Garrison Gage Mystery Books In Order

Publication Order of Garrison Gage Books

Garrison Gage Mystery is a series of novels by Scott William Carter the American author from Oregon also known for writing young adult, mystery, and fantasy fiction. The first novel that Carter wrote in the Garrison Gage Mystery series was “The Gray and Guilty Sea” that he wrote under the pseudonym Jack Nolte. Never expecting the novel to do well, he was pleasantly surprised when the novel exploded in popularity selling at a nice clip of about eight books a day, even with constant increases in price. With his first novel selling so well and the radical changes in the publishing industry, he would go back and republish the novel under his real name Scott William Carter. The popularity of the first novel of the series had driven him to write several novels in the still ongoing series that stood at four titles by 2015. He would also go back and publish a short novella “A Plunder by the Pilgrims” in 2010, which gave more background information about his lead character in the series, Garrison Gage. It was after the publication of his prequel that he also renamed the entire series of novels the Garrison Gage Mysteries after the titular character in the novels. The lead character in the novels is Garrison Gage, a broken ex detective from New York, who moves to a rural town in Oregon to get away from all the pain of losing his career and wife.

Garrison Gage the lead character in the series is best described as a loner and curmudgeon. He is a bit grumpy and looks old though his age is a mystery. Five years earlier, he had been a very successful private investigator in New York. He had lost everything he had when his wife was killed in a Mafia hit and had his mobility was severely impeded after a severe beating. He is now an emotional and physical invalid that has retreated to the small town on the Western Coast of Oregon, where he spends his time talking walks on the beach and doing crossword puzzles. The experience of having had to watch his wife drowned and then being nearly crippled with a baseball bat to the knee, he relives the events of the fateful day as he lives his new hermit lifestyle. Although he starts out as a grumpy loner, he gradually turns into something more over the course of the series. Getting some mysterious murder cases brings back the fire in him as he banishes the forty-year-old self that felt sorry for himself. His world expands as he reconnects with his friends Alex from the FBI who helps him to investigate cases in Oregon. He becomes a more enjoyable character as he cares for other people such as Zoe his newly assumed daughter. His complex relationship with the newly come into town journalist Carmen also fleshes him out, as his emotional drama continues to widen.

The Garrison Gage Mystery series draws in the reader right from the get go with fast-paced narratives that will leave one wondering just what the author has planned next. The path to the resolution of a mystery or the moving forward of the story is not so much of a surprise, but rather hidden. Nonetheless, Gage takes a lot of time to unravel the mysteries of the novels, particularly taking into consideration that he also has to deal with an adopted teenage granddaughter and a love interest. Gage is a very interesting character though he constantly gets under other people’s skins with his crotchety personality. He is the epitome of a person that would be one of the most entertaining to observe from the outside, but very irritating to work with. Despite his shortcomings, he has the uncanny ability to earn the reader’s trust with his exceptional sleuthing abilities. Scott writes the Garrison Gage Mystery series with a believable and well-developed story line that have deftly created characters with recognizable and unique voices. Carter does very well painting a clear picture in the reader’s mind with vivid descriptions of his characters and their settings. The emotional component in all the novels exposes the vulnerability of the lead character and his associates, who we come to know so intimately over the course of the novels.

“The Gray and Guilty Sea” is the first novel in the beguiling Garrison Gage Mystery series of novels by Scott William Carter. The lead character in the novels Garrison Gage is introduced as a loner, an iconoclast, and a curmudgeon. This is not the best of descriptions of a person, particularly coming from the neighbors. He left New York after he was the victim of a brutal Mafia kidnapping in which he was severely beaten and his wife drowned. The nearly crippled private detective moves away from New York and goes to Barnacle, Bluff, a small town in Oregon, where he lives feeling sorry for himself. Blaming himself for his wife’s death, he spends his time drinking, walking on the beach, and filling out crossword puzzles. But everything changes when he stumbles on the body of a girl washed up on the beach. Taking it upon himself to investigate the murder, he finally feels the fire burning in him as he confronts his guilt and demons of his past life in New York.

“A Desperate Place for Dying” sees the beliefs and abilities of Gage Garrison tested to the ultimate in this hair-raising second novel in the Garrison Gag Mystery series. It is now a year since Gage had adopted a troubled teenage girl though neither time nor fatherhood improves his dark moods. He still spends most of his time alone drinking his bourbon and only finds escape thinking of a newly come into town beautiful journalist that he just cannot be bothered to pursue a relationship with. He is still the grumpy old man who is happy with his comfortable but boring routine, until the murderer of his wife walks into town to destroy it all. And that is not all, his ex shows up seeking his help in a high profile case involving a fundamentalist cult and an brazenly outspoken lecturer. With critics of the cult dying like flies, Gage may hold the key to stopping all the carnage.

2 Responses to “Garrison Gage Mystery”

1. Ray: 3 months ago

   I really enjoyed all of the Garrison Gage books and would like to know if there will be any additional books in the near future?

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2. Edwana Dean: 2 years ago

   Hmmmm….might have to try this series. My daughter works for his wife!

   Reply