Thanks for visiting the Internet home of crime novelist Thomas B. Cavanagh.

He has won a Florida Book Award Gold Medal, been a finalist for a Best Novel Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America, and received a starred review from Library Journal.

In reviews of his novels, Tom has been compared to Hiaasen, Connelly, MacDonald, Westlake, Abrahams, and Robert B. Parker. Put all those comparisons into hat, shake them up, and you get a sense of his writing style. Tom is the author of the forthcoming Diamond Cut, as well as Murderland, Head Games, and Prodigal Son, the last two of which feature cynical Orlando private investigator Mike Garrity and his “sidekick,” a brain tumor named Bob.

Thanks for visiting!

EARLY PRAISE FOR DIAMOND CUT

“Diamond Cut is fast-paced and suspenseful, but with humor and heart. You’ll be rooting for Sandy Corrigan with every thrilling turn of the page.”
(Janet Evanovich, #1 NY Times best-selling author of the Stephanie Plum series.)

“Thumbs up for Diamond Cut! Thomas B. Cavanagh has given us Sandy Corrigan, an engaging, multi-layered, thoughtful PI with a painful past, one you’ll remember long after you’ve read the last page.”
(Tracy Clark, author of the Cass Raines and Det. Harriet Foster series, and winner of the 2020 and 2022 Sue Grafton Memorial Award)

“Sandy Corrigan is a great protagonist with a truly checkered past. She uses it to her advantage when she gets sucked into the world she thought she had left behind. Diamond Cut is a thought provoking and compelling crime novel set within the world of human trafficking. I highly recommend it.”
(James O. Born, NY Times best-selling author of Obsessed)

“Diamond Cut chronicles one woman’s dangerous adventure into her former life as a call girl to find a missing woman, written with a solid understanding of the unique ebb and flow of Florida life.”
(Lisa Black, NY Times best-selling author of the Locard Institute series)

“Fast action, snappy dialogue, and empathy galore add up to a quick read, and with an 11th-hour twist, this book keeps on giving right till the last page. I hope for more from PI Corrigan.”
(Henrietta Verma, firstCLUE Reviews)

“This is a real page-turner with humor, nerve-wracking suspense and tragedy. The writing was phenomenal…The story was brilliant…I highly recommend this one to any and all thriller/mystery readers. Four and a half stars.”
(Jamie Galayda, @galaydabookreviews Instagram review)

PRAISE FOR THE AWARD-WINNING HEAD GAMES

“An Orlando thriller that reads like a high-speed theme park ride. Cavanagh’s writing is tough and lean, with dark humor so sharp it’ll make you bleed.”
(Brian Freeman, NY Times best-selling author of Immoral and Stripped)

“This…novel by an award-winning writer for children’s television has everything: dark humor, great suspense … and heart … Readers who liked Peter Abrahams’s Oblivion, about an amnesiac detective, will eat this up.”
(Library Journal: starred review)

“Cavanagh’s ambitious debut has a terrific premise and many appealing touches, including an unbeatable cliffhanger.”
(Kirkus Reviews)

“…entertaining…Fans of the classic PI novel will hope to see more of this wonderfully crotchety protagonist.”
(Publisher’s Weekly)

“Carl Hiaasen and Donald Westlake readers will enjoy Cavanagh’s debut, which crackles with cranky commentary on one man’s cranial state of affairs.”
(Booklist)

“…Cavanagh creates likeable characters you want to see in future installments and a plot that comes up with a surprise or two.”
(Sarah Weinman, Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind: Pick of the Week)

“Cavanagh’s novel has it all; a sardonically and outrageously funny lead character who will rope you in by page one and take you on a wild ride you’ll never want to end. Truly, the best book I’ve read in a long time. Tom Cavanagh has a new and devoted fan in me.”
(Charlotte Hughes, NY Times bestselling coauthor of the Full series with Janet Evanovich)

“Cavanagh infuses the classic private eye novel with a bit of dark humor, realistic dialogue and a clear vision of Central Florida…Best of all, Cavanagh puts at the center a likeable, complicated character…Cavanagh avoids cliches as he infuses Head Games with a sense of humor and twists in both plot and character.”
(Oline Cogdill, South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

“Cavangh’s debut novel was Murderland and I shall look it up soon, hoping to find another solid plot, believable characters and the true humanity and wickedly funny wit that I found in Head Games.”
(Michele Patterson, Tulsa World)

“Mixing sardonic humor with fast-paced action, Cavanagh’s emotionally-charged, entertaining tale is great fun, leaving the satisfied reader with the hope of a compelling sequel.”
(Ray Walsh, Lansing State Journal)

“I’m hoping there’s more to come from Thomas B. Cavanagh because it’s hard enough to find talented new writers lately, and this one has lots more to tell us.”
(Andi Shechter, ReviewingtheEvidence.com)

“Cavanagh sets himself apart from the crowd of dime-a-dozen mystery writers by capturing the reader’s attention immediately with the confident handling of his material…Cavanagh is definitely a writer to keep your eyes on.”
(Cathy Mathias, Florida Today)

“Relentless pacing, local color, mystery, and action–and folks you will root for as they crash against evil. The action and the mystery will keep you reading, but the characters will make you want a whole other book … Cavanagh is another rich, strong voice from Florida.”
(Claire Matturro, author of Wildcat Wine, Skinny-Dipping, and Bone Valley)

“Thomas Cavanagh is a great new talent in crime fiction. His voice is tough and tender, sad and funny, a writer equally adept at creating fast-paced action, believable dialogue, and a story with more twists than the latest dance routine of your favorite boy band. The make-believe city of Orlando deserves a crime writer with guts, imagination, and a sense of humor; Cavanagh has all three in spades.”
(Lee Irby, author of 7,000 Clams and The Up and Up)

“Flat-out funny, smart, and, refreshingly humane, this Florida thriller is set in the whacked-out pre-fab world of Orlando, between Sea World and Disney, where money talks, boy bands rule, and asking too many questions could get a dying man killed. This is a nail-biter with a heart.”
(N.M. Kelby, author of Whale Season, In the Company of Angels, and Theater of the Stars)

“Head Games is a sharp and convincing new take on the private eye novel, underscored with the sobering tang of mortality.”
(Wallace Stroby, author of The Heartbreak Lounge and The Barbed-Wire Kiss)

“A funny, debut thriller… Highly recommended.”
(Clues Unlimited Mystery Bookstore)

“An inventive and ambitious mystery featuring a wryly humorous protagonist.”
(Cincinatti / Hamilton County Public Library Review)

PRAISE FOR PRODIGAL SON

“…a quick and exciting read.”
(Omaha World-Herald)

“Cavanagh’s crackerjack pace and his hero’s lack of self-pity compellingly dramatize the chaos of Mike’s life.”
(Kirkus Reviews)

“With the clarity of Robert B. Parker and the complexity of Michael Connelly, Prodigal Son disturbs and charms at the same time.”
(Booklist)

“…a classic page-turner. Cavanagh…manages to give us both tight, spare prose and strong, interesting characters…the brisk action keeps Prodigal Son humming along smartly at a pulse-quickening pace.”
(St. Petersburg Times)

“Cavanagh…avoids cliches as he infuses ‘Prodigal Son’ with a strong sense of humor and exciting twists in both plot and character.”
(South Forida Sun-Sentinel)

“If you enjoy good crime fiction with more plot twists than the Busch Gardens Python, you’ll love Cavanagh’s Prodigal Son. It’s sharp, witty, loaded with action and so well-plotted that it will keep you guessing right through to its surprise ending.”
(WGCU-FM)