Also writes under pen names: Honor Hartman, Jimmie Ruth Evans, and Miranda James
Major Works
As Dean James (Simon Kirby-Jones series and Deep South Mysteries)
- Baked to Death (2005) Simon Kirby-Jones Mystery
- Death by Dissertation (2004) Deep South Mystery Book 3
- Decorated to Death (2004) Simon Kirby-Jones Mystery
- Faked to Death (2003) Simon Kirby-Jones Mystery
- Posted to Death (2002) Simon Kirby-Jones Mystery
- Closer than the Bones (2001) Deep South Mystery Book 2
- Cruel as the Grave (2000) Deep South Mystery Book 1
As Miranda James (The Southern Ladies Mysteries)
- Dead with the Wind (2015) Ducote Sisters/Southern Ladies book 9/29/15
- Bless Her Dead Little Heart (2014)
Dean James. Photo courtesy of James
As Miranda James (Cat in the Stacks Mystery Series)
- No Cats Allowed 2/1/2016
- Arsenic and Old Books (2015)
- The Silence of the Library (2014)
- Out of Circulation (2013)
- File M for Murder (2012)
- Classified as Murder (2011)
- Murder Past Due (2010)
As Jimmie Ruth Evans (Trailer Park Mystery Series)
- Leftover Dead (2009)
- Bring Your Own Poison (2008)
- Best Served Cold (2007)
- Murder Over Easy (2006)
- Flamingo Fatale (2005)
As Honor Hartman (Bridge Club Mystery Series)
- The Unkindest Cut (2008)
- On the Slam (2007)
Nonfiction
- The Robert B. Parker Companion (2005) (with Elizabeth Foxwell)
- The Dick Francis Companion (2003) with Jean Swanson
- By a Woman’s Hand with Jean Swanson
- Killer Books (1998) with Jean Swanson
Biography of Dean James
Dean James is a Mississippi writer whose family has been in Grenada County since 1831 (before it was even a county). He was born in Calhoun City and grew up on a farm in the Pleasant Grove community in Grenada County. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Delta State University in 1980 and went on to obtain a master’s degree at Delta State in 1981. He attended Rice University where he obtained a doctoral degree in 1986. He later earned his M.S. in library science at the University of North Texas in 1992. He was a medical librarian at the Texas Medical Center for over twenty years in Houston, Texas, and was general manager of the Murder by the Book bookstore in Houston, Texas, from 1996 to 2005. He currently lives in Jackson, Mississippi.
His first book, co-written with Jean Swanson, was By a Woman’s Hand. The book won an Agatha Award for Best Mystery Non-Fiction and the two authors were nominated by the Mystery Writers of America for the Edgar for Best Critical-Biographical work. Swanson and James worked on two additional projects, Killer Books in 1998 and The Dick Francis Companion in 2003. With Elizabeth Foxwell he wrote in 2012 The Robert B. Parker Companion. In all Dean James has co-authored or co-edited six works of mystery reference and one short story anthology.
James’s first novel, Cruel as the Grave, was published in 2000. Since then he has published more than twenty novels, writing under his own name and the pseudonyms Jimmie Ruth Evans, Honor Hartman, and Miranda James. His Cat in the Stacks mystery series, written under the pen name Miranda James, have been very popular. The most recent novel in the series is entitled Arsenic and Old Books and was published in 2015. Earlier series were the Simon Kirby-Jones Mystery Series, the Deep South Mysteries, the Southern Ladies Mystery Series, and (written under the pen name of Jimmie Ruth Evans) the Trailer Park Mystery Series. Writing as Honor Hartman, James wrote the Bridge Club Mystery Series.
James currently has five more novels under contract as Miranda James, two in the Southern Ladies series and three in the Cat in the Stacks series.
After residing in Houston, Texas, for many years, Dean James is now back home in Mississippi as Head of Serials/Electronic Resources Management at the Rowland Medical Library, University of Mississippi Medical Center, in Jackson, Mississippi.
Related Websites
- Houston Author Dean James Tops the Bestseller Lists with The Silence of the Library (2014)
- Cat in the Stacks mysteries website
- Interview with Mystery Author Dean James (2011)
- Interview with Dean James (2013)