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New Orleans Series with Detectives Rick Bentz and Reuben Montoya is a series of detective mystery novels featuring the lead characters Reuben Montoya and Rick Bentz. Lisa Jackson, the bestselling author of over seventy historical romance, romantic suspense, and detective novels, is the author of the series of novels. The first novel in the series featuring the lead characters was “Hot Blooded” that was first published in 2001.
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Order of New Orleans Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot Blooded | 2001 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | Cold Blooded | 2002 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | Shiver | 2006 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | Absolute Fear | 2007 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | Lost Souls | 2008 | Description / Buy | |
| 6 | Malice | 2009 | Description / Buy | |
| 7 | Devious | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
| 8 | Never Die Alone | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
| 9 | The Last Sinner | 2023 | Description / Buy |
The New Orleans series is written by Lisa Jackson. Jackson was once a mother struggling to keep food on the table by writing novels, with the hope and wish that she would eventually make money doing it. She eventually did find that success as her books have appeared on the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly national bestseller lists. She has published over 85 novels in his career and they have been published in twenty different languages across the world.
The way she has gotten to this level is through writing about murder. She finds the minds and motives of the killers and those that pursue them to be endlessly fascinating and has given her tons of material to work with. Her books work to build the puzzle of relationships, clues, lies, and histories of her protagonists. It can often be difficult as she heads into these worlds and puts herself in the minds of the victims and is forced to confront the terror that these people went through in the last moments of their lives.
The lead characters in the series are Detective Rick Bentz alongside his sidekick Reuben Montoya a fellow detective. Despite the series of novels being for the most part detective mysteries, Lisa Jackson spices up the New Orleans series with suspenseful romance narratives involving the lead characters and several recurring characters.
“Hot Blooded” the first novel in the series is a tension filled romantic suspense novel that opens to the discovery of a prostitute strangled in a seedy hotel room in the French Quarter. Tens of miles away, Dr. Samantha Leeds, a late night radio host gets a threatening prank call. Soon after another body is found, while Samantha continues getting the ominous calls from a mysterious woman presumed dead for a few years. With his years of experience, Detective Rick Bentz believes that the person who is harassing Samantha must be close to her.
Samantha believes that someone has discovered one of her darkest secrets and is using it to take innocent lives. So far, the victims have tended to be prostitutes not known to Samantha. However, the cold-blooded and cunning killer is getting bolder, and Samantha is afraid that he just might come for her. “Hot Blooded” is a pulsating novel that shows just why Lisa Jackson is deemed one of the best romantic suspense writers.
NEW ORLEANS AWARDS:
The series has won several awards and been nominated for several others over the years. The third novel in the series “Shiver” published in 2006, won the 2006 Romantic Suspense RT Reviewers Choice Award.
BEST NEW ORLEANS BOOKS:
Hot Blooded: This is the first book in the series and it introduces us to late-night radio host Dr. Samantha Leeds who is getting a series of strange phone calls to their show at the same time that prostitutes are being murdered. Detective Rick Bentz is convinced that the killer is someone close to Samantha and works with her to find the killer before they are able to strike again.
Absolute Fear: The first novel in the series is an incredible narrative of a serial killer causing panic and spreading terror on the streets of New Orleans. He is killing his victims in a ritualistic manner, tattooing their bodies with numbers. With the killer increasing the frequency of his killings, the two detectives Rick Bentz and Montoya find themselves in a race against time to apprehend the psychopath before he can kill again. The stakes rise when they discover that their only cue is an old crumbling asylum. It is not long before they unearth information that links the killer to Abby Chastain, who happens to be Montoya’s fiancé.
Cold Blooded: The second novel in the series is a thrilling page-turner with an outstanding plot line. Oliver Benchet had the fortune of inheriting her dead grandmother’s seer abilities. She has not yet had a chance to do anything with her special powers, until one evening when she sees a vision of a murder she feels is happening right at that moment. Reuben Montoya and his colleague Rick Bentz are tempted to dismiss her immediately, except that her descriptions are so vivid.
When they find the body, their doubt vanishes as they now enlist the services of their newfound seer in their investigations. But as more bodies turn up, Olivia sees increasingly vivid visions that she feels are a direct communication from the killer, who could be anyone in her circle.
Shiver: The award-winning novel in the series is another superb novel in the series with some of the greatest support cast in the series. A serial killer stalks the city that Abby Chastain just recently returned to. She now feels trapped and watched, even as her fiancé Reuben Montoya grows stronger in his conviction that she is key to unraveling the biggest serial killer mystery in New Orleans.
OTHER BOOK SERIES YOU MAY LIKE:
Many fans of the New Orleans series of novels love the “Colby Agency” series of novels by Debra Webb. The series of novels follows the work of Victoria of the Colby Agency in Chicago, who together with her lackey tackles some of the most complex of cases in the city.
Many New Orleans fans also recommend the “Karen Vail” series of novels by Alan Jacobson. Karen Vail is an extraordinary FBI Agent, who for seven years had worked under the legendary Alan Jacobson of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, to become one of the most efficient criminal profilers ever.
What Is The Next Book in The New Orleans Series?
There doesn't seem to be an upcoming book in The New Orleans Series. The newest book is The Last Sinner and was released on June, 27th 2023.
Hate to say it, but this series is disappointing. The dialogue is difficult to read and often changes from character to character without indication of who’s talking. Dr. Samantha (Sam) should be a great role model for other women, but she definitely is not! For example, she is stalked by some psycho, but then goes out with a random stranger?! No woman should ever do that! Shame. She’s clueless and that was really disappointing.