Fina Ludlow Books In Order

Publication Order of Fina Ludlow Books

The Fina Ludlow series is a series of novels by American author Ingrid Thoft. The Fina Ludlow series have gained much popularity and critical acclaim over the years with Fina Ludlow the lead protagonist becoming a household name. The highly acclaimed Loyalty’ first published in 2013 introduced Ludlow to readers and became a fan favorite relatively fast. Ever since publishing Loyalty in 2013, Thoft has published one novel in the Ludlow series every year. The series of novels is set in Boston, Massachusetts, Ingrid’s hometown. An author that has some private investigative training at the University of Washington, Thoft’s series draws a lot from the real world of injury attorneys. One of her instructors in college had worked with many personal injury lawyers and provided many insights on lawyers such as Carl Ludlow. The series may be best described as a sexy modern noir novel that prompts its readers to reflect on the themes of loyalty and faith as portrayed by the struggle between Fina and her family. In a recent interview, the author asserts that the series of novels are meant to pose complicated questions for readers. The series has situations where practical responses will typically be radically different from accepted theoretical responses to a given situation. It is the portrayal of the hard choices such as having to choose between justice and loyalty to family that makes the novels so fascinating.

The chief protagonist in the series is Fina Ludlow a private investigator and something of a black sheep in the hard charging Ludlow family, led by Carl Ludlow the patriarch. Coming from the Ludlow family that harbors some dark secrets and is the epitome of entitlement, Fina Ludlow struggles to maintain her sense of self-identity. When we are first introduced to Fina, she is a law school dropout that has been employed as a private investigator in her family’s personal injury law firm. All her brothers also work for Carl Ludlow as attorneys in the family’s business. From time to time, she takes cases separate from those of the firm in a bid to chart her own path and establish her own identity. She is a fully fleshed out and three-dimensional character, which is what makes her such a compelling character. Not only is she an investigator but also a friend, aunt, sister, and daughter, and it is those aspects of her character and personality that influences her choices and behavior. Ludlow often tries to balance competing interests with family relationships, and her intermittent failures are something that most readers can relate to. Similar to Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan or Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone, Ludlow is a determined, independent, and hardworking detective that has a strong belief in standing up for what is just. She juggles the demands of working with a team of high-powered attorneys that double up as a highly dysfunctional family, while at the same time having to deal with Boston’s criminal element and law enforcement. Nonetheless, she manages to pull it off without breaking a sweat.

The Fina Ludlow series of novels is one of the most exciting of books with a very high standard of writing. Influenced by writers such as Reed Farrel Coleman and Elizabeth George, the Fina Ludlow novels have a dearth of intriguing and realistic characters that change and develop over time. In what is the hallmark of a great writer, Thoft makes a main character that is complex while also being highly relatable, which is quite a tricky combination. The series has some of the best-multilayered plots full of excellent twists and turns. The novels integrate some hot button issues in the US such as head trauma that young athletes are exposed to in sports or the importance of personal injury lawyers. These are spiced up with a unique twist of a detective mystery that keeps makes for an intriguing story. According to the author, the writing process for the novels is nothing too complicated. What is important is that the readers are interested in the story. The narratives are usually just a unique twist of a story on true crime television, online news or a newspaper. Over the years, the novels have won several awards and nominations, the most significant of which was the Shamus Award for Best Investigative Novel for Brutality. In 2014, ABC Studios acquired the rights to adapt the Fina Ludlow series into a drama to be penned by Clifton Campbell and executive produced by Mark Gordon.

Loyalty the first novel of the Fina Ludlow series introduces the Ludlows, a ruthless family that runs a personal injury law practice. Carl Ludlow heads the family and treats his children like employees – though in all fairness, they all work in the law firm he built. Fina Ludlow who dropped out of law school assists her attorney brothers with private investigative work. Seemingly made of steel, Fina finds it easy to juggle her demanding family, Boston law enforcement, and its criminal element. But the plot thickens when her sister-in-law goes missing, leaving Ludlow mired in a morass of dark family secrets that she has never had to deal with before. Even as her father has forbidden her from getting any assistance from the police, the deeper she investigates the case, the more she believes that she just may have to. With the Ludlows closing ranks and Rand and his unruly teenage daughter seemingly wanting little to do with the family, Fina continues to unearth secrets that are even more damning. But now the demands for loyalty to the family grow even louder.

Brutality the third novel in the Fina Ludlow series brings back the wise cracking, relentless, and gutsy Fina Ludlow. Fina does not like taking up cases not connected with the family firm, but a brutal break in convinces her to do just that. When Liz Barone is attacked in her home and left for dead, her mother asks Ludlow to take up the case. The case is intriguing for Fina given the victim had been in the process of filing a suit against New England University, in a case whose settlement could have easily have been in millions. A former soccer star who had a reputation for being a very physical player, she is suing her former alma mater for cognitive decline, which she is convinced, is the result of an aggressive style of play promoted by NEU. Could the attack have been because of the lawsuit or could she be harboring other secrets? She convinces her firm to take up the case. But as the hidden agendas and list of suspects continue to grow, she discovers that while the world of collegiate sports could be financially lucrative, it calls for nerves of steel.