Rizzoli & Isles Books In Order

Publication Order of Rizzoli & Isles Books

Publication Order of Rizzoli & Isles Short Stories Books

The Rizzoli and Isles Series is a novel series having ten very good novels based on the thriller and suspense genre. The series was published between the years 2001 and 2014 and has been written by the Internationally Bestselling, Chinese-American author Tess Gerritsen, who is also a physician by profession. The series features detective Jane Rizzoli from the Boston Police Department and Dr. Maura Isles, who works as the Chief Medical Examiner in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The two are helped by their colleagues FBI agent Dean, and the detectives Frost, Korsak and Crowe in solving the criminal cases. Mostly, Rizzoli and Isles come across the cases involving psychopath killers. The series deals with the ups and downs in their life in trying to solve the suspense and put the killers behind the bars. The first two novels of the series were titled ‘The Surgeon’ and ‘The Apprentice’. These novels were published in the years 2001 and 2002 respectively. The list of characters in the series is as follows:

1. DETECTIVE JANE RIZZOLI
Jane Rizzoli is a homicide detective, who works for the Boston police Department and is married to Gabriel Dean. She has a daughter named Regina Rizzoli-Dean. She wanted to be a cop after seeing a police officer in her school. Basically, she was fascinated by the gun and the badge as a kid. The only thing that she expects from others is respect. Rizzoli likes to hunt down the criminals and is always ready to prove herself again and again. One thing that she does not like is whining. Her success philosophy lies in getting angry, never giving up and doing investigations without high heels.

2. DR. MAURA ISLES
DR. Maura Isles is a friend of Jane Rizzoli and is in her forties. She is calm an confident and smart too. Isles has the habit of cracking a joke or two to make everyone laugh. She is always acts logical and patient as opposite to Rizzoli’s stubborn attitude and harsh behavior. Isles believes that there is always a scientific reason for every happening and that fate has nothing to do with death. She says that death is organic and not a mystical process. Isles was a scholar since childhood and later became a forensic pathologist. She is called as ‘The Queen of the Dead’ by her colleagues at the Boston police Department.

3. DARREN CROWE
Darren Crowe works as a detective at the Boston Police Department.

4. VINCE KORSAK
Vince is a retired police officer. He is in relationship with Angela, Jane’s mother.

5. BARRY FROST
Barry is the ex husband of Alice and works as a colleague of Jane Rizzoli in the Department.

6. THOMAS MOORE
Thomas is also a detective in the Boston Police Department.

The first installment in the Rizzoli and Isles Series introduces the character Jane Rizzoli. A psychopath killer is roaming in the, who generally hunts at night. The killer, named The Surgeon, enters into the homes of sleeping women and kills them using expert methods. The style of his killing suggests that he is a trained medical practitioner. The detectives have only one clue, which lies with a surgeon named Dr. Catherine Cordell. She survived a similar attack a couple of years ago and was successful in killing the attacker. She now works as a trauma surgeon and hides her fear behind this reputed position. But this killer seems to be taunting Dr. Cordell with new killing techniques. The Surgeon somehow understands the fears of the women he kills. Detective Thomas Moore holds the responsibility of protecting Dr. Cordell from the Surgeon, but even he is unable to do so as the killer is very cunning. However, detective Rizzoli becomes successful in finding a connection between the murders and trailing the killer. As Dr. Cordell keeps helping the survivors by helping them to get out of the trauma, the Surgeon keeps getting closer and closer to her. Finally, Rizzoli is able to hunt down the killer and detective Moore and Dr. Cordell marry each other as they have been developing a relationship during the course of the investigation.

The Surgeon was highly successful as a thriller novel and helped to establish Tess Gerritsen as a noted author. The Physician turned author received great appreciations from everyone for her efforts and was awarded with the RITA Award from the Romance Writers of America for the Best Romantic Suspense Novel in 2002. The next installment in the series, ‘The Apprentice’ was published in the year 2002. This novel also depicts a plot full of suspense and murders. The character of Dr. Maura Isles is introduced in this novel. While investigating a murder, Rizzoli discovers some cutting techniques similar to the ones used by the imprisoned killer Warren Hoyt. However, Dr. Isles suggests that the murderer has used necrophilia to commit the crime. Detective Rizzoli is soon called by the FBI Agent Gabriel Dean, who shows her some clippings of similar killings in Bosnia by the killer named ‘The Dominator’. Soon, Warren Hoyt becomes successful in breaking out of prison after learning that The Dominator is copying some of his techniques to commit the murders. He plots a plan to trap detective Rizzoli. However, The Dominator kidnaps Rizzoli when she returns to Boston. When he tries to kill Rizzoli, she fights back and kills The Dominator. Warren gets badly injured and becomes quadriplegic.

After the case is closed, Rizzoli and Dean spend some quality time together on a long vacation. The novel was successful in reaching the number 10 spot in the New York Times Bestseller list. It sold millions of copies worldwide and increased the curiosity of the readers with another thrilling experience. Gerritsen was praised for her efforts which motivated her to write eight more novels in the series. She is still writing for the series and more novels are about to come very soon. The novels written by Tess Gerritsen in this series were also made into a television series under the name of Rizzoli & Isles. Actresses Angie Hormon and Sasha Alexander were picked to play the roles of detective Rizzoli and Dr. Isles respectively. The first episode of the television series was aired in July 2010. The series still runs successfully worldwide and has been made into five seasons till now. Each season consists of more than 10 episodes where Rizzoli and Isles solve the cases with their never-say-die attitude.

3 Responses to “Rizzoli & Isles”

1. Rebecca: 2 years ago

   I saw the tv series & loved it, so I decided to purchase the books. Just started ‘The Surgeon’ yesterday & I can’t put it down! If the others are like this one, I will be engrossed for a very long time! I am loving these books!

   Reply
2. Kim Arellanes: 3 years ago

   I personally enjoy both the books and the series. Books are very serious, series has some very funny parts.

   Reply
3. david13: 4 years ago

   The Rizzoli & Isles BOOKS are MUCH better than the formulaic TV series.

   … in contrast to Montalbano, where the TV SERIES is MUCH better than the books!

   Reply