Richard Montanari Books In Order

Jack Paris Books In Publication Order

Deviant Way (1995)
Kiss of Evil (2001)

Jessica Balzano & Kevin Byrne Books In Publication Order

The Rosary Girls (2005)
The Skin Gods (2006)
Broken Angels / Merciless (2007)
Play Dead / Badlands (2008)
The Echo Man (2011)
The Killing Room (2012)
The Stolen Ones (2013)
The Doll Maker (2014)
A Christmas Killing (2014)
Shutter Man (2015)

Standalone Novels In Publication Order

The Violet Hour (1998)
Deathless / The Devil’s Garden (2009)
The Buried Girl (2018)

Jack Paris Book Covers

Jessica Balzano & Kevin Byrne Book Covers

Standalone Novels Book Covers

Richard Montanari Books Overview

Deviant Way

An erotically charged thriller set in Cleveland’s upscale singles bars finds a pair of serial killers pulling a police officer into an all too human game of voyeurism, kidnapping, and murder. K. ‘

Detective Michael Ryan died in Cleveland’s Renaissance Hotel two years ago, murdered with his own weapon. A stunning fashion model was accused of the crime, then cleared leaving a good cop’s name forever tainted by these damning words: corruption, greed, and betrayal. Since that time homicide detective John Salvatore Paris has worked long and hard to salvage his good friend Mike Ryan’s reputation, but with no success. Now the beautiful suspect who walked away has perished in a fiery suicide. The circle is closed. But the rash of brutal slayings that is rocking Paris’s city suggest otherwise. The plague of terror and ritual sacrifice is savage enough to shatter even the most street hardened cop’s faith in justice and a rational world. Each murder is different, yet equally horrific. The street hustler, the suburban career woman, the dealer in religious artifacts the only evidence connecting these victims is a strange symbol carved into their flesh. And, perhaps, one name: Michael Ryan. The truth Detective Paris’s investigation uncovers is that these murders are the grim handiwork of one maniac, a merciless, vengeful killer wired into the soul of something ancient and terrible, brilliantly coaxing Paris’s personal demons out of hiding and cunningly leading Paris to the edge of the abyss…
and over. Even those closest to the tortured cop his colleagues, his friends, and the enigmatic young woman who is rapidly becoming his obsession are suddenly not to be trusted. As Paris is pulled into a place of shadows and sexual deviance, he finds himself right where the murderer wants him: broken and desperate, with the barrel of his gun pointing at his temple and the whole world watching. But there is one last hope for Detective John Paris, one profound and frightening secret he must ultimately come to discover about himself sometimes, in order to catch a monster, one must be willing to summon the monster within…
. With his two previous novels, Deviant Way and The Violet Hour, author Richard Montanari established himself as a contender for the heavyweight crown in suspense fiction. With Kiss of Evil, his most relentlessly chilling, stunningly crafted, and superbly skilled work to date, he has earned his way into the ranks of Thomas Harris, John Sandford, Jeffery Deaver, and the other champions of the thriller genre.

The Rosary Girls

In his sleek, visceral novels Deviant Way, Kiss of Evil, and The Violet Hour, Richard Montanari slammed into the suspense field like a force of nature. Now Montanari has written an astounding novel that pits two besieged detectives against a fiercely intelligent serial killer. Sprawling beneath the statue of William Penn, Philadelphia is a city of downtrodden crack houses and upscale brownstones. Somewhere in this concrete crazy quilt, one teenage Catholic girl is writing in her diary, another is pouring her heart out to a friend, and yet another is praying. And somewhere in this city is a man who wants these young women to make his macabre fantasy become reality. In a passion play of his own, he will take the girls and a whole city over the edge. Kevin Byrne is a veteran cop who already knows that edge: He’s been living on it far too long. His marriage failing, his former partner wasting away in a hospital, and his heart lost to mad fury, Byrne loves to take risks and is breaking every rule in the book. And now he has been given a rookie partner. Jessica Balzano, the daughter of a famous Philly cop, doesn t want Byrne s help. But they will need each other desperately, since they ve just caught the case of a lifetime: Someone is killing devout young women, bolting their hands together in prayer, and committing an abomination upon their otherwise perfect bodies. Byrne and Balzano spearhead the hunt for the serial killer, who leads them on a methodically planned journey. Suspects appear before them like bad dreams and vanish just as quickly. And while Byrne s sins begin to catch up with him, and Balzano tries to solve the blood splattered puzzle, the body count rises. Meanwhile, the calendar is approaching Easter and the day of the resurrection. When the last rosary is counted, a madman s methods will be revealed, and the final crime will be the one that hurts the most. Relentlessly paced and vividly told, The Rosary Girls is a smart, emotionally complex, fiercely gripping thriller from an author who takes chances, breaks new ground, and leaves readers haunted and moved long after the last page is turned. From the Hardcover edition.

