excited to meet him. He hung out and talked with Michael Alatorre and I for quite a good spell, told us how he met his wife, made us laugh, obviously left a lasting impression. And on top of that, before I got home there was an email in my inbox saying "it was nice to meet you."

Since that I've learned what a great pet parent he is as he often talks about taking Simba to the dog park, having Simba at his feet while he writes, visiting Simba on his trips home during book tour. And of course his daughters! He's such a proud papa and his adoration of his girls simply radiates from him.

Gregg is smart, funny, talented - his skill range goes from Shakespeare to The Penguin to V. He's generous and kind - he tolerates me and there's no restraining order...yet. And I'm pretty certain he could get anyone to do his bidding with that 100 watt smile.

I can't remember the last time I was asked for a book recommendation and one of Gregg's books wasn't on the top of my list. For this book nerd, that's as sexy as it gets. Move over Bradley Cooper, ya ain't got nothin' on Gregg!

As with anyone's choice in a topic like this, there will be much dissension among the ranks. So it's your turn. Who would be on YOUR list? And let's keep the conversations family appropriate, please!

Remember, the ladies will get their turn on Friday! Have a great Thanksgiving and Happy Reading.



**Note: this post is meant to be fun. I sincerely mean what I've written about the authors, but I contacted each author to get his/her permission to use them in this post. I did not want to include anyone who would be uncomfortable or feel awkward about being mentioned. I hope you've enjoyed it.