Cold cases (criminal investigation) book series in reading order

by Mary Higgins Clark

by Jussi Adler-Olsen

by Susan Hill

by Deon Meyer

by Warren C. Easley

Peter May

33 books• 5 series

Peter May, born 20 December 1951, is a Scottish novelist, crime writer and television screenwriter. The Blackhouse won the U.S. Barry Award for Crime Novel of the Year and France's Cezam Prix Litteraire, and The Lewis Man took Le Telegramme's Grand Prix des Lecteurs. Entry Island won two awards in 2014, and May received France's Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere in 2025. Sales exceed twelve million copies. The catalogue lists 33 books, from The Reporter (1978) to The Black Loch (2024), with the China Thrillers, the Enzo Files and the Lewis Tetralogy among the series.

Martin Edwards is a crime writer who took a first in law at Balliol College, Oxford, trained as a solicitor in Leeds, moved to Liverpool on qualifying in 1980 and became a partner at Mace and Jones in 1984. Harry Devlin, Lake District Mysteries and Rachel Savernake are the series. Edwards belongs to the Murder Squad collective, chairs the nominations sub-committee for the CWA Diamond Dagger and became Archivist of the Crime Writers Association in 2007. Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife (2025) is the newest title.

Mary Higgins Clark

62 books• 8 series

Mary Higgins Clark, born Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins, was an American suspense novelist who lived from December 24, 1927 to January 31, 2020. Where Are the Children? (1975) was the debut suspense novel, and by 2015 that book was in its 75th printing. Each of Clark's 51 books was a bestseller in the United States and in European countries. The catalogue starts with Aspire to the Heavens / Mount Vernon Love Story (1968) and reaches It Had to Be You (2024). Alvirah and Willy are recurring characters, and Under Suspicion is a Clark series. Clark worked as a secretary, a copy editor and for one year a Pan-American Airlines flight attendant, and short stories supplemented the family income.

Michael Connelly

60 books• 10 series

Michael Connelly is an American crime novelist, born July 21, 1956. The catalogue lists 60 Connelly books, running from The Black Echo (1992) to Ironwood (2026). LAPD detective Harry Bosch and defence attorney Mickey Haller are the recurring leads, and the listed series include Bosch Universe, Lincoln Lawyer and Safe Man. The Black Echo won the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best First Novel. Clint Eastwood directed and starred in a 2002 film of Blood Work. Subject headings cover police procedurals, legal fiction, serial murder and Los Angeles.

J.A. Jance writes mysteries and police procedurals, with J.P. Beaumont, Joanna Brady and Ali Reynolds as recurring leads. The catalogue lists 82 books, starting with After the Fire (1984) and Until Proven Guilty (1985). The Taken Ones arrived in 2026, and Smoke and Mirrors is scheduled for 2027. Subjects include sheriffs, policewomen and women sleuths, and the Joanna Brady books form a named series alongside Jance's standalone novels.

Kathy Reichs

47 books• 5 series

Kathy Reichs, born Kathleen Joan Toelle on July 7, 1948, is an American crime writer, forensic anthropologist and academic. Reichs holds the title of professor emerita of anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and the television series Bones drew on Reichs's work. Déjà Dead (1997) is the first catalogued book, followed by Death du Jour (1999), Deadly Decisions (2000) and Fatal Voyage (2001). The subjects pair Temperance Brennan with forensic anthropology, medical examiners and murder. Series include Temperance Brennan and Tory Brennan (Virals), and the listing runs to 2025.

Ian Rankin

74 books• 13 series

Sir Ian Rankin is a Scottish crime writer and philanthropist, born in Fife on 28 April 1960, and the creator of the Inspector Rebus novels. Rankin was the first member of the family to go to university and held several jobs before turning to writing. The Rebus novels belong to the tartan noir genre, have won domestic and international awards and have sold more than 35 million copies. Knots and Crosses (1987), the first Rebus book, placed eighth in a 2016 poll of the best Scottish novels. The catalogue holds 74 Rankin books, from The Flood (1986) to The Heights (2026), including the Malcolm Fox series and Edinburgh-set police procedurals.

