The "R" list of cozy mystery book authors also includes an author who writes true crime books. I have been a fan of Ann Rule for many years, sometimes I simply crave a true crime book... and I don't think that anybody does true crime as consistently well as she does. Her books are gritty, though, so reader, beware!

R. T. Raichev   (aka Raiko Raichev) Raichev's dissertation was on English detectives (between the wars.) The Country House Mystery series is set in English country houses. The two amateur sleuths are a recently divorced grandmother and a retired widower.

Deanna Raybourn    Raybourn writes a historical mystery series that is set in Victorian England and features Lady Julia Grey as the sleuth...

Kathy Reichs   Not Cozy... If you are a fan of the Fox show "Bones," then you might be interested in knowing that it is based on the life of Kathy Reichs. She is a forensic anthropologist who writes about a forensic anthropologist.

Ruth Rendell  aka Barbara Vine... The wonderful Inspector Wexford series (which is set in England) and many (again!) wonderful stand-alone books...

Craig Rice   aka Georgiana Ann Randolph Craig, Daphne Sanders, & Michael Venning... She was the first author of mysteries to ever appear on Time Magazine's cover, and at one time, it is said that she "was equal" to Agatha Christie, but, sadly, she died at a young age in the 1950s.

Virginia Rich   Eugenia Potter series featuring a chef/rancher/widow...

T. Dawn Richard   Richard writes the May List Mystery Series which features a woman who leaves her philandering husband after 35 years of marriage and moves to a retirement community... to begin a new life as a sleuth...

Emilie Richards Richards has her Master's in Family Counseling and is married to a minister, thus her Ministry is Murder mystery series. She is also a quilter... which explains her non-mystery Shenandoah Album series. Richards' quilting has enabled her to actually write four Shenandoah Album series quilting companion books for Leisure Arts! (If you are a crafter of any sort... you know that Leisure Arts publishes the best of the best books!)

Phyllis Richman   Restaurant critic in Washington, D.C....

Cynthia Riggs   Martha's Vineyard series with an older sleuth...

Mary Roberts Rineheart    I remember these classic mystery novels from years ago.....

Rick Riordan    An ex-teacher who now writes books full time... the Tres Navarre series...

Ann Ripley    A series about a TV hostess who is also an organic gardener in Virginia.....

Fran Rizer    Rizer, a retired school teacher, writes the Callie Parrish Mystery Series. This sleuth in this series has got to have the most original occupation I have run across since starting this site: mortuary cosmetologist!

Candace Robb    Robb has used her graduate work in Medieval Studies, and her previous job as an editor, to write both the Owen Archer Mystery Series and the Margaret Kerr Mystery Series. Both are set in the Great Britain of many years ago...

J. D. Robb  aka Nora Roberts... See Below...

David Roberts    A series about a 1930s London aristocrat & a  journalist.....

Gillian Roberts    The very popular  Amanda Pepper, high school teacher series.....

Lora Roberts    Roberts is a twenty year transplant in Palo Alto, California and uses that city as the backdrop for her Liz Sullivan Mystery Series as well as her Bridget Montrose Mystery Series. Her third mystery series is quite different... Her Mystery with Sherlock Holmes Mystery Series takes place in England and features Charlotte Dodson, a widowed housekeeper... and, of course, Sherlock Holmes!

Natalie M. Roberts   Roberts writes the Jenny T. Partridge Dance Mystery Series.  As a mother of a daughter who only took one year of dance... when she was four years old... and only because her best friend wanted to take the class, I can say that I never experienced any dance mothers' anxieties, jealousies, or backstabbing. But, let's face it, there are a lot of other places where mothers congregate.... that lend towards the same type of mysterious actions....

Nora Roberts    aka J. D. Robb... (Not Cozy) Her series is set in the future, in New York, and features  Eve Dallas, a lieutenant in the Homicide Division...

Wendy Roberts    Roberts writes the Ghost Dusters Mystery Series which features an ex-teacher who runs the Scene-2-Clean cleaning service which specializes in cleaning death scenes... and, she happens to see some of her ... should we say "former home owners"?!?

Lynda S. Robinson (aka Suzanne Robinson)    Robinson has her PhD in Anthropology and was highly recommended by several people. She writes the Lord Meren Series, which is set during ancient Egypt's reign of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Lord Meren is the main investigator in the kingdom. (She writes ancient Egyptian, Elizabethan, Victorian, and Civil War historical romance novels as Suzanne Robinson.) Because of her studies and field work, her historical novels (both her mysteries and her romances) are said to be very accurate portrayals of the given eras.

Peter Robinson   With his PhD in English, it was just a matter of time before Robinson would start writing the excellent police procedurals  (Detective Chief Inspector Allan Banks) that he is known for..... 

Caroline Roe (aka Medora Sale)    Roe holds her PhD in Medieval Studies, so it is no small wonder that she writes the Isaac from Girona Mystery Series, which features a blind doctor in Spain during the mid 1300s. As Sale she writes the John Sanders/Harriet Jeffries Mystery Series which features a Canadian police detective.

Carolyn Rogers    Main character, Rachael Grant, is a policewoman in San Antonio, Texas...

Kelley Roos   Roos is a pseudonym for husband and wife Audrey Kelley and William Roos. They wrote a series about amateur sleuths who happened to be married to each other... also.

Elliott Roosevelt   The Eleanor Roosevelt series, yes, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt...

Sara Rosett   As an Air Force wife herself, Rosett knows about the nomadic life of military families. Her Mom Zone Mystery Series features an Air Force wife who travels in the world of sleuthing...

Ann B. Ross   Miss Julia series... Miss Julia being a very opinionated, southern, older sleuth.....

Kate Ross   Ross was a graduate of Wellesley College and Yale Law School. She worked as a trial lawyer, and wrote the successful Julian Kestrel series, set in London during the 1820s.

Jennifer Rowe   The Verity "Birdie" Birdwood series, set in Australia...

Betty Rowlands   Rowlands writes two mystery series: the Melissa Craig cozy series and the Sukey Reynolds police procedural, which has a lighter feeling than a traditional hard-boiled one. I loved her reasoning for starting her non-cozy Sukey series... On her site she says that she foresaw a time when she might have a hard time explaining why her amateur sleuth was always getting involved with crimes. (That gets back to my feeling about seeing Jessica Fletcher moving in next door to your house... You would probably want to get out of town... fearing you might be the next body she stumbled upon!)

S. J. Rozan    Rozan, an ex-architect, writes the Bill Smith-Lydia Chin Mystery series... Police Procedural...

Jane Rubino    The Cat Austen series, featuring Cat Austen, a reporter who happens to be a single mother......

Patrick Ruell     aka Reginald Hill.....  The very wonderful Dalziel & Pascoe series...

Ann Rule  aka Andy Stack..... True Crime.....  I Love Her Books.... as do many other people!

Jean Ruryk   Series set in Montreal, featuring a furniture restorer/sleuth, who "happened into" robbing a bank......

Patricia H. Rushford   Rushford (a registered nurse with a Master's in counseling) writes mysteries, romantic/suspense, and non-fiction. She also writes the Max & Me Mysteries for 8-10 year olds and the Jennie McGrady Mysteries for young teens.

P. B. Ryan    Ryan's Gilded Age Mystery Series was recommended by a site reader and has, as its sleuth, a governess from Ireland who finds herself living in post-Civil War Boston...

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