John Swartzwelder Books in Order
John Swartzwelder has written 17 books, published between 2004 and 2023. The first book is The Time Machine Did It (2004) and the newest is Dead Detective Mountain (2023). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 17
- Published
- 2004–2023
- Pages on record
- 144 in 1 of 17 books
The Frank Burly series is the fiction catalogued for John Swartzwelder, an American comedy writer and novelist born on 8 February 1949 in Seattle. Swartzwelder started in advertising, wrote for Saturday Night Live in the mid-1980s and joined the original writing staff of The Simpsons in 1989, working there as writer and producer until 2003. The 17 catalogued books are tagged with humour, mystery, time travel and private investigators. The Time Machine Did It (2004) is the first, followed by Double Wonderful (2005) and The Exploding Detective (2007). Dead Detective Mountain (2023) is the newest.
Source: Wikidata
How many John Swartzwelder books are there?
John Swartzwelder has 17 books, released between 2004 and 2023. 14 of them belong to the Frank Burly series.
John Swartzwelder Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 17 John Swartzwelder books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of November 2026.
- 120041441/4
- 2Double Wonderful2005 · confirmed 1/42005–1/4
- 32006–1/4
- 42007–1/4
- 52008–1/4
- 62009–1/4
- 72010–1/4
- 82011–1/4
- 92012–1/4
- 102013–1/4
- 11The Animal Report2014 · confirmed 1/42014–1/4
- 122015–1/4
- 132015–1/4
- 142017–1/4
- 15The Squirrel Who Saved Practically Everybody2019 · confirmed 1/42019–1/4
- 162021–1/4
- 172023–1/4
John Swartzwelder books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
Frank Burly in order
14 books- 1. The Time Machine Did It
- 2. How I Conquered Your Planet
- 3. The Exploding Detective
- 4. Dead Men Scare Me Stupid
- 5. Earth Vs. Everybody
- 6. The Last Detective Alive
- 7. The Fifty Foot Detective
- 8. The Million Dollar Policeman
- 9. Detective Made Easy
- 10. The Monster That Wouldn't Sink
- 11. Earth's Biggest Fan
- 12. Burly Go Home
- and 2 more in the table above
Standalone books
3 books3 John Swartzwelder titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read John Swartzwelder books in order?
You only need to read John Swartzwelder books in order within the Frank Burly series, which holds 14 of the 17 John Swartzwelder books listed here. The numbered table above gives every book in publication order.
Where to start with John Swartzwelder
Start with The Time Machine Did It (2004), the earliest published title.
What is the newest John Swartzwelder book?
Dead Detective Mountain (2023) is the newest John Swartzwelder book released so far.
Is there a new John Swartzwelder book coming?
No next John Swartzwelder book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
John Swartzwelder at a glance
- Paused
- No new John Swartzwelder title has appeared for 3 years. The last was published in 2023.
- Release pace
- John Swartzwelder books have appeared about one a year on average.
- Length
- 144 pages across the 1 of 17 books with a recorded length, a median of 144 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most John Swartzwelder books, 9 of 17, were published in the 2010s.
When John Swartzwelder books were published
Publication distribution by decade, showing when John Swartzwelder titles appeared. 2010s was the most productive decade with 9 titles.
17 books total across 3 decades. Decade reflects the year each title was first catalogued.
What the John Swartzwelder books are about
1 of the 17 John Swartzwelder books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. No subject is tagged on more than one of them, so each one below describes a single book. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Détectives 1 of 1 books
- Humor 1 of 1 books
- Mystery & detective 1 of 1 books
- Private investigators 1 of 1 books
- Time travel 1 of 1 books