James Grady

(b.1949)

aka James Dalton, Brit Shelby

James Grady has published more than a dozen novels, a handful of short stories, and worked in both feature films and television. His first novel, Six Days of the Condor, was made into a classic Robert Redford movie. Grady's been both U.S. Senate aide and a national investigative reporter. Grady's writing honors include France's Grand Prix du Roman Noir (2001) and Italy's Raymond Chandler Medal (2003). He has two children, lives with his wife inside Washington, D.C.'s beltway.

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, General Fiction

New and upcoming books

May 2026

Shadows on Sidewalks

Series

Condor
   1. Six Days of the Condor (1974)
     aka Three Days of the Condor
   2. Shadow of the Condor (1975)
   3. Last Days of the Condor (2015)
   Next Day of the Condor (2015)
   Condor: The Short Takes (2019)

John Rankin
1. Runner in the Street (1984)
2. Hard Bargains (1985)

Devlin Rourke
1. Razor Game (1985)
2. Just a Shot Away (1987)

Novels

   The Great Pebble Affair (1976) (as by Brit Shelby)
   Catch the Wind (1980)
   Steeltown (1988)
   The Nature of the Game (1991)
     aka River of Darkness
   Thunder (1994)
   White Flame (1996)
   City of Shadows (2000) (as by James Dalton)
   Mad Dogs (2006)
   This Train (2022)
   The Smoke in Our Eyes (2024)
   American Sky (2025)
   Shadows on Sidewalks (2026)

Novellas and Short Stories

Condor.Net (2011)
This Given Sky (2011)

Anthologies edited

Unusual Suspects (1996)

Series contributed to

Harold Middleton
1. The Chopin Manuscript (2008) (with others)

Bibliomysteries / Death Sentences
Condor in the Stacks (2016)

Akashic Noir
Montana Noir (2017) (with Keir Graff)

Books containing stories by James Grady

Birds, Strangers and Psychos (2025)
New stories inspired by Alfred Hitchcock
edited by
Maxim Jakubowski

Reports From the Deep End (2023)
Stories inspired by J. G. Ballard
edited by
Maxim Jakubowski and Rick McGrath

Black is the Night (2022)
Stories Inspired by Cornell Woolrich
edited by
Maxim Jakubowski

More books

Award nominations

	1997 Edgar Award for Best Short Story (nominee) : Kiss The Sky
	1975 ILP John Creasey First Novel (shortlist) : Six Days of the Condor

James Grady recommends

Habeas Corpus (2025)
(Charlie Trust, book 1)
Jake Needham
"Jake Needham is an author we should all treasure, a classic master of suspense who makes readers hunger for more."

The Havana Syndrome (2025)
(Nathan Burke, book 1)
Jeffrey James Higgins
"Jeffrey Higgins is a rising star author in our universe of thrillers... he turns the mysteries and dangers of our times into clock-ticking engrossing reading."

The Ruins (2025)
Steve Wick
"Veteran investigative reporter Steve Wick's fiction debut explodes with ripped from recent headlines about icons and ignored American history that will blow your mind. This multi-leveled, multi-generational crime and espionage story keeps readers guessing right up until the final pages and leaves them with fresh questions about how we all got here."

The Vanishing Man (2024)
(Spy Who Vanished, book 1)
Alma Katsu
"Ex-CIA star Alma Katsu delivers a clock-ticking tale that's both revealing of today's spy world wars and a sly homage to a beloved icon of yesterday's espionage literature - and she does so with characters who show their humanity as well as their covert skills."

Sweet Thing (2023)
David Swinson
"Sweet Thing is a stunning, wonderful, eye-opening, exciting crime novel that lets author and ex-cop David Swinson carry readers into the realities of their own world where crime and justice swirl into hard realities in streets we all drive. Swinson's unique voice lets the readers find out truths beyond the plot of this fast-paced, ticking-clock noir crime story. Swinson is a treasure among crime writers who's been there, done that and shares it all with a cold eye and a hopeful heart. It's a novel to read, to share, to think about when you look in the mirror."

Shadow State (2023)
Frank Sennett
"Frank Sennett's debut thriller Shadow State is a ticking-clock conspiracy racing through the heartland of America and the perimeters of power where truth and justice are often a longshot."

No Home for Killers (2023)
E A Aymar
"In his new book No Home for Killers, E. A. Aymar blends Shakespearian tragedy with street savvy for an engrossing and entertaining novel like none other. Lies, secrets, betrayals, and delightfully whacky humor, plus the trials of romance, fill Aymar's novel. No Home for Killers takes on the killers of our era - big money, horrors against women, racism, and personal guilt - with classic noir's cool eye. E. A. Aymar is a benchmark in noir fiction."

December '41 (2022)
William Martin
"William Martin is one of the best fictional interpreters of history working today. His DECEMBER, '41 reveals the world-changing era that pulled the U.S. into wars and struggles that continue to shape all our lives well into the 21st Century. He reports it all, the heroes and villains, the fallen and the forlorn, the struggles of human beings across the global for freedom."

Paradise Cove (2022)
(Roscoe Conklin Mystery, book 2)
Davin Goodwin
"Davin Goodwin is a rising voice in crime fiction."

False Light (2021)
Eric Dezenhall
"No one knows the world of damage control better than Eric Dezenhall. His portrait of what a savvy operator can do in a crisis is as real as this vehicle for talking about the battles between good and evil. You'll feel like you're reading or watching an exposé on national television or getting to see the whole truth of what our real world doesn't tell you. Highly entertaining and informative."

McGarvey (2020)
(Kirk McGarvey, book 25)
David Hagberg
"Hagberg edges out Tom Clancy for commander of our uniquely American, military based thrillers and espionage novels: high-concept plot, non-stop action, insider knowledge of how things work out there in our complicated, high-combat world."

Record Scratch (2018)
(Trevor Galloway, book 2)
J J Hensley
"Hensley goes beyond cliches to the heart of his fictions and his characters, delivers stories worth your time."

Firefly (2018)
(Paul Samson, book 1)
Henry Porter
"Firefly accomplishes what too few novels today even try to do: this engrossing chase story of terrorism, spies and refugees takes the reader through the realities of our current war-torn world’s innocents even as the novel entertains. This is an important thriller about the real world we all must survive."

The Consultant (2018)
(Jonathan Hunter Thriller, book 1)
Tj O'Connor
"Tj O'Connor is that rare thriller writer with both talent and street time in the worlds he rockets us readers through. O'Connor’s stories will pull you in and race you through plots that come from behind the headlines in our crazy world."

True Fiction (2018)
(Ian Ludlow, book 1)
Lee Goldberg
"Ian Ludlow is one of the coolest heroes to emerge in post-9/11 thrillers. A wonderful, classic yet modern, breakneck suspense novel. Lee Goldberg delivers a great story with a literary metafiction wink that makes its thrills resonate."

Shining City (2017)
(Peter Rena, book 1)
Tom Rosenstiel
"Tom Rosenstiel takes readers behind the clichés and curtains of Washington power politics . . . This is a fascinating novel about how justice is shaped in the United States that couldn't be more timely."

The Things I Love Will Kill Me Yet (2016)
Rob Pierce
"Rob Pierce is one of the more imaginative literary voices in our new emerging era of noir."

Bull Mountain (2015)
(Bull Mountain, book 1)
Brian Panowich
"The resurgence of American heartland noir gets a strong new prose soldier with Brian Panowich's debut novel Bull Mountain, a tense, multi-generational tale of life on the hard side, a cops vs. bad guys story with subtly interwoven family sagas, romance and redemption. Panowich is a rising author to watch."

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