Marshall Karp Books in Order
Explore Marshall Karp books in order, with reading order lists, short summaries and series background, plus guidance on where to start.
Last updated: January 13, 2026
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Publication Order
16 books
NYPD Red 8
by Marshall Karp
2025
A bomber strikes New York at 11:59, first in a crowded subway station, then in a busy department store, each blast perfectly timed. As fear shuts down the city, Zach Jordan and Kylie MacDonald race to unmask an avenger who blames New York for destroying his family.
Don't Tell Me How to Die
by Marshall Karp
2025
Forty three year old Maggie Dunn learns she has only months to live and becomes determined to find the perfect woman to marry her husband and raise their children after she is gone. Her search reopens old wounds and secrets, turning a family plan into a dangerous psychological game.
Snowstorm in August
by Marshall Karp
2022
An apparent August snowstorm over Central Park turns out to be thousands of pounds of falling cocaine, killing hundreds and declaring war on New York. Former NYPD captain Danny Corcoran leads a secret team of retired cops to stop the cartel boss behind the attack.
NYPD Red 7: The Murder Sorority
by Marshall Karp
2022
A sniper and a knife wielding assassin strike two notorious brothers on the same day, announcing a network of hired killers called Kappa Omega Delta. NYPD Red detectives Zach Jordan and Kylie MacDonald must stop the five person hit squad before their next client orders more bloodshed.
NYPD Red 6
by Marshall Karp
2020
Reality star Erin Easton's lavishly televised wedding of the century implodes when the bride vanishes, leaving only a bloodstained dress. Zach Jordan and Kylie MacDonald race to find her in a case where every celebrity guest could be either a suspect or the next target.
Red Alert
by Marshall Karp
2018
At a charity gala filled with New York's wealthiest donors, a bomb rips through the ballroom, echoing memories of past terror. As more attacks claim a famed filmmaker and other high profile targets, Zach and Kylie chase a vengeful mastermind with a personal score to settle.
Terminal
by Marshall Karp
2016
A suburban homeowner is run down on a dark road, and a beloved doctor is shot dead in his office. As the bodies mount up, LAPD detectives Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs hunt the person recruiting terminally ill patients to kill in exchange for one last payday for their families.
NYPD Red 4
by Marshall Karp
2016
A movie premiere on Manhattan's brightest red carpet ends with a starlet shot dead in her limo and an eight million dollar necklace gone. While NYPD Red tracks the killer thief, Zach and Kylie are pulled into a parallel case involving stolen hospital equipment and old addictions.
NYPD Red 3
by Marshall Karp
2015
When a billionaire's chauffeur is found decapitated and the man's teenage son disappears, NYPD Red detectives Zach Jordan and Kylie MacDonald are dragged into the secrets of New York's power elite. They must untangle murder, kidnapping and corporate conspiracy all at once.
NYPD Red 2
by Marshall Karp
2014
A series of gruesome murders in New York targets people whose own crimes went unpunished, including a woman found bound in a Hazmat suit on a Central Park carousel. Zach Jordan and Kylie MacDonald must stop the vigilante before public sympathy turns deadly.
NYPD Red
by Marshall Karp
2012
During the Hollywood on the Hudson film festival, a killer stages violent set pieces that strike at producers, actors and premieres across Manhattan. NYPD Red detectives Zach Jordan and his ex girlfriend partner Kylie MacDonald scramble to stop the next attack before the finale brings the city down.
Kill Me If You Can
by Marshall Karp
2011
Art student Matthew Bannon stumbles on a duffel bag of diamonds during chaos at Grand Central Station and thinks his problems are over. Instead he becomes prey for the Ghost, an elite assassin, and a rival killer who will do anything to claim the stones.
Cut, Paste, Kill
by Marshall Karp
2010
After an infamous socialite is found stabbed in a Hollywood hotel bathroom beside a scrapbook of her crimes, Lomax and Biggs chase a vigilante who leaves crafted albums at every scene, targeting people who walked away from justice.
