Ripley, W.L. (Warren L. Ripley)

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Ripley, W.L. (Warren L. Ripley)

PERSONAL:

Male.

ADDRESSES:

Home—MO. Agent—Jim Purifoy, 1606 S.W. North Orleans, Lees Summit, MO 64064.

CAREER:

Writer.

WRITINGS:

"WYATT STORME" MYSTERY SERIES

Dreamsicle, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1993.

Storme Front, H. Holt (New York, NY), 1995.

Electric Country Roulette, H. Holt (New York, NY), 1996.

"COLE SPRINGER" MYSTERY SERIES

Springer's Gambit, Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2001.

Pressing the Bet, Thomas Dunne Books (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

W.L. Ripley is a mystery writer who lives in Missouri. Ripley published his first book, Dreamsicle, in 1993. Dreamsicle first introduces the character of Wyatt Storme, a Vietnam War veteran and former receiver for the Dallas Cowboys football team, and his friend Chick Easton, a heavy-drinking bounty hunter and bodyguard. In Storme Front, Storme tries to help Easton, who is in trouble with some thugs who sell weapons illegally. When a simple transaction goes wrong, Storme and Easton find themselves in the middle of the controversy. Wes Lukowsky, writing in Booklist, called the book "damn fine entertainment." In the third book of the series, Electric Country Roulette, Storme's anchorwoman girlfriend receives threats when she attempts to cover a story of a woman raped by a famous country-music star. She brings in Storme and Easton to help her get to the bottom of the threats. Lukowsky, again writing in Booklist, called it "a fine series that has improved dramatically with each installment."

In 2001 Ripley published Springer's Gambit, starting a new mystery series featuring Cole Springer. Springer, a former Secret Service agent and now club pianist, agrees to help protect a mob money-launderer who broke with the mob boss after receiving a (later-to-be-discovered false) cancer diagnosis. Springer, with help from friends, devises a plan to get a chunk of the mob money in the process. Bill Ott, reviewing the work in Booklist, wrote that "the plot keeps you guessing, the banter keeps you laughing, and the sexual chemistry keeps you hoping." Pressing the Bet, a Springer sequel, finds the protagonist traveling to Las Vegas to identify the body of an old friend. Upon arriving he finds his friend still alive, and gets into the middle of a feud between scammers, Vegas crime kingpins, and old acquaintances. Booklist contributor Ott enjoyed the "coalition of morally questionable but humanly delightful characters."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, December 15, 1994, Wes Lukowsky, review of Storme Front, p. 739; November 1, 1996, Wes Lukowsky, review of Electric Country Roulette, p. 483; May 1, 2001, Bill Ott, review of Springer's Gambit, p. 1639; August 1, 2006, Bill Ott, review of Pressing the Bet, p. 52.

Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2006, review of Pressing the Bet, p. 657.

Publishers Weekly, April 12, 1993, review of Dreamsicle, p. 48; December 5, 1994, review of Storme Front, p. 70; September 9, 1996, review of Electric Country Roulette, p. 68; June 18, 2001, review of Springer's Gambit, p. 60; June 12, 2006, review of Pressing the Bet, p. 33.