Susan Dunlap

Last updated
Susan Dunlap
BornSusan D. Sullivan
June 20, 1943
Kew Gardens, Queens, New York
OccupationMystery writer, social worker
Education
Notable awards
SpousesNewell Dunlap (1970)
Website
Susan Dunlap

Susan Dunlap (born June 20, 1943) is an American writer of mystery novels and short stories. Her novels have mostly appeared in one of four series, each with its own sleuthing protagonist: Vejay Haskell, Jill Smith, Kiernan O'Shaughnessy, or Darcy Lott. Through 2020, more than two dozen of Dunlap's book-length mysteries have appeared in print. She has also edited crime fiction and has contributed to anthologies, including A Woman's Eye (1991), and to periodicals such as Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. [1] Her short story "Checkout" won a Macavity Award and an Anthony Award in 1994. [2] [3]

Contents

Dunlap was a founding member of Sisters in Crime and served as its president in 1990–91. Before becoming a full-time writer in 1984, she was a social worker in Baltimore (1966–67), New York City (1967), and Contra Costa County, California (1968–84). She has also worked as a paralegal, private investigator, and yoga teacher. [1]

Personal life

Born in Kew Gardens, Queens, New York, Dunlap graduated from Bucknell University with a B.A. in 1965 and from the University of North Carolina with a Master of Arts in Teaching in 1966. She married Newell Dunlap in 1970. [1] In 2020, the Dunlaps live near San Francisco. [4]

Critical reception

Reviews

Carol M. Harper in St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers said in 1996 that "Dunlap has coupled authenticity in setting with a bizarre sense of humor appropriate for Northern California. Her series feature radically different heroines (amateur detective, police officer and licensed private detective) from three different backgrounds (rural northern California, urban northern California, and East Coast transplant to urban Southern California) to create three eminently readable series." Harper also praised Dunlap for her abilities as a writer of short stories and an editor of crime-story anthologies. [5]

Kirkus Reviews praises Time Expired, featuring Berkeley, California, homicide detective Jill Smith, as "an adroitly plotted, consistently interesting police procedural." [6]

Awards

Pious Deception (1989) and Rogue Wave were finalists for the Anthony Award for Best Novel. [7]

Bibliography

Mystery series

Vejay Haskell

Jill Smith

Kiernan O'Shaughnessy

Darcy Lott

Short story collections

Other

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Susan Dunlap" . Contemporary Authors Online. Gale. 2011. Archived from the original on May 10, 2024. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  2. "Macavity Awards". Mystery Readers International. 2020. Archived from the original on April 5, 2019. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  3. "Past Bouchercons". 2019. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  4. "Susan Dunlap: About Susan". Interbridge. Archived from the original on May 11, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  5. Harper, Carol M. (1996). "Dunlap, Susan (D.)". In Pederson, Jay P. (ed.). St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers (4th ed.). Detroit: St. James Press. pp. 323–24. ISBN   1-55862-178-4.
  6. "Time Expired". Kirkus Media. May 20, 2010. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
  7. "Susan Dunlap". Stop, You're Killing Me!. Archived from the original on 2024-05-09. Retrieved 2024-05-10.