New Mexico book series in reading order

by Michael McGarrity

by Terry C. Johnston

Steven F. Havill writes police procedurals set in New Mexico. Sheriff Bill Gastner is the recurring investigator, alongside the policewoman Estelle Reyes-Guzman. Havill has 34 catalogued books published between 1981 and 2026, from The Killer (1981) to Reverse (2026), sorted into the Posadas County Mysteries, the Bill Gastner Mysteries, the Dr. Thomas Parks books and a set of standalone novels. Westerns sit in the catalogue beside the mysteries, and Havill remains actively publishing.

Connie Shelton writes mysteries with women sleuths. Charlie Parker and Samantha Sweet are the recurring figures, and subjects include women private investigators, women accountants, Albuquerque and New Mexico, missing persons, crime and the occult and supernatural. The 59 catalogued titles open with Deadly Gamble and Vacations Can Be Murder in 1995 and reach Bestsellers Can Be Murder in 2026. Series listed include Samantha Sweet, Heist Ladies Caper Mystery, Ghost in the Library and Adventures of Daisy and Maisie.

Michael McGarrity

19 books• 3 series

New Mexico is the setting for Michael McGarrity's police procedurals, which follow Kevin Kerney from Santa Fe through the state's murder investigations. Tularosa (1996) opens the series, continuing through Mexican Hat, Serpent Gate, Hermit's Peak, The Judas Judge and The Big Gamble. The American West Trilogy and standalone novels bring the catalogue to 19 titles, reaching Night in the City in 2025.

Douglas Preston

54 books• 9 series

Douglas Preston writes thrillers with horror and science fiction edges, built on serial murder, antiquities and government investigation. Aloysius Pendergast is the character the catalogue is best known for, with Nora Kelly, Gideon Crew, Wyman Ford and the Cash & Colcord books beside him. Fifty-seven catalogued titles run from Dinosaurs in the Attic (1986) through Relic (1995) and Riptide (1998) to Pendergast, and Resurrection is scheduled for 2027.

Terry C. Johnston wrote westerns about the American frontier: pioneer life, the wars of the West, and the Plains nations including the Dakota and Crow. His 31 novels appeared between 1982 and 2001, at a median of 469 pages, with the 1990s the densest decade. Titus Bass is his best known recurring character and gives one series its name; The Plainsmen, Son Of The Plains and Jonas Hook are the others. Carry the Wind (1982) opens the catalogue and Turn the Stars Upside Down (2001) closes it. Johnston lived from 1947 to 2001, and more than ten million of his books are in print.

Carla Kelly (Carla Sue Kelly, born 1947) is an American Regency romance writer and a two-time winner of the Romance Writers of America RITA Award. Kelly calls the books "dukeless" regencies, stories of ordinary people solving their own problems. An interest in the American West shapes the earliest work and the nonfiction. Since 2011 Kelly, who has a Mormon background, has written five novels about young Mormon women, among them Borrowed Light and Safe Passage. The site lists 58 books from Daughter of Fortune (1985) to Navy Captain's Convenient Wife (2026).

Aimee Thurlo's catalogue lists 40 books from Fires Within (1984) to Eagle's Last Stand (2014). Navajo and Tewa Indians, New Mexico, police work, US Army Special Forces and romantic suspense are among the recorded subjects. Ella Clah is a recurring character, and the Brotherhood of Warriors also appears among the listed characters. Series include Copper Canyon, Four Winds, Brothers of Rock Ridge, Sign of the Gray Wolf and Long Mountain Heroes. Earlier titles include Black Mesa (1990), Night Wind (1991) and Shadow of the Wolf (1993).

Navajo country supplies both the setting and the subject of Tony Hillerman's mysteries, which follow reservation police and the investigators Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. Hillerman's 34 catalogued books start with The Blessing Way (1970) and close in 2023. Alongside the novels sit essay collections and non-fiction on New Mexico and the Rio Grande, plus short stories and a children's title. The 1990s were the peak decade, and the catalogue is now dormant.

Aaron Elkins, born in Brooklyn on 24 July 1935, is an American mystery writer. The novels featuring forensic anthropologist Gideon Oliver, the skeleton detective, are the best known part of the catalogue, which also runs the Lee Ofsted series, the Chris Norgren Mysteries, the Alix London series and standalone novels. The catalogue lists 35 books, from Fellowship of Fear (1982) to A Long Time Coming (2018). Subjects include college teachers, women golfers and Seattle.

Ralph Cotton (1945-2024) was an American writer of westerns. The debut novel, While Angels Dance: The Life and Times of Jeston Nash, appeared from St. Martin's Press in 1994, and more than 80 novels followed, three of them carrying Ralph Compton's byline after Compton died. 75 titles are catalogued here, through to Gunman's Pass (2022). Ranger Sam Burrack is the recurring lead, with the Jeston Nash, Will Summers, Sherman Dahl, Gun Culture, Long Riders and Dead Or Alive sequences alongside. Arizona Rangers, outlaws, gunfights and frontier life carry the subject tags.

Catherine Palmer writes Christian romance, much of it historical and set in frontier America. The catalogue holds 56 books dated between 1974 and 2010, grouped into Treasures Of The Heart, Town Called Hope, English Ivy and Miss Pickworth. Titles include The Burning Plains (1988), Land of Enchantment (1990), Forbidden (1991), Outlaw Heart (1992) and Gunman's Lady (1993), and the newest listing is The Gunman's Bride (2010). Recorded subjects include marriage, inheritance, pioneer life and American Christmas stories. The list is marked likely complete.

Conrad Richter (1890-1968) was an American novelist of the frontier, writing about pioneer life across several periods and places. The Awakening Land trilogy - The Trees (1940), The Fields (1946) and The Town (1950) - covers the Ohio frontier, and The Town took the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1951. The Waters of Kronos won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1961. The Sea of Grass (1936) opened the catalogue and The Light in the Forest (1953) heads a second series. Eighteen titles are catalogued, story collections published after Richter's death among them.

Lynne Hinton writes about friendship and faith in small American towns. Friendship Cake (2000) opens a run of North Carolina church-community novels, and the Divine Private Detective Agency Mysteries and the Pie Town books, set in New Mexico, follow. Seventeen titles reach O, Biscuit! (2026), and Hinton is listed as actively publishing.