About Chuck Morgan – Award-Winning Colorado Crime Fiction Author

Welcome, readers. My name is Chuck Morgan, and I am the author of the award-winning Buck Taylor Crime Series—14 novels following Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Buck Taylor and his team as they investigate murders across the Colorado mountains. I also write two additional thriller series and several standalones, and I am the author of Her Name Was Jane, a memoir honoring my late wife.

From Construction Sites to Crime Scenes

I spent forty years in construction project management before I sat down to write my first novel in 2018. That career taught me things I still use as a writer every day: how to plan a project from scratch, how to keep things moving when complications arise, and — most importantly — how to spot when something doesn't add up. Turns out those are useful instincts when your protagonist investigates homicides for a living.

I didn't set out to write a fourteen-book series. I set out to write one story about a CBI agent named Buck Taylor. Readers responded, and Buck wouldn't let me stop. More than six years later, the series is still going, and I'm still finding new crimes to investigate across the Rockies.

The Buck Taylor Crime Series (link this heading to /collections/buck-taylor-crime-series)

Buck Taylor is a Colorado Bureau of Investigation special agent who investigates murders in Colorado's mountain communities—places where the scenery is breathtaking and the secrets run deep. The series is gritty, fast-paced, and grounded in real CBI procedure. All 14 novels work as standalone stories, though readers who start at the beginning get the richest experience as Buck, his team, and the relationships around him evolve across the series.

The series has earned a Chanticleer Book Award and a Pacific Book Award. I'm proud of both, but the messages from readers who stayed up too late finishing a Buck Taylor novel mean just as much. If you're new to the series, start with Crime Interrupted, Book 1.

The Leilani Kealoha Hawaiian Island Thriller Series (link this heading to /collections/leilani-kealoha)

My second series took me somewhere completely different — the Hawaiian Islands. Detective Leilani Kealoha navigates crime against a backdrop of ancient Hawaiian tradition, island politics, and the kind of secrets that communities close to the ocean tend to keep. Writing it required research into Hawaiian culture that I found endlessly fascinating. The five-book series is atmospheric and character-driven. Start with Murder in Paradise.

The Delia Cahill Assassin Series (link this heading to /collections/delia-cahill-assassin-series)

Delia Cahill is darker territory. She's a contract killer with a personal code, and the series explores the moral complexity that comes with that. Lean, tense, and unapologetically dark — two books in so far, with more planned. Start with The Assassin's Heart.

Writing Colorado

Colorado isn't just a backdrop in my fiction—it's a character. I live here, hike here, and fly-fish the same mountain streams where some of my scenes unfold. The high-altitude light, the isolated ranch communities, the long distances between towns — all of it shapes how my stories move. I couldn't write Buck Taylor from anywhere else.

When I'm not writing, I spend time in the mountains with my Siberian husky, Zoe—who has strong opinions about hiking pace and absolutely no interest in my deadlines. I also watch more British crime shows than is probably healthy, and I read constantly. My favorite authors are C.J. Box, Lee Child, Michael Connelly, J.A. Jance, and James Patterson — writers who understand that the best crime fiction is really about character under pressure.

Let's connect.

I'm on Instagram and Facebook, and I'd genuinely love to connect with readers. If you have a question about a book or an order or just want to talk crime fiction, reach out—I read every message.

If you're ready to start reading, grab Crime Interrupted—Book 1 of the Buck Taylor series—and see if the Colorado Rockies are where you want to spend your next few evenings. I think they are.