Jeff Lindsay is the bestselling author of the Dexter series featuring serial killer Dexter Morgan, and his Billy Knight series started back in 1994. In 2019 the author started a new series about Riley Wolfe, a cunning thief plotting crazy heists.
Here are the Jeff Lindsay books in publication and reading order for his three series and his Dexter comic books. The book list is updated regularly.
New Jeff Lindsay Book

Just Watch Me Riley Wolfe #1), 2019
Dexter Series
- Darkly Dreaming Dexter, 2004
- Dearly Devoted Dexter, 2005
- Dexter in the Dark, 2006
- Dexter by Design, 2008
- Dexter is Delicious, 2010
- Double Dexter, 2011
- Dexter’s Final Cut, 2012
- Dexter is Dead, 2015
Dexter Graphic Novels
- Dexter graphic novel, 2014
- Dexter Down Under, 2014
Billy Knight Series
- Tropical Depression, 1994
- Red Tide, 2015
Riley Wolfe Series
- Just Watch Me, 2019
Writing as Jeffry P. Lindsay
- Dreamland, 1995 (with Hilary Hemingway)
- Time Blender, 1997 (with Hilary Hemingway and Michael Dorn)
- Dreamchild, 1998 (with Hilary Hemingway)
Who is Dexter Morgan?
Dexter started with a very rough childhood. He experienced a traumatic event, and at the age of 4, he was adopted by Harry Morgan, a police officer who saw Dex as the very different person he would grow up to be. He knew he would become a serial killer, it was inevitable, so Harry tried to instill in him a code of honor that he taught him to follow before he actually did the deed.
Dexter grew up to be a fine young man who leads a double life. By day he is a blood-splatter lab technician with the Miami Police Department, while by night he is stalking and punishing those he deemed to be evil – only after double-checking with Harry’s code that they are, indeed, bad people.
Dex is a rather charming guy who people like being around, much to his own surprise. He likes kids, although doesn’t really understand adults, but he tries to mimic them, and mimic the emotions he doesn’t feel. He is also very protective of his foster sister, Deborah, who is also working as a cop in the Miami Vice Squad department.
Darkly Dreaming Dexter brought to life a very unlikely character, one that almost everybody loved, and many could even understand. Jeff Lindsay is one of the very few authors who managed to write an extremely likable serial killer who readers are actually rooting for, be it in the books or the CBS TV series.
Is the Dexter book series over?
Yes, the series about Dexter Morgan is over with the last book Dexter is Dead, published in 2015.
Jeff Lindsay Biography

photo by Larry D. Moore CC BY-SA 3.0
Jeff Lindsay was born in 1985, in Miami, Florida, USA as Jeffry P. Freundlich. He attended Ransom Everglades School from where he graduated in 1970. Following his graduation, he went to Middlebury College in Vermont, from where he graduated in 1975 with a B.A. in Literature & Writing.
He always liked writing, and his very first published work was at the age of six, where some of his poems were published in a national anthology of children’s poetry. Also as a child, to impress a girl he wrote her a serialized novel and sent her a chapter each week. Also growing up he read a lot of books in series by authors like Edgar Rice Burroughs, Rex Stout, and John D. MacDonald, to name just a few, and at some point, he realized that writing books for a living would be something awesome.
At the age of 16, he took an elective writing class that would prove to be his first major lesson in how to write books. It would also shape his later career of a crime thriller author. During high school he also wrote a play for an independent project.
In 1986, Jeff married Hilary Hemingway, his wife being the niece of bestselling classic author Ernest Hemingway. Before focusing on his Dexter series, Jeff and Hilary co-authored several books together, him writing under the pen name Jeffry P. Lindsay. Hilary has also written books on her own, but her work focuses mostly on wildlife artwork and on her uncle, Ernest.
Both Jeff and Hilary grew up in Miami, and they both worked in California before moving together to Cape Coral over two decades ago. Before writing books, Jeffry worked several odd jobs, some of which included being a welder, sailing instructor, a gardener, screenwriter, lounge singer, actor, director, and even a comedian.
While his other books were quite good, the Dexter Morgan series really made it on the New York bestsellers list. In 2006, CBS adapted them to the popular TV series featuring Michael C. Hall in the start role of the iconic serial killer following Harry’s code of honor. The series is set in Miami, which is where Jeff also grew up. During season 3 of the TV series, the author also made a cameo appearance in the episode titled Go Your Own Way.
Darkly Dreaming Dexter won in 2005 the Dilys Award which is usually given to the mystery title of the year based on what the Independent Mystery Bookseller Association likes mostly from the books they are selling.
The author’s new crime series featuring Riley Wolfe is, partially, also based on his experience with art. His father was a college arts dean and a painter, so Jeff grew up visiting museums and art galleries. Thus, he always knew what to look out for in spotting forgeries, at least to some extent.
Also, for his research for his books, he does a lot of things, including touring Miami prisons, drives car chase routes, firing all sorts of weapons, and of course, researching online.
Lindsay has also an interest in the martial arts, with a black belt in the Shito Ryan Kai Japanese form of karate. As a child he kept getting into fights as he couldn’t stand bullies, but as a late bloomer, he was always smaller than others, hence he was always picked on. This made him pick up all kinds of sports, which eventually lead him to martial arts. Eventually, when his daughter wanted to learn martial arts, he went back to re-learn it along with his kid.
Praise for Jeff Lindsay
Another blockbuster from a can’t-miss master. Enjoy the ride. (David Baldacci on Just Watch Me)
Jeff Lindsay is back! With a character everyone will want to root for – Riley Wolfe, a super-thief who leaves no trace other than bodies, as necessary. What actor wouldn’t want to play him? (Andy Garcia on Just Watch Me)
With master thief Riley Wolfe, Jeff Lindsay gives us an anti-hero for our times, as morally-ambiguous and hard to resist as his serial killer Dexter. (Sarah Dunn)
A macabre tour-de-force (New York Times on Darkly Dreaming Dexter)
Dexter Morgan, the namesake of Lindsay’s first novel, is one of the most likable vigilante serial killers in recent thriller literature. This is mainly because of his average Joe-ness: he’s a Miami police-department blood-spatter analyst with a weakness for bowling shirts and batidos, who, when the moon is full, carves up villains in a careful ritual, keeping a single drop of blood on a slide as a souvenir. (The New Yorker)
It’s thrilling to watch Dexter struggle between everyday vanilla reality and the compelling, kaleidoscopic thrall of his own bloody fantasies. (Linda Marotta)
Fascinating, entertaining, and brilliant. Let Jeff Lindsay introduce you to the serial killer next door—Dexter (and his Dark Passenger) are the freshest, most terrifying creations you are ever likely to meet . . . and live to tell about. (Robert Crais)
References
Books Reading Order » Thriller Authors »
This is a great series! I’ve never watched the televised version but I was hooked by the 1st chapter of the first book I enjoy the Tim Dorsey books, too. No surprise when I think about it.