J.T. Ellison Books in Order (Taylor Jackson, Samantha Owens, Brit in the FBI)
All of J.T. Ellison’s Books in Order!
Who is J.T. Ellison?
New York Times bestselling author and co-host of the literary TV show A Word on Words, J.T. Ellison has written more than 25 novels in the domestic noir and psychological thrillers genres.
Ellison has published a number of stand-alone novels as well as multiple series. Her most popular novels include the Samantha Owens series, which centers on a forensic pathologist, and the Taylor Jackson series, which follows a Nashville homicide lieutenant. Both shows include aspects of psychological drama, suspense, and crime-solving.
She also pens the “A Brit in the FBI” series with bestselling author Catherine Coulter, and writes urban fantasy under the pen name Joss Walker.
How to read J.T. Ellison’s Books in Order?
The Taylor Jackson Series
The Taylor Jackson series is about a dedicated and talented detective who works in Nashville’s deadly and seedy criminal underworld. She deals with a range of difficult cases throughout the series, including those involving serial killers, cruel murders, and intricate conspiracies.
Every book in the Taylor Jackson series works as a standalone story, but the lives of the different characters evolve from one novel to the other.
- Crossed (2015, prequel short story)
- All the Pretty Girls (2007)
- 14 (2008)
- Judas Kiss (2008)
- The Cold Room (2010)
- The Immortals (2010)
- So Close the Hand of Death (2011)
- Where All the Dead Lie (2011)
- Blood Sugar Baby (2015, short story)
- Whiteout (2015, short story)
- Field of Graves (2016, prequel)
- The Wolves Come at Night (2023)
For more information about the books in the Taylor Jackson series by J.T. Ellison, you’ll find below the official synopsis for all the books:
Field of Graves (Prequel) – All of Nashville is on edge with a serial killer on the loose. A madman is trying to create his own end-of-days apocalypse and the cops trying to catch him are almost as damaged as the killer. Lieutenant Taylor Jackson, medical examiner Dr. Samantha Owens, and troubled FBI profiler Dr. John Baldwin race the clock and their own demons to find the killer before he claims yet another victim.
All The Pretty Girls – After a local girl turns up dead, Nashville Homicide lieutenant Taylor Jackson is determined to catch the serial rapist responsible for the crime. Called “The Southern Strangler,” this sadistic killer is slaughtering young women throughout Southeast, leaving a gruesome memento at each crime scene-the prior victim’s severed hand. Taylor finds herself in a joint investigation with her lover, FBI profiler Dr. John Baldwin, as they pursue the vicious murderer.
14 – All have been slashed across the throat, the same red lipstick smeared across their lips. In the mid-1980s the Snow White Killer terrorized the streets of Nashville, Tennessee. Then suddenly the murders stopped. A letter from the killer to the police stated that his work was done. Now four more bodies are found, marked with his fatal signature. The residents of Nashville fear a madman has returned, decades later, to finish his sick fairy tale. Homicide Lieutenant Taylor Jackson believes the killings are the work of a copycat killer who’s even more terrifying.
Judas Kiss – An innocent toddler playing beside her mother’s bludgeoned body. Pretty young Corinne Wolff, seven months pregnant, brutally murdered in her own home. Cameras and questions don’t usually faze Nashville homicide lieutenant Taylor Jackson, but the media frenzy surrounding the Wolff case is particularly nasty. . . and thorough.
The Cold Room – Homicide detective Taylor Jackson thinks she’s seen it all – but she’s never seen anything as perverse as The Conductor. After capturing his victim, he contains her in a glass coffin and slowly starves her to death. Only when her last breath is gone does he give in to his attraction. Soon bodies begin to litter the town, arranged in sinister, well-known poses of great works of art. But when similar murders are reported in Europe, it appears the twisted fantasies of a madman cannot be contained. The coffin is empty… Are you next?
The Immortals – Nonbelievers call it Hallowe’en. The night when eight Nashville teenagers are found dead, with occult symbols carved into their naked bodies. It’s a ritual the killers believe was blessed by Death himself. When children are victimized, emotions always run high, and this case has the public both outraged and terrified: a dangerous combination. Recently reinstated homicide lieutenant Taylor Jackson knows she has to act quickly, but tread carefully. Exploring the baffling culture of mysticism and witchcraft, Taylor is immersed in a darkness that threatens to unbalance the order of her world, and learns how unchecked wrath can push a killer to his limits.
