Mystery series in order, plus guides that help you jump in without spoiling the fun. If you’re here to follow a detective from book one onward, this is the hub.
Only here for reading orders? Head over to my Mystery Books in Order hub for a clean, A–Z directory of every mystery series guide on the site.
If you’re looking for Kate Burkholder series in order, Sworn to Silence is the first book. From there, I recommend following Linda Castillo’s Amish-country mystery series in publication order. Each murder investigation reaches a resolution, but Kate’s relationships, family history, and life in Painters Mill continue across the books.
The short stories are optional, but they add compact cases …
Looking for Robert B. Parker books in order? Parker’s bibliography is bigger than just Spenser, though that’s the series most readers know first. He also created Jesse Stone, Sunny Randall, and the Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch Westerns, plus a few standalones, young adult books, and nonfiction titles.
For Parker, it helps to think by series. Start with the …
If you’re looking for M.C. Beaton books in order, the easiest way in is to pick the side of her catalog that sounds best first. Most readers know M.C. Beaton for cozy mysteries, especially Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin. However, M.C. Beaton was also Marion Chesney. Because of that, a complete guide has to include the older Regency romances …
The Anne Hillerman books in order are best read with her Leaphorn, Chee, and Manuelito mysteries first, especially if you’re coming from Tony Hillerman’s original series or Dark Winds. Anne began as a nonfiction writer, but most readers are here for the novels she continued after Tony Hillerman’s death.
If you only want Anne’s novels, start with Spider Woman’s …
Looking for Miss Fortune books in order? This guide gives you the full Miss Fortune Mystery series in publication order, explains the timeline, and covers what to know before you start Fortune Redding’s story.
This page is focused on Fortune Redding, Ida Belle, Gertie, Carter LeBlanc, and the town of Sinful, Louisiana. If you want DeLeon’s full bibliography, including …
Looking for Vera Stanhope books in order? I’ve got the full reading order here, including the main Vera novels, short stories, and the TV adaptation.
Vera Stanhope is Ann Cleeves’s Northumberland detective, and she’s one of those characters who feels fully formed from the moment she walks onto the page. She’s blunt, sharp, messy, lonely, funny, and very hard …
Looking for Finlay Donovan Books in Order? Elle Cosimano’s mystery series is best read in publication order, with the Vero short story tucked between Books 3 and 4.
That matters more here than it does in some mystery series. Each book has its own case, but Finlay’s personal life, Vero’s secrets, Nick’s role, and the fallout from earlier choices …
Reading the Cork O’Connor books in order is pretty straightforward, but there’s one wrinkle worth knowing before you start. William Kent Krueger eventually wrote a prequel, Lightning Strike, which takes place before Iron Lake but was published much later in the series.
For most readers, I’d still start with Iron Lake and read the series in publication order. That’s …
Looking for Jennifer Lynn Barnes books in order? This guide breaks down her bibliography by series, including The Inheritance Games, The Naturals, and more, so you can find the best place to start and read each set of books in the right order.
Because Jennifer Lynn Barnes has written across multiple series, thrillers, paranormal YA, and standalones, the …
The world of The Inheritance Games is bigger than it first appears. What begins with Avery Grambs, a surprise fortune, and one impossible inheritance eventually expands into a broader Hawthorne saga that includes side stories, follow-up books, and new layers of the same mystery-driven world. That’s why we’re here to help you out with a guide to all the Inheritance …