Bill Loehfelm Books In Order

Publication Order of Maureen Coughlin Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Akashic Noir Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Bill Loehfelm is the author of the “Maureen Coughlin” series and has written some stand alone novels. He was born in Park Slope and later would grow up on both Staten Island and in Brooklyn. He went to college in Scranton, Pennsylvania and studied English and Communications. After that, he taught English on Staten Island. He would later move to New Orleans in the year 1997, and taught both high school and college courses. He worked also worked in an antique shop and done everything that you can do in the restaurant and bar business (that does not include cooking). He would get his MA from University of New Orleans in the year 2005. He is also the drummer in a rock and roll band. His wife, AC Lambeth, is a writer and yoga instructor and they have two dogs.

“The Devil in Her Way” was Strand Magazine’s novel of the year in 2013. “Doing the Devil’s Work” were included in Indie Next pick and Vulture Must Read lists. “Fresh Kills”, which is Bill Loehfelm’s first novel, won Amazon’s first Breakthrough Novel award.

It was while working in the restaurant business that he would encounter a certain type of woman that wound up becoming a waitress that he came up with Maureen Coughlin (the main character of some of his novels). She was not someone who did not lack ambition, but she did not have specific goals and how to follow through with them.

“The Devil She Knows” is the first novel in the “Maureen Coughlin” series and was released in the year 2006. Maureen Coughlin is twenty-nine and her life is not quite turning out as she had planned it out. She is stuck as a waitress in a Staten Island bar. The only excitement she gets is her next smoke or the hit of coke she takes before she begins her shift. One day, her routine is ruined when the affair that Dennis (a co-worker) and Frank Sebastian (a state senator) gets deadly. It sends her on the run through the underbelly of the borough that she is on, and wants to stop Sebastian. She thinks that she has looked evil in the eye, but does not know how much she is in for.

Fans of the novel liked the moody environment that Bill Loehfelm was able to create, and found that he is quite a talented author. The novel has a balance of complex characters, vivid writing, good dialogue, and a plot that keeps things gritty but is not all that complicated. Maureen is a strong woman, smart, and has drive, but is still unable to get out of the grind of working in a restaurant. It feels like she is a real person that you are reading about.

“The Devil in Her Way” is the second novel in the “Maureen Coughlin” series and was released in the year 2011. Maureen Coughlin’s life has changed, in many ways; having moved to New Orleans and has just recently become a cop. The transition has not gone like she has hoped that it would. She gets punched in the face (something that amuses her superior officer) and a panicked suspect flees from the apartment building. What a way to start her last week of field training. The suspect left behind some guns and pot. She is shaken by something that she sees on the street, and she knows that there is more to the story than she knows. She goes on a hunt for answers.

Fans of the novel found that Maureen is still just a working person that has gotten in over her head, but happens to be a cop; which makes things feel real and feels easy to relate to, because she is not suddenly a super cop that knows how to do everything. New Orleans is a great local that Bill Loehfelm does a great job writing about. Some have found a new series to follow and it is something that they love everything about. Readers find that Bill writes in such a way that you will understand every word that he is saying.

“Doing the Devil’s Work” is the third novel in the “Maureen Coughlin” series and was released in the year 2014. Now Maureen Coughlin is a true cop in New Orleans. She has her training period right behind her and she thinks that she has the lay of the land. A corpse turns up that only raises more questions and there is a traffic stop at late night that goes terribly wrong. She has to deal with the fallout and navigate the police department that is full of corruption and dysfunction.

Fans of the novel found that the author describes the city of New Orleans with both grit and tenderness; both things that Maureen resembles. He does a great job making his readers remember this character, who is smart as a whip and an entirely original character. Once again, this author has written yet another winner in a great series of mystery novels. Some liked that there was not just an endless stream of bodies in the story, but it actually had some great writing to it as well.

“Let the Devil Out” is the fourth novel in the “Maureen Coughlin” series and was released in the year 2016. Maureen is just a rookie cop, and already she has been suspended from the force. It is about to get worse for her. The FBI is trying to take down the Watchmen Brigade (who is a group of ruthless anti-government militia people). Nobody on the New Orleans Police force wants any part of trying to help. A certain suspended rookie cop is told that she has no choice in the matter. New Orleans is just a powder keg, what with the FBI and the white supremacist militia running around.

Fans of the novel found that time after time, he is able to write great novels that hold their attention and show how tough Maureen Coughlin is as a person. This is something that goes against her not at all physically imposing body. He does a great job of developing her as a character, showing her growth throughout the series.