Gerry Boyle Books in Order
Explore Gerry Boyle books in order, with Jack McMorrow and Brandon Blake series lists, short summaries, and a clear guide to where to start.
Last updated: July 13, 2026
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Gerry Boyle books in publication order
18 books
Deadline
by Gerry Boyle
1993
In a Maine mill town, newcomer Jack McMorrow questions why police barely care when a newspaper photographer drowns in a canal. His search for answers uncovers the darker side of the place he has landed.
Bloodline
by Gerry Boyle
1995
Reporting on teen parents in rural Maine, Jack McMorrow gets close to a young mother whose life is already fragile. When she turns up dead, he uncovers a murder case tied to a baby.
Lifeline
by Gerry Boyle
1996
When a battered woman asks a judge for protection and is ignored, Jack sees a story worth chasing. The case pulls him into a tangle of jealousy, violence, and murder in central Maine.
Potshot
by Gerry Boyle
1997
A piece on marijuana activists draws Jack into the Maine woods and a struggle over money, power, and hidden motives. What starts as a political story turns into a deadly investigation.
Borderline
by Gerry Boyle
1998
While researching Benedict Arnold's march to Quebec, Jack lingers in a remote Maine town after a man vanishes from a tour bus. His questions anger locals determined to keep their secrets buried.
Cover Story
by Gerry Boyle
2000
Back in New York to help a friend, Jack McMorrow is caught in the fallout when the mayor is murdered. Suddenly a suspect himself, he must navigate old loyalties and a city full of traps.
Pretty Dead
by Gerry Boyle
2003
Jack and Roxanne investigate suspected abuse inside a powerful Boston family, then a woman's death blows the case open. Wealth, image, and Jack's own ambition cloud every step toward the truth.
Home Body
by Gerry Boyle
2004
A runaway teenager breaks into Jack McMorrow's house looking for safety, then disappears again. Chasing the boy's trail, Jack is pulled into a street world of lies, desperation, and sudden violence.
Port City Shakedown
by Gerry Boyle
2009
Raised rough on the Portland waterfront, Brandon Blake thinks the police force might finally give him rules to live by. Instead, a fresh start turns into a fight with a dangerous ex-con and a past that will not stay buried.
Damaged Goods
by Gerry Boyle
2010
Jack and Roxanne settle in a midcoast town only to become targets after she removes two abused boys from a dangerous father. Jack's pursuit of a story about a troubled young escort pushes the whole family closer to disaster.
Port City Black and White
by Gerry Boyle
2011
Rookie Portland cop Brandon Blake takes on the disappearance of a baby snatched from a chaotic apartment. Following the trail with his veteran partner Kat, he finds a case that could wreck both his career and his life.
Once Burned
by Gerry Boyle
2015
A string of fires throws Jack into a frightened Maine town where old lies keep feeding the flames. At the same time, a custody tragedy turns his wife Roxanne and daughter Sophie into targets.
Straw Man
by Gerry Boyle
2016
Staying close to home in rural Maine, Jack McMorrow stumbles into illegal gun sales, cyberbullying, and a closed religious community under pressure. As the danger grows, so do the strains on his marriage to Roxanne.
Random Act
by Gerry Boyle
2019
After witnessing a brutal daylight killing in a big-box store, Jack refuses to believe it was meaningless. His search links the victim, a homeless attacker, and a web of hidden plans across coastal and inland Maine.
Port City Rat Trap
by Gerry Boyle
2021
Back on duty in Portland, Officer Brandon Blake finds a bank teller dead in the harbor near his boat. The case looks accidental, but his digging stirs up trouble inside the department and with New York mob figures.
Robbed Blind
by Gerry Boyle
2022
A serial robber in a zombie mask terrorizes a Maine mill city just as Jack begins to wonder what his work still means. Chasing the story draws him into a darker nighttime world of crooked cops, addicts, and old loyalties.
Hard Line
by Gerry Boyle
2024
Wounded and running out of easy answers, Jack McMorrow faces a lethal biker gang and a brutal domestic case tied to people he cares about. This final novel pushes him and his friends toward a hard reckoning.
The Ossuary
by Gerry Boyle
2026
A stolen burial box hidden beneath a medieval cathedral may contain bones that could shake Christianity to its core. As rival factions race to control the secret, the hunt turns deadly.
