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10 Long-Running Series to Last You All Winter

November 17 2022
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With winter just around the corner, we’re all facing a series of long, cold months to fill with reading. Which means that now is the perfect time to book up your reading schedule with unforgettable novels you’re sure to love! This list includes ten long-running series, each of which has been going on for more than ten years. Check out book one now, get yourself hooked, and then you’ll be all set to breeze through the long winter with your nose in a book. There’s nothing better than settling down in a well-established world with tried-and-true characters. So let us introduce you to a few of your soon-to-be old favorites . . .

The Neon Rain
by James Lee Burke

In this atmospheric New Orleans neo-noir—the first in the addictive Robicheaux series—author James Lee Burke introduces his haunted protagonist, Detective Dave Robicheaux. As a Vietnam veteran and alcoholic widower, Robicheaux feels as though he’s lost his purpose. That is, until he finds himself investigating the mysterious murder of a young prostitute in the bayou. From the French Quarter to the seedy underworld of drug dealers and smugglers, Robicheaux must face the evils that haunt him and his shadowy city.

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The Neon Rain
James Lee Burke

From New York Times bestselling author James Lee Burke comes his definitive, must-read first title in his famous Dectective David Robicheaux series.

New Orleans Detective Dave Robicheaux has fought too many battles: in Vietnam, with police brass, with killers and hustlers, and the bottle. Lost without his wife's love, Robicheaux haunts the intense and heady French Quarter—the place he calls home, and the place that nearly destroys him when he beomes involved in the case of a young prostitute whose body is found in a bayou. Thrust into the seedy world of drug lords and arms smugglers, Robicheaux must face down the criminal underworld and come to terms with his own bruised heart and demons to survive.

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Devil in a Blue Dress (30th Anniversary Edition)
by Walter Mosley

Easy Rawlins, a Black World War II veteran, has returned to the African-American community in Watts, Los Angeles, in the late 1940s. After being fired from his job, Easy comforts himself by drinking at a friend’s bar. But when a white man approaches him and offers him easy money if he can find Daphne Monet, a blonde bombshell infamous for hanging out in Black jazz clubs, Easy can’t say no. A neo-noir classic, DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS is the first novel in Walter Mosley’s captivating Easy Rawlins mystery series and the inspiration for the Denzel Washington movie.

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Devil in a Blue Dress (30th Anniversary Edition)
Walter Mosley

The first novel by “master of mystery” (The New York Times) Walter Mosley, featuring Easy Rawlins, the most iconic African American detective in all of fiction. Named one of the “best 100 mystery novels of all time” by the Mystery Writers of America, this special thirtieth anniversary edition features an all new introduction from the author.

The year is 1948, the town is Los Angeles.

Easy Rawlins, a black war veteran, has just been fired from his job at a defense factory plant. Drinking in his friend’s bar, he’s wondering how he’ll manage to make ends meet, when a white man in a linen suit approaches him and offers him good money if Easy will simply locate Miss Daphne Money, a missing blonde beauty known to frequent black jazz clubs.

Easy has no idea that by taking this job, his life is about to change forever.

“More than simply a detective novel…[Mosley is] a talented author with something vital to say about the distance between the black and white worlds, and with a dramatic way to say it” (The New York Times).

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Iron Lake (20th Anniversary Edition)
by William Kent Krueger

William Kent Krueger’s Cork O’Connor series has continued for more than twenty years, and its characters are sure to find their way into your heart. In IRON LAKE, the first installment, former Minnesota sheriff P.I. Cork O’Connor is struggling to deal with the fallout of his marriage, which has separated him from his children. Despite being hardened by his days working as a cop on Chicago’s South Side, Cork is finds himself spiraling while investigating a complicated case including a dead judge, a missing Eagle Scout, and a slew of small-town secrets.

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Iron Lake (20th Anniversary Edition)
William Kent Krueger

The 20th anniversary edition of the first novel in William Kent Krueger’s beloved and bestselling Cork O’Connor mystery series—includes an exclusive bonus short story!

