Lieutenant Luis Mendoza Books In Order

Publication Order of Lieutenant Luis Mendoza Books

The Lieutenant Luis Mendoza series is a popular book series of crime fiction and mystery novels. It was penned by a noteworthy American writer named Elizabeth Linington under the pen name of Dell Shannon. Each and every book of this exciting series features the chief protagonist in the form of a lead hero named Luis Mendoza. Author Shannon has described Luis Mendoza as a police lieutenant living and working in Los Angeles, California. The series is comprised of a total of 38 books, which were released between the years 1960 and 1987.

In addition to Luis Mendoza, author Shannon has mentioned several other important characters, who play essential parts in the stories and help to take the series forward. Some of the interesting ones include Alison Weir, Madam K, Cara Kingman, Martin Kingman, Sgt. Hackett, Margaret Chadwick, Francis Ingram, Sgt. Bert Dwyer, etc. Luis Mendoza is shown as working in the Robbery & the Homicide Division of the L.A. Police Department. In each of the books, it is seen that Luis Mendoza and his team try to unravel the various mysteries related to murder, robbery, abduction, homicide, etc. All the cases that come his way goes on to get successfully solved by Luis Mendoza. His colleagues also play essential roles and give a display of excellent team work in solving the numerous mysteries. They do not let the criminals get away and make sure that they get tried for their crimes and serve the appropriate judgement decided by the judicial system of Los Angeles.

Author Dell Shannon, or Elizabeth Linington, was born on March 11, 1921 as Barbara Linington. She was an enthusiastic writer, who worked hard throughout her career and achieved great successes with all her novels. The MWA had awarded Shannon the runner up scrolls in 1960 in the category of the best debut mystery book for her novel called Case Pending. This was the first novel to introduce author Shannon’s widely popular series character Luis Mendoza, the L.A.P.D. Homicide Lieutenant. The next two novels of Dell Shannon were nominated for the Edgar Award in the section of the Best Novel. Author Shannon had the habit of describing the police procedurals in great detail in her stories. The readers and critics used to love reading about the minute and realistic details she used to in the novels. This helped her get the tag of the ‘Queen of Procedurals’.

Author Shannon is regarded as being among the first few female writers to try her hand at writing police procedurals. This genre of the police story writing was mostly dominated by the male writers, but Dell Shannon managed to out-perform all of them and establish herself among the prominent writers of this genre. Other than writing mystery stories, author Shannon had interests in gemstones, languages, the occult, antique weapons, and archaeology. She was also a reputed political activist and followed the conservative beliefs. During her spare times, author Shannon used to remain involved in the activities of John Birch Society as one of its members. Dell Shannon’s death occurred on April 5, 1988. It left all her fans shocked and saddened. Now, author Shannon can only remembered through her interesting books and stories. Her writing style always took the readers by surprise and made them wanting more from her. The critics used to be in awe of her writing and the characters created by her.

An interesting book of the Lieutenant Luis Mendoza book series written by author Dell Shannon is entitled ‘The Ace of Spades’. It was released by the Gollancz publication in the year 1990, after it was first released in 1961. The book consists of the main characters in the form of Alison Weir, Madam K., Luis Mendoza, Sergeant Hackett, and several others. At the start of the book’s story, it is shown that Luis Mendoza continues with his case histories. As a Mexican detective working in the police department in Los Angeles, Lt. Luis Mendoza has made a name for himself as a specialist in homicide cases. He is very intelligent, smart, possesses great wealth, has uncanny flair, and is very passionate about justice.

Luis Mendoza is fond of cats and has some of the Abyssinian breed type in his house. However, he also possesses some weaknesses, and the first of them is his addiction to playing poker. The greatest weakness of Luis Mendoza is Alison Weir, who plays the female lead role in the story. Shortly after solving the previous case, a new case lands on the desk of Luis Mendoza. Alison files a report that a homicide has taken at her house and her old-fashioned has gone missing. Soon after, the mystery of the missing jalopy gets entangled with museums, importers, as well as a mysterious woman called Madam K. The story begins on a lighter note and then quickly turns into an intriguing one, showing high tension, suspense, thrill, excitement, etc. Luis Mendoza is depicted as trying everything in his capacity to save the life of the love of his life.

Another exciting book of this series is called ‘Knave of Hearts’. It was published in 1962 and features Sgt. Hackett, Luis Mendoza, Alison Weir, etc., in primary roles. At the beginning of the story of the book, it is depicted that Luis Mendoza engages in a violent quarrel with his lover Alison Weir. He sees her as the only lady who has ever made him think seriously about settling down. He realizes that he has made a big mistake by quarreling with Alison, so he thinks of sorting out things with her. But, just when he is about to approach her for a talk, he is asked to investigate a new murder case. Luis Mendoza learns that a new rapist murderer has started terrorizing the people of Los Angeles with his deadly crimes.

After studying more about the unknown serial killer, Luis comes to know that an innocent man was given the death sentence by the justice system for a crime that the rapist murderer had committed. Luis knows he does not have much time left before the killer will strike again, so he races against time to hunt him down and put a permanent halt to his criminal activities. In the meantime, Alison Weir decides to have some time alone away from Mendoza and in the company of close friends, Sergeant Hackett and his wife. One of Luis Mendoza’s trusted sources that the murderer can be caught with a plan that involves putting Alison Weir very close to danger. Luis Mendoza wonders whether he is ready to risk the life of the woman close to his heart for catching a deadly criminal? Knowing that there is no other option, he moves ahead with the plan, determined to save Alison with his own life in case the need arises.