Medical book series in reading order

by James White

by Stephen White

Robin Cook

43 books• 4 series

Medical thrillers are Robin Cook's whole catalogue: physicians, forensic pathologists and medical examiners. Cook published The Year of the Intern in 1972 and Coma in 1977, and the run reaches 43 books with Bleed in 2026. Jack Stapleton and Laurie Montgomery lead the longest series, and Marissa Blumenthal and Pia Grazdani head shorter ones. The 1990s were the busiest decade, at 403 pages a book.

Sarah Morgan writes contemporary and medical romance, with 119 books catalogued from Expectant Bride (1999) to The Best Christmas Ever (2026). Physicians, nurses, billionaires and Italians are among the recorded subjects, and early titles include The Doctor's Engagement (2001), The Midwife's Child (2001) and The Greek Tycoon's Bride (2002). Series lines include From Manhattan With Love, Lakeside Mountain Rescue, Glenmore Island Doctors, Cornish Consultants, O'Neil Brothers and Miller Sisters.

Carol Marinelli writes contemporary romance, including medical romance, and has 137 books in the catalogue from The Outback Nurse (2001) to Italian's Cinderella Temptation (2025). Born in England to Scottish parents, Marinelli emigrated to Australia and lives in the outer suburbs of Melbourne. Marinelli first tried writing for Harlequin Mills & Boon while training as a nurse in London and gathered rejections for years before studying the detailed feedback in them. Early titles include The Emergency Assignment and The Pregnant Intern (both 2002). Series include House of Kolovsky, Irresistible Russian Tycoons, Tennengarrah Clinic, Playboys of Sicily and Ruthless Royal Sheikhs.

Medical suspense is Michael Palmer's register, physicians, patients and hospitals, several of them in Boston. The Sisterhood (1982) opens a catalogue of 25 books that runs through Side Effects (1986), Extreme Measures (1991), Silent Treatment (1995) and Miracle Cure (1998) to The First Family in 2018. Dr. Lou Welcome heads the one series, and nothing later than 2018 is catalogued.

Patrick Taylor's Irish Country novels follow two doctors, Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly and Barry Laverty, in rural Northern Ireland. A second line, the Irish Troubles books, turns to political violence. Taylor's catalogue holds 23 titles, from The West Clare Railway (1994) to An Irish Country Yuletide (2021), with short stories and non-fiction alongside. No new Taylor title has appeared since 2021.

Tess Gerritsen

38 books• 6 series

Tess Gerritsen, born Terry Tom on June 12, 1953, is an American novelist who worked as a general physician before retiring from medicine. Gerritsen's 39 catalogued books start with Adventure's Mistress (1985) and continue through The Shadow Friends (2026), with The Italian Affair listed for 2028. Rizzoli & Isles is the recurring pairing named on the page, and Detective Jane Rizzoli appears in the subject tags. Other series are the Martini Club and the Tavistock Family. Subjects range across suspense, thrillers, medical fiction, women forensic scientists and romantic suspense.

F. Paul Wilson

102 books• 26 series

F. Paul Wilson (Francis Paul Wilson, born May 17, 1946) is an American author of horror, adventure, medical thrillers and science fiction, based in Wall, New Jersey. Repairman Jack is the recurring character of novels such as Ground Zero, The Tomb and Fatal Error, and a young adult series follows Jack as a teenager. The Adversary Cycle includes The Keep (1981). Healer (1976) is the first catalogued title. Wilson has won the Prometheus Award, the Bram Stoker Award, the Inkpot Award and the Horror Writers of America Lifetime Achievement Award.

Mignon G. Eberhart was an American mystery novelist, born 6 July 1899 and died 8 October 1996, with a writing career running from the 1920s into the 1980s. Sarah Keate, a nurse, is her recurring detective, introduced in The Patient in Room 18 (1929); Susan Dare heads a second series from The Cases of Susan Dare (1934). Hospitals, Chicago and women sleuths recur in the subjects. The listing holds 66 books through to a 2007 story collection.

Christian medical suspense is the field of Richard L. Mabry, and physicians, including women physicians, are frequent subjects. Mabry's first book, The Tender Scar: Life After the Death of a Spouse (2006), is about bereavement. Code Blue (2009), Medical Error (2010) and Lethal Remedy (2011) follow, and Prescription For Trouble is the series listed. The 22 books close with Medical Mystery (2022).

Harry Kraus writes Christian medical suspense, with physicians, patients and heart transplantation among the recurring subjects. The catalogue lists 19 books from Stainless Steal Hearts (1994) to Between the Gods and Men (2016). Kraus's series is Claire McCall. Other titles include Fated Genes (1996), Lethal Mercy (1997) and Breathing Grace (2007). The 16 books with page counts have a median length of 380 pages.

Medical mysteries define Leonard Goldberg's fiction. His 21 books run from Transplant (1980) to A Scandalous Affair (2025) and divide between two main sequences: the Joanna Blalock novels, which put a forensic pathologist into Los Angeles murder cases, and the Daughter of Sherlock Holmes Mysteries. Standalones and the Dr. David Ballineau and Carolyn Ross books fill out the catalogue, which is still growing.

C.J. Lyons writes medical thrillers and police procedurals. Lifelines (2008) opens 47 catalogued books that stop at Save Her Child (2021). Nine series divide the run, among them the Lucy Guardino FBI Thrillers, Angels of Mercy, Hart and Drake, Caitlyn Tierney FBI Thriller and Fatal Insomnia. Emergency medicine, nurses, women physicians and murder in Pittsburgh supply the material. No title has followed since 2021.