“A brilliant achievement, and one every crime reader and writer needs to celebrate.” —Louise Penny, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Glass Houses

“A master craftsman [and] a series of books written with a grace and precision so stunning that you’d swear the stories were your own.” —Craig Johnson, author of the Walt Longmire series

“Among thoughtful readers, William Kent Krueger holds a very special place in the pantheon.” —C.J. Box, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Disappeared

In eighteen novels over twenty years, William Kent Krueger has enthralled readers with the adventures of P.I. Cork O’Connor, former sheriff of Aurora, Minnesota—selling more than 1.5 million copies of his books and winning the Edgar Award, Minnesota Book Award, Northeastern Minnesota Book Award, Dilys Award, Lovey Award, and Anthony Award along the way. Now, in this special anniversary edition, longtime fans and new readers alike can read the novel that first introduced Corcoran “Cork” O’Connor to the world.

Part Irish, part Anishinaabe Indian, Cork is having difficulty dealing with the marital meltdown that has separated him from his children, getting by on heavy doses of caffeine, nicotine, and guilt. Once a cop on Chicago’s South Side, there’s not much that can shock him. But when the town’s judge is brutally murdered, and a young Eagle Scout is reported missing, Cork takes on this complicated and perplexing case of conspiracy, corruption, and a small-town secret that hits painfully close to home.

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Dissolution
by C. J. Sansom

In this impeccably researched historical mystery, it is 1537 and Tudor England finds itself divided between those loyal to the Catholic Church and those loyal to the king and his new Church of England. Reformer Matthew Shardlake has been assigned by the ruthless Thomas Cromwell to investigate the murder of a royal commissioner at a monastery. Shardlake and his protégé’s investigation uncovers a slew of sexual misconduct, secrets, and betrayals; can they stop the murderer before he strikes again? DISSOLUTION is just the start of the atmospheric Matthew Shardlake Tudor Mystery series!

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Dissolution
C. J. Sansom

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Michael Vey
by Richard Paul Evans

Fourteen-year-old Michael Vey appears to be just a high school student with Tourette’s syndrome. But he has a secret: his body harbors electric powers. When he discovers that a classmate and cheerleader, Taylor, has the same abilities, they team up with Michael’s best friend, Ostin, to discover where their powers came from. But their action-packed journey will alert them to the presence of a group of people eager to control them and, with them, the world. THE PRISONER OF CELL 25 is the beginning of a pulse-pounding teen book series by Richard Paul Evan, which you may also recognize as the author of THE NOEL LETTERS and other holiday favorites.

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Michael Vey
Richard Paul Evans

The start of an action-packed teen series from #1 New York Times bestselling author Richard Paul Evans.

To everyone at Meridian High School, fourteen-year-old Michael Vey is nothing special, just the kid who has Tourette’s syndrome. But in truth, Michael is extremely special—he has electric powers. Michael thinks he is unique until he discovers that a cheerleader named Taylor has the same mysterious powers. With the help of Michael’s friend, Ostin, the three of them set out to discover how Michael and Taylor ended up with their abilities, and their investigation soon brings them to the attention of a powerful group who wants to control the electric teens—and through them, the world.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Richard Paul Evans introduces a character whose risk-filled exploration marks the beginning of a riveting new series. With only his powers, his wits, and his friends to protect him, Michael will need all his strength to survive….

Michael Vey is the first title in Glenn Beck’s Mercury Ink publishing program.

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Going Rogue
by Janet Evanovich

The twenty-ninth Stephanie Plum book, GOING ROGUE, shows a new side of Janet Evanovich’s funny and headstrong protagonist. Stephanie knows something is amiss when she shows up at work to find her reliable office manager, Connie Rosolli, missing. Her kidnapper claims that all he wants is a strange coin posted as bail by a man who’s since been murdered. Stephanie’s journey to find the coin and learn its value will require the help of fan-favorite series characters like Stephanie’s best friend, Lula; hunky security expert Ranger; and Stephanie’s eccentric grandmother.

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Going Rogue
Janet Evanovich

Stephanie Plum breaks the rules, flirts with disaster, and shows who’s boss in this “fast and fun” (Publishers Weekly) thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Janet Evanovich.

