John Locke Books in Order
Browse John Locke books in order, from Donovan Creed to Dani Ripper, with quick summaries, series guides, and easy where to start advice.
Last updated: June 7, 2026
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Publication Order
46 books
Lethal Experiment
by John Locke
2009
Creed wants a quieter life with the people he cares about, but a deadly new test of money, justice, and murder pulls him straight back in. The second book keeps the action high and the moral lines very loose.
Lethal People
by John Locke
2009
Former CIA assassin Donovan Creed takes on mob boss Joe DeMeo after a chance encounter with a horribly burned little girl changes the stakes. It is the opening Donovan Creed thriller, violent, funny, and moving at full speed.
Saving Rachel
by John Locke
2009
What should be the best morning of Donovan Creed's life turns into a nightmare. Forced into a frantic race to save Rachel, he has to outthink ruthless enemies and act fast before the damage becomes permanent.
Now & Then
by John Locke
2010
After the fallout of the previous book, Donovan Creed gets almost no time to recover before fresh trouble finds him. Past choices keep colliding with present danger in a thriller that expands his world without slowing down.
Wish List
by John Locke
2010
A wish granting setup with too much money and too little conscience drags Donovan Creed into one of the series' strangest plots. What starts as a wild idea turns into a dangerous game of greed, manipulation, and murder.
A Girl Like You
by John Locke
2011
Donovan Creed lands in another slick, violent puzzle centered on a woman who is not what she first seems. The result is a quick, twisty thriller that balances Creed's dark humor with sudden bursts of danger.
Call Me
by John Locke
2011
Dani Ripper supports herself by posing as bait for suspicious wives who want proof their husbands are cheating. At the same time, she is hunting a killer known as ManChild, which makes an already risky job far worse.
Don't Poke the Bear!
by John Locke
2011
Emmett Love's second outing throws him into another Old West mess where pride, violence, and bad decisions keep feeding each other. It is a quick moving western with a sheriff who knows trouble rarely stays buried.
Emmett & Gentry
by John Locke
2011
The family saga widens as Emmett Love's world collides with Gentry's in a story about loyalty, survival, and frontier justice. It deepens the series history while keeping the action brisk and often funny.
Follow the Stone
by John Locke
2011
In the opening Emmett Love western, frontier trouble finds a lawman who is as stubborn as the land around him. It sets the tone with rough justice, family history, and a playful streak beneath the gun smoke.
How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months
by John Locke
2011
Locke breaks down the marketing ideas and reader outreach that helped him become the first self published author to sell more than a million Kindle ebooks. It is part memoir, part practical playbook.
Maybe
by John Locke
2011
When an angry chemist unleashes a biological threat, Donovan Creed is pulled into a crisis that could spread far beyond one target. The stakes jump, but the series keeps its dark humor and fast pulse.
The Love You Crave
by John Locke
2011
Creed keeps reaching for something like a normal life, but his talent for violence keeps wrecking the plan. This entry mixes romance, menace, and the offbeat team dynamics that give the series its strange charm.
Vegas Moon
by John Locke
2011
To save his own life, Donovan Creed has to make a deal he does not trust and head into a dangerous Las Vegas tangle. It is fast, funny, and packed with the double crosses Creed seems born to attract.
Bad Doctor
by John Locke
2012
Dr. Gideon Box is a world class heart surgeon with immense skill and even bigger arrogance. When his talent and temper pull him into a criminal mess, the result is a darkly funny thriller where nobody is handled gently.
Box
by John Locke
2012
Gideon Box is brilliant, vain, and very used to getting his own way. That becomes a problem when medicine, ego, and violent secrets collide, turning a surgeon's controlled world into a dangerous free for all.
Callie's Last Dance
by John Locke
2012
With the power around Sensory Resources shifting, Donovan Creed and Callie Carpenter are thrown into another tangle of schemes and violence. Las Vegas players, personal feelings, and a shaky chain of command keep raising the stakes.
Kill Jill
by John Locke
2012
What sounds like a simple job quickly turns ugly when Jill becomes the center of a much messier scheme. Locke plays the setup for speed, betrayal, and dark humor instead of easy answers.
Promise You Won't Tell?
by John Locke
2012
A client who fears something awful happened during a missing stretch of time sends Dani Ripper into one of her messiest cases. Secrets, blackmail, and shifting loyalties make the truth harder to pin down by the hour.
