James Scott Bell Books in Order
James Scott Bell is an American thriller author, Christian novelist, former trial lawyer, and writing teacher. Many readers know him first through his writing books, especially Plot & Structure, while crime readers may know him through the Mike Romeo series, the Ty Buchanan legal thrillers, and the Kit Shannon historical legal series. Part of his career also includes Christian suspense, including Final Witness, which won the first Christy Award for Suspense.
He writes legal thrillers, Los Angeles crime stories, historical courtroom fiction, action thrillers, and inspirational Christian books, but most of his novels are about trouble that starts small, which forces people to think fast before the case gets away from them.
This page lists all James Scott Bell books in order, including the Mike Romeo series, Ty Buchanan series, Trials of Kit Shannon, Mallory Caine Zombie-at-Law series written as K. Bennett, Force of Habit series, Irish Jimmy Gallagher stories, standalone novels, short stories, children’s books, collections, anthologies, legal nonfiction, Christian and reflective nonfiction, and writing craft books.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Latest James Scott Bell Books
Where to Start with James Scott Bell
→ New to James Scott Bell? Start with Romeo’s Rules. It introduces Mike Romeo, his series set in Los Angeles, and the mix of action, crime, philosophy, and dry humor that is a major part of the series.
→Know James Scott Bell from his writing books? Start with Romeo’s Rules if you want his thriller novels, or Try Dying if you want the legal-thriller books. His fiction books are separate from the writing tips and guides, so you can jump straight into a series.
→ Want the legal thriller side? Start with Try Dying. This is the first Ty Buchanan book and the easiest way into his contemporary courtroom/crime fiction.
→ Prefer historical legal fiction? Start with City of Angels, the first Kit Shannon book, set in 1903 Los Angeles, with a young woman trying to practice law in a courtroom world built for men.
→ Coming for Bell’s Christian suspense? Start with Final Witness, his Christy Award-winning legal thriller, or City of Angels, the first Kit Shannon book. The Kit Shannon series is historical Christian-fiction.
→ Want something stranger? Try Pay Me in Flesh, written as K. Bennett. It starts the Mallory Caine Zombie-at-Law series, which is exactly as odd as the title sounds.
→ Looking for writing advice? Start with Plot & Structure, then try Revision & Self-Editing or Write Your Novel From the Middle.
Kit Shannon Series (Books in Order)
The Trials of Kit Shannon series follows attorney Kit Shannon, a young woman from the East Coast who travels to Los Angeles in 1903 to practice law, a field that at the time did not accept women. She becomes an apprentice to Earl Rogers, the best criminal defense attorney in the city. While working with him, she takes cases involving murder, racial injustice, and political corruption. The series is a historical romantic suspense with a strong Christian faith theme, which is different from James Scott Bell’s contemporary thrillers.
The first three books were co-authored with Tracie Peterson.
- City of Angels, 2001
- Angels Flight, 2001
- Angel of Mercy, 2001
- A Greater Glory, 2003
- A Higher Justice, 2003
- A Certain Truth, 2004
Ty Buchanan Series (Books in Order)
The Ty Buchanan series follows defense attorney Ty Buchanan, a rising star at a Los Angeles law firm whose life changes when his fiancée dies under suspicious circumstances. While he investigates her death, through his work he is pulled into the city’s criminal underworld, where he loses his firm. While Ty still works as a lawyer, he now offers free legal advice from a coffee bar and the books take him to the street to find missing people and work cases that nobody else will touch.
- Try Dying, 2007
- Try Darkness, 2008
- Try Fear, 2009
Mallory Caine, Zombie at Law Series (Books in Order)
The Mallory Caine series follows defense attorney Mallory Caine, who also happens to be a zombie. She hides what happened to her, searches for her missing soul, takes cases tied to supernatural clients and threats., and tries to stay one step ahead of a serial killer who is targeting zombies.
Written as K. Bennett.
