{{short description|American author (1933–2003)}} {{more citations needed|date=August 2025}} {{Infobox writer | image = | imagesize = | alt = | caption = | name = Marc C. Olden | birth_name = Marc Clarence Morse | birth_date = December 25, 1933 | birth_place = Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.<ref name="bio"/> | death_date = September 5, 2003 (aged 69) | death_place = New York City, New York, U.S. | genre = Crime fiction, Hardboiled, Mystery, Thriller }}
'''Marc Clarence Olden''' (December 25, 1933 – September 5, 2003) was an American author of mystery and suspense.
==Early life== Marc Clarence Morse was born in Baltimore, Maryland. His biological father's surname was Morse. He was raised by his mother and stepfather, both African-Americans, actress and model Courtenaye Lina Macbeth (1917–2015) and graphic designer Georg Olden (1920–1975).<ref name="bio">{{cite web|url=http://www.marcolden.com/bio.htm|title=BIOGRAPHY - MARC OLDEN|author=Crafford, Diane|year=2011|accessdate=2017-10-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/24/classified/paid-notice-deaths-olden-marc.html|title=Paid Notice: Deaths OLDEN, MARC|work=The New York Times|date=2003-09-24|accessdate=2017-10-04}}</ref> After Georg was hired as art director for CBS, the Oldens moved to New York City. Olden graduated from Queens College.
==Career== Marc Olden started his writing career with two works of non-fiction — a biography of Angela Davis and a study of cocaine in 1970s New York — before turning to the fiction genres of thriller and suspense. Under the pen name Robert Hawkes, Olden began writing the Narc series, which follows a policeman on a counterdrug task force.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hamilton |first=Glen Erik |date=2021-08-10 |title=Literary Sensei: Marc Olden |url=https://www.criminalelement.com/literary-sensei-marc-olden/ |access-date=2026-03-11 |website=Criminal Element |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Marc Olden |url=https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/119612.Marc_Olden |access-date=2026-03-11 |website=www.goodreads.com}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=April 2026}}
==Bibliography== ===Narc novels=== (As Robert Hawkes) # ''Narc'' (1973) # ''Death of a Courier'' (1974) # ''Death List'' (1974) # ''The Delgado Killings'' (1974) # ''Kill the Dragon'' (1974) # ''The Beauty Kill'' (1975) # ''Corsican Death'' (1975) # ''Death Song'' (1975) # ''Kill for It'' (1975)
===Black Samurai novels=== # ''Black Samurai'' (1974) # ''The Golden Kill'' (1974) # ''Killer Warrior'' (1974) # ''The Deadly Pearl'' (1974) # ''The Inquisition'' (1974) # ''The Warlock'' (1975) # ''Sword of Allah'' (1975) # ''The Katana'' (1975)
===The Harker File novels=== # ''The Harker File'' (1976) # ''Dead and Paid For'' (1976) # ''They’ve Killed Anna'' (1977) # ''Kill the Reporter'' (1978)
===Other novels=== * ''Wellington's'' (1977) * ''The Informant'' (1978) * ''Poe Must Die'' (1978) * ''Gossip'' (1979) * ''Book of Shadows'' (1980) * ''Choices'' (1980) (As Leslie Crafford) * ''A Dangerous Glamour'' (1982) * ''Giri'' (1982) * ''The Unvanquished'' (1983) (As Terry Nelsen Bonner) * ''Dai-sho'' (1983) * ''Gaijin'' (1986) * ''Oni'' (1987) * ''Sword of Vengeance'' (1990) * ''Kisaeng'' (1991) * ''Krait'' (1992) * ''Fear's Justice'' (1996) * ''The Ghost'' (1999)
===Non-fiction=== * ''Angela Davis'' (1973) * ''Cocaine'' (1973)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{cite web|title=KISAENG by Marc Olden|publisher=Kirkus Reviews|date=18 June 1991|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/marc-olden/kisaeng/|accessdate=20 July 2014}} * {{cite web|url=http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/o/marc-olden/|title=Marc Olden|publisher=Fantastic Fiction|date=2014|accessdate=20 July 2014}} * [https://www.marcolden.com/ Marc Olden author page Mysterious Press]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Olden, Marc}} Category:1933 births Category:2003 deaths Category:Writers from Baltimore Category:Novelists from New York City Category:20th-century American novelists Category:21st-century American novelists Category:African-American novelists Category:American male novelists Category:American mystery novelists Category:American thriller writers Category:Queens College, City University of New York alumni Category:20th-century American male writers Category:21st-century American male writers Category:Novelists from Maryland Category:20th-century African-American writers Category:21st-century African-American writers Category:African-American male writers