Books in Order: A Comprehensive Guide to Rick Reed's Publications

Rick Reed's fiction has an unusually direct source: he spent a career as a Homicide detective in Evansville, Indiana, with a sideline in hostage negotiation and handwriting analysis, and also ran an underground newspaper that took satirical aim at fellow officers and local politicians alike — including, memorably, the mayor. The fallout landed him in charge of Internal Affairs, surrounded by colleagues he'd just spent years mocking in print.

He turned to writing in earnest with the true crime book Blood Trail before creating Jack Murphy, a fictional detective who mirrors plenty of his own experience. This guide runs the nine Jack Murphy novels in order, from 2010's The Cruelest Cut to 2020's The Fiercest Enemy.