Ep9 Chris Chambers Noir: This month, we shine a light on Reed Farrel Coleman and Delia Pitts
May 2026: On this month’s episode of Chris Chambers Noir, two beloved novelists are the focus of our Q&A with our host, bestselling mystery writer Christopher Chambers.
Our topic: This month, we have the honor of hosting two award-winning and bestselling exemplars of hardboiled crime fiction, Reed Farrel Coleman and Delia Pitts. Writing about what happens in the shadows is a craft, but what’s the art?
Meet our guests:
Reed Farrel Coleman (pictured right): Called a hard-boiled poet by NPR’s Maureen Corrigan and the noir poet laureate in the Huffington Post, Reed Farrel Coleman is the New York Times-bestselling author of thirty-one novels—including the Nick Ryan series and six in Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone series—short stories, poetry, and essays. In addition to his acclaimed series characters, Moe Prager and Gus Murphy, he has written the stand-alone novel Gun Church and collaborated with decorated Irish crime writer Ken Bruen on the novel Tower.
Reed is a four time Edgar Award nominee in three different categories: Best Novel, Best Paperback Original, and Best Short Story. He is a four-time recipient of the Shamus Award for Best PI Novel of the Year. He has also won the Audie, Macavity, Barry, and Anthony Awards. With their kids moved away to far off Brooklyn, Reed, his wife Rosanne, and their cats live in the wilds of Suffolk County on Long Island.
“Blind to Midnight,” by Reed Farrel Coleman
About his newest book:
Every cop in the city knows his name, but no one says it out loud.
He doesn’t wear a uniform, but he is the most powerful cop in New York.
Nick Ryan can find a criminal who’s vanished. Or make a key witness disappear.
He has cars, safe houses, money, and weapons hidden all over the city.
Nearly three thousand New Yorkers died on 9/11. But in the entire city on that tragic day, only one murder actually took place. Now, over two decades later, Detective Nick Ryan must dig beneath the official report—and into his own past—to find the truth.
Working again for the mysterious power broker “Joe,” Nick finds a link between an airman, a billionaire, a trove of Nazi gold, and a crew of killers, but gets sidetracked when his dear “uncle” Tony and Tony’s wife are murdered in a professional hit.
Nick’s investigations uncover a tangled web of corruption and blood money, and as the horrifying truth emerges, he finds himself outgunned, on the run, and trusting no one.
With professional killers on his trail, will Nick Ryan be able to end the violence before he loses everything that matters to him—including his own life?
Author Delia Pitts
Delia Pitts says: Wondering about the inspirations for my murder mysteries? (South Side Chicago relatives are involved!) Or how my earliest job as a “copy boy” jumpstarted my writing career? And what’s diplomacy got to do with detective fiction anyway? This new interview with podcaster Cate Conte supplies answers to these questions and many more. Enjoy!
I’ve been enchanted with books from my earliest days; one of my first memories is of sitting on the floor in the golden motes of dust flying around the book-lined porch my father used as his office. Second grade found me crafting a pastiche on the great Walter Farley novel,”The Black Stallion.” I sold that story, with original cover painting, for .02 cents at our school’s spring book fair.
My writing took a turn from animal lore when I discovered Sherlock Holmes in seventh grade. Agatha Christie, Langston Hughes, Margery Allingham, P.D.James, Walter Mosely, Ralph Ellison, so many fine practitioners of detective and other fiction influenced me over the years. Perhaps the biggest single influence, however, was my long-standing love affair with newspapers. I worked for professional papers in the rough-and-tumble news town of Chicago since my late teen years.
Pursuing a doctorate in African history and a career in the United States Foreign Service reinforced my interest in people, places, and writing. Though the settings were not quite as exotic as West Africa, my subsequent career as a university administrator took me to Texas, New Jersey, and around the world, recruiting international students and promoting study-abroad programs. I jumped into the world of fiction writing through the stimulating and fun adventure of fan fiction. To date, I’ve published over sixty fan fiction stories since 2012, under the pen name Blacktop.
My wonderful husband, who’s traveled this journey with me, has been a source of insight and common sense for decades. And our twin sons — smart, sensitive, and fun — are the inspiration for everything I do.
Author Christopher Chambers
About Christopher Chambers: A Washington, D.C. native, Chris is a lecturer at Georgetown University, Chair of the International Conflict Resolution Center and is General Counsel to a not-for-profit benefitting HBCUs: Student Housing of America. He is the author of the Angela Bivens thriller series for Random House, The Rocket Crockett pulp noir series, and Black Pulp for Prose-Press, and editor, along with Gary Phillips, of The Darker Mask graphic short story collection, the Bronze Buckaroo Rides Again: Honoring Harlem’s Herb Jeffries. He was a finalist in 2008 for the PEN/Malamud Short Story Award for “Leviathan.”
He’s contributed short stories to The Obama Inheritance: 15 Stories of Conspiracy Noir (Three Rooms Press) and is the winner of the Anthony Award. The Black Panther: Tales Of Wakanda, The Faking of the President, and Midnight Hour, Witnesses for the Dead with Gar Anthony Haywood–all major award-winning collections and bestsellers. His noir hardboiled mystery Scavenger (2020) won a starred review and profile in Publishers Weekly; the sequel Standalone sees the return of the indestructible homeless addict turned PI Dickie Cornish, patrolling the unforgiving city streets ravaged by COVID, with the third in the trilogy Streetwhys in 2025. His next Marvel contribution is in Captain America: The Shield of Sam Wilson. Learn more: ChrisChambersNoir.com
About Chris’s latest book, “Street Whys:” We again meet Washington, DC’s notorious detective, former street denizen Dickie Cornish, who faces off with bloodthirsty cops and the justice department. Underground detective Dickie Cornish faces a vindictive murder rap from his past if he doesn’t agree to help prove that the fentanyl ravaging the streets of DC is bankrolled by shadowy donors of a certain former president. Broke and desperate, Cornish soon finds himself on a collision course with shady public defenders and corrupt police officers, forcing him to use his street connections to flip their plan. Or die.
The Dickie Cornish series has met with widespread critical acclaim: Publishers Weekly dubbed the series debut, Scavenger, “[A] no-holds-barred crime novel…a 21st-century twist on traditional hardboiled noir.” The Strand Magazine selected Standalone, the second book in the series, as one of the “Top 25 Mystery Novels of the Year,” adding, “It’s apparent that the modern heir to Chandler, Woolrich, and Cain is Christopher Chambers, enough said.” And renowned crime author George Pelecanos raves that the series “really nails Washington, DC in the current environment.” Click here to buy Chris’s books.
And there’s more: Chris has contributed short stories to “The Obama Inheritance: 15 Stories of Conspiracy Noir” (Three Rooms Press), which won the Anthony Award; “The Black Panther: Tales Of Wakanda,” “The Faking of the President and Midnight Hour,” and “Witnesses for the Dead with Gar Anthony Haywood.” Each book includes stories by award-winning and bestselling authors.