Monday mornings aren’t supposed to be fun, but they should be predictable. However, on this particular Monday, Stephanie Plum knows that something is amiss when she turns up for work at Vinnie’s Bail Bonds to find that longtime office manager Connie Rosolli, who is as reliable as the tides in Atlantic City, hasn’t shown up.

Stephanie’s worst fears are confirmed when she gets a call from Connie’s abductor. He says he will only release her in exchange for a mysterious coin that a recently murdered man left as collateral for his bail. Unfortunately, this coin, which should be in the office—just like Connie—is nowhere to be found.

The quest to discover the coin, learn its value, and save Connie will require the help of Stephanie’s Grandma Mazur, her best pal Lula, her boyfriend Morelli, and hunky security expert Ranger. As they get closer to unraveling the reasons behind Connie’s kidnapping, Connie’s captor grows more threatening and soon Stephanie has no choice but to throw caution to the wind, follow her instincts, and go rogue.

Full of surprises, thrills, and humor, Going Rogue reveals a new side of Stephanie Plum, and shows Janet Evanovich at her scorching, riotous best.

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Cold, Cold Bones
by Kathy Reichs

Tempe Brennan is excited to spend more time with her daughter, Katy. But when the two find a box on Tempe’s back porch containing a human eye, Tempe uncovers one killing after another, each mimicking one of her previous cases. To discover why she’s being targeted, Tempe will have to bring in people from her past, like retired detective Skinny Slidell with his dark sense of humor and her long-distance beau Andrew Ryan. This novel is the twenty-first book in Temperance Brennan’s gruesome and engrossing thriller series.

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Cold, Cold Bones
Kathy Reichs

#1 New York Times bestselling thriller writer Kathy Reichs returns with her twenty-first novel of suspense featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan who, after receiving a box containing a human eyeball, uncovers a series of gruesome killings eerily reenacting the most shocking of her prior cases.

Winter has come to North Carolina and, with it, a drop in crime. Freed from a heavy work schedule, Tempe Brennan is content to dote on her daughter Katy, finally returned to civilian life from the army. But when mother and daughter meet at Tempe’s place one night, they find a box on the back porch. Inside: a very fresh human eyeball.

GPS coordinates etched into the eyeball lead to a Benedictine monastery where an equally macabre discovery awaits. Soon after, Tempe examines a mummified corpse in a state park, and her anxiety deepens.

There seems to be no pattern to the subsequent killings uncovered, except that each mimics in some way a homicide that a younger Tempe had been called in to analyze. Who or what is targeting her, and why?

Helping Tempe search for answers is detective Erskine “Skinny” Slidell, retired but still volunteering with the CMPD cold case unit—and still displaying his gallows humor. Also pulled into the mystery: Andrew Ryan, Tempe’s Montreal-based beau, now working as a private detective.

Could this elaborately staged skein of mayhem be the prelude to a twist that is even more shocking? Tempe is at a loss to establish the motive for what is going on…and then her daughter disappears.

At its core, Cold, Cold Bones is a novel of revenge—one in which revisiting the past may prove the only way to unravel the present.

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The Siberian Dilemma
by Martin Cruz Smith

Arkady Renko is Martin Cruz Smith’s international thriller series, beginning with the espionage classic GORKY PARK, which introduces a brilliant but cynical homicide investigator who is determined to uncover the truth about the FBI, KGB, and New York City police despite simultaneously falling in love with a headstrong dissident. With nine books in the series so far, the most recent installment, THE SIBERIAN DILEMMA features Renko embarking on a chilling and dangerous mission to Northern Russia to rescue a journalist whose work poses a threat to Putin.

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The Siberian Dilemma
Martin Cruz Smith

From the award-winning, bestselling author of Gorky Park and Tatiana comes a breathtaking new novel about investigator Arkady Renko—“one of the most compelling figures in modern fiction” (USA TODAY)—who travels deep into Siberia to find missing journalist Tatiana Petrovna.

