Jack McMorrow

The Jack McMorrow Mysteries are a series of novels by popular journalist turned author, American Gerry Boyle. While he has written several detective crime novels, the Jack McMorrow Mystery novels are among Boyle’s most popular. The first published work in the series was the highly acclaimed book, Deadline published in 1993, which introduced the McMorrow character to readers. He continued publishing intermittently over the years, and by 2015, the series had 10 titles. In a recent interview, the author asserted that he has a love for the chivalric in protagonists and this is embodied in the characterization of his main character Jack. As to writing style, the series is similar to that of the Continental Op Stories by Dashiell Hammett being in the first person and containing sparse and tough dialogue. While the series is similar to many mystery novels, it is not a whodunit in the conventional sense of the word. It is written in the first person and hence it is not narrated according to the point of view of someone else. In an unconventional approach to the noir whodunit, Boyle makes it such that the reader is able to discern or infer some theories from the dialogue and actions of the protagonist. Nonetheless, the reader and the lead character cannot tell what is happening in the mind of another person, and have to wait until the author spells it out.