Val McDermid

55 books• 13 series

Val McDermid, born 4 June 1955, is a Scottish crime writer whose work falls under the Tartan Noir label and is noted for unflinching violence. The catalogue runs to 55 books, from Report For Murder (1987) to Winter: The Story of a Season (2026). McDermid's best-known novels follow clinical psychologist Tony Hill and his colleagues in the police, a sequence televised as Wire in the Blood from 2002 to 2008. Inspector Karen Pirie, Lindsay Gordon and Kate Brannigan are the other named series. Awards on record include the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger and the Cartier Diamond Dagger.

Deon Meyer

23 books• 6 series

South Africa is the setting for Deon Meyer's crime novels. Benny Griessel heads the main series, with Mat Joubert, Lemmer and Thobela Mpayipheli leading the others, and Dead Before Dying (1999) opens the catalogue. Twenty-four books reach Leo in 2025, taking in missing persons, kidnapping, cold cases and vigilante justice.

Pauline Rowson writes police procedural crime fiction. DI Andy Horton is the recurring detective of the Solent Murder Mystery series, and Inspector Alun Ryga and Art Marvik head the other two sequences. Thirty-two books run from In Cold Daylight (2006) to Death on the Pier (2026), several of them retitled for other markets: Tide of Death also appears as The Portsmouth Murders, Deadly Waters as The Langstone Harbour Murders. Cold cases, missing persons and murder investigation recur as subjects.

Lesley Thomson writes crime fiction. The Detective's Daughter series follows Stella Darnell through cold cases in London, opening with The Detective's Daughter in 2013 and continuing through Ghost Girl (2014), The Detective's Secret (2015), The House With No Rooms (2016) and The Dog Walker (2017). Fathers and daughters, missing children and murder investigation are the recurring subjects. Fifteen titles run from Seven Miles From Sydney in 1987 to The Shrine in 2026. Thomson is a British novelist and a creative writing tutor at West Dean College.

David Baldacci

71 books• 16 series

David Baldacci is an American novelist, born on 5 August 1960, who trained as an attorney and writes mostly suspense fiction and legal thrillers. The catalogue lists 72 Baldacci books, starting with Absolute Power (1996); All In appeared in 2026 and Boom Town is scheduled for 2027. Recurring leads include Amos Decker, Will Robie, John Puller, Atlee Pine and Aloysius Archer, alongside the Camel Club and the Sean King & Michelle Maxwell books. Baldacci novels have been published in more than 80 countries and 45 languages, with worldwide sales above 130 million copies.

John Sandford is the professional name of John Roswell Camp, an American novelist born on February 23, 1944. Camp is a former journalist and a Pulitzer Prize recipient. The Sandford catalogue runs to 63 books, opening with Rules of Prey (1989) and reaching Revenge Prey (2026), with Ruthless Prey announced for 2027. Lucas Davenport and Minnesota appear among the subject headings, and the series list includes Virgil Flowers, Letty Davenport, Kidd & LuEllen, Singular Menace and the Prey Universe.

Paul Doiron is the author of the Mike Bowditch series of crime novels. Subjects attached to the books include game wardens, wilderness areas, Maine, missing persons and murder. The catalogue holds 26 books between 1998 and 2026; the earliest listed title is Eating Between The Lines (1998), and The Poacher's Son (2010), Trespasser (2011), Bad Little Falls (2012) and Massacre Pond (2013) follow. Storm Tide (2026) is the newest entry.

Allison Brennan, an American writer born in 1969, writes romantic thrillers; her first book was published in 2005. The catalogue lists 74 of her books through Make It Out Alive, with One Last Warning announced and the list reaching 2027. Lucy Kincaid and Max Revere are recurring figures. Series listings include the Predator Trilogy, Quinn & Costa Thriller, Angelhart Investigations, River City Mysteries, Regan Merritt and Moreno & Hart Mysteries. Subjects include the FBI, serial murders, women journalists and romantic suspense.

Laura Lippman

56 books• 8 series

Laura Lippman, born January 31, 1959, is an American journalist and the author of more than 20 detective novels. Subjects on the books include Tess Monaghan, women private investigators, murder and Baltimore. The catalogue lists 56 Lippman books, beginning with Baltimore Blues and Charm City (both 1997) and reaching Murder Takes a Vacation (2025). Lippman's awards include an Edgar Award, an Agatha Award, seven Anthony Awards, two Barry Awards and two Shamus Awards.