Because We Can!
by John Locke
2013
Donovan Creed and Callie Carpenter keep moving deeper into dangerous territory as loyalty, desire, and violence start to blur together. Their chemistry gives this twisty thriller its spark, and makes every decision riskier.
Goodbye, Enorma
by John Locke
2013
Sheriff Emmett Love heads into another unruly western mess where the town's latest problem refuses to stay small. The book mixes frontier action with broad humor and a hero who keeps stumbling into bigger trouble.
Outside the Box
by John Locke
2013
Dr. Gideon Box tries to move forward with his new girlfriend, but trouble has other plans. This installment throws the brilliant, insufferable surgeon into more crime and chaos, with familiar faces closing in.
Casting Call
by John Locke
2014
At a Nashville music fest, Kaylee and Ivy step in to help a handsome stranger who has been drugged and humiliated. That impulsive act turns into a twisting thriller full of bad judgment and worse consequences.
Teacher, Teacher
by John Locke
2014
When a Tennessee teacher of the year is accused of sexual misconduct with a student, Dani Ripper is hired to sort fact from scandal. She has almost no time, and the evidence is moving the wrong way.
This Means War!
by John Locke
2014
Donovan Creed comes out of a brutal stretch with old grudges still burning. It is a hard charging series entry where bruised loyalties, fresh enemies, and Callie Carpenter's presence push Creed back into full fight mode.
Abbey Rayne
by John Locke
2015
Dani Ripper wants a case that matters, and gets one with a nasty edge. As she digs through clients, suspects, and a system built to protect the wrong people, the laughs never fully hide the danger.
Don't Tell Presley!
by John Locke
2015
When Presley French becomes the center of a dangerous mystery, Dani Ripper steps into a case full of lies, pressure, and sudden turns. The comic voice remains, but the stakes feel sharper and more personal.
Rag Soup
by John Locke
2015
Sheriff Emmett Love already has too much on his plate when fresh trouble rolls into town and makes a bad situation worse. It is a lively western packed with crooked plans, deadpan humor, and frontier tension.
Boxed In!
by John Locke
2016
Dr. Gideon Box and Donovan Creed crash into each other's worlds in a nasty, fast moving crossover. Medical brilliance, assassin logic, and oversized egos make every alliance unstable and every mistake expensive.
Sorority Girl
by John Locke
2016
After a terrifying home invasion, Lindy thinks surviving the night is the worst part. Then the gang leader who spared her reappears, and fear turns into a much stranger and more dangerous game.
Spider Rain
by John Locke
2016
Sheriff Emmett Love expects another rough day in the West and gets one. This later series entry keeps the comic frontier voice intact while piling trouble on Emmett from every direction.
When David Died
by John Locke
2016
Nicki Hill finally feels close to the perfect family she never had, then Michael Thorne's father hangs himself and detectives fixate on her. As suspicion grows, Nicki fights to hold her place by any means necessary.
Daisy & Bobby
by John Locke
2017
Bobby Cujo turns a half eaten Moon Pie into a religious attraction and charges believers to see it. Then he meets the mysterious Daisy Pepper, and his already absurd life spins into something stranger and much more dangerous.
Hot Mess Express
by John Locke
2017
Private investigator Dani Ripper gets pulled into two missing person cases at once, one for a powerful executive, one for a gangster. The job turns into a chaotic road trip thriller with revenge on its mind.
Our Little Secret
by John Locke
2017
Maddie Conover's husband reports her missing, and the police think he killed her, until the case twists in a different direction. Soon Maddie is facing blackmail, missing time, and evidence she cannot explain away.
The President's Daughter
by John Locke
2017
A kidnapping case drops Donovan Creed into a high stakes mess where every player seems to have a second plan. When the victim is the president's daughter, even Creed knows one bad move could blow up everything.
It Was Just Sex
by John Locke
2018
Cameron Poole discovers that her husband Jake has been cheating, and now she has to decide what happens next. Locke turns that setup into a sharp, nasty revenge thriller told from the wronged wife's side.
Your Secret Admirer
by John Locke
2018
Tinley Cooper needs money fast to save her marriage, home, job, and savings, so she turns to a secret admirer for help. The arrangement comes with strings, then ropes, in a creepy cat and mouse thriller.
