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Jan Burke Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Jan Burke

Jan Burke

Jan Burke Biography

Jan Burke is a critically acclaimed and national bestselling author of fourteen books—twelve of crime fiction, a supernatural thriller, and a collection of short stories. She won one of crime fiction's top honors, the Edgar Award for Best Novel, for Bones.

Burke was born in Texas, but has lived in Southern California most of her life, often in coastal cities—several of which combine to make up the fictional Las Piernas, where her series character, reporter Irene Kelly, works and lives. Jan and her husband, Tim, share their home with two dogs, Britches and Wylie. (Cappy, the beloved shepherd mix who appears on some of Jan's cover photos, died in 2010 at the ripe old age of sixteen.) Burke's husband is musician and teacher Tim Burke.

She attended California State University, Long Beach, and graduated with a degree in history.

She served as the original editor of Sisters in Crime's guide to getting published, Breaking And Entering. She is a past president of the Southern California Chapter of Mystery Writers of America and has served on MWA's National Board.

Burke believes strongly in the importance of greater support for forensic science in the U.S., and is the founder of the Crime Lab Project.

Jan Burke's website

This bio was last updated on 10/26/2017. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.

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Books by this Author

Books by Jan Burke at BookBrowse
The Messenger jacket Kidnapped jacket Flight jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Jan Burke but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Michael Connelly

    Michael Connelly

    Michael Connelly decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida. Once he decided on this direction he chose a major in journalism and a minor in creative ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Flight

    Try:
    Void Moon
    by Michael Connelly

  • Robert Crais

    Robert Crais

    Crais is the author of the best-selling Elvis Cole novels. A native of Louisiana, he grew up on the banks of the Mississippi River in a blue collar family of oil refinery workers and police officers. He purchased a ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Flight

    Try:
    The Forgotten Man
    by Robert Crais

We recommend 4 similar authors

View all 4 Read-Alikes

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Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
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Top Picks

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    Small Rain
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    At the beginning of Garth Greenwell's novel Small Rain, the protagonist, an unnamed poet in his ...
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In Our Midst
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In Our Midst follows a German immigrant family’s fight for freedom after their internment post–Pearl Harbor.
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