Michael Lister Books in Order

Ex-cop turned prison chaplain John Jordan witnesses an inmate's bloody death at Potter Correctional Institution and cannot let it go. As he digs deeper, the prison closes ranks and his career, reputation, and life start to unravel.

This edition pairs two pivotal John Jordan mysteries. In one, a child is murdered inside the prison chapel. In the other, a young John returns to Atlanta and confronts the case that first marked him.

A collection of John Jordan cases that ranges from prison violence to spiritual puzzles and personal collapse. It shows him at his most compassionate and most damaged, balancing investigation, depression, and sobriety.

John sees an impossible murder inside a locked prison cell and has to solve a crime he can barely believe happened. The case tests his detective's mind and the fragile life he is trying to rebuild.

Wildlife photographer Remington James checks his camera traps in a North Florida swamp and captures a shocking crime frame by frame. Now he has to survive the night while the predator he exposed comes hunting.

During a massive biker rally on the Panama City strip, former reporter Merrick McKnight finds himself hunting a brutal killer as a storm rolls in. The case hits close to home and turns the party atmosphere sinister.

This is a recovery-minded, forward-looking reflection on what to do after losing direction. Lister writes about meaning, hope, and the slow work of finding solid ground again.

Lauren Lewis walks back into Jimmy Riley's life fearing she is being followed, and Jimmy cannot refuse her. In booming wartime Panama City, love, politics, and danger collide in classic hard-boiled fashion.

Seeking rest at a secluded retreat center, John finds himself drawn into the disturbing death of a young woman undergoing an exorcism. The case blurs faith, psychology, and murder in unsettling ways.

A killer is burning people alive in ritualistic attacks across North Florida. Scarred FDLE agent Sam Michaels and retired ritual crimes expert Daniel Davis are the only men with a chance of stopping him.

A brief love story about longing, memory, and the ache of the one who got away. It leans more romantic and intimate than Lister's mysteries, with an 80s nostalgia thread running through it.

A short, thoughtful book about paying attention to the life right in front of you. Lister blends reflection, spirituality, and everyday wisdom rather than offering a rigid self-help program.

Lister uses films as a way into bigger questions about love, loss, faith, and the lives we build. It is reflective, personal nonfiction for readers who like stories that keep echoing after the credits roll.

This short story introduces Jimmy "Soldier" Riley and the wartime Panama City mood that defines the series. It is a quick first look at a wounded private eye moving through a noir world of smoke, secrets, and danger.

Sixteen-year-old Shelby Emma Summers disappears as a hurricane builds over North Florida. The search forces Remington James into a tense, storm-lashed mystery full of family strain and hidden motives.

Jimmy Riley wakes in serious trouble and has to fight his way back toward the truth. The sequel deepens the series' mix of bruised romance, noir menace, and wartime Florida atmosphere.

Someone is killing cops with their own guns, and Merrick McKnight teams with Reggie Summers to find out why. The trail leads into small-town loyalties, buried grudges, and a very Florida idea of justice.

A dark short-story collection set around the small North Florida town of Desperation. These tales explore obsession, doomed hopes, and the uneasy lives people live when there seems to be no clean way out.

Film student and crime scene videographer Kelly "Hitch" Reville realizes someone is recreating famous Hitchcock murders with real bodies. From campus life to a wedding on a small island, she has to outthink a killer who thinks murder is art.

John chases an escaped inmate, investigates a brutal killing, and confronts violence along the river country he calls home. It is one of his busiest, roughest cases, with danger coming from every direction.

Near death after the events of The Big Beyond, Jimmy searches for justice, answers, and Lauren. A serial killer who fuses art and murder waits somewhere in the shadows of Panama City.

A young woman's body, strange suicides, a stolen corpse, and other desperate cases land on John's desk at once. He has to follow a messy trail of grief, greed, and manipulation to find the truth.

An escape, a killer, and a race against time trap John in one of his most dangerous nights. The case turns intensely personal as he fights to save the woman he loves.

Riley is drawn into threats, boxing-world trouble, and danger surrounding the people he cares about. It is a lean wartime noir where loyalty and survival matter as much as solving the case.

A younger John Jordan keeps digging into the Atlanta child murders and the disappearance of Cedric Porter. The deeper he goes, the more the case shapes the detective he will become.

Back to carrying a badge, John juggles family life, prison chaplaincy, and two brutal investigations. One missing soldier and one vicious serial predator may be tied together in ways he does not expect.

After society collapses with terrifying speed, one man heads into the wasteland to find the loved ones he still believes may be alive. It is part survival story, part road novel, and all forward momentum.

The search continues across a broken landscape where every survivor could be ally, victim, or threat. The second installment keeps the pressure on as hope battles exhaustion and the ruined world grows stranger.

A missing girlfriend, murdered women, and a sabotage scare turn 1944 Panama City into a powder keg. Jimmy Riley must protect friends, read the room fast, and stay alive long enough to stop the next disaster.

Eighteen years after high school senior Angel Diaz vanished, her convicted boyfriend is still in prison and her friends still distrust one another. John reopens the case and finds old loyalties turning dangerous.

When Remington James's widow asks for help, John investigates a murder rooted in swamp country, corrupt cops, and deadly secrets. The case links past grief to fresh violence.

A nine-year-old girl is murdered inside a locked Gulf-front house on July 4, and everyone inside becomes a suspect. John must solve the impossible crime before a grieving family tears itself apart.

