WSJ lists One Shot Harry as one of the 25 best mystery novels of the past 25 years.

Gp is pleased as punch a short story of his, “The Darklight Gizmo Matter” which originally appeared in the Private Dicks and Disco Balls: Private Eyes in the Dyn-O-Mite Seventies anthology was selected  for inclusion in the 2025 Best American Mystery and Suspense collection out in October from the Mariner imprint of HarperCollins.

When editor Michael Bracken graciously invited me to do a story for Private Dicks and Disco Balls I figured it should be a homage to Pam Grier. She of those bad ass roles back then like Coffy, Foxy Brown, and pertinent to the theme of the anthology, a PI in Sheba, Baby.

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“Why You Should Read This“
from Alta Journal
by David Ulin

“Among the most exhilarating facets of Violent Spring is how it brings Los Angeles to life, especially Mid-City. Phillips gets the neighborhood, its daily existence and hidden histories, not least the role played by Pico Boulevard as an invisible dividing line between the streets north of it, which have long been more upscale, and the sprawling, gritty territory to the south.

This, as Phillips recognizes, is the power of crime fiction. The detective can traverse the entire city, from the wealthiest communities to the most marginalized. A Black man, Monk confronts racism and epithets as the divisions between communities re-entrench themselves. He becomes a figure in the middle, leaving everyone displeased. That this is how it would have happened only adds to the verisimilitude, making Violent Spring an essential piece of Los Angeles noir, a key way station on the road from Walter Mosley (whose detective Easy Rawlins lives and works in Mid-City) to Steph Cha, whose 2019 novel, Your House Will Pay, addresses many of the same concerns and issues across a dividing line of nearly three decades.” MORE