[2] His more than two dozen books range from hard-boiled mysteries such as the acclaimed Ivan Monk series to graphic novels including Angeltown and anthologies like The Obama Inheritance: Fifteen Stories of Conspiracy Noir.
During the class Phillips wrote a mystery story about an African American private investigator named Ivan Monk, a character he would return to in his first novel.
[6] Phillips's first novel Violent Spring featured the character Ivan Monk, who he originally wrote about in Robert Crais's creative writing class.
[13] In 2022 Phillips released the mystery novel One-Shot Harry, set in 1960's Los Angeles and featuring an African American crime scene photographer investigating the death of his friend.
[3] Each story in the anthology focused on one conspiracy theory as a means to "Riff on it, take it apart and turn it on its head, and give the reader a thrill ride of weirdo, noirish, pulpy goodness.
"[3] His 2008 anthology The Darker Mask: Heroes from the Shadows, edited with Christopher Chambers, presented a look at superheroes outside the traditional mythology of "admirable White males" and featured original stories by Walter Mosley, L.A. Banks, Peter Spiegelman, Ann Nocenti, Naomi Hirahara and others.
In addition to editing South Central Noir, Phillips also contributed the story "Death of a Sideman" about two old friends surveying the changing section of Los Angeles.
"[21] Phillips has had a number of his works optioned by Hollywood, including his first novel Violent Spring and Culprits, an anthology of short stories focusing on different criminals in Texas pulling off a heist.
[4] The bulk of Phillips's work is set in Los Angeles and frequently draws upon his life experiences to give the stories "a sense of reality and authenticity.
"[5] Phillips's One-Shot Harry was called "fast-paced, tough, wry and smart" by Maureen Corrigan in The Washington Post, with the novel taking "readers deep into another world and time: its jokes, home furnishings, baloney-meatloaf-and-hot-dog-heavy meals; its hateful slurs, 'invisible' racial boundaries and cautiously hopeful possibilities.