Junior Bender Essay

Junior Bender is the lead protagonist of the Junior Bender series of novels by American thriller author Timothy Hallinan. The first novel of the highly popular series of novels was Crashed that was first published in 2010 to much critical acclaim. Hallinan the author of the series is an author who has been active in the literary scene since the 1990s when he wrote the detective thriller series featuring private investigator Simeon Grist of Los Angeles. The series of novels was so popular that it became something of a cultural phenomenon and cult favorite. Since he has lived on and off in Bangkok since the 1980s he wrote his Poke Rafferty series based on the travel adventures of a travel writer of the title name who lives in Bankok. With his
first two series garnering much attention and commercial success he launched his Junior Bender series set in Los Angeles in 2010. The series features a veteran private detective to crooks known as Junior Bender.

Prior to becoming a fiction author, Timothy Hallinan was a consultant to some of the biggest corporations in America where he offered advice on audience building and television sponsorship.
During this time he founded Hallinan Consulting, a company that was responsible for creating educational websites for some of the most popular television programs including Slavery in America, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow and The Supreme Court. Since attaining much success with his novels he quit most of his other activities to concentrate on writing. Over the years he has written more than twenty novels spread over his three series. His novels have won him several awards including Best Mystery of the Year Edgar Award and Best Comic Crime Novel of the Year for Herbie’s Game at the Lefty Awards. The Junior Bender series of novels are currently under development and are set to be adapted into a TV series by NBC. Hallinan has also served as editor for Making Story: 21 Writers and How They Plot a collection of tips on plotting by top thriller and mystery writers. He was also editor to Shaken: Stories for Japan an anthology of short stories by eminent mystery writers written to aid victims of the Japanese Tsunami. Timothy Hallinan currently lives in South East Asia and Santa Monica California so as to get a feel for the setting for two of his novel series the Poke Rafferty and the Junior Bender
series.

The lead character of the Junior Bender series of novels is a man named Junior Bender.
Bender is best described as a top end burglar – a thief’s thief. He was introduced to the world of burglary when he was fourteen and has carved out a niche for himself as a private eye for crooks. In the ordinary world when someone has a crime committed against them, they go to the police. When a crime is committed against a crook, the person they turn to is Junior Bender. Bender had been initiated into the criminal underworld buy Herbie Mott the legendary burglar from South California when he was only seventeen. He had become an expert thief’s thief developing his own rules that he follows meticulously. He adheres to a code of meticulous timing, careful scoping and never takes anything the target cannot afford. He also develops an intimate knowledge of the art world and a huge network of contacts to help him scope out his target and to sell the items he acquires from his adventures. However even as he is a career criminal, his life is complicated by an ex-wife and teenage daughter both of whom he never wishes to embarrass given that he respects and loves them dearly. But as the only person so good at what he does, adhering to his principles or keeping his former family out of it is not as easy. The Junior Bender series are best referred to as crime capers in the tradition of Janet Evanovich and Donald
Westlake.

Crashed the first novel of the Junior Bender series introduces one of the most peculiar protagonists of a detective thriller. Junior Bender prides himself as a different king of burglar – one with a magic touch. He has been breaking into houses in Los Angeles for more than two decades and had never been apprehended. But he now finds himself under a different kind of threat as Trey Annunziato is blackmailing him to work for him. The man happens to be a powerful LA crime boss running an illegal pornographic business that has been the target of a saboteur. He needs Bender to investigate just who could be responsible. The problem is the lead actor of his debauchery is America’s adored child star Thistle Downing who lives a destitute life surviving on drugs provided by Trey. If she stars in the movie, Trey will get the publicity he needs from the scandal though he needs to get it over the line first. Junior being a moral man knows that his duty is to get the child protégée out and help her find help for her addiction. But doing that will get him into trouble with the mob boss who may just kill him. Teaming up with Rina his teenage daughter and Louie his criminal sidekick, the trio needs to find a solution to their quandary, fast.

Little Elvises is the second in the critically acclaimed Junior Bender thriller series. Junior Bender of Los Angles reputation as one of the best private investigators for criminals just keeps getting better. The downside to his line of work is that he will always get someone angry with him whether he undertakes a job or not. He has to either anger a crime boss or suspect in going about his professional duties. In the novel, Junior has been forced to investigate and prove that Vinnie DiGaudio a music industry mogul had nothing to do with the brutal murder of a tabloid magazine reporter that he had publicly clashed with several times. To make matters worse, he had also threatened to kill the man making him the lead suspect. The case gets even more complicated for Junior who finds that the widow to the journalist is a pretty lady who wants to get with him. With the investigation heating up, Junior gets another assignment from his alcoholic landlady. She needs him to find her missing daughter that had recently been associating with very shadowy characters. To top it all off, Rina his daughter and his ex-wife have new boyfriends which is not what he needs for a clear head.