Archaeologists book series in reading order

by Margot Arnold

by Kate Ellis

by Elizabeth Peters

by Andy McDermott

Roy Lewis writes English detective fiction across three series. Arnold Landon is an archaeologist and antiquarian, Eric Ward works as a private investigator, and Inspector John Crow heads the police novels; standalone titles, short stories and non-fiction fill the rest. A Lover Too Many (1969), Error of Judgment (1971) and The Woods Murder (1971) are among the early books, and the catalogue reaches 78 titles by 2026 at a median 229 pages. Murder investigation in England is the constant.

Alex Archer is the name on the Rogue Angel series, 66 catalogued books published between 2006 and 2025. Annja Creed, a woman archaeologist, is the recurring character, and the books mix antiquities, adventure and suspense with fantasy. Destiny (2006) opens the run, followed by Solomon's Jar (2006), The Spider Stone (2006) and a rapid 2007 sequence including Forbidden City, God of Thunder, Provenance, Secret of the Slaves, Serpent's Kiss, The Chosen and The Lost Scrolls. Shadow Highlanders (2025) is the newest title, at a median of 320 pages.

Margot Arnold is the pen name of Petronelle Marguerite Mary Cook, née Crouch, a mystery novelist born in Britain who became American. Cook lived from May 16, 1925 to September 22, 2016. The catalogue lists 19 Margot Arnold books from The Officers' Woman (1972) to The Midas Murders (1995), including the Penny Spring and Sir Toby Glendower series. Subject tags name archaeologists, women anthropologists and England, and other titles include Exit Actors, Dying (1979) and The Cape Cod Caper (1980).

Kate Ellis writes police procedurals in which archaeology recurs alongside murder investigation. Wesley Peterson heads the main series, opening with The Merchant's House (1998), and Joe Plantagenet and Inspector Albert Lincoln lead two more. Forty-four catalogued books reach The Chapel of Bones (2026), at a median length of 346 pages. England, police work and archaeologists recur as subjects.

James Rollins

48 books• 10 series

James Rollins is the pen name of James Paul Czajkowski, an American writer born August 20, 1961, who gave up a veterinary practice in Sacramento, California to write full time. Rollins writes action-adventure, mystery and techno-thriller novels, often set underground or underwater, drawing on experience as an amateur caver and certified scuba diver. The catalogue opens with Subterranean (1999) and Excavation (2000), counts 49 books through Trust No One (2026), and lists Into the Serpent's Nest for 2027. Series include Sigma Force, the Order of the Sanguines, Tucker Wayne and Jake Ransom. Under a second pen name, James Clemens, Czajkowski publishes fantasy.

Elizabeth Peters was a pen name of Barbara Louise Mertz (September 29, 1927 to August 8, 2013), an American writer who also published as Barbara Michaels. Mertz earned a PhD in Egyptology from the University of Chicago in 1952. Mertz was best known for mystery and suspense novels, above all the Amelia Peabody series. In the 1960s Mertz also wrote two histories of ancient Egypt, Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs and Red Land, Black Land, both revised in 2007 and 2008. The catalogue lists 43 Elizabeth Peters titles from The Jackal's Head (1968) to The Locked Tomb Mystery: And Other Stories (2018), with the Amelia Peabody, Vicky Bliss and Jacqueline Kirby series.

Tim LaHaye (April 27, 1926 to July 25, 2016) was an American Baptist evangelical minister and political activist. LaHaye wrote more than 85 books of fiction and nonfiction, among them the Left Behind novels, co-written with Jerry B. Jenkins, which depict apocalyptic events after a pre-tribulation rapture. LaHaye also helped found the Council for National Policy, a conservative Christian advocacy group. The catalogue lists 70 books from How to Be Happy Though Married (1968) to Target Israel (2015), with Babylon Rising and Soul Survivor among the series and Bible prophecy, marriage and the end of the world among the subjects.

Marine archaeologist Jack Howard is the figure David Gibbins built his fiction on. Gibbins, born in 1962, is an underwater archaeologist as well as a novelist, and the 14 catalogued books mix archaeological expeditions, treasure troves and antiquities with action and suspense. The catalogue opens with Atlantis (2005) and reaches Daughter of Attila (2025); Total War Rome is a second series beside Jack Howard. Gibbins remains actively publishing.