- Pay Me in Flesh, 2011
- The Year of Eating Dangerously, 2012
- I Ate the Sheriff, 2012
Irish Jimmy Gallagher Series (Books in Order)
The Irish Jimmy Gallagher series follows Jimmy Gallagher, kind-hearted boxer from Los Angeles in the 1950s, who participates in club fights, tries to juggle his risky job with his love for his girlfriend Ruby and his bulldog Steve, and often gets caught up in trouble that feels straight out of a noir film. It is a novella series with each story being rather short.
- Iron Hands, 2011
- King Crush, 2012
- Fight City, 2013
- Sucker Punched, 2014
Force of Habit Series (Books in Order)
The Force of Habit series follows Sister Justicia Marie, a nun in Los Angeles, who, while praying, also has a unique way of trying to make Los Angeles a little bit safer and dealing with her enemies: by fighting by any means, even if it includes mixed martial arts and kick boxing. The series is a mix of crime stories with dark humor as Sister J tries to protect those in need and manage her small group, while traveling through the city’s criminal underground to stop all evil by any means necessary.
- Force of Habit, 2013
- And Then There Were Nuns, 2013
- Nun The Wiser, 2014
- The Nun Also Rises, 2016
- Hot Cross Nuns, 2019
Mike Romeo Series (Books in Order)
The Mike Romeo follows former cage fighter and philosophy student Mike Romeo, who now works as an investigator and a fixer for Los Angeles lawyer Ira Rosen. Ira isa wheelchair-bound former Mossad agent turned rabbi, who is also his friend. Mike usually starts with a simple problem that quickly turns into a violent one, and each book takes him to solve a new case, and no set locations, starting from Los Angeles to California’s Central Valley and more.
- Romeo’s Rules, 2015
- Romeo’s Way, 2016
- Romeo’s Hammer, 2017
- Romeo’s Fight, 2019
- Romeo’s Stand, 2020
- Romeo’s Town, 2021
- Romeo’s Rage, 2022
- Romeo’s Justice, 2023
- Romeo’s Fire, 2024
- Romeo’s Truth, 2025
Standalone Novels
- The Night Carl Sagan Stepped on My Cat, 1988
- Circumstantial Evidence, 1997
- Final Witness, 1999
- The Darwin Conspiracy, 2000
- Blind Justice, 2000
- The Nephilim Seed, 2001
- Deadlock, 2002
- Breach of Promise, 2004
- Sins of the Fathers, 2005
- Glimpses Of Paradise: A Novel of the 1920s, 2005
- Presumed Guilty, 2006
- No Legal Grounds, 2007
- The Whole Truth, 2008
- Don’t Leave Me, 2013
- Your Son Is Alive, 2018
- Last Call, 2020
- Long Lost, 2020
- Rationality, 2021
- No More Lies, 2022 (also titled Deceived)
- Can’t Stop Me, 2023
Children’s Books
- Sir Justin of Tarzana, 2026
Novellas and Short Stories
- No Laughing Matter, 2011
- Autumnal, 2012
- Golden, 2014
- John Wayne’s Revenge, 2017
- Framed, 2018
- My Father’s Birthday, 2019
- I See Things Deeply, 2020
- Shoes, 2022
Short Story Collections
- One More Lie, 2011
- Trouble is My Beat, 2022
- Down These Streets, 2025
Anthologies
- The Storytellers’ Collection: Tales of Faraway Places, 2000
- Fresh Kills, Tales from the Kill Zone, 2010
- The Mystery Writers: Interviews and Advice, 2012
- Rebirth: Havok Season One, 2019
- Vice & Virtue: Havok Season Eight, 2023
- The Vigilante Crime Pulp Fiction Anthology, 2025
Non-Fiction Books
Legal Non-Fiction
Writing Craft Books
- Plot & Structure, 2004
- Revision & Self-Editing, 2008
- The Art of War for Writers, 2009
- Writing Fiction for All You’re Worth, 2011
- Conflict & Suspense, 2011
- How to Write Comedy, 2012
- Self-Publishing Attack!, 2012
- Fiction Attack!, 2013
- Write Your Novel From the Middle, 2014
- How to Write Dazzling Dialogue, 2014
- How to Make a Living as a Writer, 2014
- Super Structure, 2015
- Three Men and a Manuscript, 2015, with Larry Brooks and Randy Ingermanson
- 27 Fiction Writing Blunders – And How Not to Make Them!, 2015
- Voice, 2015
- Just Write, 2016
