Debut Novel

In 2001 John Galligan’s first book Red Sky, Red Dragonfly was published.

Here is a list of his series in order.

Bad Axe Series:

Fly Fishing Series:

Bad Day Breaking

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The fourth installment in his Bad Axe County mystery series, Sheriff Heidi Kick investigates a dead body found in the river.

Galligan elevates his already impressive game with this one.…

Publishers Weekly (starred review) 

Bad Moon Rising by John Galligan (book cover)

Bad Moon Rising

Available on: Kindle | NOOK | iTunes

In book three Sheriff Heidi Kick has a dead body on her hands, a homeless young man last seen alive miles from the Bad Axe. Chillingly, the medical examiner confirms the victim was buried alive. As the relentless summer heat bears down and more bodies are discovered, Sheriff Kick also finds herself embroiled in a nasty reelection campaign. Editor-in-chief of the local paper believes the case might be tied to a reclusive man writing deranged letters to the opinions section for years.

As unique a place in the mystery universe as you will ever find…

Michael Connelly 

Dead Man Dancing by John Galligan (book cover)

Dead Man Dancing

Available on: Kindle | NOOK | iTunes

In this sequel, Sheriff Heidi Kick is investigating an illicit cage fighting ring with ties to white nationalism. As she looks for answers, Heidi plunges into a secret underworld where high-stakes cage fights double as combat training for the White Nationalist movement. Then all hell breaks loose when her husband disappears and her enemies try to force a desperate bargain. Something is deeply wrong in Bad Axe County.

 Galligan’s vivid descriptions and emotional portrayal of his characters.

— BookPage 

Bad Axe County - book cover

Bad Axe County

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What happens in the quiet countryside can shock you. So it is in Bad Axe County, which begins when the life of a high-achieving teenage Wisconsin Dairy Queen is turned upside down by the murder-suicide of her parents. Now alone in the world and unable to accept the legal finding that her father killed her mother and then himself, Heidi White comes almost fatally apart. Fifteen hard years later, she is back together again as Interim Bad Axe County Sheriff.

A darkly irresistible thriller…

—Kirkus (starred review)

The Nail Knot - book cover

The Nail Knot

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Who killed Jake Jacobs, fellow fly fisher and late-coming agitator who was trying to save Black Earth Creek? Why was Jacobs disfigured in such a peculiar way? Why does the Dog give a damn? Can he rekindle his faith and interest in humankind? By caring about the death of a stranger, can the Dog recover his own life? Can he untie The Nail Knot?…

A real treat.

—Library Journal

The Blood Knot - book cover

The Blood Knot

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A superbly told tale of trout and red herrings chased with vodka and Tang…

Kirkus (starred review)

The last thing The Dog wanted was to find another body. But there was Annie Adams-the barn lady-floating dead at his feet, her easel and paints set up on the bridge above his head. And so The Dog wades his way through Kussmaul country encountering a confessing nine year old, a dispute over trespassing, a shunned Amish woman, and a quite possibly rabid beaver.

The Clinch Knot - book cover

The Clinch Knot

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The Dog is in Livingston, Montana, daydreaming about fishing  and, as usual, subsisting on Swisher Sweets, vodka-Tang, and the hope that pretending to forget will be enough.

He’s forged a few tenuous friendships, and now finds himself watching from the bank as troubled local girl Jesse Ringer leads D’Ontario Sneed into the swift current of young love. It’s sweet, really … but some of the locals object to the relationship on the basis of Sneed’s skin color.

Then the unthinkable: vibrant, wild Jesse is found shot in the head, and Sneed is passed out in her car, gun beside him, window seams taped, and engine running. If only the Dog could run from his life without ending up in the tangle and snarl of the lives of others. A man who wants to lose himself in the current must be careful of his backcast; it’ll always keep him tethered to a life he’s trying to forget.

…stunning…

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

The Wind Knot - book cover

The Wind Knot

Available for: Kindle | NOOK | iTunes

Galligan’s antihero is on the periphery this time… Dog is flawed, which makes him — and this novel — easy to love.

Wisconsin State Journal

After five years of self-imposed exile on the rivers of America, trout bum Ned “Dog” Oglivie has burned his waders and hat, given away his rod, and turned his Cruise Master RV away from the famous Hemingway water in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, bound for reconciliation with his past. But some men never make it home.

Red Ski, Red Dragonfly - book cover

Red Sky, Red Dragonfly

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Red Sky, Red Dragonfly is an extremely impressive debut by a writer who looks headed for literature’s premier league.”

Daily Yomiuri

A young American teacher disappears in small-town Japan. The next teacher, an older man on the run from his troubled life must find out the truth.