Walter Sorrells

Last updated
Walter Sorrells
Born1962 (age 61–62)
Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Pen nameLynn Ambercrombie, Ruth Birmingham
Alma mater Haverford College
Notable awards Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Paperback Original
SpousePatti Sorrells
Childrena
Website
www.waltersorrells.com

Walter Sorrells is an American author of mystery and suspense novels for adults and teens, who also writes under the pseudonyms Lynn Abercrombie and Ruth Birmingham. He also hand-forges swords and knives in the Japanese style.

Contents

Sorrells has written many novels, including Fake I.D., named one of the ten Best Mysteries by Booklist magazine in 2005 and several novels based-on the television series Flight 29 Down.

His novel Fulton County Blues, as Ruth Birmingham, won the 2000 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Paperback Original. [1]

Personal life

Sorrells was born in 1962 in Nashville, Tennessee. [2] He graduated from Haverford College in 1985, [3] [4] where he majored in history. [2]

He is married to Patti Sorrells, and the couple have a son, Jake. [5] They live in Atlanta. [5]

Sorrells holds a third-degree black belt in Japanese Shito-ryu karate and has studied Brazilian jiujitsu, aikido, and Tai Chi. [3] He has also studied Okinawan kobudō, the weapon systems of Okinawan martial arts, as well as the Japanese sword arts of Iaido and Shinkendo. [3]

Additionally, Sorrells is a competitive pistol shooter. [4]

Career

Sorrells began writing novels in his mid-twenties [4] and published his first novel, Power of Attorney, in 1994.

Aside from writing, Sorrells handcrafts elaborate knives and swords. [4] He began "making blades as research for a character: “The novel died, but the pursuit lived,” he stated. [4]

Awards and honors

YearTitleAwardResultRef.
1995Power of Attorney Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Paperback Original Finalist [6]
1999Atlanta Graves Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Paperback Original Finalist [7]
2000Fulton County Blues Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Paperback Original Winner [1] [4]
2000Fulton County Blues Shamus Award for Best Original PI PaperbackNominee

Publications

Cold Case Thriller series (as Lynn Abercrombie)

Flight 29 Down series (as Walter Sorrells)

Pendragon: Before the War series (as Walter Sorrells)

Hunted series (as Walter Sorrells)

Standalone novels (as Walter Sorrells)

Sunny Childs Mystery series (as Ruth Birmingham

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 "2000 Edgar Award Winners Announced". Writers Write. 2000-05-05. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
  2. 1 2 "Walter Sorrells". CRIME & MYSTERY FICTION | MISDAADROMANS. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
  3. 1 2 3 "Forging Swords and Stories: Walter Sorrells '85". Haverford College . 2016-10-03. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Glaser, Brian (September 2016). "Forging Swords and Stories: Walter Sorrells '85". Haverford: The Magazine of Haverford College . p. 31. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
  5. 1 2 "Bio". Edgar Award-winner Walter Sorrel. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
  6. ↑ "1995 Edgar Allan Poe Award - Paperback Original Winner and Nominees". Awards Archive. 2020-07-03. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
  7. ↑ "1999 Edgar Allan Poe Award - Paperback Original Winner and Nominees". Awards Archive. 2020-07-03. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
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