What is the title of the first Dexter novel by Jeff Lindsay?

The first Dexter novel by Jeff Lindsay is Darkly Dreaming Dexter. Published in 2004, it introduced Dexter Morgan as a Miami police forensic blood-spatter analyst who secretly kills people he believes have escaped justice.

The book established several ideas that became central to the franchise, including Dexter’s “Dark Passenger,” his homicidal inner drive, and the rules taught to him by his adoptive father, Harry Morgan. Its main investigation concerns the Tamiami Slasher, a killer whose crimes draw Dexter into an unsettling personal connection.

The novel became the foundation for Showtime’s Dexter television series. The first TV season follows many of the book’s broad plot elements, but it changes important characters, relationships, and outcomes. Later seasons largely moved away from Lindsay’s novel storylines and developed original television plots.

The title is sometimes confused with the sequels Dearly Devoted Dexter and Dexter in the Dark. Those are the second and third novels, respectively; Double Dexter and Dexter Is Dead came much later in the series.