Jeff Stocks is a crime fiction author known for gritty, darkly funny Texas crime novels set in Houston and San Antonio. He is the author of Ship Channel Shuffle and La Pantera, the first two books in the Ingram Investigations series.
The series follows Rafe Ingram, a former Army officer turned private investigator, as he navigates violent crimes and moral gray areas alongside his brother, Houston PD homicide detective Peter Ingram, and Cheryl Darling, a former television reporter turned true-crime podcaster. The novels combine hard-boiled crime storytelling with sharp dialogue, realistic police work, and flawed, compelling characters.
Stocks brings authenticity to his crime novels through his background as a former Army officer and helicopter pilot. His experience as a high school principal also informs the realistic dialogue, character psychology, and dark humor that define the Ingram Investigations series.
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Jeff Stocks is a crime fiction author known for gritty, darkly funny Texas crime novels set in Houston and San Antonio. He is the author of Ship Channel Shuffle and La Pantera, the first two books in the Ingram Investigations series.
The series follows Rafe Ingram, a former Army officer turned private investigator, as he navigates violent crimes and moral gray areas alongside his brother, Houston PD homicide detective Peter Ingram, and Cheryl...
A security guard is murdered in the gritty industrial landscape of the Houston Ship Channel.
Rafe Ingram, a former Army officer, is a private detective whose work for the hotels of downtown Houston has him growing restless. Cheryl Darling, a former television reporter, is Rafe’s associate. The two are thrust into new action when they learn that...
Yesterday I discovered that one of my main character’s names, Brian Baumgardner, is almost identical to the name of the actor who played Kevin on the TV series, The Office. His name is Brian Baumgartner.
So I changed my character’s name to Calvin.
This opens a discussion of how easy it is to inadvertently name something, a character, business, restaurant, whatever, the same as an actual one. This leads to possible pitfalls for a story. For one, you might not want the reader to associate a...
I’m currently working on the 3rd Rafe Ingram novel with the working title, Analog. It’s an old trope with new twists! A young man, Wesley “Dub” Baumgardner, is cast aside by his wealthy oil executive father. Dub naturally aims to get his revenge.
Add in obscene piles of Texas oil money, the evils of technology, shady characters, violent outcomes, and you get the gist.
You’ll recognize many Houston locations and themes.
Progress has been slower than the first 2 novels, but we’ll have it out...
Last but not least in the favorite author series: Elmore Leonard.
Elmore Leonard is the extraordinarily prolific (he would never use those words) crime writer with possibly the best dialogue in town. In his famous essay for writers he said, “Don’t write the part people don’t read.” You won’t find pages of descriptive detail in a Leonard novel, but you will find characters that may be mostly bad or mostly good, but never black and white. Funny, quirky, mean, complex, relatable.
You may know...
