John Jericho Mystery Books in Order

John Jericho is a Greenwich Village painter with a huge frame, a flaming red beard, and very little patience for cruelty. His art is serious, his convictions are strong, and he has a habit of stepping in when someone has been mistreated, framed, or left without help.

The series starts with Sniper. Jericho is asked to paint a posthumous portrait of a school headmaster whose murder was never solved. Working on the portrait brings old family secrets and fresh violence to the surface. From the beginning, Jericho's painter's eye matters as much as his physical courage. He notices faces, rooms, gestures, and details other people have learned to ignore.

He does not blend into the background.

Jericho lives and works in New York, but the cases can take him beyond his studio and into very different worlds. Hide Her from Every Eye, The Creeping Hours, Dead Woman of the Year, The Girl with Six Fingers, and a Plague of Violence place him amid fear, violence, public pressure, and people with good reasons to hide the truth. His friend Arthur "Hally" Hallam sometimes helps tell or frame these adventures.

The books have an energetic, socially minded tone. Jericho is drawn to unfairness, especially when a powerful person can silence someone weaker. He can be blunt, impulsive, and ready for a fight, but he is not simply a hard man. His commitment to painting gives him a reflective side, and his investigations often begin with a human connection rather than professional obligation.

That combination gives the series its shape. Jericho follows clues because he wants the facts, but he also wants to understand the harm a crime has done. The mysteries feature strong emotions, changing city life, and the occasional feeling that the detective has walked into a problem too large for one person to fix.

Jericho paints what people would rather not see.

Start with Sniper for the clearest introduction to his methods and moral outlook. The later novels work as separate cases, though reading in order makes his relationships and his role as an artist-crusader easier to appreciate. The Battles of Jericho gathers short stories that show the character in a range of investigations.

Expect a vigorous mystery series with a memorable hero, urban settings, social tension, and a detective who believes decency is worth defending.