# Rex Burns

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{{Short description|American author}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- For more information see [:Template:Infobox Writer/doc](/source/%3ATemplate%3AInfobox_Writer%2Fdoc). -->
| image         = 
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| pseudonym     =
| birth_name    =Raoul Sehler
| birth_date    ={{birth year and age|1935}}
| birth_place   =[San Diego](/source/San_Diego), [California](/source/California), U.S.
| death_date    = 
| death_place   =
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| occupation    =
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| education     =
| alma_mater    =[Stanford University](/source/Stanford_University)<br>[University of Minnesota](/source/University_of_Minnesota)
| period        =
| genre         =[Crime fiction](/source/Crime_fiction)
| subject       =
| movement      =
| notableworks  =[The Alvarez Journal](/source/The_Alvarez_Journal)
| spouse        = 
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| relatives     =
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| awards        =[Edgar Award](/source/Edgar_Award) for best first novel, 1976<ref name="theedgars">{{cite web|url=http://theedgars.com/edgarsDB/index.php|title=Edgar Award Winners and Nominees Database|publisher=theedgars.com|accessdate=2014-07-07|archive-date=2019-04-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404232840/http://theedgars.com/edgarsDB/index.php|url-status=dead}}</ref>
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| website       ={{URL|rexburns.com}}
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'''Rex Burns''' (born 1935 in [San Diego](/source/San_Diego), California), born Raoul Stephen Sehler, is an American author of [crime fiction](/source/crime_fiction). He has published numerous books, stories, articles, and reviews.

==Personal life==
Burns graduated from [Stanford University](/source/Stanford_University) with a degree in English and Creative Writing. He went on to pursue a PhD in American Studies at the [University of Minnesota](/source/University_of_Minnesota), but his studies were temporarily interrupted by a term in the [US Marine Corps](/source/US_Marine_Corps), where he rose to the rank of [Captain](/source/Captain_(armed_forces)). Until 2000, when he retired, Burns was a professor of [American literature](/source/American_literature) at the [University of Colorado Denver](/source/University_of_Colorado_Denver).<ref>{{cite book |last=Ashley |first=Mike |authorlink=Mike Ashley (writer) |date=2002 |title=The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Modern Crime Fiction|publisher=Running Press |isbn=9780786710065 |url=https://archive.org/details/mammothencyclope00ashl |url-access=registration }}</ref>

==Career==
At the age of 40, Burns began writing novels. His first, The Alvarez Journal, won the [Edgar Award](/source/Edgar_Award) for best first novel. The book introduced Gabriel Wager, a hard-drinking Mexican-American detective with the Denver police force. The Wager series lasted for ten more books, one of which (The Avenging Angel) was adapted into the 1988 film [Messenger of Death](/source/Messenger_of_Death), starring [Charles Bronson](/source/Charles_Bronson).<ref name="imdb">{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095626/|title=Messenger of Death (1988) - IMDb|publisher=imdb.com|accessdate=2014-07-07}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
To date, Burns has written sixteen novels in three different series (plus another novel under the pseudonym "Tom Sehler").<ref>[http://coloradoauthors.org/members/rex-burns/ Rex Burns|Colorado Authors' League]</ref>

'''Gabriel Wager Series'''
# The Alvarez Journal (1975)
# The Farnsworth Score (1977)
# Speak for the Dead (1978)
# Angle of Attack (1979)
# The Avenging Angel (1983)
# Strip Search (1984)
# Ground Money (1986)
# The Killing Zone (1988)
# Endangered Species (1993)
# Blood Line (1995)
# The Leaning Land (1997)

'''Devlin Kirk Series'''
# Suicide Season (1987)
# Parts Unknown (1990)
# Body Guard (1991)

'''Touchstone Agency Mysteries'''
# Body Slam (2014)
# Crude Carrier (2014)

'''As "Tom Sehler"'''
* When Reason Sleeps (1991)

'''Fables'''
# The Frogs of Sawhill Ponds, Vol. 1
# The Frogs of Sawhill Ponds, Vol. 2

'''Non-fiction'''
* Success in America: The Yeoman Dream and the Industrial Revolution (1976)
* Crime Classics: The Mystery Story from Poe to the Present (1990)

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Rex}}
Category:1935 births
Category:20th-century American male writers
Category:20th-century American novelists
Category:21st-century American male writers
Category:21st-century American novelists
Category:American crime fiction writers
Category:American male novelists
Category:Edgar Award winners
Category:Living people
Category:Novelists from Colorado
Category:Stanford University alumni
Category:United States Marine Corps officers
Category:University of Colorado Denver faculty
Category:University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts alumni
Category:Writers from San Diego

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Rex Burns](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Burns) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Burns?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.