Lisa M. Lilly

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Lisa M. Lilly

Goodreads Author


Born
in The United States
Website

Twitter

Genre

Influences

Member Since
March 2011


In addition to the Q.C. Davis Mysteries, a traditional detective series that includes The Worried Man, The Charming Man, The Fractured Man, The Troubled Man, The Hidden Man, and the novella No Good Plays, Lisa M. Lilly also is the author of the four-book Awakening supernatural thriller series.

Like her character Quille C. Davis, Lilly lives and works in Chicago, Illinois. Under L.M. Lilly, she is the founder of WritingAsASecondCareer.com. She also hosts the podcast Buffy and the Art of Story.

Lilly also writes horror, including When Darkness Falls, a gothic horror novel set in Chicago’s South Loop, and the short-story collection The Tower Formerly Known as Sears and Two Other Tales of Urban Horror, the title story of which was made into the
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Lisa M. Lilly Great to hear The Unbelievers arrived and you're looking forward to it! I'm always happy to be friends with other readers and authors on Goodreads, an…moreGreat to hear The Unbelievers arrived and you're looking forward to it! I'm always happy to be friends with other readers and authors on Goodreads, and I'd be honored to be your friend here. I hope you enjoy the book. I'm working on final edits to The Conflagration, Book 3 of 4 in the series, this morning and just reviewed a draft of the cover, which I'm very excited about.(less)
Lisa M. Lilly Hi, Marta, thanks for saying hello. It's wonderful to hear from you, and I'm sorry to be so long in answering. I need to check my author dashboard mor…moreHi, Marta, thanks for saying hello. It's wonderful to hear from you, and I'm sorry to be so long in answering. I need to check my author dashboard more often! I remember talking with you at the station while waiting for the train to Chicago and again on the train. That was a fun trip. The sequel to The Awakening (The Unbelievers) is what I was writing on my laptop at the time and now at last it's done. I hope you enjoy it. If you have not already gotten it, you may want to enter the Goodreads giveaway at https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh... There are five copies available.
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Average rating: 3.93 · 2,387 ratings · 286 reviews · 44 distinct worksSimilar authors
The Awakening (The Awakenin...

3.59 avg rating — 859 ratings — published 2011 — 7 editions
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The Worried Man (Q.C. Davis...

4.01 avg rating — 397 ratings6 editions
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The Unbelievers (The Awaken...

4.06 avg rating — 180 ratings — published 2014 — 7 editions
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The Forgotten Man: A Q.C. D...

4.25 avg rating — 156 ratings2 editions
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The Awakening Series Comple...

4.30 avg rating — 119 ratings2 editions
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The Conflagration (The Awak...

4.32 avg rating — 109 ratings — published 2016 — 7 editions
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Super Simple Story Structur...

4.34 avg rating — 100 ratings6 editions
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The Illumination (The Awake...

4.23 avg rating — 87 ratings4 editions
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The Troubled Man (Q.C. Davi...

4.20 avg rating — 49 ratings3 editions
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The Charming Man (Q.C. Davi...

3.71 avg rating — 49 ratings7 editions
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More books by Lisa M. Lilly…

First Trials and Time Served

Before my first trial I felt like I was going to throw up. My palms sweated. My thoughts raced. I’d argued more times than I could count in front of judges, including in appellate courts. But not in front of a jury.

To calm me down, my trial partner reminded me that it was low stakes. Our client had already served 18 months in prison while awaiting trial. That was the longest he’d need to se

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Published on July 01, 2026 09:54
The Awakening The Unbelievers The Conflagration The Illumination
(4 books)
by
3.77 avg rating — 1,235 ratings

The Worried Man The Charming Man The Fractured Man The Troubled Man The Hidden Man The Forgotten Man: A Q.C. D... The Skeptical Man: A Q.C. D...
(7 books)
by
4.06 avg rating — 715 ratings

Super Simple Story Structur... Creating Compelling Charact... The One-Year Novelist: A We... Happiness, Anxiety, and Wri... Buffy and the Art of Story ... How To Write A Novel, Grade... Buffy and the Art of Story ...
(12 books)
by
4.09 avg rating — 254 ratings

The Winter People
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by Jennifer McMahon (Goodreads Author)
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The Darkness Betw...
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Confidence Men: W...
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Lisa Lilly and 7121 other people liked Yun's review of Yesteryear:
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
"Was this supposed to funny? Cause I didn't laugh.

Going in, I thought Yesteryear would be a slam dunk for me. But now I've found myself in the unexpected position of being just about the only one who didn't like it.

I thought this story was going to " Read more of this review »
More of Lisa's books…
Quotes by Lisa M. Lilly  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“I don’t want to become like him. Become one of those people who believe it’s okay to do anything to anyone if it achieves the ‘right’ end.”
Lisa M. Lilly, The Conflagration

“Sometimes the families people choose work better than those they were born into.”
Lisa M. Lilly, The Awakening

“While girls and women are raised to fear strangers – to worry about being raped, murdered, or assaulted in the street or in parking garages, which are real dangers – statistically, the most dangerous men are those they know and, particularly, those they live with. So Willow Springs started as a community for battered women, with only women.”
Lisa M. Lilly

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.”
Helen Keller, The Open Door

“Time is the longest distance between two places.”
Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie

“Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Sometimes the families people choose work better than those they were born into.”
Lisa M. Lilly, The Awakening

“While girls and women are raised to fear strangers – to worry about being raped, murdered, or assaulted in the street or in parking garages, which are real dangers – statistically, the most dangerous men are those they know and, particularly, those they live with. So Willow Springs started as a community for battered women, with only women.”
Lisa M. Lilly

92924 Womankind Worldwide Book Group — 1635 members — last activity Feb 11, 2023 06:14AM
Sharing women's stories and making a difference for women's rights worldwide. ...more
528330 Q.C. Davis Mysteries ARC Team — 31 members — last activity Jan 08, 2019 11:37AM
If you love Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski, join to read a (free) advance review copy of The Worried Man, the first book about Q.C. Davis, Chicago la ...more
128221 Fringe Fiction Unlimited — 2283 members — last activity Jul 17, 2026 05:08PM
Publishing is rich with hidden gems and diamonds in the rough that belong to self-published, indie, and otherwise underappreciated authors. Our focu ...more
94882 Authors Helping Authors — 1153 members — last activity Apr 08, 2026 06:37PM
Being an indie author means you are part of an ever-growing family of like-minded individuals all working toward the same ultimate goal-writing and pu ...more
26989 Goodreads Authors/Readers — 57161 members — last activity 6 hours, 45 min ago
This group is dedicated to connecting readers with Goodreads authors. It is divided by genres, and includes folders for writing resources, book websit ...more
227526 The Bibliophagist Burrow — 335 members — last activity Apr 18, 2022 06:49AM
A place where librocubicultarists and bibliophages can compare notes on good, or bad books; for writers to discuss (whine) about the process, and for ...more
99986 Modern Good Reads — 6817 members — last activity Jul 12, 2026 04:29PM
Modern Good Reads connects readers with books, authors, & challenges. We want to chat, inform, & provide events & discussions, a home for readers and ...more
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A discussion of women in literary science fiction.
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Book lovers.
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Advanced Review Copies (ARC) of Fiction Titles made available to Reviewers and Readers before official launch direct from the Authors. ARCs are provid ...more
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