Hunter, Fred (W.) 1954-

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HUNTER, Fred (W.) 1954-

PERSONAL:

Born October 23, 1954.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Chicago, IL. Agent—c/o Author Mail, St. Martin's Press Minotaur, Publicity Department, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer.

WRITINGS:

MYSTERY NOVELS; JEREMY RANSOM/EMILY CHARTERS SERIES

Presence of Mind, Walker (New York, NY), 1994.

Ransom for an Angel, Walker (New York, NY), 1995.

Ransom for Our Sins, Walker (New York, NY), 1996.

Ransom for a Holiday, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1997.

Ransom for a Killing, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1998.

Ransom Unpaid, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 1999.

Ransom at the Opera, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2000.

The Mummy's Ransom, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2002.

Ransom at Sea, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2003.

MYSTERY NOVELS; ALEX REYNOLDS SERIES

Government Gay, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1997.

Federal Fag, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1998.

Capital Queers, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1999.

National Nancys, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2000.

The Chicken Asylum, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2001.

OTHER

(With Jane Rubino and Kathleen Anne Barnett) Homicide for the Holidays, Harlequin, 2000.

SIDELIGHTS:

Mystery novelist Fred Hunter sees his "Alex Reynolds" mystery series books "more as comedies than mysteries," he commented in an interview on the Fred W. Hunter Home Page. The series stars Alex Reynolds, a freelance designer and commercial artist, and his deeply committed life partner, Peter Livesay, a men's haberdasher. Alex and Peter also happen to be part-time undercover operatives for the CIA and the FBI. Assisting on their capers is Alex's mother, Jean, "a terribly British and wonderfully comic character who plays sidekick to no one," not even her son, remarked Whitney Scott in Booklist.

Alex, Peter, and Jean were introduced in Government Gay, published in 1997. In 1998's Federal Fag, Alex watches a gay porn film during a lull in a Los Angeles vacation with Peter. He spots an old college buddy and former lover in the film, then decides that the man must be in an exploitative situation and in need of help. Alex meets up with his old friend, but shortly afterward the man is found dead, and the sleuthing trio of Alex, Peter, and Jean has to reveal their CIA status to suspicious police while trying to find the murderer. Booklist reviewer Whitney Scott called the plot line "a scenario of murder and mayhem full of delicious wit and dialogue."

Capital Queers finds Alex and Peter investigating the death of a gay friend—a collector of pricey dolls—and the man's lover. Whoever committed the murders wreaked havoc on the doll collection, apparently looking for something. Things get more complicated when they learn that the item in question was a violet diamond, a religious artifact belonging to a violent Eastern religious order—and that they are suspected of having the diamond in their possession. The three main characters "are such appealingly droll sleuths that their capers are hard to resist," Scott remarked in another Booklist review. "So don't."

Peter and Alex volunteer to help out with the campaign of a gay-friendly senatorial candidate in National Nancys. When a bomb explodes in the campaign office, killing the lesbian office manager, the CIA looks to their part-timers Alex and Peter, along with Jean, to investigate. Robert Dunbar, writing in Lambda Book Report, commented that "The 'wit' may not scintillate, and the 'mystery' may not keep readers up at night, but the cast of characters provides unchallenging and amiable enough company: that's probably the point." The Chicken Asylum, published in 2001, involves Alex, Peter, and Jean in a CIA program to provide asylum to "James," a gay, eighteen-year-old Iraqi soldier who knows where weapons of mass destruction are hidden. As the book progresses, James's ties to terrorist organizations become clearer, and the trio of detectives have to pin down his real motives. Rex E. Klett, writing in Library Journal, described the book as "a moderately lightweight and engaging adventure."

If readers consider the "Alex Reynolds" books to be improbable romps, Hunter has no complaints; that's part of the plan. "Alex stumbles into mysteries or espionage plots quite by accident—and the situations in which he finds himself might strain credibility a bit, but that's part of the fun," Hunter explained. "I've been fortunate in that a lot of people have 'gotten the joke' and are willing to go with it," he commented in the interview on his home page.

Hunter's 1994 debut novel, Presence of Mind, introduces Jeremy Ransom, a jaded but cerebral Chicago homicide detective who is fond of Dickens, and his unlikely comrade in sleuthing, elderly, grandmotherly Emily Charters. Ransom cannot find a clue to the murder of attorney Lawrence Watson until Emily visits him and explains that Watson, Emily's friend Meg, and other victims all attended the same recent local performance of a play. Worse yet, she also attended the play herself. "Hunter's debut effort is cleverly plotted, and his sleuthing duo, Ransom and Charters, make a great team" of detectives, commented Wes Lukowsky in Booklist.

