Investigation book series in reading order

by Emily Brightwell

by Donna Andrews

by Leslie Meier

by Ngaio Marsh

by Kathleen Ernst

by Jenn McKinlay

by Elizabeth J. Duncan

by James Patterson

by Carolyn Haines

by Parnell Hall

by Anne Perry

by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

by Estelle Ryan

by Kate Ellis

by Barbara Nadel

by Mary Stanton

by C.S. Challinor

by Ann Cleeves

by Kathy Reichs

by C.S. Harris

by Jane Casey

by P.D. James

by Tasha Alexander

by Mark Pryor

by Frances Brody

by G.M. Malliet

by Susanna Gregory

by Alyssa Maxwell

by Jeanne M. Dams

by Faye Kellerman

by Deborah Crombie

by Howard Owen

by Annelise Ryan

by Warren C. Easley

by Susan Spann

by William Kent Krueger

by David Rosenfelt

by Paul Doiron

by Keith McCafferty

by Charles Todd

by Rita Mae Brown

by Mary Higgins Clark

by Karin Fossum

James Patterson

510 books• 73 series

James Patterson, born on March 22, 1947, is an American writer whose catalogue here holds 514 books published from 1976 to 2027. The run opens with The Thomas Berryman Number (1976), and Along Came a Spider (1992) and Kiss the Girls (1995) follow later. Alex Cross, Michael Bennett, Maximum Ride, Daniel X, Witch & Wizard, NYPD Red, Private, Middle School and the Women's Murder Club are among the Patterson series, alongside standalone thrillers, non-fiction and romance. Marshall Karp shares the credit on 5 of the books. Patterson's sales exceed 425 million copies, and Patterson was the first person to sell one million e-books. Forbes ranked Patterson the highest-paid author in 2016, for a third year running, and the National Book Foundation gave Patterson the Literarian Award in November 2015. 27 Stars is scheduled for 2027.

Heather Graham is the name under which Heather Graham Pozzessere, an American writer born on 15 March 1953, publishes mainly romance fiction; Shannon Drake is a further pen name. Graham's work has been published in about 25 languages, with more than 75 million copies printed. The catalogue records 311 books from Tender Taming (1983) to Destiny Rising (2026). Krewe of Hunters, Harrison Investigation, Cafferty & Quinn, Alliance Vampires, Keepers: L.A., New York Confidential and Finnegan Connection are among the Graham series. Subjects span historical, paranormal, contemporary and suspense romance.

Cozy mysteries with a trade attached are Jenn McKinlay's speciality: a library, a cupcake bakery, a hat shop and a resale business each anchor a series. The catalogue reaches 69 titles between 2002 and 2026, including contemporary romance in the Bluff Point and Museum of Literature books and the Decoupage mysteries written as Lucy Lawrence. Stuck on Murder (2009) and Sprinkle with Murder (2010) start the main cozy runs, and Booking for Trouble is the most recent title.

Cozy mysteries filled Sheila Connolly's list: the Orchard Mysteries around apple growing, the Museum Mysteries in Philadelphia, the County Cork books in Ireland, a Victorian Village series and the Relatively Dead novels. One Bad Apple (2008) opens 51 catalogued books, which end at Fatal Roots in 2020, with the early glassblowing titles written as Sarah Atwell.

Laura Childs writes cozy mysteries in three series: the Tea Shop Mysteries, with Theodosia Browning in Charleston, South Carolina, the Scrapbooking Mysteries and the Cackleberry Club Mysteries. Death by Darjeeling (2001) opens the catalogue, which holds 56 books and reaches Death at a Firefly Tea. Buttermint Bomb is scheduled for 2027.

Ann Cleeves

52 books• 10 series

Ann Cleeves is a British crime writer, born in 1954, with 52 catalogued books spanning 1986 to 2026. The run opens with A Bird in the Hand (1986) and reaches The Dying Light in 2026. Cleeves wrote the Vera Stanhope, Jimmy Perez and Matthew Venn series, and all three have been adapted for television. Raven Black, the first Jimmy Perez novel, won the Duncan Lawrie Dagger in 2006. Other series listings include Palmer-Jones, Inspector Ramsay, Matthew Venn / Two Rivers and Willow Reeves & Jimmy Perez. Subjects include police procedurals, women detectives, England and Scotland.

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.

Kate Carlisle writes mystery and detective fiction with women sleuths. Catalogue subjects add rare books, women bookbinders, conservation and restoration, murder, crime and man-woman relationships, and name Brooklyn Wainwright as a recurring fictional character. The 35 catalogued books span 2009 to 2024, from Homicide in Hardcover (2009) to The Knife Before Christmas (2024), with If Books Could Kill (2009), Murder under Cover (2011) and One Book in the Grave (2012) along the way. Bibliophile Mystery, Fixer-Upper Mystery, Island Paradise Duet and MacLaren's Pride are the series credited to Carlisle.

Anne Perry

111 books• 14 series

Anne Perry (28 October 1938 – 10 April 2023), born Juliet Marion Hulme, was a British writer of historical detective fiction. Perry wrote the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt novels and the William Monk series. In 1994 it became public that Perry, at fifteen, had been convicted in 1954 in Christchurch, New Zealand, of murdering Honorah Parker, mother of Perry's friend Pauline Parker; after a five-year sentence, Perry took a new name and returned to the United Kingdom. The catalogue holds 111 Perry books, opening with The Cater Street Hangman (1979) and reaching Death Times Seven (2026). Other series include Daniel Pitt, Elena Standish, Timepiece and Tathea.

