Jan Burke

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Jan Burke
Born (1953-08-01) August 1, 1953 (age 70)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
OccupationAuthor
Alma materCalifornia State University, Long Beach
Notable awards

Jan Burke (born August 1, 1953) is an American author of novels and short stories. She is a winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel, the Agatha for Best Short Story, the Macavity, and Ellery Queen Readers Award.

Biography[edit]

Burke was born August 1, 1953, in Houston, Texas,[1] but has lived in Southern California most of her life. She attended California State University, Long Beach, and graduated with a degree in history. She is a distinguished alumna of CSULB.

She worked as a researcher on an oral history project interviewing "Rosie the Riveters." Later she became the manager of a manufacturing plant for a large corporation.

She completed her first novel, Goodnight, Irene, in the evenings after work. It was sold unagented and unsolicited to Simon & Schuster. She received a surprising boost from a new fan when, during his first White House interview after taking office, President Bill Clinton said he was reading Goodnight, Irene.

Her books have been on bestseller lists of the New York Times, USA Today and other publications. They have been published internationally and have been optioned for film and television.

Burke became active in raising awareness of the problems facing crime labs and the need to obtain better funding for forensic science, at one point founding a nonprofit to do so. She has also been an advocate for the improvement of medicolegal death investigation in the U.S. and for requiring the reporting of unidentified remains to NamUs. Working with missing persons advocates, she helped to get legislation passed in New York State, the first state to require Namus reporting by all coroners and medical examiners. Other states have followed this model. She has been a speaker at meetings of the National Institute of Justice, the American Society of Crime Lab Directors, the California Association of Criminalists, the California Association of Crime Lab Directors, and other forensic science organizations. She has served on the honorary board of the California Forensic Science Institute.

Burke has been the Guest of Honor at several mystery fan conventions, including Malice Domestic, Left Coast Crime, and Mayhem in the Midwest.

Illness in her family has taken her away from writing in recent years.

Contributions[edit]

Burke edited the first edition of Breaking and Entering,[2] a Sisters in Crime's guide to getting published. She served as an Associate Editor on Writing Mysteries: A Handbook by the Mystery Writers of America,[3] edited by Sue Grafton. She has served on the national boards of Mystery Writers of America and the American Crime Writers League. She is a past president of the Southern California Chapter of Mystery Writers of America (MWA).[citation needed]

Burke's novel Bloodlines appears in the television series Bones: Season 1, Ep. 17 - The Skull in the Desert. It is used as a prop on a table at minute 15:05.[citation needed]

Awards and honors[edit]

Burke has received the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Reader's Award and Romantic Times's Career Achievement Award for Contemporary Suspense.[citation needed]

Awards for Burke's writing
Year Title Award Result Ref.
1993 Goodnight, Irene Agatha Award for Best First Novel Shortlisted [4][5]
1994 Anthony Award for Best First Novel Shortlisted [4]
1995 "Unharmed" Macavity Award for Best Short Story Won [6][7]
1997 Hocus Agatha Award for Best Novel Shortlisted [4][5]
1998 Barry Award for Best Novel Shortlisted [4][8]
Macavity Award for Best Novel Shortlisted [4][6]
Liar Agatha Award for Best Novel Shortlisted [4][5]
Macavity Award for Best Novel Shortlisted [6]
1999 "Two Bits" Anthony Award for Best Short Story Shortlisted
2000 Bones Anthony Award for Best Novel Shortlisted [4]
Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel Won [4]
"The Man in the Civil Suit", in Malice Domestic 9 Agatha Award for Best Short Story Won [9]
2001 Macavity Award for Best Short Story Shortlisted [6]
2002 "The Abbey Ghosts", in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Short Story Shortlisted [9]
Macavity Award for Best Short Story Won [6][7]
"Devotion", in 18 Agatha Award for Best Short Story Shortlisted [5]
Flight Anthony Award for Best Novel Shortlisted [4]
Nero Award Shortlisted [4]
Writing Mysteries: A Handbook by the Mystery Writers of America Agatha Award for Best Non-Fiction Shortlisted [5]
2003 Nine Macavity Award for Best Mystery Novel Shortlisted [6]
2006 Bloodlines Anthony Award for Best Novel Shortlisted [4]
Barry Award for Best Novel Shortlisted [4][8]
2007 Kidnapped Anthony Award for Best Novel Shortlisted [4]
Nero Award Shortlisted [4]
2009 "The Fallen", in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, August 2008 Barry Award for Best Short Story Shortlisted [10]
2012 Disturbance Left Coast Crime Golden Nugget Award Shortlisted [4][11]

Publications[edit]

Irene Kelly Mysteries[edit]

  • Goodnight, Irene (1993)
  • Sweet Dreams, Irene (1994)
  • Dear Irene (1995)
  • Remember Me, Irene (1996)
  • Hocus (1997)
  • Liar (1998)
  • Bones (2000)
  • Flight (2001) (from the POV of Frank Harriman)
  • Bloodlines (2005)
  • Kidnapped (2006)
  • Disturbance (2011)

Other novels[edit]

  • Nine (2002)
  • 18 (2003) collection of short stories
  • The Messenger (2009)

References[edit]

  1. ^ page 33, Great Women Mystery Writers, 2nd Ed. by Elizabeth Blakesley Lindsay, 2007, publ. Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-33428-5
  2. ^ "Inside The Cover Book Reviews". Mysteryreaders.com. Archived from the original on 2018-05-22. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
  3. ^ "Jan Burke, interviewed by T. Jefferson Parker". Absolutewrite.com. Archived from the original on 2006-08-24. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Jan Burke". Stop, You're Killing Me!. Archived from the original on 2024-05-06. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Past Award Winners & Nominees". Malice Domestic Ltd. Archived from the original on 2006-08-10. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
  6. ^ a b c d e f "Macavity Award Winners & Nominees". Mystery Readers Interlational. Archived from the original on 2016-06-04. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
  7. ^ a b "Macavity Awards". Lincoln City Libraries. September 2022. Archived from the original on 2023-01-02. Retrieved 2023-01-02.
  8. ^ a b "The Barry Awards". DeadlyPleasures.com. Archived from the original on 2006-08-20. Retrieved 2006-08-30.
  9. ^ a b "Edgar Award Winners and Nominees". ThrillingDetective.com. Archived from the original on 2011-10-18. Retrieved 2006-08-30.
  10. ^ "Barry Awards". Stop, You're Killing Me!. Archived from the original on 2017-04-01. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
  11. ^ "Left Coast Crime Award Nominees Announced". Criminal Element. 2012-02-01. Archived from the original on 2023-01-04. Retrieved 2023-01-04.

External links[edit]

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