Jeff Resnick Books In Order

Publication Order of Jeff Resnick Mystery Books

Publication Order of Jeff Resnick's Personal Files Books

Jeff Resnick lives in Buffalo, New York; the place has been called the City of Light. He starts the series down on his luck and broke; he used to be an insurance investigator. Jeff is also divorced. Little does he know, he will wish that he can go back to leading a life that is boring again. When he gets injured and mugged, he stays with his half-brother, Richard, and he begins to have psychic visions, that happen anywhere, anytime. They also contain unnerving and vague images; he gets help from an elderly bakery owner who helps Jeff piece together the visions and their meaning. Both the reader and Jeff are not sure whether or not the elderly bakery owner is actually real, or simply a part of his imagination. With this power, is the need to be able to control it, and not let it get the better of him. They sometimes make him sick when he has them.

Jeff is estranged from his half-brother, who is his only family. His brother has a girlfriend named Brenda. The two brothers grow together and patch things up as the series goes on, and Richard assists in Jeff’s investigative ventures. Richard and Jeff have different upbringings, Richard had more things than Jeff and Jeff has to get help from him since he was injured.

“Murder on the Mind” is the first book in the Jeff Resnick series that is written by Lorraine Bartlett. A man, named Jeff Resnick, is mugged and his skull is broken in the process. Jeff also suffers many other broken bones, and Jeff’s doctors believe that he has suffered slight brain damage. He is faced with a long and brutal recovery, he knows this and accepts it. Reluctantly anyway. He decides that he can do this recovery at a family member’s house, who happens to be a doctor. He is haunted by visions of a violent crime that involves a banker who is eviscerated. A man named Matt Sumner is found, and Jeff realizes that this man is who he must have seen murdered. Jeff must convince both him and his skeptical brother (Richard) that he has psychic abilities. They both look into the man’s death (Richard does not really want to help and does so with reluctance); the man was Richard’s banker. What they find is that no one that Sumner was involved with really want him snooping around in the death of this man. They find out that there was another man killed, and that Jeff must pursue the killer with all he has, even if it means risking both his and his brother’s life.

Readers of this book enjoyed the book because it mixed eerie, psychic paranormal element with the investigative hunt that the two brothers go on in the book, the book also has a strong resolution (does not settle for taking the easy way out), and keeps readers glued to each and every page as they take in all the twists and turns. Some fans liked that Bartlett does not pull any punches when it comes to her characters. Some fans felt that it was a bit of a cop out and a bit overdone to feature a main character who has visions that helps him solve crimes and that the book could have used some extra time in editing to tie up some loose ends. Some readers think that this book was not very good as it does not, in their minds, include a mystery at all. In fact, the killer is revealed early on, and you just have to wait to get there. Readers did not like this book for the fact that it was uneventful book, it was bland and there were several grammatical and formatting errors in the book that made the experience hard to get through without fixating on the errors.

“Dead in Red” is the second book in the Jeff Resnick series that is written by Lorraine Bartlett. A bartender named Walt Kaplan at Jeff Resnick’s favorite sports bar (The Whole Nine Yards) gets killed, just after Jeff has taken a part time bartender’s job at. He is Walt’s replacement at the bar, and took the job not just to make money but to get back to work. Also, he feels that he is ready to get back to work. Jeff is asked to look into the crime by Tom Links, another bartender at The Whole Nine Yards. Jeff sees a single red high heeled shoe and a pair of bloody hands. Richard agrees to help his brother, even though the last time the pair solved a crime together, Richard almost did not make it out alive. They plunge into a world they have never seen before. One that includes fetishes and drag queens. Jeff is forced to investigate someone that Richard used to know.

Readers praise this book for Jeff’s enjoyable journey, the story featured twists and turns, a good mystery, and being an endearing character. Readers liked the humor, the fast pace, the book is full of surprises, and the book is something of an emotional ride. They also responded warmly to Brenda, Jeff’s sister-in-law. Fans liked that Jeff has been given a mixed blessing with the new lease on life, with the ability to see just how screwed up the world is. Readers who liked the book thought that Bartlett was able to provide great insights for Richard and she was able to portray family very well, making for richer mysteries. Some readers did not like that there was too much information about the character’s sex lives and that it was, in their opinion, not necessary to the story.

As of yet, there are no adaptations of any kind (movie, television series, or miniseries) of this popular novel series.

The series featuring Jeff Resnick features multiple short stories and novels. The author of this book L. L. Bartlett, writes other books, however, those books are cozy mysteries. These novels are not for the faint of heart at all.