{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2021}} {{Short description|Pseudonymous writer}} {{about||the Medal of Honor recipient|James Robb Church|the inventor of the snow sampler|James E. Church}}
'''James Church''' is the pseudonym of an American author of six detective novels featuring a North Korean policeman, "Inspector O".
Church is identified on the back cover of his novels as "a former Western intelligence officer with decades of experience in Asia".<ref name="Slate 2010">{{cite news | last = Bosch | first = Torie | accessdate= September 7, 2010 | date = September 6, 2011 | title =Why Don't More North Koreans Defect? James Church's Inspector O detective series offers surprising insights. | url = http://www.slate.com/id/2262159/ | newspaper =Slate }}</ref> He grew up in the San Fernando Valley in the United States, and was over sixty years old in 2009.<ref name="LAT 2009">{{cite news | last = Demick | first = Barbara | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | title=A novel look at North Korea | access-date = September 7, 2010 | date = May 2, 2009 | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-may-02-fg-korea-detective2-story.html }}</ref> His name and identity are known in the community of North Korea watchers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=In North Korea, a hard-boiled (and fictional) cop keeps watch |work=The Korea Herald |date=August 29, 2016 |access-date=April 12, 2020 |url= http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20160829000287 |agency=AP }}</ref>
His "Inspector O" novels have been well-received, being noted by Asia specialists for offering "an unusually nuanced and detailed portrait" of North Korean society.<ref name="Washington Post 2006">{{cite news |last=Kessler |first=Glenn l |date=December 27, 2006 |title=The Book on North Korea: Thriller Provides Rare Glimpse of Closed Nation |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/12/27/the-book-on-north-korea-span-classbankheadthriller-provides-rare-glimpse-of-closed-nationspan/b967add1-a880-4534-895b-7f1a4de4715b/ |accessdate=January 14, 2023}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> A Korea Society panel praised the first book in the series for its realism and its ability to convey "the suffocating atmosphere of a totalitarian state".<ref>{{cite web |title=A Corpse in the Koryo: A North Korean Murder Mystery |url=http://www.koreasociety.org/culture_policy_society/culture_policy_society/a_corpse_in_the_koryo_a_north_korean_murder_mystery.html |publisher=Korea Society |accessdate=September 7, 2010 |date=May 8, 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100802141418/http://www.koreasociety.org/culture_policy_society/culture_policy_society/a_corpse_in_the_koryo_a_north_korean_murder_mystery.html |archivedate=August 2, 2010 }}</ref> ''The Independent''<ref name="Independent 2007">{{cite news | last = Cornwell | first = Rupert | accessdate = September 7, 2010 | date= February 17, 2007 | title=State of suspense: Unlocking the enigma of North Korea | newspaper = The Independent | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/state-of-suspense-unlocking-the-enigma-of-north-korea-436666.html }}</ref> and the ''Washington Post'' compared the protagonist to Arkady Renko, the Soviet chief inspector in Martin Cruz Smith's ''Gorky Park'', for providing "a vivid window into a mysterious country".<ref name="Washington Post 2006" />
==Works== The "Inspector O" series of books are published by Minotaur Books, an imprint of St. Martin's Press, in the United States. * {{cite book | title = A Corpse in the Koryo | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-0-312-35208-0 | url = https://archive.org/details/corpseinkoryo00chur }} * {{cite book | title = Hidden Moon | year = 2007 | publisher = St. Martin's Minotaur | isbn = 978-0-312-35209-7 | url = https://archive.org/details/hiddenmooninspec00chur }} * {{cite book | title = Bamboo and Blood | year = 2008 | publisher = Minotaur Books | isbn = 978-0-312-37291-0 | url = https://archive.org/details/bambooblood00chur_0 }} * {{cite book | last1 = Church | first1 = James | title = The Man with the Baltic Stare | year = 2010 | publisher = St. Martin's Press | isbn = 978-0-312-37292-7 | url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780312372927 }} * {{cite book | title = A Drop of Chinese Blood | year = 2012 | isbn = 9780312550639 }} *{{cite book|last1=Church |first1=James |title=The Gentleman from Japan|date=2016|publisher=St. Martin's Publishing |isbn=978-0-312-61431-7}}
==See also== {{Portal|Biography}} *Bandi (writer) - pseudonymous North Korean writer
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://us.macmillan.com/author/jameschurch James Church's page] on Macmillan Publishers' website *[https://www.38north.org/author/james-church/ Short stories by James Church] at ''38 North''
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Church, James}} Category:Society of North Korea Category:American thriller writers Category:American spy fiction writers Category:American crime fiction writers Category:21st-century pseudonymous writers