A. C. Frieden

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A.C. Frieden, (1966, Dakar, Senegal) is an author of thrillers and mysteries, including the Jonathan Brooks series.^[1]

After leaving his birthplace in Senegal, Frieden spent several years in Asia and Europe before emigrating with his parents to the southern United States in the early 1980s. In the mid-1980s, he returned to Switzerland to serve in the Swiss Army, where he trained as a marksman. He later came back to the U.S. to complete undergraduate and graduate studies.^[2]

His first manuscript, Canvas Sunsets Never Fade, a mystery based on nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, was written in 2000 and published in 2004. His second novel Tranquility Denied^[3] is set in post-Cold War Moscow, Stockholm and Southern Louisiana, and is the first in a series featuring maritime lawyer Jonathan Brooks. The book was launched in the U.S. and Russia in late 2006, followed by the sequel, The Serpent's Game, in 2013,^[4] and The Pyongyang Option in March, 2019.^[5][6] His publishers, Down & Out Books and Avendia Publishing, launched the latest Jonathan Brooks thriller, Midnight in Delhi^[7] in November, 2024.

For his novels, Frieden has researched conflicts of the Cold War,^[8] including the Tito–Stalin split, the French Indochina War, the Korean War, the United States intervention in Chile, the Invasion of Panama, CIA activities in Bolivia, and the August Coup in the former Soviet Union. He has also researched key events in the post-Cold War era, such as the sinking of the K-141 Kursk, the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, and the 2011 Libyan civil war. His research has included interviewing key political figures and journalists in Bolivia, Chile, Serbia, Turkey, Uruguay and Venezuela. He witnessed the 2009 Honduran coup d'état, interviewed former combatants in Nicaragua and visited the former Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in northern Ukraine. Frieden also went to China and Vietnam to research another novel, and he recently published a photography book capturing his journey through North Korea, including Pyongyang, Kaesong and the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Frieden has also written about his globetrotting book research in Thrilleresque Magazine.^[9] In addition, his non-fiction works have appeared in legal, technology and international business publications worldwide.

Frieden has been a featured speaker at major literary events, including *Bouchercon*, one of the world's leading crime fiction conferences.

- **Bouchercon 2018 (St. Petersburg):** Participated a panel titled *"Globetrotters – International Plots"* alongside New York Times bestselling author J. T. Ellison.^[10]

- **Bouchercon 2019 (Dallas):** Participated in a panel titled *"The Lone Hero"* with authors Reavis Z. Wortham and Joe R. Lansdale.^[11][12]

- **Bouchercon 2024 (Nashville):** Spoke on a panel discussion on *espionage thrillers*.^[13]

- **Bouchercon 2025 (Upcoming):** Scheduled to appear on a panel discussing *geopolitical themes in crime fiction*.^[14]

• Dead in the Quarter (announced for 9/2025) - 5th Jonathan Brooks Series, Down & Out Books
• Midnight in Delhi (2024) - 4th Jonathan Brooks Series, Down & Out Books ISBN 1643963759
• The Pyongyang Option (2019) - 3rd Jonathan Brooks Series, Down & Out Books ASIN ISBN B07P8JG44Z ISBN
• The Serpent's Game (2013) - 2nd Jonathan Brooks Series, Down & Out Books ASIN ISBN B00H5Y0ICO ISBN
• Tranquility Denied (2007) - 1st Jonathan Brooks Series, Down & Out Books ASIN ISBN B00EYIJEJM ISBN
• Canvas Sunsets Never Fade (2004), Avendia Publ. ISBN 0-9747934-0-X

• (Oct. 2014) "The Rendezvous", Down, Out and Dead, D&O Books ISBN 978-1-937495-81-7
• (Sep. 2008) "Atonement", SIN: A Deadly Anthology,^[15] Avendia Publ. ISBN 0-9747934-6-9

• North Korea: A Photographic Journey through the Hermit Kingdom (2011), Avendia Publ. ISBN 0-9747934-7-7

• A.C. Frieden Novels - Official Website