Lew Cassidy Books in Order

The Lew Cassidy series is Thomas Gifford's trip into wartime noir, published under his Thomas Maxwell pen name. Its hero, Lew Cassidy, is a former professional football player whose career ended with an injury. He is tough, but he is not insulated from fear, regret, or bad decisions. That makes him a good fit for stories where old friendships and romantic loyalties can turn dangerous fast.

Kiss Me Once introduces Lew in the years around World War II. He is pulled between people from his past, including a crooked cop and a gangster, while pressure mounts for him to betray one side or another. The book mixes crime fiction with a period setting full of political gossip, rackets, and people whose futures are being reshaped by the war.

Lew is drawn close to violence because of who he knows, not because he is looking for a grand adventure. The story leans into the shadowy mood of 1930s and 1940s crime films: compromised cops, gangsters with long memories, risky attraction, and a hero who has to work out which promise is worth keeping.

Kiss Me Twice moves the action to 1945. Lew is now part of a detective agency with former police officers Terry Leary and Harry Madrid. He learns that his wife, Karin, believed dead after the bombing of Cologne, may be alive, but the discovery comes tied to an intelligence operation involving an escape network for Nazis.

That gives the second book a bigger international frame while keeping Lew's personal goal clear. He wants to find Karin and understand what happened to her, yet the people around her are connected to a dangerous political operation. The result is part detective story, part wartime chase, and part reunion story with plenty of reasons for mistrust.

Read Kiss Me Once before Kiss Me Twice. The first book establishes Lew's background, his relationships, and the bruised, cinematic tone of the series. The second builds directly on those emotional stakes while taking him into a more openly espionage-driven plot.