J.R. Sanders is a native Midwesterner and longtime denizen of the L.A. suburbs. A former police officer and private investigator, J.R.’s nonfiction article appear in magazines such as Law & Order and Wild West. His nonfiction books cover topics as diverse as Southern California apple farms and Old West lawmen killed in the line of duty. His first Nate Ross novel, Stardust Trail, set among the B-Westerns of 1930s Hollywood, was a 2021 Spur Award Finalist for Best Historical Novel and Silver Falchion Award Finalist for Best Investigator. Dead-Bang Fall, the second Nate Ross novel, was the 2022 Shamus Award winner for Best Paperback PI Novel. Bring in the Night, the third book in the series, was a finalist for the 2023 Shamus Award.
J.R. lives in Southern California with his wife Rose and their rescue dogs, Ruby and Marlowe.
About the Books...
The Nate Ross Mysteries
Stardust Trail (2020) Dead-Bang Fall (2022) Bring the Night (2023) A Killing Way (2024) News and Reviews...
Do you ever wish someone would uncover an unknown Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett—a genuine, hard-boiled novel with gumshoes and molls that has you checking the rounds in your roscoe and flipping pages like a flivver? Well, meet J.R. Sanders’s Bring The Night starring Nate Ross, a PI with a rhythm and poetry all his own, navigating the City of Angels with clipped wings.
- Craig Johnson, author of the Walt Longmire Series
"J.R. Sanders, through Nate Ross, spins us a story with 1938 household names - Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Yakima Canutt...John Wayne. Pick up Stardust Trail, get comfy in your favorite spot with your favorite beverage, tune out distractions - unless you've got music by Gene Autry or Dave Stamey handy - and settle in for an enjoyable ride along the Stardust Trail." -- Six-Gun Justice Podcast
"J.R. Sanders' novel is a solid addition to L.A.'s noir literary canon. More Nate Ross, please." - Joan Renner, true crime historian, t.v. commentator, and author (The First with the Latest!: Aggie Underwood, the Los Angeles Herald, and the Sordid Crimes of a City)
"The plot is thoroughly engaging and well-thought-out. The characters and dialogue are well-developed. It's a realistic bad guys vs. the good guy crime novel with intrigue and a labyrinth of clues and hints trying to connect the dots. Things are not always what they seem, and the plot kept me guessing right up until the end." - Anita Dickason, Mystery Review Crew