Bug Man Books In Order

Publication Order of Bug Man Books

Tim Downs is an American author of fiction. He was born in 1954. Downs graduated from Indiana University in 1976, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Before becoming a published author, he created a daily comic strip that was syndicated for six years and appeared in publications internationally.

He has composed a number of novels that make up the mystery and suspense genre. He is the author of the many novels that make up the Bug Man Series as well as standalone novels like Plague Maker, which ended up winning the Christy Award for the best mystery/suspense novel of 2006.

Head Game is his fourth novel and it was released in 2007– followed by First the Dead, Less Than Dead, Ends of the Earth, Wonders Never Cease, and Nick of Time. He has also completed a memoir that was released in 2014 and was titled Where the Wind Leads.

Downs is also the founder of a consulting and communication training ministry called The Communication Center. He currently lives in North Carolina with his wife. They have three children together. They have written a number of books together focusing on communication and Christian relationships. His nonfiction book Finding Common Ground was released in 1999 and won a Gold Medallion Award.

He is also particularly well known to readers as the author of the popular Bug Man series. This is a popular fiction series that first started with the debut novel Like Flies to a Corpse. That actually was changed and the book was re-released under the title Shoofly Pie in 2003. Chop Shop was the sequel, followed by First the Dead in 2007 and then Less Than Dead, Ends of the Earth, and Nick of Time.

The series features the adventures of the Bug Man, who also goes by the name of Nick Polchak. Doctor Nick Polchak is an entomologist, which means that his childhood interest in bugs has turned into something way more than a hobby. He does forensic work and specializes in insects and bugs. His work helps crack cases and reveal things that would be otherwise hidden. Dr. Polchak takes what he sees and uses it to solve mysteries or help others close cases.

Shoofly Pie is where we first encounter Dr. Nick Polchak, who works in a job that he actually enjoys. Having a successful career as a forensic entomologist is personally satisfying and a great way to pass the time. Who wouldn’t love to get paid to study bugs? He is affectionately known as The Bug Man, and he definitely lives up to the title. After all, you have to really be intrigued by creepy-crawly things to go to college and get a degree in it!

He is hired one day by Kathryn Guilford to help her out. She is a young woman of thirty years who has hired him to help her figure out why or how her friend died. Kathryn is very nice, but she also happens to be very scared of bugs– something that Doctor Nick obviously can’t relate to. He loves studying bugs and is fascinated by every last detail concerning them.

Polchak is deeply interested in the mystery of how another death occurred as well. It turns out that Kathryn’s husband was apparently killed a long time ago. One thing leads to another as all things come to light, and suddenly the bug man is caught up in a lot more than he ever bargained for. He never thought while studying to be an entomologist that this is what would happen!

When the doctor finds himself on the run with his client from a person that desperately wants to keep a certain secret under wraps, they may be in more danger than the Bug Man ever thought they could be. Can he keep them safe, or will he and Kathryn both fall prey to someone who is willing to pay any price to get what they want? Pick up Shoofly Pie and read this exciting mystery novel by Tim Downs that starts off the Bug Man series for yourself!

The second book in the Bug Man series is titled Chop Shop. Dr. Nick Polchak is back again and down to solve another case using his extensive knowledge of insects and bugs. He is not the only getting into sudden mysteries all of a sudden– Dr. Riley McKay starts to suspect something and before they know it, they are working on a case that goes a lot deeper than you would have initially thought.

Dr. McKay works at the coroner’s lab for Allegheny County and is an intern forensic pathologist. It’s her job to review autopsies in the lab, but she’s picked up on some anomalies. Could this be foul play? Dr. McKay decides to go to the only person she knows of that might be able to provide some assistance– Dr. Nick Polchak.

Riley thinks that maybe with the help of the Bug Man she can uncover what happened with those bodies. But when they start to make connections between the irregularities of the autopsies and the director of the lab, as well as the inclusion of the drug company Pharma-Gen, things starts to get buggy. This start-up company does genetic research, but is it really just doing some innocent genetic work?

Dr. Nick and Dr. Riley start to go further down the rabbit hole, and what they find amazes even them. PharmaGen may be a front for something far more practical and sinister than they might ever have guessed. When it comes to wealthy people that need transplant organs, only matching donors will do. So they find them– and kill them. Then the organs are processed and bam, a rich person gets to live another five to twenty years longer than they would have. Why wait in line when you can cut to the front?

The doctors are forced to try and stay one step ahead of everyone hot on their trail. Can they make it? And is their attraction going to be something that they can realize, or will it fall by the wayside when Nick learns of Riley’s darkest secret? Pick up Chop Shop and experience every bit of action for yourself!