Carl Burns (Brad Smith) Books in Order

The Carl Burns novels are small-town suspense stories set in southern Ontario. Carl is not a detective, and he does not arrive with a badge, a tidy office, or much faith in official channels. He is an ex-con trying to make a decent life after prison, but trouble has a way of finding him when people close to him are threatened.

Start with Rough Justice. Carl returns to his hometown of Rose City after a long absence, hoping to reconnect with his estranged daughter, Kate. She is one of several women prepared to testify against former mayor Joseph Sanderson III, a powerful local figure accused of abusing teenage girls. When the case exposes how much influence the mayor still holds, Carl finds himself facing the town's old loyalties, quiet compromises, and outright corruption.

Rose City matters because it is the kind of place where everybody knows a version of everybody else's past. Old grudges have a long shelf life. So do family ties, business connections, and the pressure to look away when the wrong person is causing harm. Carl has his own history there, including the prison sentence that keeps others from trusting him, so he is hardly an easy hero for the town to accept.

He is also not the sort of man who can simply walk away.

The second book, Hearts of Stone, moves much of the action to River Road Farm outside Talbotville, where Carl works alongside his partner, Frances Rourke. Frances runs an organic farm and has a public-facing life through her television work, while Carl prefers to keep his head down and get on with the practical jobs. That fragile calm is broken when criminals target the farm, leaving the people Carl cares about in danger and putting him under fresh suspicion.

The series gets its tension from the gap between justice and the legal system. Carl wants accountability, especially when the people he loves have been hurt. But courts, lawyers, police procedure, and local influence do not always move in the same direction as what feels right. That puts him in difficult territory, where anger can be useful but can also make everything worse.

These are tough, grounded thrillers with a strong sense of place. The stakes are personal, involving family, home, work, and the chance to begin again after serious mistakes. Carl can be stubborn and blunt, but he is also protective, capable, and painfully aware of what it costs when violence enters an ordinary life.

Read the books in order. Rough Justice establishes Carl's past, his relationship with Kate, and the people around him, while Hearts of Stone builds directly on the consequences of his new life with Frances. Readers should expect crime stories that are more interested in pressure, loyalty, and hard choices than flashy detective work.