James Holding

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  • Bibliography:
    60 Books
  • First Book:
    February 1972
  • Latest Book:
    October 2023
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Book List in Order: 60 titles

  • Bottle of Pop

  • The Mystery of Dolphin Inlet

    Pete Hobbs, a fisherman's son in the Florida Keys, and Susan Frost, a go-getter from Tallahassee, join forces one summer to investigate strange happenings in Dolphin Inlet. Their quest will ultimately lead them into danger -- with a sunken treasure a...

  • The Mystery of the False Fingertips

    Two high school boys are exposed to danger when they set out to solve the theft from a local museum of five ceremonial Egyptian fingertips. This book is one of two original Young Adult novels written by James Holding (the other being The Mystery of ...

  • The Library Detective

    Hal Johnson is a retired cop who works for his city's public library, tracking down missing and overdue books. But his switch of careers is no sinecure, for his work always seems to lead him into some sort of mystery, such as blackmail, robbery, kidn...

  • The Library Detective Returns

    Former Homicide cop Hal Johnson now works as 'library fuzz' - spending his days chasing down overdue books, stolen volumes, and owed fines. He doesn't miss life in the fast lane. But his police training and detective instincts still prove necessary i...

  • A Padlock For Charlie Draper

    Charlie Draper believes there are two ways of doing things: the easy way and the hard way. Anyone who chooses the hard way, he insists, is a fool. So why does he take the hard way when his story is robbed?...

  • Once Upon a Bank Floor...

    Two mystery readers meet on a plane. One reads crime stories to pass the time. The other reads them to keep abreast up with the trade…...

  • The Photographer #1

    The first installment in James Holding's classic "The Photographer" series about a professional assassin. One of his best....

  • A Homemade Dress

    She thought she knew what her husband was really up to. But if she's known -- she would have screamed, "Murder!"...



  • The Photographer

    In "Second Talent," Manuel, Holding's photographer assassin, is assigned to kill a rare art collector, Senhor Martinho. But Martinho has plans of his own…...

  • The Photographer and the Artist

    The photographer is hired to kill an artist -- who moonlights as a forger....

  • The Photographer and the Butcher

    The Photographer latest assignment: identify and kill The Butcher, a rival killer. Noting that The Butcher's victims show no signs of struggle, are all ugly, and wore topaz jewelry in bad taste, he deduces that The Butcher is a demented interior ...

  • The Photographer and the Columnist

    The sixth installment in James Holding's classic "The Photographer" series about a professional assassin. One of his best series....

  • The Photographer and the Jeweler

    The fourth installment in James Holding's classic "The Photographer" series about a professional assassin. One of his best series....

  • The Photographer and the Jockey

    Criminally underpaid assassin Manuel Andredas is hired to kill a famous jockey -- for a particularly paltry sum....

  • The Photographer and the Policeman

    When the Photographer is hired to kill the police commandant of Lisbon, he concocts an elaborate scheme to frame his fellow plane passenger, a man named Verahos, of the crime…...

  • The Photographer and the Professor

    The fifth installment in James Holding's classic "The Photographer" series about a professional assassin. One of his best series....

  • The Photographer and the Servant Problem

    When the Photographer is hired to kill a servant, he finds more than a mere thief plundering employers' homes…...

  • The Photographer and the Undertaker

    The second installment in James Holding's classic "The Photographer" series about a professional assassin. One of his best series....



  • The Photographer and the Unknown Victim

    The Photographer is hired to kill a man using a model to smuggle heroin into the U.S. Evesdropping, he learns that the model double-crossed his victim, hired the Big Ones to have the man killed, and wants to sell her heroin to the Big Ones. Double-cr...

  • In the Presence of Death

    When the Photographer is hired to kill a printer, he finds layers of deception, counterfeit money, and blackmail. #15 in the classic series from Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine....

