Jonathan Kellerman Books in Order: Complete Series & Standalone List

By Anna Marie CarrollThriller

Jonathan Kellerman is best known for psychological crime fiction, especially the long-running Alex Delaware series. If you’re trying to read the Jonathan Kellerman books in order, the simplest approach is to understand how his bibliography is split: Alex Delaware, Petra Connor, Clay Edison, Jacob Lev, standalones, short works, children’s books, and nonfiction.

Most readers should start with Alex Delaware, then branch into the smaller series and standalones from there. I’ve kept the Alex Delaware section simple here because it has its own full guide, but the core order is included below so this page still works as a complete Jonathan Kellerman book list.

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Where to Start with Jonathan Kellerman

I’d start with When the Bough Breaks and read the Alex Delaware books in publication order. That gives you the best sense of Alex Delaware, Milo Sturgis, and the world Kellerman keeps returning to.

After that, you can move into Petra Connor, Clay Edison, Jacob Lev, or the standalones. Some of the books overlap in tone and setting, but the smaller series are easy to follow once you know which list they belong to.

Jonathan Kellerman Books by Series

Alex Delaware Series

Alex Delaware is Jonathan Kellerman’s main series. It follows a child psychologist who consults with LAPD detective Milo Sturgis on murder investigations. I’ve included the basic publication order below, but if you want the full series breakdown, use my dedicated Alex Delaware books in order guide.

  1. When the Bough Breaks (1985)
  2. Blood Test (1986)
  3. Over the Edge (1987)
  4. Silent Partner (1989)
  5. Time Bomb (1990)
  6. Private Eyes (1992)
  7. Devil’s Waltz (1993)
  8. Bad Love (1994)
  9. Self-Defense (1995)
  10. The Web (1996)
  11. The Clinic (1997)
  12. Survival of the Fittest (1997)
  13. Monster (1999)
  14. Dr. Death (2000)
  15. Flesh and Blood (2001)
  16. The Murder Book (2002)
  17. A Cold Heart (2003)
  18. Therapy (2004)
  19. Rage (2005)
  20. Gone (2006)
  21. Obsession (2007)
  22. Compulsion (2008)
  23. Bones (2008)
  24. Evidence (2009)
  25. Deception (2010)
  26. Mystery (2011)
  27. Victims (2012)
  28. Guilt (2013)
  29. Killer (2014)
  30. Motive (2015)
  31. Breakdown (2016)
  32. Heartbreak Hotel (2017)
  33. Night Moves (2018)
  34. The Wedding Guest (2019)
  35. The Museum of Desire (2020)
  36. Serpentine (2021)
  37. City of the Dead (2022)
  38. Unnatural History (2023)
  39. The Ghost Orchid (2024)
  40. Open Season (2025)
  41. Jigsaw (2026)
  42. Malice (2027)

Alex Delaware Graphic Novels

There are also graphic novel adaptations tied to the Alex Delaware series. I’m listing them here for completeness, but I cover them with the main series in the dedicated Alex Delaware guide.

  1. Silent Partner: The Graphic Novel (2012)
  2. The Web: The Graphic Novel (2014)
  3. Monster: The Graphic Novel (2017)

Petra Connor Series

The Petra Connor books are connected to the Alex Delaware world, but they focus on Petra Connor, an LAPD detective in Hollywood.

  1. Billy Straight (1998)
  2. Twisted (2004)

Clay Edison Series

Jonathan Kellerman co-writes the Clay Edison books with Jesse Kellerman. The series follows a deputy coroner whose cases often turn into something much bigger than a routine death investigation.

  1. Crime Scene (2017)
  2. A Measure of Darkness (2018)
  3. Half Moon Bay (2020)
  4. The Burning (2021)
  5. The Lost Coast (2024)
  6. Coyote Hills (2025)

Detective Jacob Lev Series

The Detective Jacob Lev books are co-written with Jesse Kellerman. These lean into paranormal mystery, with a burned-out LAPD detective pulled into strange cases tied to myth, religion, and murder.

  1. The Golem of Hollywood (2014)
  2. The Golem of Paris (2015)

These Jonathan Kellerman novels sit outside the main Alex Delaware list. Some are true standalones, while others connect loosely to the broader Kellerman crime-fiction world.

  1. The Butcher’s Theater (1988)
  2. The Conspiracy Club (2003)
  3. Double Homicide (2005) (with Faye Kellerman)
  4. Capital Crimes (2007) (with Faye Kellerman)
  5. True Detectives (2009)
  6. The Murderer’s Daughter (2015)

Jonathan Kellerman Short Works and Anthologies

Kellerman has also written shorter pieces and contributed to mystery anthologies. These aren’t required reading for the novels, but they’re useful if you’re trying to track down his full bibliography.

  1. Murder for Love (1996) (includes “The Things We Do for Love”)
  2. Great Writers and Kids Write Mystery Stories (1996)
  3. Law and Order (1997)
  4. The Best American Mystery Stories 1997 (1997) (includes “The Things We Do for Love”)
  5. Diagnosis Dead (1999)
  6. The Right Thing to Do (2015)
  7. Alex Delaware: A Mysterious Profile (2022)

Jonathan Kellerman Children’s Books

These books are separate from Kellerman’s mystery novels. They’re included here for readers who want the full bibliography.

  1. Daddy, Daddy, Can You Touch the Sky? (1994)
  2. Jonathan Kellerman’s ABC of Weird Creatures (1995)

Jonathan Kellerman Nonfiction Books

Kellerman’s nonfiction includes work tied to child psychology, crime writing, and vintage guitars. Some older titles may be easier to find secondhand.

  1. Psychological Aspects of Childhood Cancer (1980)
  2. Helping the Fearful Child (1981)
  3. Savage Spawn: Reflections on Violent Children (1999)
  4. The Best American Crime Reporting 2008 (2008)
  5. With Strings Attached: The Art and Beauty of Vintage Guitars (2008)

Who Is Jonathan Kellerman?

Jonathan Kellerman is an American crime novelist and psychologist. His professional background gives his Alex Delaware books a strong psychological angle, especially when the stories touch on trauma, violence, family dynamics, and criminal behavior.

Before writing fiction full time, Kellerman worked in child psychology. That background also explains why Alex Delaware feels different from a traditional detective. He isn’t a cop. He’s a psychologist who gets pulled into difficult cases because he understands people, especially when their choices don’t make easy sense.

Kellerman has also written with his wife, Faye Kellerman, and his son, Jesse Kellerman. If you want to keep going with the family’s mystery novels, I also have a guide to the Faye Kellerman books in order.

Looking for more books in order?

If you want more thriller authors and reading-order guides like this one, start with my Thriller Books in Order index.

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