John Peyton Cooke (born March 7, 1967) is an American novelist.

[1][2] He is most notable as a short story writer known for thrillers, often with gay male protagonists and including themes of male homosexuality and psychological suspense.

His novel Torsos, a fictionalized account of the Cleveland Torso Murderer, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Men’s Mystery for 1993,[3][4][5] and was noted by Marilyn Stasio in The New York Times Book Review for its atmospheric depiction of Cleveland, Ohio, during the Great Depression.

[6] Cooke's 1991 gay vampire novel Out for Blood, originally published by Avon Books, was reprinted in 2019 by Valancourt Books (also issued in audiobook) and Cooke was interviewed about his novel by the audiobook's narrator Sean C. Duregger on his podcast Audiobooks from Hell.

[7] He was born in Amarillo, Texas, and grew up in Laramie, Wyoming.