  • A Mishap in Venice

    It seemed a pity to Paolo that romance in Venice should be at the mercy of racketeers. So he turned their space-work upside down... A chilling suspense novelet!...

  • The Photographer and the Arsonist

    The Photographer wakes in a coffin, and flashes back to a meeting where he is hired to kill a one-armed man -- who has gotten the drop on him. Will he live long enough to complete his mission? #17 in the classic series....

  • The Photographer And The B.L.P.

    The Photographer is hired to kill an executive at a chemical company, but as he prepares for the job, the man is kidnapped by the Brazilian Liberation Party, who seek to hold him for ransom....

  • The Photographer and the Final Payment

    In the February 24, 1982 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, the editor offered the following challenge to the Author: "A plot idea for the next Photographer story: when Manuel looks at the name and address on the slip of paper handed t...

  • The Photographer and the Letter

    Rodolfo urges the Photographer to assassinate a nightclub singer who is going to publish a book full of incriminating information on everyone involved with the Corporation. Suspicious, the Photographer investigates…...

  • The Photographer and the Sailor

    When the Photographer refuses to take an assignment -- killing the nephew of General Da Silva, junta member -- the Corporation finds a replacement...one not quite up to the job....

  • Cop Killer

    A policeman tasked with keeping order in a seedy section of town learns he's to have a partner. They get along famously, and as the months pass they seem like a proper crime-fighting duo. Then one night they encounter the policeman's old high...

  • Go To Sleep, Darling

    A mentally ill woman waits outside a school to pick up a child with a passing resemblance to her daughter. After following a likely candidate, she persuades the girl to get in her car -- and that's where things really go wrong....



  • Portrait in Yellow

  • A Decent Price for a Painting

    A pair of art experts attempt to scam a seller of a piece of valuable pop-art by persuading him that it's only a copy....

  • A Visitor to Mombasa

    Officer Harper takes a pair of reports of leopard sightings in Mombasa and manages to track the beast to a baobob grove off the coast. Then he hatches a scheme for a promotion, with the help of the beast…...

  • Border Crossing

    A illegal Chinese immigrant attempting to sneak across the Canadian border into the United States has a secret…...

  • China Trader

    A fsherman with a fondness for self-made aphorisms, Fong Kam Lee arrives in Hong Kong to fish lucratively, but is convinced by a syndicate representative that he should instead smuggle luxury goods…...

  • An Exercise in Insurance

    No need to worry if this bank is robbed -- they have an external alarm that rings in a hat shop nearby. Crooks aren't clever enough to figure out stuff like this. Are they?...

  • A Message from Marsha

    Larry needs to make money -- fast -- in order to fund his honeymoon. A full, traditional honeymoon is the only way Marsha will marry him. So Larry decides to rob his boss…...

  • Career Man

    Mr. Cardone, a career thief, has managed to avoid being caught in all his years of schemes and robberies. Upon visiting India for a vacation, he is approached by Mirajkar Dass, a big Hindu man, who proposes the heist of a valuable jewel-encrusted tap...

  • Contraband

    A middle-aged American couple is in the midst of a year-long tour of Europe when they come across a man in Zurich who knows somebody in Naples who might be able to help them get something they've always wanted but couldn't obtain...not legall...

  • Jade Monkey

    A thief specializing in jade decides to go for his big score -- the fabulous Green Monkey, an incredibly valuable piece of carved jade…...



  • Never Wake a Sleeping Man

    Jimmy Lee dreams of replacing rhino horn with a cheaper ingredient in old Liu Kam Fan's secret formula for Heavenly Heavenly Happiness Salt. It will make millions. But Liu Kam Fan doesn't want to listen to reason. The old ways are good enough...

  • The Fund-Raisers

    Ramon Ribero, Minister of Justice, is (voluntarily) kidnapped by the Society of the Parrot, a revolutionary organization that he has helped fund against his own government. The government ransoms for his release, but refuses to set free their own pol...

