A great recurring character in a series you love becomes an old friend. You learn about their strange quirks and their haunted pasts and root for them every time they face danger. But where do some of the most fascinating sleuths in the mystery and thriller world really come from? What was the real-life location that inspired Michael Connelly to make Harry Bosch a Vietnam vet tunnel rat? Why is Lee Child's Jack Reacher a drifter? How did a brief encounter in Botswana inspire Alexander McCall Smith to create Precious Ramotswe? In The Lineup, some of the top mystery writers in the world tell about the genesis of their most beloved characters—or, in some cases, let their creations do the talking. The following characters (and their creators) are featured in this collection:


Jack Taylor by Ken Bruen


Jack Reacher by Lee Child


Hieronymus Bosch by Michael Connelly


Charlie Parker by John Connolly


Elvis Cole and Joe Pike by Robert Crais


Lincoln Rhyme by Jeffery Deaver


Inspector Morse by Colin Dexter


Charlie Resnick by John Harvey


Bob Lee Swagger by Stephen Hunter


Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus by Faye Kellerman


Alex Delaware by Jonathan Kellerman


Dismas Hardy by John Lescroart


Tess Monaghan by Laura Lippman


Rambo by David Morrell


Mallory by Carol O'Connell


Spenser by Robert B. Parker


Lou Boldt by Ridley Pearson


Charlotte and Thomas Pitt by Anne Perry


Aloysius X. L. Pendergast by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child


John Rebus by Ian Rankin


Precious Ramotswe by Alexander McCall Smith