Ngaio Marsh

38 books• 3 series

Inspector Roderick Alleyn of the English police carries almost all of Ngaio Marsh's detective fiction. 38 catalogued books run from A Man Lay Dead (1934) to Money in the Morgue, taking in Enter a Murderer (1935), The Nursing Home Murder (1935), Death in Ecstasy (1936), Vintage Murder (1937) and Artists in Crime (1938). Marsh also published short stories and non-fiction. The catalogue is likely complete.

Sally Spencer writes English police procedurals, and the catalogue holds 66 books from Salt of the Earth (1994) to The Final Beat of the Drum (2023). Chief Inspector Charlie Woodend, DCI Monika Paniatowski and Inspector Sam Blackstone are the recurring detectives. Spencer's series also include the Marston Trilogy, Jennie Redhead Mystery and Detective Sam Brody Thriller, alongside standalone novels. The Salton Killings (1998) and Murder at Swann's Lake (1999) are among the earlier titles. No new Spencer title has appeared since 2023.

Donna Leon

42 books• 4 series

Venice is where Donna Leon sets her police procedurals, and Guido Brunetti is the character the books return to, in cases of murder and criminal investigation. Leon's 42 catalogued titles open with Death at La Fenice (1992) and reach Backstage: Stories of a Writing Life in 2025, with a Brunetti companion volume and non-fiction beside the novels. Leon remains actively publishing.

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.

Paige Shelton's mysteries put amateur sleuths in bookshops, farmers' markets and small towns. The Scottish Bookshop Mysteries, the Farmers' Market Mysteries, the Alaska Wild Mysteries and the Country Cooking School Mysteries are the main series, with Broken Rope and the Dangerous Type Mysteries alongside. Chewy Moon (2007) is the earliest catalogued title, and The Bone Woman arrives in 2026. Thirty-six books in all, at 304 pages on median.

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.

Crochet and knitting run through Betty Hechtman's cozy mysteries. The Crochet Mysteries feature Molly Pink and are set in California; the Yarn Retreat, Crochet and Crumpets, Writer For Hire and Blue Schwartz series sit beside them. Hechtman's catalogue holds 34 books, opening with Blue Schwartz and Nefertiti's Necklace: A Mystery with Recipes (2006) and reaching Danger Looms in 2026.

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.

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.

Louise Penny

24 books• 3 series

Louise Penny, born in 1958, is a Canadian writer of crime fiction, best known for the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novels set in Quebec. The catalogue holds 24 of her books, running from Still Life (2005) to Miss Wolcott's Ghost (2026), and the Gamache series continues. Her other listings are standalone novels and a set of Gamache short stories and novellas. Hillary Rodham Clinton shares the credit on 1 of the 24 books. Penny's novels appear in more than 23 languages, and her honours include Agatha and Anthony Awards plus 2017 appointments to the Order of Canada and the National Order of Quebec.

Linda Castillo is an American novelist behind the Kate Burkholder crime thrillers, which are set in Amish country. Sworn to Silence (2009), the first Kate Burkholder book, became the Lifetime film An Amish Murder with Neve Campbell. Castillo has also written romance and romantic suspense, and the catalogue lists the Operation: Midnight and High Country Heroes series. In all, 54 books run from Remember the Night (2000) to A Dark Path (2026). Castillo grew up in Arcanum, Ohio, and lives in Texas.

Jonathan Kellerman, born August 9, 1949, is both an American novelist and a psychologist. Kellerman has won Edgar and Anthony awards, and the character most associated with the name is Alex Delaware, a child psychologist who consults for the Los Angeles Police Department. The catalogue holds 67 Kellerman titles, beginning with the non-fiction Helping the Fearful Child (1981) and When the Bough Breaks (1985), and running to Jigsaw (2026). Beyond Alex Delaware there are the Clay Edison, Petra Connor and Detective Jacob Lev series. Milo Sturgis appears in the subject tags alongside Delaware.

Ellery Adams writes murder mysteries, and women sleuths appear among the subject headings. The catalogue lists 57 books from 2006, the year of A Killer Collection and A Fatal Appraisal, to The Liars' Book Club (2026). Named series include the Secret, Book & Scone Society, Book Retreat Mysteries, Books by the Bay, Antiques & Collectibles Mysteries, Hope Street Church Mystery, Supper Club Mystery and A Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery. Librarians, bakeries and pies are listed there too.

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.

Denise Swanson is an American mystery writer. The Scumble River Mysteries are set in a fictional Illinois town, and the Devereaux's Dime Store Mysteries in a small fictional town in Missouri. Catalogue subjects name Skye Denison as a recurring fictional character and list school psychologists, murder, investigation and women sleuths. The catalogue holds 46 books running from Murder of a Small-Town Honey (2000) to Wedding Jitters and Stormy Rivers (2026). Welcome Back To Scumble River, Chef-To-Go Mysteries, Stephanie Danielson and Forever Charmed Mysteries are the other series listed. Swanson has been nominated for the Agatha Award and the Mary Higgins Clark Award.