Where to start with Gerry Boyle
If you want the full Jack McMorrow arc: Deadline → Bloodline → Lifeline → Potshot
If you want later Jack at his darkest: Damaged Goods → Once Burned → Straw Man → Random Act
If you prefer a Portland police story: Port City Shakedown → Port City Black and White → Port City Rat Trap
If you want the final McMorrow run: Robbed Blind → Hard Line
Gerry Boyle sub-series and character series
Brandon Blake Mystery books in order
Explore this seriesJack McMorrow books in order
Explore this series
Deadline
by Gerry Boyle
1993Jack McMorrow, Book 1
Bloodline
by Gerry Boyle
1995Jack McMorrow, Book 2
Lifeline
by Gerry Boyle
1996Jack McMorrow, Book 3
Potshot
by Gerry Boyle
1997Jack McMorrow, Book 4
Borderline
by Gerry Boyle
1998Jack McMorrow, Book 5
Cover Story
by Gerry Boyle
2000Jack McMorrow, Book 6
Pretty Dead
by Gerry Boyle
2003Jack McMorrow, Book 7
Home Body
by Gerry Boyle
2004Jack McMorrow, Book 8
Damaged Goods
by Gerry Boyle
2010Jack McMorrow, Book 9
Once Burned
by Gerry Boyle
2015Jack McMorrow, Book 10
Straw Man
by Gerry Boyle
2016Jack McMorrow, Book 11
Random Act
by Gerry Boyle
2019Jack McMorrow, Book 12
Robbed Blind
by Gerry Boyle
2022Jack McMorrow, Book 13
Hard Line
by Gerry Boyle
2024Jack McMorrow, Book 14
Jack McMorrow books in chronological order

Deadline
by Gerry Boyle
1993Jack McMorrow, Book 1
Bloodline
by Gerry Boyle
1995Jack McMorrow, Book 2
Lifeline
by Gerry Boyle
1996Jack McMorrow, Book 3
Potshot
by Gerry Boyle
1997Jack McMorrow, Book 4
Borderline
by Gerry Boyle
1998Jack McMorrow, Book 5
Cover Story
by Gerry Boyle
2000Jack McMorrow, Book 6
Pretty Dead
by Gerry Boyle
2003Jack McMorrow, Book 7
Home Body
by Gerry Boyle
2004Jack McMorrow, Book 8
Damaged Goods
by Gerry Boyle
2010Jack McMorrow, Book 9
Once Burned
by Gerry Boyle
2015Jack McMorrow, Book 10
Straw Man
by Gerry Boyle
2016Jack McMorrow, Book 11
Random Act
by Gerry Boyle
2019Jack McMorrow, Book 12
Robbed Blind
by Gerry Boyle
2022Jack McMorrow, Book 13
Hard Line
by Gerry Boyle
2024Jack McMorrow, Book 14
Standalone Gerry Boyle books
Author bio
Gerry Boyle was born in Chicago in 1956, grew up in Rhode Island, and eventually made Maine the lasting home of his fiction. He graduated from Colby College in 1978, and the state stayed with him. Its mill towns, country roads, working harbors, and uneasy small communities became the ground beneath his books.
After college he knocked around a bit. He worked as a roofer, a postman, and a manuscript reader in New York City. That last job turned into a turning point. Spending his days reading other people's submissions helped him realize he did not want to spend his life evaluating manuscripts. He wanted to write one.
He headed back to Maine in 1979 and found newspaper work, first at the Rumford Falls Times and later at the Morning Sentinel in Waterville. Those years gave him more than a paycheck. They gave him an ear for speech, an eye for telling detail, and a close view of the way power, money, fear, and plain stubbornness play out in everyday lives. They also gave him the seed of his first novel.
That novel was Deadline, published in 1993.
Deadline introduced Jack McMorrow, the reporter who would carry Boyle through decades of crime fiction. Jack is sharp, battered, morally restless, and incapable of leaving a bad story alone. Across books like Bloodline, Pretty Dead, Once Burned, Random Act, and Hard Line, Boyle keeps dropping him into murders, family trouble, and towns full of history people would rather not discuss. Readers come for the suspense, but they often stay for Jack's mix of stubborn decency, dark humor, and willingness to keep going when going is clearly a bad idea.
One reason the series holds together so well is that Jack's private life changes too. Roxanne Masterson, a social worker, becomes central to the books, and later their daughter Sophie raises the emotional stakes even further. In Boyle's best later novels, the danger is never just professional. Jack's work keeps colliding with marriage, home, and the question of what loyalty is supposed to cost.
He writes Maine without polishing it for tourists.
Boyle did not stay with one lead forever. In the Brandon Blake books, beginning with Port City Shakedown, he shifts to a younger Portland cop, a loner trying to find a place inside institutions he does not fully trust. That series lets Boyle explore similar concerns from a different angle. Whether he is writing about Blake or McMorrow, he returns to hidden histories, people on the margins, the fallout of violence, and the moral mess that starts when official systems fail. His journalism background keeps all of it grounded. The plots move quickly, but the people in them feel lived in.
Over the years, Boyle's work has earned steady recognition. Straw Man and Random Act won Maine Literary Awards for crime fiction, and Hard Line picked up a bronze medal at the 2025 Independent Publisher Book Awards. He also stayed connected to his alma mater, serving as editor of Colby's alumni magazine. He lives in China Village, Maine, with his wife, Mary Foley Boyle, and he has kept writing about the rougher, quieter, more complicated corners of the state he knows best.
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