P.J. Parrish Books in Order

P.J. Parrish is the pen name for Detroit-born sisters Kristy Montee and Kelly Nichols, New York Times bestselling authors best known for the Louis Kincaid crime series, which has received several major awards, including Shamus, Anthony, and ITW.

This page lists all P.J. Parrish books in order, including the Louis Kincaid series, standalone novels, and short stories.

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Louis Kincaid Series (Books in Order)

The Louis Kincaid series follows biracial detective Louis Kincaid, who started out with a temporary assignment in his Mississippi hometown before moving to Florida, where he eventually started working as a private investigator. Most of his cases deal with issues of race, identity, and justice. From book 6 onward, Miami homicide detective Joe Frye becomes a regular to the series, and the later books have her as main character solving cases together with Louis Kincade.

Reading Order

  1. Dark Of The Moon, 1999
  2. Dead of Winter, 2001
  3. Paint It Black, 2002
  4. Thicker Than Water, 2003
  5. Island of Bones, 2004
  6. A Killing Rain, 2005
  7. Unquiet Grave, 2006
  8. A Thousand Bones, 2007
  9. South of Hell, 2008
  10. The Little Death, 2010
  11. Claw Back, 2012
  12. Heart of Ice, 2013
  13. The Damage Done, 2018

Collaborations (Harold Middleton Series)

Standalone Novels

Short Story Collections and Anthologies

P.J. Parrish Biography

P.J. Parrish books in order

The New York Times bestselling author and Edgar-nominee P.J. Parrish is the pseudonym used by the writing team Kristy Montee and Kelly Nichols, two sisters who wrote the Louis Kincaid series, two standalone thrillers, and short stories in multiple anthologies. Together they published 12 Louis Kincaid novels between 1999 and 2018.

Official website: pjparrish.com

The sisters were born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. Kelly Nichols graduated from the Northern Michigan University. She then moved to Arizona, followed by Last Vegas where she worked as a blackjack dealer and later as a human resource manager at a casino. She spent the next 20 years doing everything but writing.

The writing collaboration started when Kelly had a partially written mystery manuscript and Kristy had grown tired of writing romance novels. They joined forces to finish what became Dark of the Moon, the first Louis Kincaid novel, which was published in 1999. The novel became a New York Times and USA Today bestseller, and received major crime fiction awards. They also contributed short stories to MWA anthologies, Detroit Noir, Ellery Queen Magazine, and an essay collection on Edgar Allan Poe which was edited by Michael Connelly.

Kristy Montee had also a knack for writing from her early childhood. Her first short story under the title The Cat Who Understood, was written when she was in the 8th grade.

She attended the Eastern Michigan University from where she got a teaching degree, following which she worked as a journalist in Michigan and then in Fort Lauderdale as an assistant managing editor at the Sun Sentinel. She also worked as a police reporter and ballet critic, among others.

Her first 4 novels were romances, which she soon found boring. She really found her niche in the mystery genre, when she start working together with her sister on their common series, Louis Kincade.

The Harold Middleton series is co-authored by 15 of the world’s greatest thriller writers, and P.J. Parrish collaborated on it as well.

In September 2023, Kristy Montee announced on The Kill Zone blog that she would stop writing novels. Thus, no new P.J. Parrish books are expected in the near future.

P.J. Parrish Awards and Honors

Awards

  • An Unquiet Grave – Shamus (2007)
  • An Unquiet Grave – ITW Thriller (2007)
  • An Unquiet Grave – Michigan Notable Books (2007)
  • A Thousand Bones – Anthony (2008)
  • Heart of Ice – Shamus (2014)

Nominations and Shortlists

  • Dead of Winter – Edgar Award, Best Paperback Original (2002)
  • Dead of Winter – Anthony Award, Best Paperback Original (2002)
  • Paint It Black – Anthony Award, Best Paperback Original (2003)
  • Paint It Black – Shamus Award, Best P.I. Paperback Original (2003)
  • Thicker Than Water – Anthony Award, Best Paperback Original (2004)
  • Thicker Than Water – Shamus Award, Best P.I. Paperback Original (2004)
  • Island of Bones – Shamus Award, Best P.I. Paperback Original (2005)
  • A Killing Rain – Anthony Award, Best Paperback Original (2006)
  • A Killing Rain – Shamus Award, Best P.I. Paperback Original (2006)
  • A Thousand Bones – ITW Thriller Award, Best Paperback Original (2008)
  • South of Hell – Anthony Award, Best Paperback Original (2009)
  • The Little Death – Shamus Award, Best P.I. Paperback Original (2011)

Edited by

Marika

Founder of Mystery Sequels, a reference site focused on listing mystery and thriller books in the correct reading order. I maintain and update the site’s bibliographies as new titles are released, ensuring accuracy and consistency across author and series pages.

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