The Lineup: The World's Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives

A great recurring character in a series you love becomes an old friend. You learn about their strange quirks and their haunted pasts and root for them every time they face danger. But where do some of the most fascinating sleuths in the mystery and thriller world really come from? What was the real-life location that inspired Michael Connelly to make Harry Bosch a Vietnam vet tunnel rat? Why is Lee Child's Jack Reacher a drifter? How did a brief encounter in Botswana inspire Alexander McCall Smith to create Precious Ramotswe? In The Lineup, some of the top mystery writers in the world tell about the genesis of their most beloved characters—or, in some cases, let their creations do the talking. The following characters (and their creators) are featured in this collection:

Jack Taylor by Ken Bruen

Jack Reacher by Lee Child

Hieronymus Bosch by Michael Connelly

Charlie Parker by John Connolly

Elvis Cole and Joe Pike by Robert Crais

Lincoln Rhyme by Jeffery Deaver

Inspector Morse by Colin Dexter

Charlie Resnick by John Harvey

Bob Lee Swagger by Stephen Hunter

Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus by Faye Kellerman

Alex Delaware by Jonathan Kellerman

Dismas Hardy by John Lescroart

Tess Monaghan by Laura Lippman

Rambo by David Morrell

Mallory by Carol O'Connell

Spenser by Robert B. Parker

Lou Boldt by Ridley Pearson

Charlotte and Thomas Pitt by Anne Perry

Aloysius X. L. Pendergast by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

John Rebus by Ian Rankin

Precious Ramotswe by Alexander McCall Smith