Chris Kuzneski

13 books• 3 series

Chris Kuzneski writes treasure-hunt thrillers. Thirteen books are catalogued between The Plantation (2000) and The Malta Escape (2018), across two series, Payne & Jones and Hunters: Origins. Antiquities, tombs, treasure troves and archaeologists supply the subject headings. Kuzneski, an American novelist born in 1969, took the International Thriller Writers award for 2016 Book of the Year with The Prisoner's Gold, and the work has also been honoured by the Florida Book Awards. Nothing new has appeared since 2018.

Archaeology drives Will Adams's thrillers. The Daniel Knox novels put an archaeologist into Egypt and Greece across The Alexander Cipher (2007), The Exodus Quest (2008), The Lost Labyrinth (2009) and The Eden Legacy (2010); the Rossi & Nero and Warne & Elias series follow. Kidnapping, missing persons and underwater exploration recur. Thirteen catalogued titles reach Epiphany (2026).

Thomas Greanias

12 books• 2 series

Thomas Greanias is an American novelist, born in Wilmette, Illinois in 1965, known for a series of novels about Conrad Yeats and Atlantis. Raising Atlantis (2004) opens the run, followed by The Atlantis Prophecy (2008) and The Atlantis Revelation (2009). Sam Deker is the second series. Twelve titles are catalogued through Gods of Rome (2021), and archaeologists, intelligence officers, Antarctica and the Arab-Israeli conflict sit among the subjects.

Nora Roberts

279 books• 37 series

Nora Roberts, born Eleanor Marie Robertson on October 10, 1950, is an American writer of romance under that name. As J. D. Robb, Roberts writes police procedurals with science-fiction elements, and has also published as Jill March and, in the UK, as Sarah Hardesty. This listing carries 280 Roberts books, opening with Irish Thoroughbred (1981); The Missing is scheduled for 2027. Series on the page include the In Death Universe, the MacGregors, Night Tales, the Calhoun Women, the Chesapeake Bay Saga, Irish Hearts and the O'Hurleys.

Thomas Perry was an American writer of mystery and thriller novels, born August 7, 1947, who died on September 15, 2025. The Butcher's Boy (1982) was Perry's debut and received the 1983 Edgar Award for Best First Novel from the Mystery Writers of America. The catalogue lists 41 books, from that debut to The Get Out (2026). Series are Jane Whitefield, Butcher's Boy and Jack Till, and titles include Metzger's Dog (1983), Vanishing Act (1995) and Shadow Woman (1997). Subject headings cover assassins, the Mafia, government investigators and Indians of North America.

Andy McDermott, born 2 July 1974, is a British thriller author and former magazine editor, film critic and journalist, best known for the Nina Wilde and Eddie Chase novels. The catalogue lists 32 books from Dead Man's Hand (2005) to The Pandora Conspiracy (2026). The Hunt for Atlantis (2007), The Secret of Excalibur (2008) and The Tomb of Hercules (2008) are among them. Other series are Alex Reeve, Final Destination and Curious Case Files of Leviticus Gold. Archaeologists and Atlantis feature in the subjects.

Zecharia Sitchin wrote the Earth Chronicles, a non-fiction sequence arguing extraterrestrial influence on ancient civilisation. The 12th Planet (1976) opens the run, followed by The Stairway to Heaven (1980), The Wars of Gods and Men (1985), Genesis Revisited (1990) and The Lost Book of Enki (2001). Ancient history, the Bible, cosmogony and human-alien encounters are the subjects. Sixteen titles are catalogued through 2015.

Meg (1997) opens Steve Alten's catalogue and the shark series his name is attached to. Alten, an American science fiction author born in 1959, builds the MEG books on the survival of the megalodon, a giant prehistoric shark. His 21 catalogued titles reach Heaven's Lake (2023) and take in The Trench (1999), Primal Waters (2004), Hell's Aquarium (2009) and the Domain Trilogy, also listed as the Mayan Trilogy. The Loch (2005) heads a separate series. Deep diving, sea monsters, archaeologists and the end of the world recur across the subjects.

