🎯 Where Should I Start?
ⓘ About William Bayer
William was educated at Phillips Exeter and at Harvard University, where he majored in art history. His Harvard honors thesis was an analysis of one of Paul Gauguin’s paintings: “D’ou venons-vous? Que sommes-nous? Ou allons-nous?” After working from 1963 until 1968 as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Information Agency. During this time, he spent time in New York, Washington, and Vietnam. William has also been a grantee of The National Endowment of the Arts and The American Film Institute. He also wrote and directed “Missippi Summer”, a 1971 feature film, and it won Best First Feature Award (a “Hugo”) at the Chicago International Film Festival. “Peregrine” won an Edgar for Best Novel, while “The Magician’s Tale” won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Mystery.
All Book Series by William Bayer
Breaking Through, Selling Out, Dropping Dead and Other Notes on Filmmaking
Latest in the series · book 2 of 2 · published 2004
? Frequently Asked Questions
Who is William Bayer?
William was educated at Phillips Exeter and at Harvard University, where he majored in art history. His Harvard honors thesis was an analysis of one of Paul Gauguin's paintings: “D'ou venons-vous? Que sommes-nous? Ou allons-nous?” After working from 1963 until 1968 as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S.
Which William Bayer series should I start with?
The best place to start is the Foreign Detective series, the earliest of William Bayer's multi-book series: it opens with Tangier (1978) and runs to 3 books across 1978–2006, ending with City of Knives (2006). William Bayer's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.
How many books has William Bayer written?
William Bayer has 20 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1966 and 2019. 9 of them belong to 3 named series — the largest being the Frank Janek series with 4 books — and 11 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.
In what order should William Bayer's series be read?
Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. William Bayer's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Foreign Detective (1978–2006, 3 books), Frank Janek (1983–1994, 4 books) and Kay Farrow (1997–1998, 2 books).
How are William Bayer's books organised into series?
This guide splits William Bayer's 20 books into 3 named series and 11 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Frank Janek (4 books, 1983–1994); Foreign Detective (3 books, 1978–2006); Kay Farrow (2 books, 1997–1998).