Book 1

The Wind Knot

by John Galligan

Published 22 March 2011
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.

Book 2

The Clinch Knot

by John Galligan

Published 1 September 2008
The Dog is in Livingston, Montana, daydreaming about fishing the Stone 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. Sneed is hospitalized for severe carbon monoxide poisoning and can't string together a sentence to defend himself, so it falls to the Dog.

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.

Book 3

The Blood Knot

by John Galligan

Published 25 October 2005
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. And The Dog knows, this is not a fishing trip.

Book 4

The Nail Knot

by John Galligan

Published 25 November 2003
The going has gotten tough, and Ned ''Dog'' Oglivie has gone fishing. Fly fishing. For trout. All across America. At least until his money runs out . . .

Driven by tragedy to turn his back on human society, the Dog is on a quest to fish himself into oblivion. And he's nearly made it. Playing the back highways of America in a wounded old RV . . . provisioned with a supply of peanut butter sandwiches, bad cigars, and vodka-Tang . . . armed with a loaded pistol (for when the money runs out) . . . the Dog is nearly at the end of his tether when he rolls into little Black Earth, Wisconsin, intending to fish the yellow sally stonefly hatch . . . and finds a body instead.

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?

The Nail Knot

by John Galligan

Published 1 March 2022
From the author of the “gritty, brash, and totally gripping” (The Real Book Spy) Bad Axe County series comes the first novel in the Fly Fishing Mystery series about a wayward fisherman, Ned “Dog” Oglivie, who finds himself in the middle of a small-town murder investigation.

When the going gets tough, Ned “Dog” Oglivie goes fly fishing.

Driven by tragedy to turn his back on human society, the Dog is on a quest to trout-fish himself into oblivion all across America. Plying the back highways of the country in an old RV, provisioned with a supply of peanut butter sandwiches, bad cigars, and a loaded pistol (for when the money runs out), the Dog rolls into little Black Earth, Wisconsin, intending to fish the yellow sally stonefly hatch…and stumbles upon a body instead.

Who killed Jake Jacobs, a fellow fly fisher who was trying to save Black Earth Creek? Why was he disfigured in such a peculiar way? Why does the Dog even give a damn? By caring about the death of a stranger, can the Dog recover his own life? And can he untie the nail knot in this “well-written, humorous, and engaging mystery” (Anthony Naples, Casting Around)?