J. Robert Kennedy writes action thrillers. The archaeologist James Acton heads one series, the James Acton Thrillers, and others follow Special Agent Dylan Kane, Delta Force Unleashed, the Templar Detective, Detective Shakespeare, Wolfgang Vogel, Just Jack and Zander Varga: Vampire Detective. The catalogue holds 85 books published between 2010 and 2025, from The Protocol (2010) to Crypt of the Gladiator (2025). Excavations, espionage and crime run through the subject headings, with Egypt and Italy among the named places.

Boyd Morrison

15 books• 4 series

Boyd Morrison, born February 17, 1967, is an American novelist, engineer and actor. After an engineering career, Morrison self-published a first novel and was later signed by Simon and Schuster. Morrison has co-written 5 books with Clive Cussler and several with sister Beth Morrison. The catalogue lists 15 books from The Ark (2009) to Duel of Beasts (2026), including The Tsunami Countdown (2009), The Vault / The Midas Code (2011) and Piranha (2015). Series include Tyler Locke and Tales of the Lawless Land, and the catalogue also links Oregon Files.

Erin Hart writes the Nora Gavin mysteries, crime novels set in Ireland whose recorded subjects are women pathologists, archaeologists, forensic scientists and bog bodies. Four books make up the run: Haunted Ground (2003), Lake of Sorrows (2004), False Mermaid (2010) and The Book of Killowen (2013). Dublin and murder investigation recur, and nothing has followed 2013.

Peter Ackroyd

70 books• 4 series

Peter Ackroyd is an English novelist, biographer and critic, born in 1949, whose standing subject is the history and culture of London. Seventy books are catalogued from London Lickpenny (1973) to Forgotten London (2025). Biography fills much of the list, in Chaucer (1980), Ezra Pound and His World (1980), T.S. Eliot (1984) and later lives of William Blake, Charles Dickens, Charlie Chaplin and Sir Thomas More; the novels include The Great Fire of London (1982), The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde (1983) and Hawksmoor (1985). Ackroyd's Brief Lives, Voyages Through Time, a History of England and Shakespeare: the Biography are the series. The Somerset Maugham Award and two Whitbread Awards followed.

Jane Lindskold writes fantasy and science fiction, in novels and short stories. Her 34 catalogued books run from Chronomaster (1989) to House of Rough Diamonds (2023), at a median of 368 pages, densest in the 2000s. Her series include the Firekeeper Saga, recorded under its first title Through Wolf's Eyes, along with Athanor, Breaking the Wall, Over Where, Artemis Awakening and Captain Ah-Lee. Wolves, feral children, magic and life on other planets run through the subject index. Lindskold is American, born in 1962, and wrote a 1993 book about Roger Zelazny.

Nick Bantock is a British artist and author based on Saltspring Island in British Columbia. The Griffin and Sabine books are his best known work, assembled from faux postage stamps, handwritten documents, passports and postcards bound into the page. Bantock's catalogue holds 25 titles, from There Was An Old Lady (1990) to The Corset & The Jellyfish (2023), taking in The Egyptian Jukebox (1993) and The Golden Mean (1993). Subjects cover imaginary letters, movable books, collage and picture books, at a median of 60 pages.

Thomas Lourds is the figure Charles Brokaw built four action thrillers around. The Atlantis Code (2009) opens the run, followed by The Lucifer Code (2010), The Temple Mount Code (2011) and The Oracle Code (2012). Linguists, archaeologists, excavations, ancient manuscripts and scrolls, kidnapping and the legend of Atlantis supply the material. The catalogue has stood at four books since 2012.

Subject records for Kathleen O’Neal Gear cite Native Americans, Pueblo Indians, prehistoric peoples and archaeologists, along with historical fiction, science fiction and thrillers. The catalogue lists 60 books from 1990 to 2025. People of the Wolf and People of the Fire (both 1990) come early, and Buffalo Justice (2025) is the newest. Series include First North Americans, Anasazi Mysteries, Black Falcon, Contact: The Battle For America and Rewilding Reports. Gear, born 1954, is an American archaeologist, historian and author whose novels have appeared in 29 languages.