A cold case tied to the disappearance of Janet Leigh Lester drags John into old grief and family pain. With Ted Bundy looming over the past, he has one last chance to uncover what really happened.

After Randa Raffield crashes on a lonely stretch of Highway 98, she vanishes in the seven minutes before deputies arrive. John must untangle a baffling disappearance where every answer seems to slip away.

A short John Jordan story centered on love, commitment, and the people around him. Even in a moment meant for joy, Lister keeps an eye on the tensions and choices that shape a family.

In 1988 Atlanta, college student John Jordan gets his first law enforcement job and stumbles into a serial killer case. It is an origin story, and a dark one.

When Anna's abusive ex-husband is found dead, suspicion falls close to home. John has to investigate a murder tangled up with rage, fear, and the people he loves.

An attempted school shooting turns into a deeper mystery about hidden evil and old demons. John chases the truth while trying not to lose the hard-won life he has built.

Asked to protect activist Malia Goodman, John must also figure out who wants her dead. The suspects range from militants to supposed allies, and the moral stakes are as high as the physical ones.

Jimmy and Lauren's story pushes on through danger, love, and the long aftermath of violence. Riley keeps chasing both justice and survival in a city that never stays quiet for long.

Picking up after the first book, Jimmy Riley is badly hurt and still hunting answers. His search leads through wartime streets toward a serial killer who turns art and murder into the same dark game.

A missing girl, a shell-shocked soldier, two murdered women, and a sabotage plot send Jimmy Riley into one of his hardest fights. The stakes are personal, and wartime Panama City feels ready to explode.

Riley's secretary, Miki Matsumoto, is being hunted by a sinister uncle after escaping internment, while a boxer's life is also under threat. Jimmy is pulled between loyalty, violence, and wartime fear.

In wartime Panama City, Lauren Lewis fears someone is following her and turns to private eye Jimmy Riley, the man who knows her too well. Old love, political ambition, and hidden danger close in fast.

John wants to hold his family and friends together through a difficult Christmas season. The novella mixes warmth, worry, and the quiet work of showing up for the people who need him.

John begins a routine homicide investigation, then a devastating superstorm changes the rules entirely. Solving the murder becomes inseparable from simply surviving.

Three-year-old Magdalene Dacosta vanishes from a locked home during a winter party, with cameras showing no obvious way in or out. John faces one of the most baffling child disappearance cases of his career.

In the wreckage after Hurricane Michael, John is on trial for wrongful death while hunting a killer who preys on a broken community. The storm damage is everywhere, including inside John himself.

Five years after Blake Scott's death was ruled accidental, her mother asks John to take a fresh look. What happened on that Apalachicola River bluff may be darker than anyone wants to admit.

With his father dying, John helps reopen the disappearance of two young women lost in the Apalachicola swamps. Cameras, phones, and haunting last images only deepen the mystery.

When the beloved Tupelo Queens begin turning up dead, John is pulled into a series of public, wicked killings during the pandemic era. One of the victims is family, which makes the case even more personal.

A man walks into a bar and never walks out again, despite witnesses and security cameras. Amateur sleuths Sawyer Payne and Kace Mason team up, spar, and risk their lives to uncover who made him disappear.

A practical, encouraging guide to focusing on what matters most and building a life around it. It is the most direct self-improvement entry in Lister's reflective nonfiction.

John investigates the brutal attack on two teenage girls, then a murder hits painfully close to home. Grief and rage sharpen the case, but they also threaten to cloud his judgment.

Nora Henri and her baby daughter vanish while vacationing in Panama City Beach, leaving behind a bizarre 911 call and no clear trail. PIs Lucas Burke and Alix Blade take on the missing-person case law enforcement could not crack.

On Christmas Eve, preteen Tiana Capri disappears from her locked house without a trace. John teams up with his daughter Johanna to solve the mystery before the night turns tragic.

During a bachelorette weekend, Brooklyn Hill walks into a crowded club and never walks back out. Burke and Blade face cameras, missing minutes, and a tangle of secrets as they try to explain the impossible vanishing.

Still mourning a close friend, John is drawn into the disappearance of Carla Pearson from an isolated river cabin reachable only by boat. The case forces him to confront how little he may really know about the people he loves.

Two years after Aiden Shaw disappeared on Halloween night in front of witnesses, his mother and a tired cold case cop ask Burke and Blade for help. The deeper they go, the more dangerous the answers become.

Twelve years after Leah Harrison walked out into a storm and disappeared, Burke and Blade are hired to find out why. The cold case pulls them into old secrets, personal risk, and a mystery that still scares the people around it.

A birthday sleepover for a group of AAU moms ends with one woman dead behind a Panama City Beach mansion. Burke and Blade dig through lies, influence, and a deadly mix of local power and organized crime.

Charlotte Nelson vanished two weeks ago, along with her car and every obvious trace. While Burke's girlfriend fights for her life, Burke and Blade hunt through false identities, bad men, and family pressures to find her.

When a pregnant young woman vanishes on Christmas Eve, suspicion quickly settles on her husband and a bleak discovery washes ashore. John races through rumors, media noise, and damaged relationships to learn the truth.

Harper Ellis is found stabbed in her locked condo, then somehow disappears before the scene makes sense. Hired by Harper's sister, Burke investigates a case that points toward abuse, deception, and a killer who may have walked away unseen.