  • Break-In

    A renowned cat burglar is hired to steal an antique candlestick from a collector's home. Upon entry into its display room, he encounters a new type of burglar alarm…...

  • Lesson One

    A detective investigting a bank robbery gets a call from a patrollman about a break in the case: an abandoned car, without plates, of the same make and model as the one in the robbery. But the car shows no clues other than the lack of license plates,...

  • Mystery Fan

    Allen Gately, a novelist, must deal with the intrusions of a fan -- Mr. Storm -- who has managed to pierce Gately's numerous pen names and secret identities. However, Gately soon finds that Storm has taken one of his murder methods to heart and a...

  • A Temporary Bind

    Irresponsible spender (and bank robber) Michael decides to pull an insurance scam on his car. He has certain debts to pay off to a gang boss. It’s easy to organize the scam with the help of a chop shop owner and an insurance man, but it turns out t...

  • Fly Away Home

    Yancey, a no-good deadbeat, has been borrowing money from his successful friend, a doctor, for years. When Yancey comes in one day and pays back all the money that he's borrowed, how he got it is quite a tale...one that may leave him dead!...

  • Conversation Piece

    At the Metropolitan Museam, a janitor discuses the authenticity of a Bruegel piece with a visiting art-lover. There is more here than meets the eye…...

  • In the Soup

    A philaderinig husband plots to kill his wife -- with a can of her favorite soup. A crime classic by James Holding....

  • Hand in Glove

    An inspector investigating the death of a blackmailer finds a suspect -- but the man has an alibi. There's something fishy about it, but the inspector can't quite put his finger on what....



  • Mr. Moonlight and Omar

  • Rediscovery

    When an old professor of art informs a museum curator that a piece his institution owns is actually half of a full statue -- whose other section is housed at the Louvre -- an old crime begins to unravel....

  • Shima Maru

    Vetuka of the Shark Clan, anging Melanesian fishermen and ,diver is approached by his nephew Likuva and Japanese friend Michiko to find the wreck of the WW II-era Japanese warship Shima Maru, which was carrying 50,000 gold yen. They find the ship and...

  • Cop-Killer

    Pacing the streets of the South Side in the dark, dangerous, dragging hours before dawn, Kangaroo Kelly would often feed himself cheerfully this little morale booster: “Any of these mugs rub me out, even by accident, they’re dead, too. And they k...

  • Phase Four

  • T'ang of the Suffering Dragon

    When you might have a fake Chinese T'ang Dynasty vase, it's always best to consult an expert before, during, and after the purchase....

  • The 1861 Twelve

    Lenny reached with gloved hands for the stamp album on the top shelf. He had not only found one of those rare twelve-cent 1861 stamps, but he was about to obtain it, cost-free and tax-free, thanks to his skills as a thief and burglar. With the stamp'...

  • The Inquisitive Butcher of Nice

    At 7:10 Martin came clattering up the stairs from the butcher shop three at a time. His knock on M. Beauregard's door had none of its usual apologetic politeness. He thundered on the panel with both hands. At the same time, he called in a loud voice ...

  • The Consultant

    Charles Deschamps, the Paris couturier, was going to bring down necklines in his next collection and one man knew about it six months ahead of time. Foreknowledge of a fact like that is all a good consultant needs to make him dream dreams and see vis...

  • Reason Enough

    Jim, the owner of a small diner, detects some suspicious activity when two strange men come into his shop alongside an undertaker friend of his....

  • The Only One of Its Kind

    When a mysterious visitor arrives in the small town of Havenwood, the locals are wary. Rumors spread about the stranger's unusual abilities and unclear motives. But young Elena sees beyond the gossip and forms an unlikely friendship that will be put ...

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

James Holding has published 60 books.

James Holding does not have a new book coming out soon. The latest book, The Only One of Its Kind, was published in October 2023.

The first book by James Holding, Bottle of Pop, was published in February 1972.

No. James Holding does not write books in series.
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