Miranda James writes several mystery series. Cat in the Stacks is one, and librarians, cats and a Maine coon cat sit in its subject tags beside murder and investigation. Forty titles run from By a Woman's Hand (1994), written as Dean James with Jean Swanson, to Something Whiskered (2025). Southern Ladies, Deep South, Bridge Club, Trailer Park Mysteries and Simon Kirby-Jones are the other series. James publishes on.

Sharon Sala has written under the Sharon Sala name and as Dinah McCall, with more than 85 books in print since a first publication in 1991. Sala is a seven-time RITA finalist and a Janet Dailey Award winner, and Romance Writers of America gave Sala its Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award. The catalogue holds 144 Sala titles, from Sara's Angel (1991) to Reckoning (2026). Series include Blessings, Georgia; Mossy Creek; Jubilee, Kentucky; Jigsaw Files; Justice Way; Cat Dupree; Storm Front and Rebel Ridge. Romantic suspense and contemporary romance appear among the subject tags.

Ann Rule

37 books• 3 series

Ann Rule's books are true crime: case studies of murders, murderers, homicide investigations and the trials that followed. The catalogue holds 37 titles, opening with The Stranger Beside Me (1980) and taking in Lust Killer, The I-5 Killer, Small Sacrifices and the Crime Files line of collections. Lying in Wait and Other True Cases is the last entry, and the catalogue is listed as likely complete.

Jussi Adler-Olsen

14 books• 2 series

Department Q, a Copenhagen cold-case unit, is the centre of Jussi Adler-Olsen's crime fiction. The Keeper of Lost Causes (2011) opens that series, while the catalogue itself starts with The Alphabet House (1997) and reaches 2026. Fourteen books are listed, long at a median 482 pages, taking in missing persons, murder investigations and the Second World War.

Mike Lawson writes political thrillers built around government investigators. The catalogue lists 25 books, from The Inside Ring (2005) to The Asset (2026), in two named series: Joe DeMarco and Agent Kay Hamilton. Joe DeMarco is the recurring character. House Rules / Dead on Arrival (2008), House Secrets (2009) and House Justice (2010) appear early in the run, alongside the standalone title Rosarito Beach (2013). Undercover operations, drug trafficking and the US Drug Enforcement Administration appear among the subject headings.

Dame Susan Hill, Lady Wells, is an English writer of fiction and non-fiction born 5 February 1942. The Woman in Black has been adapted for stage and screen. I'm the King of the Castle (1970) won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1971, and The Bird of Night took the Whitbread Novel Award in 1972 and reached the Booker Prize shortlist. The catalogue counts 78 books from The Enclosure (1961) to A Change of Circumstance (2021), including the Simon Serrailler police procedurals, children's books and picture books. Hill became a CBE in 2012 and a DBE in 2020, both for services to literature.

Historical mystery with women investigators is Kate Parker's line. The catalogue opens with The Vanishing Thief (2013) and continues through The Counterfeit Lady (2014), The Conspiring Woman (2015), The Royal Assassin (2015) and Deadly Scandal (2016). The named series are the Victorian Bookshop Mysteries, the Milliner Mysteries and the Christmas Revels novellas, with booksellers, kidnapping and cold cases among the subjects. Twenty-eight books reach Deadly Ruse in 2026.

Joe R. Lansdale

156 books• 24 series

Joe R. Lansdale, born Joe Richard Lansdale on October 28, 1951, is an American writer and martial arts instructor who works across Western, horror, science fiction, mystery and suspense and has also written comic books and screenplays. Lansdale's honours include the British Fantasy Award, the American Horror Award, the Edgar Award and eleven Bram Stoker Awards, and several novels have been adapted for film and television. The catalogue begins with Act of Love (1981) and includes Dead in the West (1986), The Magic Wagon (1986), The Nightrunners (1987), The Drive-In (1988) and Cold in July (1989); Petrified Dreams (2026) is the newest. Hap Collins and Leonard Pine head the Hap and Leonard series, and Texas features in the subjects.