Size Matters
by John Locke
2019
Allie McPherson has spent four years hiding the fact that she killed a man after he threatened her. As her past closes in and her marriage starts to crack, survival becomes a brutal test of nerve.
The Day Miriam Lost Her Sh*t!
by John Locke
2019
One bad moment sends Miriam into a chain reaction of worse decisions and stranger consequences. Funny on the surface and nasty underneath, it plays like a Donovan Creed world thriller seen from a different angle.
A Woman Scorned
by John Locke
2020
With a billion dollar bounty on their lives, Donovan Creed and Callie Carpenter learn again that nobody can be trusted. Nearly broke, they take humiliating jobs while a stalker pushes the danger closer to home.
Lucky You!
by John Locke
2020
Recently divorced Corey Lane is trying to rebuild her life while keeping her rebellious daughter from blowing up both of theirs. Corey has enough trouble already, and Gwen keeps bringing home more.
Another Man, Another Chance
by John Locke
2021
Sarah Lawrence survived rape, chose to keep the child, and helped send her attacker to prison. When he gets out early and sues for joint custody, she has to decide how far she will go to stop him.
The Alibi
by John Locke
2022
Landscape architect James Flynn arrives in Eddyville, Kentucky, and thinks life is suddenly getting better when two striking women notice him. Then one of them needs an alibi, and his easy answer becomes a serious problem.
The Enemy Next Door
by John Locke
2022
In Louisville, Tobie Turner meets a next door neighbor she cannot stand. In Las Vegas, Jack Henry meets a quiet brunette, and the two story lines start building toward a thriller best approached with as few spoilers as possible.
You Never Forget Your First
by John Locke
2022
Best friends Jenna and Fallon both married handsome, successful men, and both know ugly secrets they have never shared. After a late night accident leaves Jenna badly hurt, everything starts moving toward a very bad Saturday.
Where should I start?
If you want the signature assassin thrillers: Lethal People → Lethal Experiment → Saving Rachel
If you want funny private eye chaos: Call Me → Promise You Won't Tell? → Teacher, Teacher
If you want a western entry point: Follow the Stone → Don't Poke the Bear! → Emmett & Gentry
If you want a darker standalone thriller: Our Little Secret → Your Secret Admirer → The Alibi
Author bio
John Locke was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to a Canadian military father and an American mother. He spent part of his childhood at boarding school in Pennsylvania, and one of his earliest writing memories came after an ant bite in elementary school. He turned the episode into a short story, Ants Aren't Very Nice, and got the kind of classroom reaction young writers tend to remember for the rest of their lives.
One teacher liked it so much she had him read it out loud.
Even with that early push, writing was not his first career. Locke studied at Northwestern State University in Louisiana, thought seriously about journalism for a while, sang in a rock band, and sold insurance door to door. He moved quickly in business and was already an area vice president in insurance by the time he was 21.
He stayed in that world for years. After moving to Louisville, Kentucky, he founded Freedom Life Insurance at 35, later sold the company, and built much of his fortune in business and real estate rather than publishing. That long detour matters because his fiction career is really a second act.
And it was a big one.
Starting in 2010, Locke began self publishing fiction for Kindle and broke through at a speed that got the whole industry looking his way. He became the first self published author to sell more than one million Kindle ebooks. For a lot of readers and writers, he was one of the names that made the early ebook boom feel real.
Readers usually come to Locke for pace. In the Donovan Creed books, especially Lethal People, Lethal Experiment, and Saving Rachel, he writes about a former CIA assassin with a wise mouth, bad habits, and a talent for surviving messes that should kill him. The books are violent, strange, funny, and very hard to read slowly.
He did not stop with one lane. The Dani Ripper novels, including Call Me, Promise You Won't Tell?, and Teacher, Teacher, trade the hired killer angle for a sharp private investigator and cases built around scandal, secrets, and dark humor. The Emmett Love westerns, beginning with Follow the Stone, move the action to the frontier. The Gideon Box books add a brilliant, impossible surgeon to the mix. Over time these series start brushing up against one another, which gives Locke's work the feel of a connected fictional universe rather than a stack of separate projects.
He also wrote How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months, a straightforward look at the marketing methods that helped him find readers. That book made him part novelist, part case study in how self publishing changed.
Locke has long been based in Louisville. What stands out most in his story is how late the writing chapter opened, and how quickly he made it count. He spent decades in business, then hit fiction with the energy of someone who had been storing up stories for years.
Edited by
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