Michael Wiley Books In Order

Publication Order of Joe Kozmarski Books

Publication Order of Detective Daniel Turner Books

Publication Order of Franky Dast Books

Publication Order of Sam Kelson Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Michael Wiley is an American author of fiction in the thriller genre. His debut novel was titled The Last Striptease. It was released in 2007. It won multiple awards, including the best first private eye novel by the Private Eye Writers of America as well as St. Martin’s Press.

Wiley was raised in Chicago, Illinois. He has even made the city the setting for many of his characters in the Kozmarski mystery series. Many of the streets and neighborhoods and places are ones that he has visited, lived in, walked along, and worked. He currently teaches literature at the University of North Florida and Jacksonville. He has also published other books that are titled Romantic Geography and Romantic Migrations.

His first foray into literature would have to be the with 2007 debut of the Joe Kozmarski series. The first book was the well-received The Last Striptease. It was followed up three years later by The Bad Kitty Lounge and the third novel, A Bad Night’s Sleep, came shortly after. The series features the adventures of private eye Joe Kozmarski.

Wiley is also the author of the Detective Daniel Turner Mystery series, which starts off with Blue Avenue in 2014. Second Skin followed quickly after, followed by the third novel, Black Hammock. He also penned the Franky Dast series, which starts off with Monument Road.

The Last Striptease is the debut novel in the Kozmarski series. This first story from Michael Wiley was a thriller that had critics and readers talking when it came out. It deals with everything from greed to vengeance, all playing out on a daily basis on the streets of Chicago.

It’s up to Joe Kozmarski to help an old friend out. A private eye, Joe has known Bob Piedras ever since they were kids. Now he has been asked to try and help clear his name of murder. It’s crazy that his latest girlfriend wound up dead, but it’s not surprising. She was beautiful, but the Vietnamese-American girl was no stranger to liquor, drugs, and camera work. Bob himself had a history of being violent, so it was not that shocking when her body was found in an airport hotel.

The situation looks bad. Naturally, Bob is the front and center person of interest, since he was dating the girl at the time. He also has a history of violence on his record, so that probably didn’t look that good either. They were both known for partying, but does that mean that they were both to blame for what happened? Or was it just all an unfortunate incident carried out by some unknown person that the two of them are ultimately paying the price for?

Joe doesn’t know, but Judge Peter Rifkin thinks that Bob is innocent. He tasks Joe with finding the real killer and clearing his old friend’s name. But Joe hasn’t even spoken to the judge ever since his now-late father found that he had double-crossed him. For Rifkin to come out now after 15 years is a lot to swallow. He also wants Joe to do something for him, which Joe doesn’t even really feel like doing. But Bob was his friend way back in the day, and the PI doesn’t want to see his buddy go to jail — especially if he never committed the murder.

The murderer is nowhere to be found. But the brothers of the girl that died are tough guys and want to be the ones to find and then punish the man that killed her. To top that off, Joe and his wife have now separated and he has to deal with his 11-year-old nephew thanks to his mother dropping by and dumping him on him. So there’s more than enough happening in his life and he’s got a lot on his plate. He doesn’t need more problems, but with Bob’s situation, he can’t walk away without it bothering him for the rest of his life.

Joe takes on the case, and it soon proves to be the pain in the rear that he feared it would be. Joe doesn’t need any more problems and he already has a lot going on with his nephew and the case and the separation and his bachelorhood and his other cases. However, he supposes that duty calls. Joe doesn’t really see any other choice than to take the case on and figure out who the real killer was.

The deeper into the case that he goes, he sees more obstacles crop up and get in his way. But this only fuels his fire and spurs him to make more progress. Can Joe figure it out before it’s too late and clear his friend’s name? Pick up the thrilling and suspenseful novel The Last Striptease from Michael Wiley to find out and see the novel that people are calling ‘riveting’, ‘delightful’ and ‘hard-boiled fiction …with compassion” by The Chicago Tribune, Toronto Globe, and New York Newsday.

Fans of Michael Wiley’s first novel will love this second book from the page-turning writer. The Bad Kitty Lounge is the second in the Kozmarski series. The excitement continues and private eye extraordinaire Joe Kozmarski is back in this gripping sequel to the first of the series.

He has been hired by a regular bookkeeper named Greg Samuelson to find out what he can about not only his wife but her lover too. Joe thought that by being hired, Greg was going to step back and let him handle it. But instead, he apparently takes action on his own. In a short amount of time, the lover Eric Stone’s Mercedes is torched, his boss is dead, and Greg has shot himself. This all happened in sixty minutes.

The cops think that this is a simple job. But is it really as cut and dry as they think? Joe knows from a long history of experience that nothing is ever as easy as it seems. If it’s being portrayed that way, there might be a catch. The boss had an innocent reputation but with a past that was totally the opposite.

When a gang led by a radical shows up at Joe’s with hush money in a backpack, Joe can see he’s in a pickle. They want him to ignore the fact that this was a murder. But can he ever truly look the other way? And can Joe ever work things out to a civil level with his ex? And have things go smoothly with his new partner and nephew Jason? Find out in this exciting second novel in the Joe Kozmarski series!