Lisa Black Books in Order

New York Times bestselling author Lisa Black writes forensic crime thrillers from work she has done herself. Theresa MacLean examines evidence for the Cleveland coroner’s office. Maggie Gardiner processes crime scenes for Cleveland police while working beside homicide detective Jack Renner, whose private idea of justice makes their partnership increasingly difficult. In the Locard Institute series, crime-scene analyst Ellie Carr works with pathologist Rachael Davies on cases for an independent research and training organization.

Before becoming a full-time crime writer, Lisa Black worked in the trace-evidence department of the Cuyahoga County Coroner’s Office and later worked for more than 25 years as a latent-print examiner and crime-scene investigator for the Cape Coral Police Department in Florida. She has handled fingerprints, blood, DNA, hair, fibres, glass, paint and gunshot residue.

The bibliography below includes the Theresa MacLean, Gardiner and Renner, and Locard Institute series, the two Evelyn James novels published as Elizabeth Becka, the standalone ebook thrillers written as Beth Cheylan and her shorter contributions.

Which Lisa Black Series Should You Read First?

Even though they are dealing with forensic evidence, the four series are separate from each other, and they don’t intersect. Choose the kind of investigation you want, then begin with the first book in that series, and then read each series in publication order.

• Start with Takeover for a traditional forensic procedural series about crime scenes, laboratory evidence and a Cleveland medical examiner’s office.
• Read first That Darkness for the author’s darkest series and the strongest continuing storyline. Maggie Gardiner follows physical evidence that leads towards Jack Renner, a homicide detective who kills criminals he believes the justice system has failed to stop.
• Start with Red Flags if you want to catch up to the newest series. It is a two-woman forensic team about Ellie Carr who begins as a D.C. crime-scene analyst and Rachael Davies, who deals with pathology and the vast resources of the Locard Forensic Institute.
• Trace Evidence is Lisa Black’s earliest forensic protagonist, a series she published as Elizabeth Becka. Here Evelyn James works with trace evidence in Cleveland.

Theresa MacLean Series (Books in Order)

Theresa MacLean works as a forensic scientist in the Cleveland coroner’s office. She processes scenes and examines the physical evidence collected there, while her cousin Frank works the same cases as a Cleveland homicide detective. Theresa is also raising a teenage daughter and is closely connected to a large extended family, so the books show her life outside the laboratory as well. In Takeover, we first meet Theresa in the middle of a hostage situation that soon becomes personal for her.

1. Takeover, 2008
2. Evidence of Murder, 2009
3. Trail of Blood, 2010
4. Defensive Wounds, 2011
5. Blunt Impact, 2013
6. The Price of Innocence, 2013
7. Close to the Bone, 2014

Gardiner and Renner Series (Books in Order)

Maggie Gardiner processes crime scenes for the Cleveland Police Department, collecting fingerprints and trace evidence and trying to reconstruct what happened from the traces the killer left behind. Jack Renner is a homicide detective, but we learn in the first book that he is also a vigilante. He executes criminals he believes got away, or the law failed to stop.

Maggie discovers Renner’s secret early on, in That Darkness, and the decision she makes after discovering the truth leaves them in an uneasy partnership. The murder investigation in each novel can be followed on its own, but Maggie and Jack’s continuing situation is present in all six books. Begin with That Darkness and keep to publication order as this is one series that has to be read in order to follow along with Maggie’s struggles and the two’s changing relationship.

1. That Darkness, 2016
2. Unpunished, 2017
3. Perish, 2018
4. Suffer the Children, 2018
5. Let Justice Descend, 2019
6. Every Kind of Wicked, 2020

Locard Institute Thriller Series (Books in Order)

Red Flags introduces Dr. Ellie Carr, a D.C. crime-scene analyst, and Dr. Rachael Davies, a pathologist connected with the private Locard Forensic Institute. They first work together when Ellie is assigned to the kidnapping of her cousin’s baby and the family also brings in the institute.

Ellie joins the Locard Institute in the second book. Here she gets access to specialists, research and equipment that go beyond any one local department can give her.

Before publishing the Theresa MacLean books, Lisa Black wrote two forensic novels as Elizabeth Becka about Evelyn James, a trace-evidence specialist in the Cleveland medical examiner’s office.

Evelyn examines blood, hair, fibres and other microscopic material, leaving the actual investigation to the police detectives. Read Trace Evidence before Unknown Means. The two books are not part of the Theresa MacLean series, although they use a similar Cleveland forensic setting.

1. Trace Evidence, 2005
2. Unknown Means, 2008

Standalone Novels Written as Beth Cheylan

• Unwarranted, 2011
• Evil in Paradise, 2012
• The Prague Project, 2013

Short Stories and Contributions

• Paradise Is Deadly: Gripping Tales from Florida’s Gulf Coast, 2023 – introduction
• Victoria’s Nasty Little Secret – Mystery Tribune, Issue #12, 2020

About Lisa Black

Lisa Black was born as Elizabeth Becka in 1963 in Cleveland, Ohio, where she also grew up. She worked for ten years as a secretary before returning to school to get a bachelor’s degree in biology at Cleveland State University. She then worked at the trace-evidence department at the Cuyahoga County Coroner’s Office, where she examined blood, DNA, gunshot residue, hair, fibres, paint and glass and also worked crime scenes.

After moving to Florida, she worked for more than 25 years as a latent print examiner and crime-scene investigator for the Cape Coral Police Department. She focused mostly on fingerprints and crime scenes, completed more than 1,050 hours of forensic training, and testified in court as an expert witness more than 65 times. She has also appeared as a forensic consultant on CourtTV.

Her first two crime novels, Trace Evidence and Unknown Means, which introduced Cleveland forensic scientist Evelyn James, were published under her maiden name, Elizabeth Becka. She began writing as Lisa Black with Takeover in 2008, the first Theresa MacLean novel. She then later created the Gardiner and Renner series about a crime-scene specialist working beside a detective with a dangerous secret, and the Locard Institute thrillers featuring forensic analysts Ellie Carr and Rachael Davies. In addition, she has also published three ebook standalone novels as Beth Cheylan.

Perish was a finalist for the inaugural Sue Grafton Memorial Award, and Red Flags was shortlisted for the Nero Award. Lisa Black, a New York Times bestselling author, was also a Guest of Honor at Killer Nashville in 2021 and served as president of the Florida Chapter of Mystery Writers of America in 2025.

Official website: Lisa Black’s official author website

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