KEVIN FLYNN -

Kevin Flynn

Selected Works

Fiction

"Rock Creek" (Kilimanjaro Press, kilimanjaro-press.com, 2024)

"Rock Creek" rises from Washington, D.C., 1952: a murder mystery, a political thriller, and a work of historical fiction that brings to life a time and place that are so distant, yet still seem so close.

It's about the nation's capital in the early 1950s: the most important city in the world at the midpoint of the American century, but at heart a small Southern town deeply divided along race and class boundaries. It's about those boundaries and what happens to people who dare to try to cross them.

It's about rebellion and protest, power and sex. But most of all it's about two people. Emily Rose: a beautiful Capitol Hill staffer with a tragic past, rooted in the Holocaust, from which she tries to escape but never quite can. A woman who ends up dumped and abandoned in the city's Rock Creek Park, her death raising the mystery that animates the book.

And Shane Kinnock: a homicide detective with one foot in the most refined part of town and the other in its seediest. When the book begins he's at the low point of his life and his career, still shell-shocked from war and scarred by family tragedy. He sees the prospect of redemption in Emily's story but will find that it draws him to close to insanity. In the end, it is his perseverance in solving the book's central mystery -- and finally coming to grips with the moral choices of his past -- that gives the book its enduring spirit.

Non-fiction

"Relentless Pursuit: A True Story of Family, Murder, and the Prosecutor Who Wouldn't Quit" (Putnam, 2007)

"Relentless Pursuit" follows Kevin's personal mission as a D.C. homicide prosecutor dedicated to bringing justice and closure to the family of a brutally murdered mother and daughter, during a time in which his own father was diagnosed with a terminal illness. More than a mere police procedural account of an investigation and trial, "Relentless Pursuit" is a story about two families -- the victims' and Kevin's -- and how their ordeals intertwined, with each spiritually sustaining the other in a time of tragedy.

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KEVIN'S WORKS

Kevin Flynn is the author of two books: RELENTLESS PURSUIT, a non-fiction work about a horrific murder case that he took to conviction and its impact on two families, and the recently released novel ROCK CREEK, a mystery thriller set in Washington, D.C. in 1952. Both books were inspired and driven by two things: his love for the city of his birth, and his work of 35 years, prosecuting violent crimes in the nation's capital.

RELENTLESS PURSUIT was acclaimed nationwide by multiple publications including the Washington Post and USA Today. Most notably, it was nominated by the Mystery Writers of America for an Edgar Award in the category of True Crime in 2008.

Praise for ROCK CREEK from reviewers and renowned authors:

"Flynn combines the best of noir detective fiction with spartan, affecting prose ... Flynn's writing also drives the story of a young woman with a tortured past and intertwines it with the protagonist's determination to solve the mystery of her death. Overall, it's a riveting whodunit with surprising twists that call to mind the works of Raymond Chandler. An affecting and compelling crime novel."

- Kirkus Reviews

"A simply riveting read from start to finish, ROCK CREEK is an especially recommended read for anyone with an interest in political fiction, historical murder mysteries, and deftly crafted suspense thrillers."

- Midwest Book Review

"ROCK CREEK is more than a great crime thriller. ROCK CREEK is a glimpse of the true Washington, D.C. in the post atom bomb days that created and still propel our current times. Kevin Flynn has done a wonderful service to readers everywhere by creating fiction that reveals truths."

- James Grady, author of "Six Days of the Condor" and numerous other works

"When disgraced detective Shane Kinnock's investigation of a skull recovered in Rock Creek Park yields more questions than answers, he becomes ensnared in a web of corruption and deceit from which few will be spared. Set in Washington D.C. in the 1950s, and at the cusp of the civil rights movement, ROCK CREEK is both a heart-warming and heartbreaking mystery. A must read."

- David Swinson, author of "The Second Girl" and numerous other works

"Kevin Flynn's ROCK CREEK is a riveting tale of murder and justice, race and class, power and corruption. Vivid and propulsive, ROCK CREEK transported me back to an era in the nation's capital when Washington, D.C., emerged from wartime as the most important city in the world and yet remained a stubbornly small Southern town. I could hear and see and smell that bygone Washington as I read this book. But it's the characters Flynn brings to life that stay with me, a cast of devilishly complicated and unforgettable figures whose voices I still hear in my head. I couldn't put this book down."

- Andy Kroll, award-winning journalist and author of "A Death on W Street: The Murder of Seth Rich and the Age of Conspiracy"

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born in D.C., Kevin grew up in the suburb of Annandale, VA but spent part of every weekend in the city, as his grandparents lived in D.C.'s Southeast quadrant. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame and the University of Virginia School of Law, then worked for five years in private practice before joining the Department of Justice. As a D.C. prosecutor, Kevin tried almost 30 murder cases, investigated hundreds more, and was instrumental in dismantling multiple criminal street gangs. His work brought him into daily contact with the best and worst aspects of human nature, and those experiences have provided him with the sensibility and perspective that is infused in his fiction and nonfiction writing.

Kevin lives in Northern Virginia with his wife Patrice, also a career attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. Their children, Connor and Megan -- a lawyer and a lawyer-to-be, both dedicated to public service -- live in New York City.