What happens when a former deputy sheriff trades his badge for a pen? Michael McGarrity channeled decades of law enforcement experience into the Kevin Kerney mystery series, setting gritty, authentic crime stories against the sweeping landscapes of New Mexico. From his Anthony Award-nominated debut Tularosa to his ambitious American West trilogy, McGarrity proved that the desert holds as many secrets as any big-city precinct.
If you enjoy reading books by Michael McGarrity then you might also like the following authors:
Tony Hillerman is the author who defined Southwest mystery fiction. Readers who enjoy Michael McGarrity's vivid New Mexico settings and nuanced portrayals of the region's cultures will find a natural companion in Hillerman's work.
His debut novel The Blessing Way introduces Navajo Tribal Police officer Joe Leaphorn, who investigates a murder on the reservation that becomes entangled with an anthropologist's research into Navajo witchcraft. As the case deepens, ancient traditions collide with modern violence in ways that are both suspenseful and culturally rich.
Hillerman's ability to weave Navajo culture, sprawling desert landscapes, and tightly plotted mysteries together made him a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America and a lasting influence on regional crime fiction.
Craig Johnson writes mysteries set in the rural American West with the same authenticity and sense of place that McGarrity brings to New Mexico. His Walt Longmire series follows the sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming, a laconic lawman with a sharp mind and a complicated personal life.
In The Cold Dish, the first Longmire novel, Cody Pritchard turns up dead near the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. Two years earlier, Cody and three accomplices received suspended sentences for assaulting a young Cheyenne woman. Now someone appears to be seeking justice outside the courts, and Longmire must stop the killings before another body drops.
With his lifelong friend Henry Standing Bear and Deputy Victoria Moretti at his side, Longmire navigates a case rooted in questions of justice, revenge, and community. Johnson's sharp dialogue and atmospheric storytelling earned the series a devoted readership and a hit television adaptation.
C.J. Box delivers thrilling mysteries set against the wild beauty of Wyoming, making him a strong pick for fans of McGarrity's landscape-driven storytelling. His protagonist Joe Pickett is a game warden who keeps stumbling into conspiracies far bigger than poaching violations.
In Open Season, the first Joe Pickett novel, Joe discovers a dead hunting outfitter behind his state-owned home. When additional murders surface and local police declare the case solved, Joe disagrees and keeps digging. His investigation uncovers an endangered species thought to be extinct and a multinational energy company determined to keep it secret.
The novel won the Anthony, Barry, Macavity, and Gumshoe Awards for Best First Novel. Box's combination of outdoor adventure, environmental intrigue, and small-town politics makes his books essential reading for anyone who appreciates McGarrity's blend of crime and Western landscapes.
James Lee Burke is a master of atmospheric crime fiction who, like McGarrity, grounds his stories in a deeply felt sense of place. While Burke's turf is the bayous of Louisiana rather than the high desert, his approach to weaving regional identity into detective fiction will feel familiar to McGarrity readers.
His novel The Neon Rain introduces Dave Robicheaux, a Vietnam veteran and New Orleans homicide detective battling personal demons alongside criminal ones. When Robicheaux pulls a dead woman's body from the bayou, the investigation leads him into a web of corruption involving the mob, intelligence operatives, and local politics.
Burke's prose is lyrical and muscular, earning him multiple Edgar Awards and the Grand Master designation from the Mystery Writers of America. His Robicheaux series spans over twenty novels and remains one of the most celebrated bodies of work in American crime fiction.
Nevada Barr brings the American wilderness to life in her Anna Pigeon mystery series, making her a compelling choice for readers drawn to McGarrity's outdoor settings and law enforcement authenticity. Barr herself worked as a park ranger before turning to fiction, and that firsthand experience infuses every page.
In Track of the Cat, the first Anna Pigeon novel, ranger Anna Pigeon investigates the death of a fellow ranger in West Texas's Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The official explanation is a mountain lion attack, but Anna suspects a human predator is responsible. As she searches for the truth in the rugged backcountry, she becomes a target herself.
