Writers Read: Peter Colt

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

Peter Colt

Peter Colt is a 1996 graduate of the University of Rhode Island with a BA in Political Science. Colt was a 24-year veteran of the Army Reserve with deployments to

Kosovo and Iraq as an Army Civil Affairs officer. He is currently a police officer in Providence, Rhode Island. He is married to his long suffering wife with whom he is raising two sons.

He enjoys, kayaking and camping and tries to get on the local rivers and ponds as often as he reasonably can. Colt is also an avid cook, a hobby which manages to find its way into his novels. He is a proud member of both the Mystery Writers of America and The Pawtuxet Athletic Club.

He is the author of the Tommy Kelly mysteries, Cold Island (2025). He also wrote the Andy Roark series of books, The Off-Islander (2019) and Back Bay Blues (2020) and Death at Fort Devens (2022), The Ambassador (2023), The Judge (2024) and The Banker (2025). He has also published short stories in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.

Recently I asked Colt about what he was reading. The author's reply:

I just finished Mark Bowden's excellent Hue 1968. It is an excellent history of the Battle for Hue City during the Tet Offensive of the Vietnam War. Bowden, a journalist, not a historian does a fantastic job of telling the history of what was one of, if not the bloodiest battle of the Vietnam War. The advantage that Bowden brings to the book is his having interviewed numerous people, Marines, soldiers, Vietcong, North Vietnamese Army soldiers, Vietnamese and American civilians who were all directly involved in the battle. In doing so he creates a very balanced and nuanced portrait of the battle. I have been reading books about the Vietnam war for the last thirty-five + years and this is among the finest of them. I would say that it ranks up there with Bernard Fall's Street Without Joy or Hell in a Very Small Place. It is a must for anyone interested in the Vietnam War or military history in general.

I am also reading Amor Towles Table for Two. Towles writes beautifully and this collection of short stories makes me wish that I had his talent. From the first story, set in Soviet era Moscow, the reader is drawn into the very rich tapestry of Towles storytelling. I have been reading it but was seduced away by Bowden's excellent book about Hue.

I should also add that both books ended up with me because of two very different friendships. Hue 1968 was a gift from a good friend and mentor who served in Vietnam in 1968. Though not in that battle it offered insight into his experiences in Vietnam. Table for Two was recommended by an old and dear friend. She dated a good friend and one time roommate of mine in the late 1990's. One of the stories in the book reminded her very much, of us in that time and place. I love books but books with a personal connection, all the more so.