Jack Daniels Series

The Jack Daniels series by J.A. Konrath is a fun crime mystery/ thriller novel set of books that, at times, give you some real hard chuckling moments. At other times it can be quite scary instead.

Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels, the main heroine of the series is a police lieutenant in Chicago. She is a real bad-ass and feisty character. Each book’s title is named after a particular brand of cocktail or drink, and the recipe is listed at the end of the book.

However, this doesn’t make the series a cozy. It is far from it. The scary, thrilling and even gory (yes gory) moments are real, even though the humor in the books are prevalent as well.

Here are the Jack Daniels books in proper reading order including the full-length books and novellas.

Jack Daniels Series

1. Whiskey Sour, 2004
2. Bloody Mary, 2005
3. Rusty Nail, 2006
4. Dirty Martini, 2007
5. Fuzzy Navel, 2008
6. Cherry Bomb, 2009
7. Shot of Tequila, 2009 (novella)
8. Shaken, 2010
9. Stirred, 2011 (with Blake Crouch)
10. With a Twist, 2011 (novella)
11. Racked, 2013 (Jack Daniels/Nicholas Cols series)
12. Lady 52, 2014 (Jack Daniels/Nicholas Cols series)
13. Rum Runner, 2016
14. Last Call, 2016
15. White Russian, 2017

The Jack Daniels series features Jack, one of the most intriguing characters in crime mysteries today. Jacqueline is 46 and a second generation Chicago homicide cop, who looks much younger than her age. She dresses smart and acts smart too. She works in the Violent Crimes Unit dealing with some really twisted serial killers.

Some readers might think that it’s either a cozy series or reminiscent of the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, however, be warned that this is a much darker series (albeit quite humorous at times). Some of the murder scenes are pretty graphic, and if you don’t like hardcore serial-killer books, you might not find this series engaging.

For example, often the reader gets step by step recount of how the killer murdered his victims with the knife or whatever other tools he had available. The descriptions are often brutal. But if you like books like Dexter, you will devour Jack Daniels.