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Sean McLachlan

Goodreads Author

Website

https://www.seanmclachlan.net/

Genre

Mystery, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction

Member Since

August 2011

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Sean McLachlan is a former archaeologist who worked for many years on excavations in the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. Now a full-time writer, he specializes in fiction, history, and adventure travel. In 2013 he won the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award for his Iraq reportage.

Half of Sean's time is spent on the road researching and writing. He's traveled to more than 30 countries, interviewing nomads in Somaliland, climbing to clifftop monasteries in Ethiopia, studying Crusader castles in Syria, and exploring caves in his favorite state of Missouri.

Sean works in a number of genres, especially historical mystery and science fiction.

Sean is always happy to hear from his readers, so drop him a line via his blog! ...more

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Where are you heading next in your travels?

Sean McLachlan I'll be back in Tangier for three weeks next month. That's the setting for The Last Hotel Room. This time I'll be working on a completely different pr…moreI'll be back in Tangier for three weeks next month. That's the setting for The Last Hotel Room. This time I'll be working on a completely different project that's unrelated to Morocco, the next in my Toxic World series in fact. I find it a great place to write. I don't have Internet in my house and while I have friends in town, I get enough solitude to get a lot of work done. I'll also be traveling around the country a bit, although I'm not sure where yet.
I'm considering going back to Iran early next year. I was there back in 1994 and loved the archaeological and architectural wonders. Plus the food is awesome. My family loved Morocco, so I think Iran will blow their minds!(less)

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You're also a travel writer. How does that connect -- or not -- with your fiction writing?

Sean McLachlan I've spent much of my life exploring the world, often in purportedly no-go areas where all the people are supposed to hate me. I'm still alive. I have…moreI've spent much of my life exploring the world, often in purportedly no-go areas where all the people are supposed to hate me. I'm still alive. I haven't used real places too much in my fiction, but the attitudes and insights I've gained from traveling do affect my novels. I've found that people are pretty much concerned with the same things--work, love, lust, family, growing old, what that annoying neighbor is up to this time, etc.
Plus I've found that most people are decent wherever you go. Of course lots of folks say that, but I've had it proven to me time and again in places like Iraq, Syria, and Somaliland. The only place I've ever been mugged was Connecticut. Watch out for Connecticut.
This sort of experience helps steer you away from stereotypes and lazy characterizations. Or as the character Tom says in my upcoming novel The Last Hotel Room, "People in Tangier are like everywhere else--some good, some bad, and a lot of lumps in between." He's a bit of a bastard.
This novel (due out in 2016) is the first that's set in a place that I've spent time. It's a bit odd that I don't use real-world places more often. I'm not sure why I don't. I do use bits and pieces of things I've seen, though. For example, in northern Spain there are these deep, steep-sided valleys. Many of them are spanned by concrete bridges that soar 100 meters or more above the valley floor. As I was writing the post-apocalyptic novel Radio Hope I thought, "What if my characters had to cross one of these things after it hadn't been maintained for fifty years? What if they had to do it under fire?" I'm acrophobic so my characters often find themselves in trouble in high places!
Other little bits and pieces have made their way into my fiction--artifacts I've seen in museums, foreign expressions, odd people I've met, etc. I also try to have as diverse a cast as possible, not to score points in some liberal contest, but simply because it makes the work more interesting. Racism and mistrust are recurrent themes in my work, and my characters do not always overcome it. A few of my readers haven't either. I've gotten hate mail for having sympathetic black and Muslim characters. Oh well.(less)

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Sean McLachlan’s books

Average rating: 4.12 · 3,485 ratings · 344 reviews · 88 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Case of the Purloined Pyramid (The Masked Man of Cairo Book 1) 4.05 avg rating — 788 ratings — published 2018 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Case of the Shifting Sarcophagus (The Masked Man of Cairo Book 2) 4.32 avg rating — 300 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Case of the Golden Greeks (The Masked Man of Cairo Book 3) 4.44 avg rating — 219 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Case of the Karnak Killer (The Masked Man of Cairo Book 4) 4.45 avg rating — 189 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Case of the Asphyxiated Alexandrian: The Masked Man of Cairo Book 5 4.40 avg rating — 170 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Case of the Cackling Crocodile (The Masked Man of Cairo Book 7) 4.64 avg rating — 107 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Radio Hope 4.04 avg rating — 101 ratings — published 2014 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Weird and Mysterious United States: Mysteries, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena across America by Sean McLachlan (Goodreads Author), Charles River Editors 3.62 avg rating — 104 ratings — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Case of the Disappearing Dervish (The Masked Man of Cairo Book 6) 4.62 avg rating — 81 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Weird Ireland: A History of Ancient Mysteries, Fantastic Folklore, and Urban Legends Across the Emerald Isle by Sean McLachlan (Goodreads Author), Charles River Editors 3.19 avg rating — 95 ratings — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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976 posts
Sean McLachlan's Blog

My Travel Year: A Look Back And A Look Forward

The year 2025 was a good one for my wanderlust. I started the year in Egypt, where I spent two months in Cairo and the Fayoum, researching and writing The Case of the Cackling Crocodile . Then I went to Canada for two months to see family.

Summer saw my wife and I in Albano, near Rome, where my wife was teaching a bunch of astronomy graduate students at the Vatican Summer School. I wrote and

Series by Sean McLachlan

The Masked Man of Cairo (7 books)
by

Sean McLachlan (Goodreads Author)

4.24 avg rating — 1,817 ratings

Toxic World (4 books)
by

Sean McLachlan (Goodreads Author)

4.07 avg rating — 181 ratings

Interzone (3 books)
by

Sean McLachlan (Goodreads Author)

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 88 ratings

Trench Raiders (4 books)
by

Sean McLachlan (Goodreads Author)

4.21 avg rating — 47 ratings

Sean is Currently Reading

Sean McLachlan is currently reading

The Civil War in Missouri, Day by Day, 1861 to 1865

by Rocky Medley

bookshelves: currently-reading, civil-war, missouri

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Aug 21, 2011 07:27AM

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Sean’s Recent Updates

Sean McLachlan wrote a new blog post My Writing Year: A Look Back and a Look Forward It's been a busy year for me when it comes to writing and publishing.It may not seem like it to my readers, because I only released two books in 2026 Read more of this blog post »
Jan 23, 2026 10:37AM · like

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Quotes by Sean McLachlan (?)

“Don’t be afraid of it. It’s just a bird.” “Looks more like a monster.” Faisal watched it, still concerned, as it slowly stalked away. The peacock folded up its feathers and reopened them, shaking them so all those eyes on the end vibrated back and forth.”
― Sean McLachlan, The Case of the Karnak Killer

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“Have”
― Sean McLachlan, The Case of the Purloined Pyramid

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