Last week, I talked about my tagline as an Alaska wilderness mystery author and discussed my efforts to find my ideal readers. In other words, I’m looking for readers who enjoy reading wilderness mysteries. When my publisher first tagged me as an Alaska wilderness mystery author, I laughed at the description because I’d never thought of myself as a wilderness mystery author. I use a setting I know and understand in my novels, and this setting happens to be the wilderness of Kodiak Island where I live.
To understand my place in the mystery genre as a wilderness mystery author, I had to find other wilderness mystery authors and see how my books compare to theirs. I’ve found several wilderness mystery authors, but our numbers are minuscule compared to other subsets of the mystery genre. I thought it would be helpful for my blog readers for me to compile a list of the authors I’ve found in the wilderness mystery category. This list is by no means an exhaustive; it is only a beginning. I ask you to add to my list by leaving a comment at the end of this post. I don’t want to exclude any authors, and with your help, I can make my list more complete.
Nevada Barr: The queen of the genre in my opinion. Her first Anna Pigeon mystery was 
Dana Stabenow: An award-winning mystery author from Alaska who writes a series featuring Kate Shugak, an ex-investigator for the Anchorage D.A.
Sue Henry: Another well-known, award-winning Alaskan author whose series features Alaska State Trooper Alex Jensen and dog musher Jessie Arnold.
C.J. Box: Author of the award-winning series starring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett.
Paul Doiron: His protagonist, Mike Bowditch is a game warden in Maine.
Joseph Heywood: In his series, Grady Service is a wilderness detective with the Department of Natural Resources in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Craig Johnson: His series character, Walt Longmire is the sheriff of Absaroka County in a remote part of Wyoming.
Keith McCafferty: His two main characters, Sherriff Martha Ettinger and fishing guide and part-time detective Sean Stranahan, have a complex relationship throughout this series located near Montana’s Crazy Mountains.
Jessica Speart: Her series features U.S. Fish and Wildlife special agent Rachel Porter who works to uncover the poaching and smuggling of endangered wildlife species.
Pamela Beason: Her wilderness mystery series features wildlife biologist Sam Westin, whose knowledge of wildlife and wilderness survival aide her in her criminal investigations. Sam lives in Washington, but her adventures often take her to other points around the globe.
Kimberli A. Bindschatel: Her protagonist is U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agent Poppy McVie.
Robin Barefield: (I have to include myself on this list!) Her main character, Jane Marcus, is smart and resourceful, but unlike most of the other protagonists on this list, Jane is not comfortable in the wilderness. When Jane finds herself in the wilds of Alaska, she must depend on her wits to survive.
This is my short list. Who have I forgotten? Please list your favorite wilderness mystery authors in the comments section of this post, and I will update my list. In the meantime, start expanding your reading list of wilderness mystery authors by checking out books by some of the authors I have mentioned!
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I am excited to announce my novel, Murder Over Kodiak, is now available as an audiobook. The book is available on Amazon, but you must sign up at audible.com to purchase and download the audio file.
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Robin Barefield is the author of three Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, and The Fisherman’s Daughter. To download a free copy of one of her novels, watch her webinar about how she became an author and why she writes Alaska wilderness mysteries. Also, sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.
William Kent Krueger
That’s a good list of authors. My father reads a lot of these authors. Alice Henderson is missing from the list. The “Alex Carter book series.”
“A solitude of wolverines.”
“A blizzard of polar bears.”
“A Ghost of Caribou”
And the 4th installment will be ” A Prowl of Jaguars.” (Not released yet).