Two time Spur Award winning author Reavis Z. Wortham pens the Texas Red River historical mystery series, and the high-octane Sonny Hawke contemporary western thrillers. The Red River novels are set in rural Northeast Texas in the 1960s. Kirkus Reviews listed his first novel in a Starred Review, The Rock Hole, as one of the “Top 12 Mysteries of 2011.”
“Burrows, Wortham’s outstanding sequel to The Rock Hole combines the gonzo sensibility of Joe R. Lansdale and the elegiac mood of To Kill a Mockingbird to strike just the right balance between childhood innocence and adult horror.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
His series from Kensington Publishing features Texas Ranger Sonny Hawke and debuted in 2018. Hawke’s War, the second in the Sonny Hawke series won the Spur Award from the Western Writers Association of America in 2019. He garnered a second Spur from the WWA for Hawke’s Target in 2020.
“The cinematic characters have substance and a pulse. They walk off the page and talk Texas.”
—The Dallas Morning News
Wortham retired from a 35-year career in public education, the last four as the Director of Communications for the Garland Independent School District. During that time, he also moonlighted as a landscape, wildlife, portrait and wedding photographer. An avid outdoorsman, you can find him hiking, fishing, canoeing, and hunting.
A frequent speaker at literary events across the country, Reavis also teaches seminars on mystery and thriller writing techniques at a wide variety of venues, from local libraries to writing conventions, to the Pat Conroy Literary Center in Beaufort, SC. He frequently speaks to smaller groups about the writing pitfalls and hazards he has survived. His most popular talk is entitled, My Long Road to Publication, and Other Great Disasters.
He has been a newspaper columnist and magazine writer since 1988, penning over 2,000 columns and articles in that time, and has been the Humor Editor for
Texas Fish and Game Magazine for the past 23 years. He and his wife, Shana, live in Northeast Texas. All his works are available at your favorite online bookstore or outlet, in all formats.
