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James Crumley Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

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James Crumley

James Crumley

James Crumley Biography

Novelist James Crumley was born in Three Rivers, Texas, on October 12, 1939 and spent most of his childhood in south Texas. After graduation he attended the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta on a Navy ROTC scholarship, but soon left to enlist in the U.S. Army, where he served from 1958 to 1961. Crumley then returned to Texas and enrolled at Texas A&I (now Texas A&M University-Kingsville), where he had received a football scholarship. Crumley completed his BA in History in 1964, and was accepted into the University of Iowa’s prestigious creative writing program, where he earned a MFA in 1966. Immediately after graduating he joined the English faculty the University of Montana at Missoula. His thesis was eventually published as the novel, One to Count Cadence, in 1969, a popular and critically acclaimed look at the Vietnam War. After his novel was published, Crumley left Montana to hold a series of visiting professorships: the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (1969-70), Colorado State University (1971-74), Reed College in Portland, Oregon (1976-1977), Carnegie-Mellon University (1979-1980) and the University of Texas at El Paso (1981-1984.)

During a two-year stretch as a freelance writer (1974-1976) Crumley published the first in a series of crime novels for which he would become known. The Wrong Case (1975) featured a detective named Milo Milodragovitch, who would also appear in later novels. In 1978 The Last Good Kiss was published, which introduced Crumley’s other detective protagonist, C.W. Sughrue. After leaving his last teaching job in 1984, Crumley worked full-time as a writer. He lived in Missoula, Montana with his wife Martha until his death on September 17, 2008.



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Books by this Author

Books by James Crumley at BookBrowse
The Right Madness jacket The Final Country jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for James Crumley 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

  • C.J. Box

    C.J. Box

    C. J. Box is the author of thirty books, including the Joe Pickett series and the Cassie Dewell series, and a story collection. His books have been translated into twenty-seven languages. He has won the Edgar, Anthony, ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The Final Country

    Try:
    Winterkill: A Joe Pickett Novel
    by C.J. Box

  • James Lee Burke

    James Lee Burke

    James Lee Burke is a New York Times bestselling author, two-time winner of the Edgar Award, winner of the CWA Gold Dagger and the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, and the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The Final Country

    Try:
    Purple Cane Road
    by James Lee Burke

We recommend 4 similar authors

View all 4 Read-Alikes

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