Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Les Samaritains du bayou | 2015 | Lisa Sandlin | N/A |
| 2 | The Do-Right | 2015 | Lisa Sandlin | Buy |
| 3 | The Bird Boys | 2019 | Lisa Sandlin | Buy |
The Delpha Wade and Tom Phelan Mystery series is set in Beaumont, Texas during the 1970s. Delpha Wade is an ex-convict who takes a job as a receptionist for Tom Phelan, a young man just starting his own private investigation business. Together they stumble into cases that pull them deeper into the seedier side of their Gulf Coast city.
The Do-Right won the Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel and earned praise for its period detail and strong character writing. The Bird Boys continues the story several months later, with Delpha and Tom facing new dangers while dealing with unresolved questions from the first book. Lisa Sandlin writes these mysteries with a strong sense of place, capturing the heat, oil refineries, and social tensions of 1970s East Texas.