Amy Andrews is an Australian romance author with 99 books in the catalogue, from The Midwife's Miracle Baby (2005) to One Night with the Doctor (2026), and Rough and Ready announced for 2027. Andrews has written contemporary romance for Harlequin Mills & Boon, Entangled, Harper Collins, Momentum, Tule and Escape, with translations into thirteen languages. Andrews spent six years on the national executive of Romance Writers of Australia and served two years as its president. Subjects include medical romance, nurses and physicians. Series include Prognosis, Sydney Smoke Rugby, Outback Heat and Brisbane General Hospital.

Frank G. Slaughter

67 books• 1 series

Frank G. Slaughter (1908-2001) was an American novelist and physician whose books sold more than 60 million copies. Slaughter drew on his medical practice and on his interest in history and the Bible, and his novels often introduced readers to new medical research and technology. He also published as C. V. Terry. The catalogue holds 67 titles, running from Sangaree through Battle Surgeon (1944) to Transplant (1986), and the 1950s were his peak decade.

Freida McFadden is the pen name of Sara Cohen, an American author born on May 1, 1980, who writes psychological thrillers. The catalogue lists 35 books from The Devil Wears Scrubs (2013) through The Witch (2026), with series including Housemaid, Dr. Jane McGill and Pick Your Poison Adventure. The Housemaid (2022) became an international bestseller, and a 2025 feature film adaptation stars Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney. Subjects attached to the books range from medical and humor to crime and suspense. McFadden is still publishing.

Gilbert Morris produced Christian historical fiction at length: 248 catalogued books between 1977 and 2014. The House of Winslow follows one family across American history; the Appomattox Saga and Bonnets & Bugles take up the Civil War; Cheney Duvall, M.D. follows a woman physician; the Seven Sleepers, Dixie Morris and Too Smart Jones series sit alongside, with children's fiction among the subjects. The catalogue opens with Race Against Time (1977), reaches Raina's Choice, and is listed as likely complete.

Betty Neels (15 September 1909 - 7 June 2001) was an English author of more than 134 romance novels, born in Leyton. Mills & Boon published the novels first in the United Kingdom, and Harlequin reprinted them in North America. Neels wrote from 1969 until death, and the books are noted for being especially chaste. The catalogue lists 140 books, including Nurse in Holland (1969), Sister Peters in Amsterdam (1969) and Tempestuous April (1970). Doctors, nurses, surgeons and the Netherlands recur in the subjects, and Dr Fforde is a named series.

Peter Telep is an American author, screenwriter and teacher, born in 1965, who has written more than 50 books and collaborated with Tom Clancy. Military fiction is the main strand: the United States Marine Corps, terrorism, search and rescue, and men's adventure recur as subjects, and Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell appear among the character entries. This catalogue holds 34 titles published between 1995 and 2017, from Space: Above and Beyond (1995) to Doc Harrison and the Prophecy of Halsparr (2017). Force 5 Recon, Armored Corps, the Squire Trilogy, Scott St. Andrew, Night Angel 9, Special Forces Afghanistan, Secret Corps and Doc Harrison are the listed series. Telep teaches at the University of Central Florida.

Northern Irish science fiction author James White (7 April 1928 – 23 August 1999) was born in Belfast and spent part of his childhood in Canada. White worked at the Belfast aircraft company Short Brothers Ltd. from 1965 until 1984, retiring early because of diabetes. Sector General is his best known series, and space medicine and human-alien encounters are recurring subjects. The catalogue holds 26 books from The Secret Visitors (1957) to Double Contact (1999), including Hospital Station and Star Surgeon. White was also a science fiction fan who co-wrote two fanzines.

Don Donaldson is the author of the Andy Broussard & Kit Franklyn series, with 15 books catalogued from 1988 to 2017. Andy Broussard and Kit Franklyn are the fictitious characters named in the subjects, alongside medical examiners, forensic pathologists and psychologists. Louisiana and Cajuns also appear, under mystery and medical thriller tags. Cajun Nights (1988) is the first title, followed by Blood on the Bayou (1991), No Mardi Gras For The Dead (1992) and New Orleans Requiem (1994). Assassination at Bayou Sauvage (2017) is the final listed book.

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.

Lisa Genova writes fiction about neurological illness and the people living with it. Alzheimer's disease, patients and memory head the subject list. Seven titles are catalogued: Still Alice (2007), Left Neglected (2011), Love Anthony (2012), Inside the O'Briens (2015), Every Note Played (2018), the non-fiction Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting (2021) and More or Less Maddy (2025).

Alan Gregory is a clinical psychologist in Boulder, Colorado, and every one of Stephen White's 20 catalogued books is built around him. Privileged Information (1991) opens the run and Compound Fractures (2013) closes it. Forensic psychology and psychological suspense supply the plots, through Private Practices, Higher Authority, Harm's Way, Remote Control and Cold Case.

Ben Bova

138 books• 17 series

Ben Bova, born Benjamin William Bova on November 8, 1932, was an American writer and editor whose career lasted 60 years; Bova died on November 29, 2020. As editor of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Bova won the Hugo Award six times, later served as editorial director of Omni, and was president of both the National Space Society and the Science Fiction Writers of America. The catalogue holds 138 books of science fiction and science fact, from The Star Conquerors (1959) to Pluto (2025). Non-fiction such as The Milky Way Galaxy (1961) sits beside series including Grand Tour, Orion, Kinsman, Sam Gunn, Jake Ross and the Star Quest Trilogy. Subjects name space opera, lunar bases, space stations and space colonies.