Flipping Out
by Marshall Karp
2009
Crime novelist Nora Bannister turns fixer uppers into murder scenes for her bestselling series, then sells the houses for a fortune. When her partners, all cops' wives, start turning up dead, Lomax and Biggs must stop a killer before Biggs's own wife is next.
Bloodthirsty
by Marshall Karp
2007
Hollywood power broker Barry Gerber is murdered in a grotesque, highly staged attack, and the prime suspect soon dies the same way. As more reviled insiders fall, Lomax and Biggs sift through a city full of enemies to uncover a more personal motive.
The Rabbit Factory
by Marshall Karp
2006
At a family theme park owned by a megastudio, the man inside the beloved Rambunctious Rabbit costume is murdered on the job. Detectives Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs follow the trail into corporate grudges, blackmail and a plot that could sink the entire company.
Where should I start?
If you want to meet Lomax and Biggs: The Rabbit Factory → Bloodthirsty → Flipping Out → Cut, Paste, Kill → Terminal
If you like high octane NYPD thrillers: NYPD Red → NYPD Red 2 → NYPD Red 3 → NYPD Red 4 → Red Alert → NYPD Red 6 → NYPD Red 7: The Murder Sorority → NYPD Red 8
If you prefer standalone thrillers: Snowstorm in August → Don't Tell Me How to Die
If you are a James Patterson crossover reader: Kill Me If You Can → NYPD Red → Red Alert
Author bio
Marshall Karp was born in New York City on June 4 and grew up surrounded by stories, jokes and the bustle of the city. He was always writing something, from goofy songs to skits, but for a long time he did not see it as a real career.
He headed to Rutgers University planning to become a dentist, only to have freshman biology bring that dream to a halt. The upside was that failing the class nudged him toward the student newspaper, where he discovered how satisfying it could be to write on deadline and see his work in print.
After college he fell into advertising thanks to a girlfriend who was already working as a copywriter. What started as a fun first job turned into a twenty year run, with promotions to big titles, a large staff and a corner office. The higher he climbed, though, the less actual writing he was allowed to do.
So he started writing at night. Out of those late hours came his first play, Squabbles, a family comedy about aging parents forced to share a roof. The play premiered in the early 1980s, was picked up for publication and has since been produced in theaters across the United States, Canada and Europe. Its success gave him permission to walk away from corporate life and bet on storytelling full time.
Karp moved into television and film, creating the sitcom Everything's Relative and writing or producing for shows like Amen and Baby Talk. He also wrote and produced the coming of age movie Just Looking, inspired in part by his own New York childhood. Years in writers' rooms and on sets sharpened his ear for dialogue and gave him a close up view of Hollywood that later fuels his crime fiction.
After another stint back in the business world during the dot com boom, he turned again to long form storytelling, this time on the page. His debut crime novel, The Rabbit Factory, introduced LAPD homicide detectives Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs, two working cops juggling theme park murders, studio politics and messy families. Four more Lomax and Biggs books followed, each leaning on Karp's mix of tight plotting, insider detail and dry humor.
He then teamed up with James Patterson to cocreate the NYPD Red series, built around an elite unit that protects New York's rich and famous. Together they wrote six high velocity thrillers featuring detectives Zach Jordan and Kylie MacDonald chasing killers who treat the city like their personal stage. Karp has since carried the series forward on his own with NYPD Red 7: The Murder Sorority and NYPD Red 8: The 11:59 Bomber.
Alongside the series work, he has written standalones that push his storytelling in new directions. Snowstorm in August imagines a drug lord turning Central Park into ground zero for an act of narco terrorism, while Don't Tell Me How to Die starts as a family story about a woman with a terminal diagnosis and slowly tightens into a psychological thriller. Across books, readers respond to the same things: grounded characters, gallows humor and twists that feel surprising but fair.
Away from the page, Karp has spent more than two decades supporting Vitamin Angels, a nonprofit that brings vital nutrients to mothers and children around the world. He lives in a small town in New York's Hudson Valley with his wife, not far from his grown son and daughter, a grandson and a much photographed dog. After careers in advertising, television and film, he still describes himself as a working writer who is grateful he gets to keep doing the work.
Edited by
Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.
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