Steve Hamilton Books in Order

Steve Hamilton is an American crime fiction author best known for the Alex McKnight series, set in Paradise in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and the Nick Mason thrillers, which set in Chicago. He is a two-time Edgar Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author, with major awards for both his debut novel, A Cold Day in Paradise, and his standalone crime novel The Lock Artist.

Alex is a former Detroit police officer who tries to live quietly by renting cabins near Lake Superior, then keeps getting pulled back into trouble. The Nick Mason books are faster and darker, built around a man released from prison after making a deal with dangerous people who want to control him.

This page lists all Steve Hamilton books in order, including the Alex McKnight series, the Nick Mason series, his standalone novels, his co-written Fox & O’Hare book with Janet Evanovich, and his short stories.

Alex McKnight Series (Books in Order)

The Alex McKnight series follows former Detroit police officer Alex McKnight, who has left the city after a shooting that killed his partner and left him badly injured. He now lives in Paradise, Michigan, on the Upper Peninsula, where he rents out cabins and tries to live a quiet and peaceful life.

However, that plan never really works. Alex gets pulled into murder cases, missing-person searches, old grudges, and trouble around Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Lake Superior. The books have a private-investigator setup, but Alex is not running a normal detective office. He is more often a man trying to stay out of trouble, then still getting involved because the case is too close to ignore.

While each case can mostly stand alone, Alex’s past, his friendships, and his ties to Paradise are getting more important as the series goes on, so the books are best read in order of publication.

1. Beneath the Book Tower, 2011
2. A Cold Day in Paradise, 1998
3. Winter Of The Wolf Moon, 2000
4. The Hunting Wind, 2001
5. North of Nowhere, 2002
6. Blood is the Sky, 2003
7. Ice Run, 2004
8. A Stolen Season, 2006
9. Misery Bay, 2011
10. Die a Stranger, 2012
11. Let It Burn, 2013
12. Dead Man Running, 2018
13. Riddle Island, 2020

Nick Mason Series (Books in Order)

The Nick Mason series follows a convicted criminal, Nick Mason, who is serving a long prison sentence until Chicago crime boss Darius Cole arranges his early release for a price. The deal, while it sounds like freedom, in fact binds him to Cole. He has to be available whenever Cole calls him and do his bidding, no matter what he is ordered to do. The focus here is on organized crime, surveillance, and violence in Chicago.

1. The Second Life of Nick Mason, 2016
2. Exit Strategy, 2017
3. An Honorable Assassin, 2024

Fox & O’Hare Contribution

Steve Hamilton co-wrote The Bounty with Janet Evanovich. It is book 7 in the Fox & O’Hare series, which follows FBI agent Kate O’Hare and con man Nicholas Fox.

7. The Bounty, 2020

Standalone Novels

• Night Work, published 2007
• The Lock Artist, published 2009

Short Story Collections and Anthologies

• Meeting Across the River: Stories Inspired by the Haunting Bruce Springsteen Song, 2005
• In the Shadow of the Master, 2008 (edited by Michael Connelly)
• The Crooked Road, Volume 3, 2013
• When a Stranger Comes to Town, 2021

Steve Hamilton Biography

Steve Hamilton is an American crime fiction author whose work includes the Alex McKnight series, the Nick Mason series, standalone crime novels, and one co-written Fox & O’Hare novel with Janet Evanovich.
Official website: authorstevehamilton.com

Steve Hamilton was born in 1961 in Detroit, Michigan. He grew up in Detroit and he graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in computer science, which allowed him to get a job later with IBM in New York. While at the university, he won the Hopwood Award for fiction, a prestigious award given to aspiring writers attending the university. Like a lot of writers with day jobs, he wrote in his spare time around work and family time.

His first novel, A Cold Day in Paradise, began as an entry for the Private Eye Writers of America/St. Martin’s Press contest for an unpublished writer. The book introduced Alex McKnight, a former Detroit cop living in Paradise, Michigan, after a shooting changed his life. After publication, the novel won both the Edgar Award for Best First Novel and the Shamus Award for Best First Novel, a rare double win for a debut crime novel.

Alex is a private investigator in Paradise, which is a small town in Michigan. He is a former Detroit policeman who let go of his job after almost being killed by Maximilian Rose who also killed Alex’s partner. He still has the bullet lodged in his chest to prove it, and with a small disability pay, he wanted to find peace in a small town with not much crime going around. However, wherever Alex goes, crime follows him relentlessly.

Steve Hamilton also wrote standalone novels, including Night Work and The Lock Artist. The Lock Artist became one of his most important standalones, winning the Edgar Award for Best Novel, the Barry Award for Best Novel, the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, and an Alex Award from the American Library Association. He later launched the Nick Mason series with The Second Life of Nick Mason, a darker thriller series about a man released from prison under a deal that gives him, in fact, no real freedom.

Steve Hamilton lives in upstate New York with his wife and children. 

Steve Hamilton Book Adaptations

• The Lock Artist – optioned for a feature-film adaptation by Shane Salerno (2012)
• The Second Life of Nick Mason – announced as a Lionsgate feature-film adaptation in development (2015)

Steve Hamilton Awards and Honors

Awards

• A Cold Day in Paradise – Private Eye Writers of America/St. Martin’s Press Award for Best First Mystery by an Unpublished Writer (1997)
• A Cold Day in Paradise – Edgar Award for Best First Novel (1999)
• A Cold Day in Paradise – Shamus Award for Best First Novel (1999)
• Michigan Author Award (2006)The Lock Artist – Edgar Award for Best Novel (2011)
• The Lock Artist – Barry Award for Best Novel (2011)
• The Lock Artist – CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger (2011)
• The Lock Artist – Alex Award, American Library Association (2011)
• The Lock Artist – Kono Mystery Ga Sugoi Best Foreign Translation in Japan (2013)

Nominations and Shortlists

• A Cold Day in Paradise – Anthony Award for Best First Novel (1999
• )A Cold Day in Paradise – Barry Award for Best First Novel (1999)
• Winter of the Wolf Moon – Barry Award for Best Novel (2001)
• North of Nowhere – Anthony Award for Best Novel (2003)
• North of Nowhere – Shamus Award for Best PI Novel (2003)
• North of Nowhere – Barry Award for Best Novel (2003)
• Blood Is the Sky – Anthony Award for Best Novel (2004)
• Blood Is the Sky – Shamus Award for Best PI Novel (2004)
• Night Work – CWA Gold Dagger / Duncan Lawrie Dagger (2008)
• The Lock Artist – Anthony Award for Best Novel (2011)
• The Lock Artist – CWA Gold Dagger (2011)
• The Lock Artist – Dilys Award (2011)
• The Second Life of Nick Mason – Dashiell Hammett Prize (2017)
• The Second Life of Nick Mason – Barry Award for Best Novel (2017)
• Exit Strategy – Barry Award for Best Novel (2018)

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