Vincent H. O'Neil Novels

Works and Sample Chapters

Military Science Fiction
Death Troupe Mysteries
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Frank Cole Mystery
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Click on the link above to read a sample chapter
Click on the link above to read a sample chapter
Click on the link above to read a sample chapter

Quick Links

"O'Neil is a polished storyteller with a breezy style."
--Marilyn Stasio in The Sunday New York Times




For decades, mankind has been at war with an enemy that resembles the human race so closely that they are known as the Sims. Both sides battle for control of habitable planets across the galaxies, making this a limited war in some respects.

Enter Lieutenant Jander Mortas, new to the war zone but eager to prove himself. There's just one problem: Something happened to the ship transporting him to his first assignment, and he awakes to find himself marooned on a habitable planet that appears deserted. Most of the other passengers died in the crash landing, but he's left with three members of the Human Defense Force: Captain Amelia Trent, a psychoanalyst who is better at treating combat stress than experiencing it. Chartist Gorman, a conscientious objector more concerned with preserving his soul than saving his life. Corporal Cranther, a bitter veteran of a brutal slave-scout detachment who values his own skin above everyone else's.

Thrown together, they must battle the elements, the enemy, and possibly each other.



Vincent H. O’Neil brings a wealth of life experience to his writing. He has served as a US Army officer, a consultant, a risk manager, an advertiser, and as an apprentice librarian.

A native of Massachusetts, he holds a Bachelor of Science from West Point and a Master of Arts in International Affairs from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. After writing in his spare time for many years, he won the St. Martin’s Press "Malice Domestic" Writing Competition in 2005.

His award-winning debut novel, Murder in Exile, was the first book in a mystery series featuring the background-checker Frank Cole. It was followed by Reduced Circumstances (2007) Exile Trust (2008) and Contest of Wills, which was released in 2010.

He has also been published in two anthologies. "Finish the Job", his tale of a father-daughter team of art thieves who have some trouble breaking into a museum, is featured in Quarry: Crime Stories by New England Writers from Level Best Books (2009) and his darker story, "Blood Tells", about a money launderer who makes a big decision in a short span of time, appears in Bad Cop - No Donut from Padwolf Publishing (2010)

His newest mystery novel, Death Troupe, is the first book in a theater-based mystery series featuring playwright Jack Glynn and the unusual members of the Jerome Barron Players theater troupe.

Harlequin Worldwide Mystery has released all four of the Frank Cole "Exile" novels in paperback, and published a paperback version of Death Troupe in March, 2013.

His latest work is a military science fiction novel of survival called Glory Main: A Story of the Sim War, which draws heavily from his experiences as a young infantry officer and paratrooper.