Jack Nightingale Books in Order: How to read Stephen Leather’s series?

Written by British author and TV Writer Stephen Leather (Spider Shepherd), the Jack Nightingale series is about a former police negotiator who becomes a private investigator, with a supernatural twist.

A fan of occult stories (including the Hellblazer comics), Leather wanted to write a police story with a real investigation, but the culprit a demon from Hell. The result was the Jack Nightingale series. Though, at first, the story of Jack Nightingale was written to be a movie. The screenplay was published in 2017 under the title “Devilzone – A Jack Nightingale Screenplay”, a good read for the fan of the series.

How to Read The Jack Nightingale Series in Order?

Every entry in the Jack Nightingale book series works as a standalone story, but the lives of the different characters evolve from one novel to the other.

1. Nightfall – ‘You are going to Hell, Jack Nightingale.’ They are the words that ended Jack Nightingale’s career as a negotiator with the Metropolitan Police. But two years later, when Nightingale is a struggling Private Eye, the words come back to haunt him. Nightingale discovers that he was adopted at birth and that his real father, a confirmed Satanist, sold Nightingale’s soul to a demon from Hell. And on his thirty-third birthday – just weeks away – the demon is coming to claim its prize.
2. Midnight – Somehow, variations of that line keep former police negotiator Nightingale’s life careening in wild, unforeseen directions. This time, it is uttered by a dead woman hanging over a staircase, her neck broken by the laundry cord she tied around it before tossing herself over the banister. But Jack and his sister have been separated since birth…How can he save someone he’s never met?
3. Nightmare – The last case of police negotiator Jack Nightingale’s career ended in the death of nine-year-old Sophie Underwood. Since then he’s saved his own soul from the devil…but now he’s haunted by Sophie’s cries for help. And when a gangbanger lying in a hospital bed with no brain activity repeatedly drops Jack’s name, Nightingale realizes Sophie may desperately need him. But why?

4. Nightshade – A farmer walks into a school and shoots eight children dead before turning the gun on himself. It’s a harrowing but straightforward case – until police search the man’s farm and unearth evidence of dark Satanic practices. When the perpetrator’s brother approaches Nightingale, adamant that his brother was set up, it’s clear that something even more sinister lurks at the heart of the case.
5. Lastnight – A killer is murdering Goths with relish – skinning and butchering them. The cops aren’t getting anywhere so Jack Nightingale’s nemesis, Superintendent Chalmers, asks him for help. Nightingale discovers that the murdered Goths had one thing in common: a tattoo connected to the secretive Satanic child-sacrificing cult called the Order of Nine Angles. As Nightingale closes in on the killers, the tables are turned and he finds himself in the firing line, along with his friends and family.
6. San Francisco Night– Jack Nightingale fights his battles in the shadows – in the grey areas where the real world meets the supernatural. But when he arrives in San Francisco to take on a group of Satanists bent on opening a doorway to Hell, the danger is out in the open and all too real. The Apostles – a Satanic coven using murder and torture to pave the way for a demon to enter the real world – realize that Nightingale is on their tail. And unleash their own brand of monsters to take him down. With Nightingale’s life – and his very soul – on the line, he has only days to stop The Apostles from bringing death and destruction to the entire world.

7. New York Night – Would you give up your soul to save a city? Teenagers are being possessed and turning into sadistic murderers. Priests can’t help, nor can psychiatrists. So who is behind the demonic possessions? Jack Nightingale is called in to investigate and finds his own soul is on the line.
8. Tennessee Night – Children are killing themselves across the State of Tennessee. Is it a horrible coincidence, or are dark forces at work? When Jack Nightingale learns that there is a mysterious list of children who are at risk, he takes the case, spurred on by the fact that he knows one of the names and that makes it personal. His investigation brings him up against a demon from Hell who is being used on a mission of revenge. But if Nightingale is to save the children, and his own soul, he’ll need help from an old adversary.
9. New Orleans Night – New Orleans. They call it the Big Easy, but there’s nothing easy about Jack Nightingale’s latest case. Dead usually means dead, but corpses are coming back to life and carrying out targeted killings. The supernatural detective is called in to investigate, and he soon discovers that Voodoo is behind the spate of murders. Whoever is making the dead rise obviously has a plan – a plan so heinous that even the Devils of Hell are concerned. But there are darker forces at work. And they have Nightingale in their sights. His life – and his soul – are on the line.

10. Las Vegas Night – Las Vegas is known as Sin City. And what happens in Vegas usually stays in Vegas. But someone in the city has powers that allow them to strike anywhere in the world and take lives – for a price. Jack Nightingale has a track record of dealing with occult killers and so far he has always come out on top. But this time the only way to find the killer is to set himself up as bait. And this might be the time when his luck finally runs out.
11. Rio Grande Night – Mexico is famous for its rich culture, ancient ruins, dazzling beaches, and spicy cuisine. But there is a darker side to America’s southern neighbor, with vicious gangs dealing in drugs. extortion, money laundering, human trafficking, and contract killings. Jack Nightingale came across his fair share of villains when he worked for the Metropolitan Police in London. But nothing could prepare him for the evil that was waiting for him when he crossed the Rio Grande river and entered Mexico – an evil that is hunting for an immortal soul. A very special soul.

• Nightingale – A Short Story Collection – A collection of Jack Nightingale’s short stories including “Still Bleeding,” “Cursed,” “Blood Bath,” “I Know Who Did It,” “My Name Is Lydia,” “The Creeper,” “Children Of The Dark,” “Tracks,” and “The Undead.”
• Nightingale 2 – A Short Story Collection – The second collection of Jack Nightingale’s short stories including “Knock Knock,” “Watery Grave,” “The Cards,” “Possession,” “Claws,” “The Asylum,” “The Doll,” “The Mansion,” and “Wrong Turn.”

Jack Nightingale Series in Order, including the short stories

The following listing is a guide to the jack nightingale books in chronological order, including the short stories available in the previous two listed collections, but also the novellas.

1. Nightfall (novel)
2. Cursed (short story)
3. Midnight (novel)
4. The Whisper Man (novella)
5. My Name Is Lydia (short story)
6. Nightmare (novel)
7. The Cards (short story)
8. Nightshade (novel)
9. Witch Hunt (novella)
10. Still Bleeding (short story)
11. Blood Bath (short story)
12. I Know Who Did It (short story)
13. Lastnight (novel)
14. The House On Gable Street (novella)
15. Tracks (short story)
16. Children Of The Dark (short story)
17. The Creeper (short story)
18. The Asylum (short story)
19. The Undead (short story)
20. The Doll (short story)
21. The Mansion (short story)
22. Possession (short story)
23. San Francisco Night (novel)
24. New York Night (novel)
25. Tennessee Night (novel)
26. Wrong Turn (short story)
27. New Orleans Night (novel)
28. Las Vegas Night (novel)
29. Rio Grande Night (novel)

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