James Hayman Books In Order

Publication Order of McCabe & Savage Thriller Books

James Hayman is one of the successful authors of America who has written some very popular novels based on the suspense, crime and fiction genres. He is particularly famous for writing down the McCabe & Savage Thrillers, featuring the prominent characters, McCabe and Maggie Savage. These two characters are the most famous characters described by author Hayman, and are depicted as Maine detectives throughout the series. Hayman was born in Brooklyn, New York, United States and is known a transplanted New Yorker. His growing years were spent in Manhattan after being born in Brooklyn. Hayman began writing TV advertisements as a beginner and spent more than 20 years in this profession. The most prominent clients in his Madison Avenue advertising agency included Lincoln-Mercury, Procter & Gamble, and The U.S. Army. After leaving this profession behind, Hayman decided to move to Maine in the year 2001 in order to pursue his lifelong wish of becoming a writer of fiction. Soon, he began working on his first thriller novel as he was himself a very big fan of thrillers. All through his life, he was inspired by the works of the noteworthy thriller and suspense writers like Dennis Lehane, Ian Rankin and Michael Connelly. Hayman was very much surprised when his first novel The Cutting, featuring the famous detectives from Portland, Maine, Michael McCabe and Maggie Savage, was bought by a number of publishing houses from different countries. The novel was successfully published by the St. Martin’s Press in the U.S., the Penguin publishing house in the U.K., and the Random House Press in Germany. It was also translated into about half a dozen foreign languages and sold many copies all over the world.

The other novels of the thriller series by Hayman were published by other famous publishing houses and made it to the national bestseller list of USA Today, thereby helping author Hayman to establish himself as a successful writer of the fiction and thriller novels. He says that he has done the characterization of detective McCabe based on the his own life and activities. Just like him, McCabe is also a native New Yorker, who was born in the Bronx. He became one of the best homicide cops at the Midtown North Precinct after years of hard work rising through the ranks. He had left the Film School at New York University in order to join the NYPD. Later, he married a woman named Sandy, who was a beautiful brunette, but left him for a wealthy investment banker. Author Hayman had also risen to the rank of the creative director of the advertisement agency and had married a beautiful woman. However, she did not leave him and has remained with him through the thick and thin events of his life. McCabe moves to Portland, Maine in the year 2001, just like Hayman, and begins searching for a right place to start his new career as a writer of fiction. Later, he comes to town in order get over a dark secret from his past and find a safe place for raising his teenage daughter, Casey. Hayman says that there are a number of other similarities between the two, such as both of them like old movie trivia and love Scotch Whiskey and New York Giants. They also have similar tastes in women who are talented and gifted artists. McCabe differs from Hayman by being braver than him. He likes to take risks and loves boxing very much.

The McCabe & Savage Thriller series consists of a total of 4 novels published between the years 2009 and 2015. The first novel of the series was published under the title ‘The Cutting’. It was published by the Minotaur Books publishing house in the year 2009. The plot of the novel is set in Portland, Maine and introduces the main characters, Detective Sergeant Michael McCabe and his partner Maggie Savage. In the opening sequence of the novel, detective Michael McCabe is depicted as being haunted by his dark past and desperately wants to escape from it. He had experienced the betrayal by his ex-wife, who ditched him for a rich investment banker. Also, his brother died tragically, who had turned bad after being a hero cop. These troubling events were disturbing him a lot, due to which he moves to Portland, Maine from New York City. McCabe wished to raise his daughter Casey away from violence, but he is unprepared to face a horrific killer in the big city, whose trail takes him to the elite social lives of Portland. As the plot of the novel moves ahead, a mutilated body of a teenage girl is discovered on a September evening. The girl was a soccer star and was brutally assaulted before being dumped in a scrap-metal yard. The killer had taken out her heart with proper surgical precision. One more young lady gets abducted while jogging on the same day. She was a blonde businesswoman and a young businesswoman. Detective McCabe believes that both the crimes were done by the same person, who seemed to target only the younger women. He learns that the killer has a great knowledge about complex surgical procedures and believes that he might have similar crimes before also. As he proceeds with the investigation, McCabe’s ex-wife emerges in his life again for claiming her daughter. However, he seemed to be more dedicated towards unmasking the sadistic killer with the help of his alluring and straight-talking partner Maggie Savage. He begins to race against time for rescuing the kidnapped woman and catching the killer before the lives of other young women are lost.

The second novel of the series was published in the year 2010 by the Minotaur Books publishing house. It was called ‘The Chill of Night’ and gave the description of an even more interesting and powerful tale of murder, revenge and duplicity, written by author James Hayman and featuring Detective Sergeant Michael McCabe. In the opening plot of the novel, a young and glamorous attorney of Portland named Lainie Goff is found dead. Her frozen body is discovered from the Portland Fish Pier at sub-zero temperatures. Lainie was a beautiful and smart attorney, who hoped of becoming rich through a partnership with a top-ranked firm. However, she meets an unexpected and deadly fate at the hands of a mysterious killer. A mentally disturbed woman named Abby Quinn was the only witness of the crime, but she had also disappeared mysteriously in the same night. When homicide detective McCabe comes to know about the disturbing case, he sets on a trail to find the clever and relentless killer. He is required to act quickly and nab the deadly killer as one more life is at risk. The novel depicts a gripping tale of deceit and evil, with the characters close to reality and an intriguing plot.

5 Responses to “James Hayman”

1. Linda Giles: 10 months ago

   I have one more of the MCCabe/Savage series to go. Sure would like to know that there is another one in the works. So enjoy.

   Reply
   • Vic: 1 month ago

     He died June 2023

     Reply
2. Robin Porter: 1 year ago

   Mr.Hayman
   I have read all of your books and love them! I’m in hopes you are working on another novel with McCabe and Savage and can’t wait to hopefully read it soon.

   Reply
3. david chambless: 3 years ago

   nothing since 2018? whats the problem? the books are excellent.

   Reply
   • Graeme: 3 years ago

     I am not sure why he hasn’t written anything lately. He seems to be active on Goodreads and Facebook could ask him on both.

     Reply