Maggie Barnes didn’t set out to become a crusader. She’s a widow with a leaking roof, a young son to raise, and boarders to feed in a neighborhood where the law looks the other way and Mickey Duffy runs everything that matters.
But when a child goes missing and no one with a badge seems interested, Maggie starts asking questions. And she discovers an unlikely ally in the most unlikely of places: the ghost of a Victorian-era police inspector named Frank Geyer, still walking the streets he swore to protect long after his death.
The Bootleggers’ Chronicles follows Maggie and Frank across five novels, from the early years of Prohibition through the desperation of the Great Depression. It’s a story about what it costs a woman to do the right thing in a world that wasn’t built to make it easy — and what it means to find integrity in an age of corruption.
Atmospheric, historically grounded, and driven by a heroine who refuses to be worn down.
The Series at a Glance
Set in Philadelphia, 1924–1931 Five novels, complete series Protagonist: Maggie Barnes, widow, mother, reluctant investigator Her partner: Inspector Frank Geyer, Victorian-era ghost detective The villain threading through it all: Mickey Duffy, Philadelphia’s most notorious bootlegger
Reading Order
Innocence Lost — Book One Philadelphia, 1924. When her son’s friend disappears and the police do nothing, Maggie Barnes takes matters into her own hands — with the help of a ghost who’s been waiting a long time for someone who can hear him.
Tasting the Apple — Book Two 1926. A criminal element has infiltrated the police force. Maggie and Frank dig deeper into Mickey Duffy’s operation, and Maggie begins to understand just how dangerous this city really is through the eyes of Delores Bailey.
Best Served Cold — Book Three 1927. A gang war erupts between Mickey Duffy and the Bailey brothers. When a drive-by assassination attempt that involves Delores Bailey puts Maggie on the sidewalk beside the gunfire, the series shifts from investigation to survival.
Watch Your Back — Book Four 1928. Mickey Duffy is unraveling, and Maggie’s son has taken a job with the most dangerous man in the city. The lines between protection and complicity have never been blurrier.
Come at the King — Book Five Philadelphia, 1931. The Depression has arrived and it’s taking everything with it. As Mickey Duffy loses his grip on reality and Maggie loses her livelihood, their collision course reaches its inevitable end.
Delores Bailey — the young woman caught between her brothers’ ambitions and her own survival in Tasting the Apple— leaves Philadelphia after the events of Best Served Cold. What she builds in Montana is told across four novels in the Moonshiner Mysteries.
The Bootleggers’ Chronicles is where it all began. Explore the world behind all of Sherilyn’s fiction → The Cost of Becoming
If You Love the Bootleggers’ Chronicles, You Might Also Enjoy
Readers who love Maggie Barnes often find their way to Sherilyn Decter’s other series. Edith Duffy — who appears in the Bootleggers’ Chronicles — gets her own story in the Rum Runners’ Chronicles, set on the Florida coast. And readers drawn to strong women in the Prohibition era will want to explore The Promise Trilogy, set in 1919 New York.
The Bootleggers’ Chronicles is a complete five-book series. All books are available in ebook, print, and audiobook.
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