Detective Virgil Jones Books In Order

Publication Order of Detective Virgil Jones Books

Thomas Scott is an award winning and bestselling thriller and mystery author best known for the “Virgil Jones Mystery” series. The series which is set in the Midwest has full length stand alone titles which can be read in any order. Scott developed a love for mystery suspense and adventure thriller fiction as a child and would always be found with a novel in his hip pocket. During this time, he loved reading the likes of Michael Connelly, James Lee Burke, Robert Crais, John Sandford and CJ Box. These had a significant impact on the budding author and inspired his love for mystery that would see him write his flagship mystery series. He is now deemed on the best suspense, thriller and mystery authors. He currently lives with Debra his wife and children in northern Indiana. He published “Voodoo Daddy” the debut novel of the series in 2012.

While Thomas Scott has several character traits he shares with his lead character Virgil, the character is not based on him. He has said that he combines different quirks and qualities of the many people he has met over the years to make the character. He sets the stories of the series in Indiana which happens to be his home state where he was brought up and still lives. Scott has asserted that he loves setting his stories in Indiana given its great people history and character. Nonetheless, he is wise enough o acknowledge that there will always be bad apples among the good. Similar to the likes of Sandford who writes about Minnesota, White on Colorado, Burke on Louisiana, and Connelly on Los Angeles, his novels are intended to do justice to his home state. Furthermore, he has said that he writes since there is hardly anyone that has written or set their stories in Indiana, even though it is practically the heartland of the Midwest.

Every novel of the “Virgil Jones Mystery” series comes with gripping suspense, thrills, mystery and action. There is also a bit of romance and a fair amount of humor. Even though most of the novels in the series do not have cliff hangers, the characters the author introduces tend to make an appearance in subsequent novels. In “Voodoo Daddy,” the debut novel of the series, Virgil Jones is introduced as a man who has professional and personal problems. In this first novel he has to deal with the case of serial snipers terrorizing the city and seemingly killing at random. In “State of Betrayal,” the second novel of the series, Detective Virgil Jones has to deal with two revenge driven siblings out to avenge their father. Two decades ago, he had mistakenly killed their father as a rookie cop and his children are now out for blood. He does this while also having to investigate a corrupt governor who intends to privatize the state prison system. In “State of Control,” the third novel of the series, Jones thinks he has his life back in control until he gets a call from the governor who invites him over for a private meeting.

In “Voodoo Daddy,” the first novel of the “Virgil Jones” mystery series Virgil Jones has made a name for himself as the go-to person for the toughest cases. At the beginning of the story, he is called in at a time when Indianapolis is in a state of panic. There is a team of serial snipers in the city why kill seemingly at random. They usually leave very little evidence behind and it is up to Jones and his sidekicks to find the snipers and stop the massacres. But the detective is also dealing with his own professional and personal problems. He has a huge backlog of cases that need his attention. A long lost friend that had been in prison is also back in town. He also needs to juggle his relationship with one of the investigators in his team named Sandy Small and help run a bar in the city he owns jointly with his father. But the population of the city is helpless against the snipers and it is up to Virgil and his girlfriend Sandy to go down to the dark spaces where appearance often is very different from reality.

“State of Betrayal,” the second novel of the series is set two decades post a very serious rookie mistake that Virgil Jones made. As a rookie police officer, he had shot and killed James Pope right in front of his children. The twins are now grown and want to avenge their father against Jones. But he has forgotten all about the incident as he is dealing with a range of personal and professional problems. He is still recovering from a recent case in which he was taken by some criminals that nearly tortured him to death. He is now an addict who cannot live without prescription pain killers, he has been let go from the post of lead detective in the major crimes Unit of the Indiana State police and he thinks his life is on a downward spiral. In the meantime, the Chief of Staff to the governor intends to privatize the prison system in the state and since there is no money, he intends to use the unclaimed state lottery winnings. But the man who has won the contract to privatize the prison system is the father of the man that had tortured and kidnapped him for weeks.

In “State of Control,” the third novel of the series, detective Virgil Jones is in Shelby County where a team of mega farmers are set to make a huge deal. They had been digging for irrigation water to assuage the threat of drought on their crop when they hit a rich vein of natural gas. They hastily put together a deal with a fracking company and are set to become multi millionaires from the gas mining operations. But one of the farmers is not sold on the idea. Pam Donatti is still in grief over Ed her husband who had lost his life in a battle in which even Virgil nearly died. The state had refused to pay the state benefits due to Pam and the state troopers had gone on strike in protest. But Pam has a very dark secret that could change both her son’s and her life forever.