Donald Harstad is an American novelist and former police officer specializing in crime fiction and police procedurals. Prior to taking up writing, he had a 26-year career with the Sheriff's Department of Clayton County, Iowa, retiring as a Deputy Sheriff.[1] His first novel, Eleven Days, was loosely based on a case he worked on during that time, and he is known for drawing on his career in law enforcement for details of police and investigative procedure.
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Donald Harstad | |
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Born | 1945 |
Occupation | novelist |
Period | 1999–present |
Genre | Fiction |
Subject | Crime, Rural Iowa |
Notable works | Eleven Days, Big Thaw |
All of his novels are set in "Nation County", a fictional rural county in Iowa, and include many of the same characters, primarily centering on police officer Carl Houseman, a loose analog for Harstad himself. His novels have appeared in nine languages.[2][3]
Harstad lives in Elkader, Iowa, with his wife of 40 years, his former high school sweetheart with whom he has one daughter. In a 2002 interview, he said that he has always been fascinated by the people mixed up in matters that come to the attention of the police, and as a novelist he is looking at how chains of bad choices lead to outcomes.[4]
Anthology or Collection | Contents | Publication
Date |
Publisher | ISBN |
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An Apple for the Creature[7] | Academy Field Trip | Oct 2012 | Ace
Penguin Group Jo Fletcher Books Wheeler Publishing Brilliance Audio |
ISBN 0425256804, 9780425256800 |
General | |
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National libraries |