Crusading journalists who solve murders may seem a fictional fantasy and, truth be told, in real newsrooms, of course, most journalists don't moonlight as sleuths. But many journalists' reporting has helped get innocent people released from custody, or bring to light corrupt politicians. So these mysteries have a sense of reality.

 

In his 2009 novel The Scarecrow, Michael Connelly, a former newspaper reporter himself, returned to character of Los Angeles Times crime reporter Jack McEvoy, who was introduced in The Poet (1996). The Scarecrow tackled the downsizing of newspaper staffs, the embattled newspaper industry and the rise of the Internet in a tense action-laden plot. In my review, I also mentioned that "The Scarecrow also works as a tale about work ethics, integrity and pride in a job well done, even if that employment is ending."

Jason Pinter's action-packed series about New York newspaper reporter Henry Parker show how the all-consuming business of covering the news can control one's life. The Darkness is a good place to start with this series.

 

Jonathon King, the Edgar-winning author of the Max Freeman novels, set his Eye of Vengeance (2006) in a South Florida newsroom -- a place King knows well having worked at a South Florida newspaper for some 18 years. In Eye of Vengeance, crime reporter Nick Mullins' articles about a sniper shooting leads him to believe that a killer is targeting criminals that he has written about.
 
Jan Burke's series about California newspaper reporter Irene Kelly have earned the author numerous awards. In these novels, Burke has delivered deep, rich plots about the devastating effects of crime as seen through the prism of an insightful, ethical journalist. A personal favorite is Bloodlines.

Edna Buchanan's Britt Montero covers crime for a Miami newspaper.

Although Lisa Scottoline is best known for her legal thrillers, she focused on a newspaper reporter and single mother in Look Again (2009).