So Close the Hand of Death – It’s a hideous echo of a violent past. Across America, murders are being committed with all the twisted hallmarks of the Boston Strangler, the Zodiac Killer, and Son of Sam. The media frenzy explodes and Nashville homicide lieutenant Taylor Jackson knows instantly that The Pretender is back…and he’s got helpers…
Where All the Dead Lie – In her showdown with the murderous Pretender, a bullet taken at close range severed the connection between Taylor’s thoughts and speech. When Memphis Highsmythe offers Taylor his home in the Scottish Highlands to recuperate, her fiancé can’t refuse her excitement, no matter his distrust of the man. At first, Memphis’s drafty and singularly romantic castle seems the perfect place for healing. But shortly the house itself surrounds her like a menacing presence. As Taylor’s sense of isolation and vulnerability grows, so, too, does her grip on reality. Someone or some is coming after Taylor. But is she being haunted by the dead or hunted by the living?
Whiteout (short story) – Taylor Jackson has reluctantly agreed to take the place of her fiancé, FBI profiler John Baldwin, as a presenter at the annual Freedom Conference, a foreign intelligence initiative attended by the best in the business of “clandestine services.” Then a blizzard effectively isolates their hotel on Chesapeake Bay: no power, no generators, and no possibility of outside help. When two guests go missing, and one of them is found dead in his room, Taylor discovers an assassin amongst the spies-one with a deadly score to settle.
Blood Sugar Baby (short story) – Metro Nashville Homicide Lieutenant Taylor Jackson is none too happy when the body of a high-profile Nashvillian turns up after a protest. But when her detectives find another body with the same, mysterious wounds, it’s clear she has a psychopath on her hands-and records show he’s been on the move, leaving chaos in his wake. Will this killer slip through Taylor’s grasp, as he has slipped through grasps of so many, for so long?
The Wolves Come at Night – While the high-profile murder of a young country singer turns Nashville inside out, danger lurks in the woods beyond the city’s border. There was a witness to the terrible crime, a college student who stumbled onto the scene. When the girl goes missing, the police don’t know if she’s run for cover or been taken…or if something more sinister is happening.
The Samantha Owens Series
Focuses on medical examiner Dr. Samantha Owens that was a secondary character in the Taylor Jackson series.
Samantha Owens is a highly qualified and knowledgeable individual who employs her knowledge to research and examine forensic evidence, autopsies, and crime scenes. Readers are taken on a trip packed with sophisticated mysteries, twisted agendas, and profound psychological dynamics as Samantha Owens looks into each case.
- A Deeper Darkness (2012)
- Edge of Black (2012)
- When Shadows Fall (2014)
- What Lies Behind (2015)
For more information about the books in the Samantha Owens series by J.T. Ellison, you’ll find below the official synopsis for all the books:
A Deeper Darkness – As a medical examiner, Samantha Owens knows her job is to make sense of death. But since the day the Tennessee floods took her husband and children, she has been pulled into a suffocating grief no amount of workaholic ardor can penetrate-until she receives a peculiar call from Washington, D.C. On the other end of the line is an old boyfriend’s mother, asking Sam to do a second autopsy on her son. Eddie Donovan is officially the victim of a vicious carjacking, but under Sam’s sharp eye the forensics tell a darker story. The ex-Ranger was murdered, though not for his car. Forced to confront the burning memories and feelings about yet another loved one killed brutally, Sam loses herself in the mystery contained within Donovan’s old notes. The tale told between the lines makes it clear that nobody’s hands are clean, and that making sense of murder sometimes means putting yourself in the crosshairs of death.
Edge of Black – Dr. Samantha Owens is starting over: new city, new job, new man, new life. But before she’s even unpacked her office at Georgetown University’s forensic pathology department, she’s called to consult on a case that’s rocked the capital and the country. An unknown pathogen released into the Washington Metro has caused nationwide panic. Three people died-just three. Amid the media frenzy and Homeland Security alarm bells, Sam painstakingly dissects the lives of those three victims and makes an unsettling conclusion. This is no textbook terrorist, but an assassin whose motive is deeply personal and far from understandable.
