Trudy Nan Boyce Books In Order

Publication Order of Detective Sarah Alt Books

Trudy Nan Boyce is an American author of fiction. She specializes in the genre of crime fiction. Before she was a writer, she worked as a police officer for Atlanta after receiving her Ph.D. in the subject of community counseling. She has worked for over thirty years in the department in some form and been at different times a homicide detective, beat cop, senior hostage negotiator, and finally a lieutenant.

She retired from active duty in 2008 and decided to get started writing. Trudy Nan Boyce now writes as a published author and resides in Atlanta to this day. She is best known for her thriller action series which feature Detective Sarah Alt in her quest to solve murder cases.

The series kicked off in 2016 with the release of the novel Out of the Blues. The novel was called a “gritty debut” by Lisa Gardner, a fellow author and bestseller on the New York Times. Old Bones was the sequel released in 2017, and the release of The Policeman’s Daughter in 2018 made it a trilogy.

Out of the Blues is the first novel in the Sarah Alt series by experienced author Trudy Nan Boyce! This procedural debut is a book that could only have been written with someone with the experience working for the police department that Boyce has. You can feel the benefit of thirty years’ experience in her writing.

The main character in this series is Sarah Alt. Her nickname, although not that original or flattering, is Salt. She is a homicide detective, and she is given a fresh murder case her very first day on the job. However, the case itself may not be that fresh. It’s a cold case of a murder that originally was ruled to be a drug overdose (accidental in nature).

Now new evidence is surfacing that indicates this blues musician may not have overdosed but may have actually intentionally be given a tainted or ‘hot’ dose. Where does this evidence come from? Well, not exactly the most reliable source. A convicted felon is trying to trade what he says that he knows in exchange for reduced jail time.

The only catch is that the guy is a felon that Sarah Alt put behind bars personally. This murder case will take this detective on a whirlwind hunt that takes her deep into the city and all of its secrets. She will walk among the churches, so powerful in their political reach, the disenfranchised homeless of the city, commerce, industry, and even the ranks of the police department.

This case gets dirtier and deeper the more that she works it. But will Sarah Alt be able to solve this old murder once and for all? Is she willing to take the word of a felon who she has every reason to distrust? What will happen when she finds the killer, if she ever finds them at all?

This mystery story is set in a city where tensions are running high. From an author that knows this world inside and out, you’re going to have to pick up Out of the Blues for yourself to catch all of the action and find out what happens at the end of this story. Pick up this exiting debut novel at your local bookstore or library or online!

Old Bones is the second novel in Trudy Nan Boyce’s Detective Sarah Alt series. Boyce is bringing back Salt for another case, and this one may be her toughest yet. When a random act of violence strikes, no one is able to make sense of it. But one detective is on the job.

Students from the local Spelman college are at a vigil when disaster strikes. The vigil is designed to call for police reform and the historically black women’s college students are committed to making their point peacefully. When a vehicle driving by assaults them with rifle fire, who should be in the area but everyone’s favorite detective?

Salt is able to see the vehicle as it drives away with the suspects. She tries to confront it, but ultimately they get away. The students are shaken by the incident, which seems to prove the point now more than ever that the city itself is in a state of deep turmoil.

The Spelman murders unfortunately leave a few dead. Salt is not the one put on the case, but other detectives take over the case. She gets tasked with a case involving a body that was only recently discovered. The decomposed body is a Jane Doe.

Salt goes through report after report of missing persons. She finally finds out that the victim is actually a girl that she had come into contact with before. She met her two years ago, taking her into custody. Since Salt actually did know this person while alive, she feels that it is her responsibility to find out how this girl was killed. Hopefully she can bring the killer to justice.

Sarah is barely able to start sorting out leads before she is called to detail for an emergency riot. Atlanta has been boiling over for a while now over the deaths of the students and now it is all about to go down. This is not the first time Atlanta has seen attacks on people of color and it will not be the last, and citizens in the city are upset.

The community feels the grief and the anger as a result of the shootings and it is all erupting. The city has a history of pain, and now this detective must find the answers she’s looking for amid a city that is in more tension than ever before. She must stay focused if she is going to find out what happened to that girl and who, if anyone did it.

No one knows how to write about being in uniform better than Trudy Nan Boyce. If you loved Old Bones, then check out the third book in this fictional series as well and find out why Boyce is one of the most exciting new voices to come into the literary world in the crime fiction genre!

One Response to “Trudy Nan Boyce”

1. Roberta Underwood: 3 years ago

   Very good books.

   Reply