If you’re looking for the Jane Harper books in order, she has written six atmospheric Australian crime novels. Her bibliography includes the three-book Aaron Falk series and three standalone mysteries, all known for tense investigations, isolated settings, and long-buried secrets.
Harper’s work is often described as outback noir, although her stories range from drought-stricken rural towns to coastal Tasmania and dense mountain wilderness. This guide also includes her early short fiction and the film and television adaptations based on her novels.
Jump to:
- Aaron Falk Series
- Jane Harper Standalone Books
- Jane Harper Short Fiction
- Jane Harper Book-to-Screen Adaptations
- About Jane Harper
Aaron Falk Series
The Aaron Falk series follows a federal financial crimes investigator whose cases draw him into deaths and disappearances across Australia. Each mystery can stand on its own, but Falk’s personal story and relationships continue across the trilogy. I recommend reading the books in publication order, beginning with The Dry, for the fullest experience.
- The Dry (2017)
- Force of Nature (2018)
- Exiles (2023)
Exiles concludes Aaron Falk’s story.
Jane Harper Standalone Books
Jane Harper’s standalone novels feature different characters, settings, and mysteries, so they can be read in any order. I prefer publication order, but nothing carries from one book to the next.
- The Lost Man (2019)
- The Survivors (2021)
- Last One Out (2026)
Jane Harper Short Fiction
- Spiders and Flies (2014) (Short Story)
“Spiders and Flies” appeared in The Big Issue’s annual Fiction Edition before Harper published her first novel. Its selection helped encourage her to pursue longer fiction.
Jane Harper Book-to-Screen Adaptations
- The Dry (2020 Film)
- Force of Nature: The Dry 2 (2024 Film)
- The Survivors (2025 Limited Series)
Eric Bana stars as Aaron Falk in both films, with Robert Connolly directing. Harper also appears briefly in The Dry during the funeral scene.
The Survivors was adapted as a six-episode Netflix limited series. Since Force of Nature: The Dry 2 continues Falk’s screen story, I recommend watching The Dry first.
About Jane Harper
Jane Harper was born in Manchester, England, and moved to Australia with her family when she was eight. She returned to England as a teenager and later studied English and history at the University of Kent in Canterbury.
After graduating, Harper trained as a journalist and worked for newspapers in England before moving back to Australia in 2008. Her reporting career included positions at the Geelong Advertiser and the Herald Sun.
Her transition to fiction began when “Spiders and Flies” was selected for The Big Issue’s annual Fiction Edition. Harper later wrote The Dry during a 12-week online writing course and entered the manuscript in the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. It won the award for an unpublished manuscript and launched her career as a novelist.
The Dry went on to win the CWA Gold Dagger, the British Book Awards Crime and Thriller Book of the Year, the Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year, and the Australian Indie Book of the Year. In my view, Harper’s journalism background is easy to see in the precise pacing and strong sense of place that run through her novels.
Looking for similar books in order?
If you want more mystery authors and reading-order guides like this one, start with my Mystery Books in Order index.