When Shadows Fall – Dr. Samantha Owens thought life was finally returning to normal. Settling into her new job at Georgetown University, the illusion is shattered when she receives a disturbing letter from a dead man imploring her to solve his murder. There’s only one catch. Timothy Savage’s death was so obviously a suicide that the case has been closed. When Sam learns Savage left a will requesting she autopsy his body, she feels compelled to look into the case. The postmortem uncovers clear signs that Savage was indeed murdered. And she finds DNA from a kidnapped child whose remains were recovered years earlier. The investigation takes Sam into the shadows of a twenty-year-old mystery that must be solved to determine what really happened to Timothy Savage.
What Lies Behind – New York Times Waking to sirens in the night is hardly unusual for Sam Owens. No longer a medical examiner, she doesn’t lose sleep over them, but a routine police investigation in her neighborhood has her curious. When her homicide detective friend, Darren Fletcher, invites her to look over the evidence, she immediately realizes the crime scene has been staged. What would seem to be a clear case of murder/suicide is anything but. The discovery of toxic substances in hidden vials indicates that something much more sinister is at play… As Fletch and Sam try to understand what and who they are dealing with, they are summoned to a meeting at the State Department. High-level officials are interested in what they know and, as the threat of bioterrorism is exposed, seem to be keeping secrets of their own.
The Brit in the FBI Series
Co-written with Catherine Coulter, the Brit in the FBI series recounts the investigations of Nicholas Drummond, a British-born Scotland Yard special agent, and Michaela “Mike” Caine, an American FBI agent. The plot revolves around international espionage, adventure, and mystery. Nicholas Drummond transfers his British intelligence and investigative abilities to the FBI’s New York office, where he works alongside Mike Caine on high-stakes investigations with worldwide ramifications. Drummond and Caine are engaged in a number of intriguing and deadly scenarios throughout the series.
- The Final Cut (2013)
- The Lost Key (2014)
- The End Game (2015)
- The Devil’s Triangle (2017)
- The Sixth Day (2018)
- The Last Second (2019)
For more information about the books in the Brit in the FBI Series by Catherine Coulter and J.T. Ellison, you’ll find below the official synopsis for all the books:
The Final Cut – Scotland Yard’s new chief inspector Nicholas Drummond is on the first flight to New York when he learns his colleague, Elaine York, the “minder” of the Crown Jewels for the “Jewel of the Lion” exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was found murdered. Then the centerpiece of the exhibit, the infamous Koh-i-Noor Diamond, is stolen from the Queen Mother’s crown. Drummond, American-born but raised in the UK, is a dark, dangerous, fast-rising star in the Yard who never backs down. And this case is no exception. Special Agents Lacey Sherlock and Dillon Savich from Coulter’s bestselling FBI series don’t hesitate to help Drummond find the cunning international thief known as the Fox.
The Lost Key – After working with Special Agents Lacey Sherlock and Dillon Savich, Nicholas Drummond has joined the FBI. Now, he and partner Mike Caine are in an eleventh-hour race to stop a madman from finding a cache of lost World War I gold-and a weapon unlike anything the world has ever seen…
The End Game – Nicholas Drummond and his partner, Mike Caine, rush to stop the deadly bombings and cyber attacks of an environmental terrorist group. But when the organization is infiltrated by an international assassin, it will take help from fellow FBI agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock to stop something much bigger from going down…
The Devil’s Triangle – FBI Special Agents Nicholas Drummond and Michaela Caine are the government’s Covert Eyes-leading a top-notch handpicked team of agents to tackle crimes and criminals both international and deadly. But their first case threatens their fledgling team when the Fox calls from Venice asking for help. Kitsune has stolen an incredible artifact from the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul, and now the client wants her dead. She has a warning for Nick and Mike: she’s overheard talk that a devastating Gobi desert sandstorm that’s killed thousands in Beijing isn’t a natural phenomenon, rather is produced by man. The Covert Eyes team heads to Venice, Italy, to find out the truth.
The Sixth Day – When several major political figures die mysteriously, officials blame their deaths on natural causes. However, when a small drone is spotted at the scene of the most recent death, it quickly becomes clear to FBI agents Nicholas and Michaela that there’s more to this mystery than meets the eye. Dr. Isabella Marin is a language expert, and she’s dedicated her entire life to researching an ancient text that has long been considered indecipherable…that is, until now. When it becomes clear that there’s an alarming pattern between the text and the recent deaths, she teams up with the FBI to find the link.
