McCrone is the author of the Faithless Elector political suspense-thriller trilogy, featuring the driven, conflicted Imogen Trager, a by-the-numbers, (if rarely by-the-book) FBI investigator, comprising FAITHLESS ELECTOR (2016), DARK NETWORK (2017) and EMERGENCY POWERS, (2020)
James's fourth book, BASTARD VERDICT (2023) is a noir thriller of high stakes and low politics, set in Scotland against a looming second referendum on Scottish Independence.
Publishers Weekly calls Faithless Elector a “fast-moving topical thriller.” Kirkus Review says Dark Network "delivers a combination of stirring action and remarkably intricate plot entanglements…A rousing and provocative political thriller…”. Emergency Powers is "so chillingly real, you pray it's not true."
Read the full REVIEWS here, 4.5 Stars on Amazon and Goodreads
His short stories have appeared in Killer Nashville Magazine, - "What's Hidden; in Retreats from Oblivion, - "Eight O'Clock Sharp; the collection Low Down Dirty Vote, vol.2, July, 2020. A third LDDV, vol. 3, published in May of '22, featured his short story "Nostalgia." The short story "Ultimatum Games" appeared in January of this year in Rock and a Hard Place magazine Winter/#7.
Biography: McCrone has managed to weave fiction and fact into the compelling thrillers—Faithless Elector (2016), Dark Network (2017), Emergency Powers (2020), and now, BASTARD VERDICT (18-May-2023)! Kirkus Review has called McCrone’s earlier thrillers “taut,” “gripping,” and “timely.” His work “Numbers Don’t Lie” appeared in the 2020 short-story anthology Low Down Dirty Vote, vol. 2; and the short story “Ultimatum Games” appeared in the Winter/#7 issue of Rock and a Hard Place magazine. A short story about voter suppression, “Nostalgia,” appeared, in the third volume of LDDV.
McCrone is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Int’l Assoc. of Crime Writers, Int’l Thriller Writers, Philadelphia Dramatists’ Center, and he’s the current president of the Delaware Valley Sisters in Crime chapter.
Raised in the Midwest (Iowa and Wisconsin), and in the Pacific Northwest (Seattle) McCrone has lived in Scotland, England, France and Uruguay. His work both on an off the page deals with politics, and with what lies behind the headlines and easy explanations. He has worked in community development and affordable housing for more than fifteen years and has been writing stories since before he could spell properly. McCrone graduated in 1990 from the University of Washington in Seattle, with an MFA in Creative Writing. National Book Award Winner (for Middle Passage) Charles Johnson, was the chair of his committee.
McCrone lives in South Philadelphia with his wife and three children, where he is the former Business Manager for the South 9th Street/Italian Market Business Association - now writing full time.
He is also the former Executive Director and Corridor Manager for the Tacony Community Development Corp (Phila.), Bloomfield Center Alliance and Main Street Highland Park, both in New Jersey.
