Judges book series in reading order

by M.L. Longworth

Robert Van Gulik

27 books• 2 series

Robert van Gulik, who lived from 1910 to 1967, was a Dutch orientalist, diplomat and guqin player, and the author of the Judge Dee historical mysteries. He took the detective from an 18th-century Chinese novel, Dee Goong An, which he translated and published in 1949 as Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee. The series that followed is set in imperial China and includes The Chinese Maze Murders (1957), The Chinese Bell Murders (1958), The Chinese Gold Murders (1959), The Haunted Monastery (1961) and The Lacquer Screen (1962). Van Gulik also wrote Sexual Life in Ancient China (1961).

Bruce Alexander wrote historical mysteries set in eighteenth-century London. One series is recorded against his name, Sir John Fielding, built around the blind magistrate who lived from 1721 to 1780. Blind Justice (1994) opens the run, which continues through Murder in Grub Street (1995), Watery Grave (1996), Jack, Knave and Fool (1998), The Color of Death (2000) and Smuggler's Moon (2001) to Rules of Engagement (2005). Smuggling, the courts and London crime supply the plots. Eleven books are catalogued, and the run ended in 2005.

John Grisham

65 books• 11 series

Legal thrillers are the core of John Grisham's work. Grisham is an American writer, lawyer and former politician, born in 1955, who studied at Mississippi State University and took a law degree from the University of Mississippi in 1981. The catalogue holds 65 books, running from A Time to Kill (1989) through The Firm, The Pelican Brief and The Client to Shaken (2026). Series include Jake Brigance, Mitch McDeere, Camino Island, Rogue Lawyer and Theodore Boone. The American Academy of Achievement credits Grisham with 37 consecutive number-one fiction bestsellers and 300 million copies sold.

John Dickson Carr wrote traditional detective fiction, most of it set in England. It Walks by Night (1930) opens the catalogue with the investigator Henri Bencolin, Hag's Nook (1932) starts the Dr. Gideon Fell series, and the Sir Henry Merrivale novels appeared as Carter Dickson. Eighty-seven catalogued titles, reissues included, run to 2022, at a median of 251 pages.

Patricia Sprinkle writes mystery fiction set in Georgia. MacLaren Yarbrough and Sheila Travis are the recurring investigators, with women judges, genealogy and murder investigation among the subjects. Sprinkle's catalogue holds 29 books published between 1988 and 2011, across the Thoroughly Southern, Sheila Travis and Job's Corner Chronicles series. Murder at Markham (1988) opens it, followed by Murder in the Charleston Manner (1990), Murder on Peachtree Street (1991), Somebody's Dead in Snellville (1992) and A Mystery Bred in Buckhead (1994). Friday's Daughter (2011) is the last catalogued title.

Rosemary Aubert was a Canadian-American author, poet and critic, born in Niagara Falls, New York, on 4 May 1946, who died on 13 March 2024. Aubert lived in Canada for more than 40 years and taught novel writing in Toronto. The Ellis Portal crime novels are the work most associated with Aubert, and The Feast of Stephen won the 1999 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel. The short story The Midnight Boat to Palermo had won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Short Story in 1995. The catalogue lists 12 books from Firebrand (1986) to The Light in Trieste (2020).

Verlaque and Bonnet, a judge and a law teacher, investigate murders in France across M.L. Longworth's mystery series. Death at the Chateau Bremont (2011) opens the run, which closes at 10 books with Disaster at the Vendome Theater in 2022. Titles name the crime scene each time, from Murder in the Rue Dumas to The Vanishing Museum on the Rue Mistral. No new Longworth title has appeared since 2022.

Paul Doherty writes historical mysteries set largely in England, with 127 books catalogued from The Death of a King (1985) to The Meadows of Murder (2026). Recurring detectives include Hugh Corbett, Brother Athelstan, Kathryn Swinbrooke and Amerotke. Other series cover the Canterbury Tales Mysteries, Ancient Rome, Egyptian Mysteries, Nicholas Segalla, Mathilde of Westminster, Margaret Beaufort and Vlad Drakulya. Satan in St Mary's (1986) and Spy in Chancery (1988) are among the early titles.