The Last Second – Galactus, France’s answer to SpaceX, has just launched a communications satellite into orbit, but the payload actually harbors a frightening weapon: a nuclear bomb that can trigger a massive electromagnetic pulse (EMP). When the satellite is in position, Galactus’s second-in-command, Dr. Nevaeh Patel, will have the power to lay waste to the world. A former astronaut, Patel believes she is following the directions of the Numen, aliens who saved her life when she space-walked outside the International Space Station. She is convinced that with the Holy Grail-just discovered by the owner of Galactus, eccentric treasure hunter Jean-Pierre Broussard-she can be reunited with the Numen, change the world’s destiny, and become immortal with them. The countdown has begun when Special Agents Nicholas Drummond and Michaela Caine are thrown into the pending disaster.
J.T. Ellison’s Standalone Novels
- No One Knows (2016)
- Lie to Me (2017)
- Tear Me Apart (2018)
- Good Girls Lie (2019)
- Her Dark Lies (2021)
- The Relationships (2022, non-fiction)
- It’s One Of Us (2023)
- These Cold Strangers (2023, part of the We Could Be Heroes series)
For more information about the standalone books written by J.T. Ellison, you’ll find below the official synopsis for all the books:
No One Knows – Aubrey Hamilton has been mourning her missing husband for five years, despite being even while she was considered the prime suspect in his murder. But when he is officially declared dead, there are still more questions than answers: Why didn’t Josh show up at his friend’s bachelor party? Was he murdered, or did he run away? And who is the new, mysterious and strangely familiar figureman suddenly appearing in Aubrey’s life? And has she finally lost her mind after years of loneliness and confusion?
Lie to Me – Sutton and Ethan Montclair’s idyllic life is not as it appears. They seem made for each other, but the truth is ugly. Consumed by professional and personal betrayals and financial woes, the two both love and hate each other. As tensions mount, Sutton disappears, leaving behind a note saying not to look for her. Ethan finds himself the target of vicious gossip as friends, family and the media speculate on what really happened to Sutton Montclair. As the police investigate, the lies the couple have been spinning for years quickly unravel.
Tear Me Apart – Competitive skier Mindy Wright is a superstar in the making until a spectacular downhill crash threatens not just her racing career but her life. During surgery, doctors discover she’s suffering from a severe form of leukemia, and a stem cell transplant is her only hope. But when her parents are tested, a frightening truth emerges. Mindy is not their daughter. The race to save Mindy’s life means unraveling years of lies.
Good Girls Lie – Perched atop a hill in the tiny town of Marchburg, Virginia, The Goode School is a prestigious prep school known as a Silent Ivy. The boarding school of choice for daughters of the rich and influential, it accepts only the best and the brightest. Its elite status, long-held traditions and honor code are ideal for preparing exceptional young women for brilliant futures at Ivy League universities and beyond. But a stranger has come to Goode, and this ivy has turned poisonous.
Her Dark Lies – Jutting from sparkling turquoise waters off the Italian coast, Isle Isola is an idyllic setting for a wedding. Up-and-coming artist Claire Hunter will marry handsome, charming Jack Compton, surrounded by close family, intimate friends…and a host of dark secrets. From the moment Claire sets foot on the island, something seems amiss. Skeletal remains have just been found. There are other, newer disturbances, too. Menacing texts. A ruined wedding dress. And one troubling shadow hanging over Claire’s otherwise blissful relationship-the strange mystery surrounding Jack’s first wife. Then a raging storm descends, the power goes out-and the real terror begins…
It’s One Of Us – Olivia Bender designs exquisite home interiors that satisfy the most demanding clients. But her own deepest desire can’t be fulfilled by marble counters or the perfect rug. She desperately wants to be a mother. Fertility treatments and IVF keep failing. And just when she feels she’s at her lowest point, the police deliver shocking news to Olivia and her husband, Park.
These Cold Strangers – When she recognizes the heroic stranger in a sensationalized news video, Addison Blake plans to use the information to her career’s advantage. That means returning to the hometown she left behind ten years ago, but her ambitions are more important than the ghosts of her past. She’s focused on breaking this story-as long as it doesn’t break her first.
What should you read if you like J.T. Ellison’s novels?
If you like reading J.T. Ellison’s stories, you may be interested in Catherine Coulter’s FBI Thrillers, Allison Brennan’s Lucy Kincaid books, Lisa Gardner’s novels.