- The Mental Game of Writing, 2016
- How to Write Short Stories and Use Them to Further Your Writing Career, 2016
- Marketing for Writers Who Hate Marketing, 2017
- How to Write Pulp Fiction, 2017
- How to Write Best-Selling Fiction, 2019
- The Last Fifty Pages, 2019
- Plotman to the Rescue, 2019
- Writing Unforgettable Characters, 2020
- Power Up Your Fiction, 2023
Essays, Faith, Memoir, and Other Non-Fiction
Show All Close
- How to Achieve Your Goals and Dreams, 2012
- How to Manage the Time of Your Life, 2012
- Some People Are Dead: Part Essay, Part Memoir, Parts Unknown, 2016
- Manliness: The Robert Mitchum Way, 2016
- Peter Charlie: The Cruise of the PC 477, 2017
- Cinnamon Buns and Milk Bone Underwear, 2025
James Scott Bell Biography
James Scott Bell is an American author, former trial lawyer, and writing teacher whose work includes legal thrillers, action thrillers, historical fiction, short stories, and nonfiction books for writers.
Official website: jamesscottbell.com
James Scott Bell was born in 1954 and grew up as a third-generation native of Los Angeles. He graduated from Taft High School, after which he attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, where where he studied writing with Raymond Carver, which was an experience that convinced him for the next ten years that he had no talent for writing fiction at all. Yet, he won an award for a screenplay he wrote during this time.
After graduating with honors from the University of Southern California Law Center, he moved to New York, where he spent time writing for the theater and briefly worked as an actor, which also included a role in Othello. He also appeared in TV commercials. Eventually, he returned to Los Angeles to work as a trial lawyer, first at a major law firm and then at his own newly opened practice.
His fiction career includes the Ty Buchanan legal thrillers, the Mike Romeo series, the Trials of Kit Shannon historical legal series, the Mallory Caine Zombie-at-Law books written as K. Bennett, and several standalone thrillers. His debut novel, Final Witness won the first Christy Award for Suspense, and Romeo’s Way, the second Mike Romeo book, won the International Thriller Writers Award for Best E-Book Original. His legal thrillers are based on his experience in criminal defense law and his childhood spent in Los Angeles.
In addition to writing fiction books, James Scott Bell became one of the most widely read writing instructors in the U.S., teaching writing at Pepperdine University as well as holding writing seminars in the form of online courses and live around the world, including the US, Australia, New Zealand, UK, and Canada. His Plot & Structure reached the number one spot on the Writer’s Digest bestseller list and stayed there for years.
He has written more than 300 articles and several books for lawyers, and one of his books on search and seizure law has become a standard reference for lawyers and judges in California. He lives and writes in Los Angeles.
James Scott Bell Awards and Honors
Awards
- Final Witness – Christy Award for Suspense (2000)
- Romeo’s Way – International Thriller Writers Award for Best E-Book Original (2017)
Nominations and Shortlists
- Blind Justice – Christy Award for Best Mystery/Suspense/Thriller (2001)
- Glimpses of Paradise – Christy Award for Best Historical (2006)
- One More Lie – International Thriller Writers Award for Best Short Story (2012)
Hi, I’ve read many of your books, the library only lists your instuctional writing, im asking for your help in obtaining some of your mystery/suspence novels.
I’m wheelchair bound due to ms and live in an assisted living and am a voracious reader. I’m nearly done reading all of Terry Blackstock work and looking for some fresh books.
I read all ebooks, thanks in advance for any and all help.