Journalist Tatiana Petrovna is on the move. Arkady Renko, iconic Moscow investigator and Tatiana’s part-time lover, hasn’t seen her since she left on assignment over a month ago. When she doesn’t arrive on her scheduled train, he’s positive something is wrong. No one else thinks Renko should be worried—Tatiana is known to disappear during deep assignments—but he knows her enemies all too well and the criminal lengths they’ll go to keep her quiet.

Renko embarks on a dangerous journey to find Tatiana and bring her back. From the banks of Lake Baikal to rundown Chita, Renko slowly learns that Tatiana has been profiling the rise of political dissident Mikhail Kuznetsov, a golden boy of modern oil wealth and the first to pose a true threat to Putin’s rule in over a decade. Though Kuznetsov seems like the perfect candidate to take on the corruption in Russian politics, his reputation becomes clouded when Boris Benz, his business partner and best friend, turns up dead. In a land of shamans and brutally cold nights, oligarchs wealthy on northern oil, and sea monsters that are said to prowl the deepest lake in the world, Renko needs all his wits about him to get Tatiana out alive.

The Washington Post has said “Martin Cruz Smith is that rare phenomenon: a popular and well-regarded crime novelist who is also a writer of real distinction.” In the latest continuation of his unforgettable series, he brings us to the inside world of shadowy political figures and big wig oil oligarchs providing us with an authentic view of contemporary Russia, infused with his trademark wit.

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Every Dead Thing
by John Connolly

In the tradition of classic American detective thrillers, EVERY DEAD THING features John Connolly’s memorable protagonist Charlie “Bird” Parker as he tracks the serial killer embodiment of pure evil. Parker is haunted by the unsolved murders of his wife and daughter, but when the case of a missing girl comes across his desk, he’s drawn into an underworld of Louisiana bayous, where a slew of unsolved cold cases and ghosts haunt the region. With a young psychologist and a pair of career criminals by his side, Parker rediscovers his passion for survival, love, and killing alike.

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Every Dead Thing
John Connolly

Tortured and brilliant private detective Charlie Parker stars in this thriller by New York Times bestselling author John Connolly.

Former NYPD detective Charlie "Bird" Parker is on the verge of madness. Tortured by the unsolved slayings of his wife and young daughter, he is a man consumed by guilt, regret, and the desire for revenge. When his former partner asks him to track down a missing girl, Parker finds himself drawn into a world beyond his imagining: a world where thirty-year-old killings remain shrouded in fear and lies, a world where the ghosts of the dead torment the living, a world haunted by the murderer responsible for the deaths in his family—a serial killer who uses the human body to create works of art and takes faces as his prize. But the search awakens buried instincts in Parker: instincts for survival, for compassion, for love, and, ultimately, for killing.

Aided by a beautiful young psychologist and a pair of bickering career criminals, Parker becomes the bait in a trap set in the humid bayous of Louisiana, a trap that threatens the lives of everyone in its reach. Driven by visions of the dead and the voice of an old black psychic who met a terrible end, Parker must seek a final, brutal confrontation with a murderer who has moved beyond all notions of humanity, who has set out to create a hell on earth: the serial killer known only as the Traveling Man.

In the tradition of classic American detective fiction, Every Dead Thing is a tense, richly plotted thriller, filled with memorable characters and gripping action. It is also a profoundly moving novel, concerned with the nature of loyalty, love, and forgiveness. Lyrical and terrifying, it is an ambitious debut, triumphantly realized.

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Love Medicine
by Louise Erdrich

This elegant and virtuosic novel by acclaimed and prolific storyteller Louise Erdrich tells the multigenerational story of the Kashpaws and the Lamartines, two families that live on a North Dakota Ojibwe reservation. Recounting tales of everything from heartrending betrayals to sharp dark humor, a range of voices form a chorus of characters who are strong, complex, and whose fate are deeply intertwined. Threading through all the stories is the promise of magic and the healing potential of “love medicine.” This first novel of an eight-book series sets the stage for the emotionally evocative and rich installments that follow.

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Love Medicine
Louise Erdrich

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Photo credit: iStock / GrashAlex

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