In the 1990s, Hallinan created the erudite private eye Simeon Grist, who appeared in a total of six novels, all set in Los Angeles.

The sixth, For the Dead (2014), was chosen by The New York Times Book Review to represent Thailand in its “Thrillers from Around the World” feature.

In 2011 he launched a third series starring Junior Bender, a burglar who serves as a private detective to Los Angeles' underworld elite.

While Skin Deep was the third published novel, it was actually the first written and, according to the internal chronology of the series, takes place earlier than the other Simeon Grist books.

(According to Hallinan, the "actual order of the Simeon Grist novels" is Skin Deep, The Four Last Things, Everything but the Squeal, Incinerator, The Man with No Time, The Bone Polisher, and Pulped.