The novel won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. Barr's series takes readers to a different national park with each installment, combining vivid natural settings with suspenseful investigations that McGarrity fans will savor.
William Kent Krueger writes mysteries that blend crime fiction with explorations of culture, community, and the natural world, qualities that resonate strongly with McGarrity's approach. His Cork O'Connor series is set in the lake country of northern Minnesota, where the former sheriff navigates cases shaped by his mixed Irish and Anishinaabe heritage.
In Iron Lake, the first novel in the series, the apparent suicide of a prominent judge sets Cork on a trail that leads to the disappearance of a young Ojibwe boy and a conspiracy reaching back generations. Cork must confront old grudges, political corruption, and a blizzard as deadly as any criminal.
Iron Lake won both the Anthony and Barry Awards for Best First Novel. Krueger went on to win the Edgar Award for his standalone Ordinary Grace, and the Cork O'Connor series has sold over 1.5 million copies.
J.A. Jance is a prolific mystery author whose Joanna Brady series is set in the Arizona desert, offering the same kind of sun-scorched, small-town crime fiction that McGarrity delivers in New Mexico. Jance grew up in Bisbee, Arizona, and her intimate knowledge of the landscape shows.
In Desert Heat, the series opener, Joanna Brady's husband Andy, a lawman running for sheriff of Cochise County, is shot and left for dead. When investigators call it a suicide connected to drug smuggling, Joanna refuses to accept their conclusion and launches her own investigation into what she believes is murder and a cover-up.
Jance has written over twenty Joanna Brady novels along with her popular J.P. Beaumont series set in Seattle. Her 2018 Strand Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award recognized decades of compelling crime fiction rooted in the American West.
Anne Hillerman carries forward her father Tony Hillerman's beloved Leaphorn and Chee series while bringing a fresh perspective to Navajo country mysteries. Fans of McGarrity's New Mexico settings and culturally grounded storytelling will find much to appreciate here.
In Spider Woman's Daughter, Officer Bernadette Manuelito witnesses the shooting of retired Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and teams up with her husband, Sergeant Jim Chee, to investigate. The trail leads through a web of pot hunters, museum disputes, and insurance fraud before building to a pursuit across New Mexico's red-rock landscape.
The novel became a New York Times bestseller and was praised for expanding the series with a welcome female perspective. The series was later adapted into the AMC television show Dark Winds.
Margaret Coel writes mysteries set on Wyoming's Wind River Reservation that combine crime fiction with themes of cultural preservation and historical injustice, much as McGarrity explores New Mexico's layered history through the Kerney novels.
Her first novel, The Eagle Catcher, begins with the murder of the Arapaho tribal chairman at the Ethete powwow. The evidence points to his nephew, but Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden and Jesuit priest Father John O'Malley suspect the truth lies deeper. Their investigation uncovers a trail connecting present-day fraud in Indian oil and land deals to crimes stretching back to the Arapaho's past on the Great Plains.
Coel's twenty-book series earned six Colorado Book Awards and a WILLA Literary Award. Her storylines are rooted in actual crimes and injustices, lending them an authenticity that McGarrity readers will recognize and respect.
Dana Stabenow sets her Kate Shugak mystery series in the vast wilderness of Alaska, delivering the same brand of regional crime fiction that McGarrity perfects in New Mexico. Like McGarrity, Stabenow draws on real experience: she grew up in Alaska and worked on fishing boats before becoming a writer.
In A Cold Day for Murder, the first Kate Shugak novel, a national park ranger has vanished in Alaska's backcountry, and the investigator sent to find him has also disappeared. Former Anchorage prosecutor Kate Shugak is called back to the bush to track down both men, navigating family tensions, tribal politics, and deadly terrain along the way.
The novel won the Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original. Stabenow's series now spans more than twenty books, each anchored by the fierce, self-reliant Kate Shugak and the wild Alaskan landscape that shapes her world.
