Michael Nava Books in Order
Michael Nava has written 13 books, published between 1986 and 2021. The first book is Lay Your Sleeping Head / The Little Death (1986) and the newest is Lies With Man (2021). Publication order is the reading order below. 9 of the 13 books listed here are in the Henry Rios Mysteries series, which has its own page: Henry Rios Mysteries books in order.
- Books
- 13
- Published
- 1986–2021
- Pages on record
- 2,846 in 9 of 13 books
- Reading time
- 47–71 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 2,846 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 9 of 13 titles with a page count on record.
Michael Nava, born September 16, 1954, is an American attorney and novelist who worked on the staff of the California Supreme Court and ran for a Superior Court seat in 2010. Nava wrote a ten-volume mystery series about Henry Rios, an openly gay criminal defense lawyer. Nava's novels have won seven Lambda Literary Awards. The catalogue lists 13 books from Lay Your Sleeping Head / The Little Death (1986) to Lies With Man (2021), including Goldenboy (1988) and The Hidden Law (1992).
How many Michael Nava books are there?
Michael Nava has 13 books, released between 1986 and 2021. 9 of them belong to the Henry Rios Mysteries series.
Michael Nava Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 13 Michael Nava 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 September 2026.
- 119863442/4
- 219882162/4
- 31990–2/4
- 5Created Equal1994 · 167 pages · confirmed 2/419941672/4
- 619963102/4
- 7Unlived Lives1997 · confirmed 2/41997–2/4
- 819974612/4
- 920013352/4
- 10The City of Palaces2014 · 362 pages · confirmed 2/420143622/4
- 11Street People2017 · confirmed 2/42017–2/4
- 1220193692/4
- 1320212822/4
Michael Nava series in order
The series linked below has its own reading-order page.
Michael Nava 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.
Standalone books
4 books4 Michael Nava titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Michael Nava books in order?
You only need to read Michael Nava books in order within the Henry Rios Mysteries series, which holds 9 of the 13 Michael Nava books listed here. The numbered table above gives every book in publication order.
Where to start with Michael Nava
Start with Lay Your Sleeping Head / The Little Death (1986), the first Henry Rios Mysteries book. It is also the earliest catalogued title.
What is the newest Michael Nava book?
Lies With Man (2021) is the newest Michael Nava book released so far.
Is there a new Michael Nava book coming?
No next Michael Nava book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Awards Michael Nava has won
Wikidata records 1 award for Michael Nava. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.
- Bill Whitehead Award2001Won
Michael Nava at a glance
- Paused
- No new Michael Nava title has appeared for 5 years. The last was published in 2021.
- Release pace
- Michael Nava books have appeared about one every 3 years on average.
- Length
- 2,846 pages across the 9 of 13 books with a recorded length, a median of 335 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Michael Nava books, 6 of 13, were published in the 1990s.
What the Michael Nava books are about
10 of the 13 Michael Nava books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: gay men is tagged on 7 of 10. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Gay men 7 of 10 books
- Mexican Americans 6 of 10 books
- Henry Rios (Fictitious character) 5 of 10 books
- LGBTQ mystery 4 of 10 books
- Lambda Literary Awards 3 of 10 books
- Attorney and client 2 of 10 books
- Crimes against 2 of 10 books
- Lambda Literary Award Winner 2 of 10 books
- Mystery & detective 2 of 10 books