Discovering a “Lost” Author: John J. Lamb

John J. Lamb was a homicide detective and hostage negotiator in Southern California before retiring to Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley where he and his wife became teddy bear collectors. John also penned a series of mysteries featuring a homicide detective who retires to Virginia and collects teddy bears.

Write what you know.

I first met John when he signed The Mournful Teddy at Creatures ‘n Crooks Bookshoppe, a Richmond genre book store that had a ten year run before closing its doors and reinventing itself as the Buried Under Books blog. I saw him again when he led a writers’ workshop and, a few years later, when he spoke to our local Sisters in Crime chapter. He gave me good advice about realistically deputing an amateur detective interacting with the police. I’ve thanked him in the acknowledgements for Murder at the Book Group, to be released on December 2, 2014.

Inexplicably (to me), John is no longer visible in the writing community. He took down his website and does not post or tweet. The e-mail address on the card he gave me bounced. Hopefully he’s still with us and enjoying a hiatus from writing.

But his books live on. Visit Stop! You’re Killing Me for his bibliography. Despite the teddy bears, the stories aren’t “cute.” I haven’t read his stand-alone, Echoes of the Lost Order, but word of mouth has it that it’s excellent.

Enjoy!

Comments

Discovering a “Lost” Author: John J. Lamb — 2 Comments

  1. Maggie, I miss John, too, and hope somebody will pop in here with a hint of what’s happening with him. He ands his wife used to do shows at Boyd’s Bear Country up in PA but that store closed 3+ years ago so even that possibility for information is gone. John and Joyce are still listed in online phone directories but there’s no way to know if the listings are still valid. Such a shame to lose touch.