Steven Havill writes police procedurals set in fictional Posadas County, New Mexico, making him one of the closest matches to McGarrity's New Mexico crime fiction. Havill lives in Datil, New Mexico, and brings a quiet, lived-in authenticity to his portrayal of small-town law enforcement in the desert Southwest.
In Heartshot, the first Posadas County mystery, Undersheriff Bill Gastner investigates a shooting that disrupts the seemingly peaceful rhythms of his rural county. Gastner is an aging, stubborn lawman whose persistence and local knowledge prove more valuable than any forensic lab.
Havill's series has grown to over twenty-five books, later shifting its focus to Undersheriff Estella Reyes-Guzman after Gastner's retirement. Readers who love McGarrity's feel for New Mexico's communities and landscapes will find Havill's Posadas County equally immersive.
Thomas Perry writes suspense novels with clever, resourceful protagonists and taut plotting that McGarrity fans will appreciate. His Jane Whitefield series features a Seneca woman who helps endangered people vanish and start new lives.
In Vanishing Act, the series opener, an ex-cop named John Felker approaches Jane claiming he has been framed as an embezzler and has a contract on his life. Jane agrees to help him disappear, but as the job unfolds, she begins to question whether Felker is the innocent man he claims to be.
Vanishing Act was named one of the "100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century" by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association and later appeared on Parade magazine's list of "101 Best Mystery Books of All Time." Perry's sharp, intelligent thrillers deliver the same kind of satisfying twists and strong protagonists that define McGarrity's best work.
Kirk Mitchell brings law enforcement expertise and Southwest settings together in his Emmett Parker and Anna Turnipseed series, making him an especially apt recommendation for McGarrity readers. Like McGarrity, Mitchell served as a deputy sheriff before turning to fiction.
In Cry Dance, the first novel, a woman's brutally murdered and bizarrely mutilated body is discovered on Havasupai Nation land. Emmett Quanah Parker, a part-Comanche Bureau of Indian Affairs investigator, and Anna Turnipseed, a part-Modoc, part-Japanese FBI special agent, are thrown together in a hastily assembled task force. As they dig into the case, Parker suspects they are being led into a killer's trap.
Mitchell's five-book series combines authentic procedural detail, complex Native American cultural themes, and the dramatic landscapes of the Southwest in a way that will feel right at home alongside McGarrity's Kerney novels.
Judith Van Gieson sets her mysteries in the same Albuquerque and New Mexico terrain that McGarrity knows so well. Her two series feature sharp, independent protagonists navigating the region's distinct blend of cultures and landscapes.
Her Claire Reynier mysteries follow a university archivist and librarian in Albuquerque who stumbles into cases involving rare books, stolen artifacts, and deadly secrets. In The Stolen Blue, the first Reynier novel, Claire inherits a valuable first edition from a deceased colleague, only to discover the book may be connected to forgery and murder.
Van Gieson also wrote eight novels featuring Albuquerque attorney Neil Hamel, beginning with North of the Border. Across both series, her intimate knowledge of New Mexico's geography and culture makes her fiction a natural companion to McGarrity's work.
The husband-and-wife team of Aimée and David Thurlo created the Ella Clah series, a police procedural set on the Navajo Reservation in Shiprock, New Mexico. Their blend of Navajo culture, modern law enforcement, and Southwest settings will appeal directly to McGarrity fans.
In Blackening Song, the first novel, former FBI agent Ella Clah returns to the Navajo Nation as a special investigator after her father, a Christian minister, is found murdered. The investigation forces Ella to navigate the tensions between traditional Navajo beliefs and modern law enforcement as she pursues a killer operating at the intersection of both worlds.
The Thurlos wrote eighteen Ella Clah novels over nearly two decades, drawing on David Thurlo's Navajo heritage to create stories rich in cultural detail. Their authentic portrayal of life on the reservation and the complexities of tribal law enforcement mirrors the lived-in realism that defines McGarrity's fiction.
