Genre Crime fiction | Name Rex Burns Role Author | |
 | ||
Notable awards Edgar Award for best first novel, 1976 Awards Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American Author Books The Alvarez Journal, Ground money, The killing zone, Speak for the Dead, Suicide Season | ||
Notable works The Alvarez Journal | ||
Meet Mystery Author Rex Burns
Rex Burns (born 1935 in San Diego, California), born Raoul Stephen Sehler, is an award-winning American author of crime fiction. He has published numerous books, stories, articles, and reviews.
Contents
Personal life
Burns graduated from Stanford University with a degree in English and Creative Writing. He went on to pursue a PhD in American Studies at the University of Minnesota, but his studies were temporarily interrupted by a term in the US Marine Corps, where he rose to the rank of Captain. Until 2000, when he retired, Burns was a professor of American literature at the University of Colorado.
Career
At the age of 40, Burns began writing novels. His first, The Alvarez Journal, won the Edgar Award for best first novel. The book introduced Gabriel Wager, a hard-drinking Mexican-American detective with the Denver police force. The Wager series lasted for ten more books, one of which (The Avenging Angel) was adapted into the 1988 film Messenger of Death, starring Charles Bronson.