In the second book of the series, Ransom for an Angel, Jeremy is approached by a beautiful blonde who says her death has been foretold by a psychic and that her husband is going to be the killer. When she's later found strangled, her husband seems the obvious guilty party. But Ransom isn't convinced, and he and Emily set out to discover the truth. A young man is found crucified in a bleak Chicago alley in Ransom for Our Sins. While Emily recovers from bypass surgery, Ransom looks for clues, discovering that the man was a member of a mysterious religious group called The Community. Ransom's visits to Emily give her the resolve to recover, while her wisdom helps him see through the deceptions of the head of The Community. Lukowsky, in another Booklist review, called the book a "delightfully intellectual portrayal of murder, mayhem, and the dark recesses of the human heart." Emily takes a more prominent role in Ransom Unpaid. When Abigail Peterson begins to hear things in her house, even her children believe that the old woman is imagining it all. But Emily, elderly herself, is more than willing to believe Abigail's claims and not discount her reports simply because she is aged. Hunter "deserves high praise for bringing us face to face with our own prejudices and creating an exceptionally sensitive portrait of two elderly women," commented Jenny McLarin in Booklist.

Mummies stalk a Chicago high-rise in The Mummy's Ransom. Ruthless developer and Chilean expatriate Louie Dolores brings in a display of sacred Chinchorro mummies for display in his corporate headquarters, and demonstrations erupt. When a "mummy" kills Dolores, Jeremy and Emily focus on a varied cast of suspects: Dolores's spurned wife; the protest leader, who dresses like a mummy during the daily demonstrations; the curator of the Chilean museum who transferred the mummies; and dozens of protestors. "Hunter keeps things moving by detailing the thoughts, plans, and foibles of his varied cast," commented a reviewer in Publishers Weekly. In Ransom at Sea, Emily takes a special interest in a case where an abusive old woman with Alzheimer's is killed in her cabin during a Great Lakes cruise, while Emily was also onboard. A Kirkus Reviews critic called Ransom at Sea a "crisp, traditional whodunit with amusing character portraits and a satisfying finale."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 1, 1994, Wes Lukowsky, review of Presence of Mind, p. 810; May 15, 1995, Wes Lukowsky, review of Ransom for an Angel,p. 1633; September 1, 1996, Wes Lukowsky, review of Ransom for Our Sins, pp. 67-68; December 1, 1997, Emily Melton, review of Ransom for a Holiday, p. 611; June 1, 1998, Whitney Scott, review of Federal Fag, p. 1733; June 1, 1999, Whitney Scott, review of Capital Queers, p. 1786; October 15, 1999, Jenny McLarin, review of Ransom Unpaid, p. 421; May 1, 2000, Whitney Scott, review of National Nancys, p. 1619; October 1, 2002, Whitney Scott, review of Ransom at the Opera, p. 326; August, 2001, Whitney Scott, review of The Chicken Asylum, p. 2097; March 15, 2003, Whitney Scott, review of Ransom at Sea, p. 1279.

Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2001, review of The Chicken Asylum, p. 1168; February 1, 2002, review of The Mummy's Ransom, p. 144; February 1, 2003, review of Ransom at Sea, p. 188.

Lambda Book Report, November, 1999, Kevin Allman, "Summer Snoops," review of Capital Queers, p. 14; June, 2000, Robert Dunbar, "Girly Gum-shoes," review of National Nancys, p. 25; February, 2002, Richard Labonte, review of The Chicken Asylum, p. 31.

Library Journal, January 1, 1994, Rex E. Klett, review of Presence of Mind, p. 169; June 1, 1998, Rex E. Klett, review of Federal Fag, p. 166; July, 1999, Rex E. Klett, review of Capital Queers, p. 140; June 1, 2000, Rex E. Klett, review of National Nancys, p. 208; November 1, 2000, Rex E. Klett, review of Ransom at the Opera, p. 141; November 1, 2001, Rex E. Klett, review of The Chicken Asylum, pp. 135-136; April 1, 2003, Rex E. Klett, review of Ransom at Sea, p. 134.

Publishers Weekly, November 8, 1993, review of Presence of Mind, p. 62; March 27, 1995, review of Ransom for an Angel, pp. 78-79; July 8, 1996, review of Ransom for Our Sins, p. 77; October 27, 1997, review of Ransom for a Holiday, p. 55; October 12, 1998, review of Ransom for a Killing, p. 61; May 31, 1999, review of Capital Queers, p. 70; April 10, 2000, review of National Nancys, p. 79; September 25, 2000, review of Ransom at the Opera, p. 91; September 3, 2001, review of The Chicken Asylum, p. 66; March 4, 2002, review of The Mummy's Ransom, p. 60.