Nancy Bell is credited on nine mystery novels published between 1996 and 2008. Six open on the name Biggie, running from Biggie and The Poisoned Politician (1996) through the Mangled Mortician (1997), the Fricasseed Fat Man (1998), the Meddlesome Mailman (1999), the Quincy Ghost (2001) and the Devil Diet (2002). Restored to Death (2003), Death Splits a Hair (2005) and Paint the Town Dead (2008) follow. Biggie Weatherford is the recurring character, and Judge Jackson Crain is the second series recorded. Subjects record women detectives, grandmothers, judges and Texas.

Phillip Margolin

35 books• 6 series

Legal thrillers built on murder trials are the work of Phillip Margolin. Gone, But Not Forgotten (1993) sits early in a catalogue of 35 books that reaches 2026, and Margolin's series follow the lawyers Robin Lockwood, Amanda Jaffe, Madison Kincaid, and Brad Miller with Dana Cutler. Courtroom suspense and criminal investigation carry the novels, which run to a median of 362 pages.

Scott Pratt writes legal thrillers, and the 27 catalogued books run from Russo's Gold (2007) to Vindicate (2025). Joe Dillard and Darren Street are Pratt's recurring characters, and further series follow Billy Beckett, Presley Carter and Miller & Stevens. Murder investigations, criminal defense lawyers and public prosecutors are the main subjects. An Innocent Client (2008) and Conflict of Interest (2012) are among the titles.

Mark Gimenez is a Texas lawyer who writes legal thrillers and runs a solo law practice alongside the books. The Color of Law (2005), the first Gimenez novel, introduces Scott Fenney and reached the New York Times bestseller list. Twelve catalogued titles run through to Tribes (2020), among them The Abduction / Saving Grace (2007), Accused (2010), The Governor's Wife (2012) and Con Law (2013). Murder trials, judges, public defenders and Texas wealth are the recurring subjects, and John Bookman heads a second series.

Who HQ is the credit on 429 children's nonfiction biographies in the catalogue, published from 2002 to 2026. The run opens with Who Was Albert Einstein?, Who Was Amelia Earhart? and Who Was Ben Franklin? (all 2002) and reaches Who Is Vera Wang (2026). Subjects include biography, history and juvenile nonfiction for readers aged 8 to 12. Other names credited on some of the books include Megan Stine (7), John Hinderliter (7) and Nico Medina (4).

James Reasoner writes westerns and frontier fiction, and the 193 catalogued books run from Texas Wind (1980) to Blood on the Border (2026). Civil War history, Texas and military fiction also appear among the subjects. Reasoner's series include Stagecoach Station, Abilene, Cody's Law, Wind River, Outlaw Ranger, Tales From Deadwood and the Walker, Texas Ranger tie-ins. Lee Goldberg, William Rabkin and Livia Reasoner are each co-credited on 1 book.

Christian Jacq

37 books• 7 series

Christian Jacq is a French author and Egyptologist, born in 1947, and ancient Egypt is the subject of the fiction. A five-book sequence on the pharaoh Ramses is the best known work, joined by the Stone of Light, the Mysteries of Osiris, the Judge of Egypt, the Queen of Freedom and the Vengeance of the Gods. The catalogue holds 37 titles from Magic and Mystery in Ancient Egypt (1983) to The Beloved of Isis (2011), non-fiction on hieroglyphics and a Mozart series among them.

James Patrick Hunt wrote 17 catalogued books between 2005 and 2017, in the police procedural and crime field. Series under the Hunt name are Lieutenant George Hastings, Evan Maitland and Dan Bridger. Before They Make You Run (2005) is the first title, and Maitland came out the same year, followed by Maitland Under Siege (2006) and Maitland's Reply (2009). Recorded subjects include police, St. Louis, judges, bounty hunters, fugitives, organized crime and antique dealers. Bridger (2010), The Silent Places (2010) and Bullet Beth (2011) are also listed, and The German (2017) is the last.

Kiran Desai

3 books

Kiran Desai is an Indian author with three catalogued books. Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard (1998) opens the run. The Inheritance of Loss (2005) carried off the Man Booker Prize for 2006 and, in the same year, the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny followed in 2025. The Economic Times named Desai one of 20 most influential global Indian women in 2015. India, orphans, judges and family across generations recur as subjects.