The Skin Gods

With the breakneck pacing and intricate plotting of his most recent novel, The Rosary Girls, Richard Montanari established himself as one of the most exciting suspense writers working today. Now he proves himself a virtuoso with The Skin Gods, an explosive new thriller featuring Philadelphia homicide detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano. It is the steaming heart of summer in the City of Brotherly Love. Back on the force after taking a bullet during the arrest of a sad*istic murderer, Detective Kevin Byrne warily returns to police headquarters. He cannot shake the memory of the Rosary Killer’s innocent victims or his growing sense that the evil has not been vanquished. And when he and his partner, Detective Jessica Balzano, are called in on a bizarre case, Byrne s gravest suspicions are confirmed.A madman, dubbed The Actor by the homicide unit, is meticulously re creating Hollywood s most famous and most gruesome death scenes. The first murder is caught on film, spliced into a rented VHS edition of the Hitchcock black and white masterpiece Psycho. But in place of Janet Leigh is a real life woman, and this time, the blood is red and the knife is real. Soon, more thrilling classics are turned into terrifying snuff films and placed on video store shelves for an unsuspecting public to find. The key to this horrific puzzle could lie with any of The Skin Gods supporting cast: the A list Hollywood director, the ruthless executive assistant, the convicted mass murderer or perhaps someone else who has made a sinister art of gruesome violence. Hot on the psychopath s trail, Balzano and Byrne descend into the mouth of madness and beyond, deep into the depraved underworld of S&M clubs and the po*rn industry, where the worship of flesh leads to malevolent evil. Before the final credits roll, the investigators will discover that none of The Actor s victims are as innocent as they appear to be, and that the clue the police need to prevent future murders might be found in Detective Byrne s own dark past. From the Hardcover edition.

Broken Angels / Merciless

On a frigid December night, Karen sits at the edge of Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River, dressed in a flowing gown, like a visitor from the distant past. A beautiful and shining young woman, she gazes up at a bone white winter moon like a fairy tale princess frozen in time. At first glance, one might not even notice that she is dead, coated in a glistening patina of ice. Homicide cops Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano take the lead on the case, uncovering a plethora of eerie clues each more warped and spine chilling than the last. Yet the identity of Karen s pitiless killer remains a mystery. Then the next victim is found upriver at an abandoned waterworks, posed with an unlikely object in her clasped hands. Struggling to link the victims and make sense of the madman s agenda, Byrne and Balzano follow his twisted trail, which stretches into a past of dark crimes forgotten by all but a few. Now the past roars back into the present with a vengeance as the ingenious killer unleashes a torrent of rage upon the streets of Philadelphia. As Byrne and Balzano sift through suspects and clues, they unearth a shocking secret history: a legacy of malevolence and cold blooded retribution dating back twenty years. And the farther they make their way up the body strewn banks of the Schuylkill River, the closer they get to a villain from their worst nightmare, an evil as patient as it is merciless. Lightning fast and razor sharp, this jolting thriller from acclaimed author Richard Montanari coils back in time to deliver a fiendish mystery, a shattering revelation, and one hell of a wild ride. Lock your doors and turn up the lights. Montanari s terrifying bedtime story will keep you up all night. From the Hardcover edition.

Play Dead / Badlands

Philadelphia police detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano are working a new beat: the Special Investigations Unit, aka the cold case squad. Ironic, given that it’s the height of a blazing hot August. But even these hardened homicide veterans are chilled to the bone as a dormant murder case stirs to life leading Byrne and Balzano into the dark heart of their city, their souls, and a psyche of pure evil. Months before, a teenage runaway s body was found in the desolate, dangerous North Philly district dubbed the Badlands. Dead runaways were no novelty on these mean streets, but the Caitlin O Riordan case was different. Her corpse was found in the baseme*nt of a rancid tenement apartment, the inexplicable cause of death: drowning. In the end, nothing was solved and the case was closed. Now a confession to the bizarre murder on the police tipline sends Byrne and Balzano rushing to make an arrest. But instead of a killer, they discover a ghastly scene: a jar containing human remains along with a cryptic clue leading to an unlikely witness. Laura Somerville lives far from the squalor of the Badlands, and seemingly light years from any connection to a murdered runaway. But moments after discussing the case with this elegant lady, Byrne and Balzano make another grisly discovery, and find an enigmatic word spelled out in Scrabble tiles. Across town, another victim s shallow grave reveals deeper mysteries. Her secret diaries portray a woman haunted by a shocking past, and obsessed with finding a depraved killer. Now, as the body count grows, a terrifying design literally takes shape. Pieces of a gruesome puzzle are being set into place by the cruel hands of a madman using the city as his game board. His playthings are the innocent, and his opponents and pawns are Byrne and Balzano, who must, before time runs out, decipher the truth about a shadowy house of horrors and its elusive master. Internationally acclaimed author Richard Montanari works his black magic to spine tingling perfection in Badlands, conjuring all the relentless suspense, dark twists of intrigue, and full throttle action that make his brilliant, engrossing novels required reading for thriller fans.

The Echo Man

It is fall in Philadelphia and the mutilated body of a man is found in one of the poorest neighbourhoods of the city. The victim has been viciously tortured to death. It’s the work of a sad*istic mind in free fall. When homicide detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano investigate, they soon realise that their crime scene is linked to the past. Eight years ago, another body was found in the same place, in the same position, killed in the same manner. That case was never closed. Apart from their killer’s unusual calling cards, the crime scene photos past and present are identical. As another brutalised body appears, then another, it becomes horrifyingly clear that someone is recreating unsolved murders from Philadelphia’s past in the most sinister of ways. And the killer is closer than they think…

The Violet Hour

A popular priest lies dead of a hero*in overdose in a Cleveland apartment, following an apparent tryst with a high priced call girl. A freelance journalist recognizes a great story salacious and saleable in the cleric’s demise…
and follows it into the twisted, terrifying mind of a psychopath. While in an affluent suburb a world away, a cryptic threat written in a great poet’s words appears on the computer screen of a long suffering wife and mother. And suddenly she knows that a nightmare stands just outside her door, waiting to devour everything she loves. Because twenty years ago, something terrible happened at a Halloween night gathering of brilliant, arrogant youths…
Because it is reunion year, a time of remembrance and celebration; a time of reckoning and poetic justice…
And the party is just beginning.