Hi. I’m Larry Vardiman, your personal mystery writer.

I’m a paleoclimatologist, retired in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. I’ve published dozens of technical books, articles, and monographs on climate and weather.

Now I’m pursuing my passion of writing murder mysteries. Look for a dozen of my murder mysteries on Amazon.com: Green Bayous, Moon Bubbles, UCLA Body Stasher, White Death, The Chicago Boys, Tunnels of Manhattan, Arch Villains, Rocky Mountain Lie, The Big One, String of Pearls, Tijuana Tunnel, and Hance Creek Hermit.

What would make a well-published career scientist turn to writing murder mysteries, you ask? After 50 years of research and writing I needed a new career that would keep my mind active as my body began to deteriorate. Following a double brain hemorrhage that damaged the left side of my brain and paralyzed the right half of my body, I began to write murder mysteries at the senior living facility where my wife, Jeannette, and I took up residence. In the two years since retiring I’ve written 17 books using only the index finger of my right hand. I found that the less-damaged, more-creative right side of my brain had the ability to create characters, plots, and scenes that pull the reader into my stories. Fortunately, Jeannette and I traveled extensively and I was able to draw on memories of people, places, and adventures we experienced.

My main characters, Maurice Bordeau and Anthony Bristol, are drawn from similar detectives in Agatha Christy’s Henri Poirot series. However, the plots and scenes are updated to the 21st century in America. Bordeau and Bristol travel by train throughout the U.S. solving murders as consultants to local police detectives that he helped train using his investigative technique at Scotland Yard called French Logique. His former students telegraph him to assist as he travels across the country. My stories describe experiences riding Amtrak, residing in five-star hotels, eating at world-class restaurants, exchanging banter between bachelor colleagues, observing cultural differences as the two Brits interact with Americans, and confronting the current political/cultural conflicts in the U.S. I draw on the writings and the storytelling styles of O’Henry, Mark Twain, Agatha Christy, and Garrison Keillor. What an enjoyable way to leave a legacy for my family and friends.