Production and direction book series in reading order

Melody Carlson, born March 2, 1956 in San Francisco, is an American author of more than 250 books for women, teens and children, including the Diary of a Teenage Girl series. The catalogue lists 298 books from 1995, when Contemplative Bible Reading and How to Start a Quality Childcare Business in Your Home appeared, to All Booked Up (2026). Series include Carter House Girls, On The Runway, TrueColors, 86 Bloomberg Place, Secret Life of Samantha McGregor, Beary Patch Bears and Fruit Troops. Subjects include Christian life, high schools, friendship, Bible stories and stories in rhyme. Carlson grew up in Springfield, Oregon, attended Lane Community College and lives in Sisters, Oregon.

Franklin W. Dixon is the author name on the Hardy Boys books, and the catalogue lists 473 titles under the Dixon name from 1927 to 2023. The Tower Treasure, The House on the Cliff and The Secret of the Old Mill all date from 1927. Dixon series include Hardy Boys Casefiles, Hardy Boys Adventures, Hardy Boys: Undercover Brothers, Hardy Boys: Secret Files and Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Super Mystery, plus the Ted Scott Flying Stories. Undercover Bookworms (2023) is the newest title.

Across 194 catalogued books, Danielle Steel writes contemporary romance and family drama: love stories, marriages, widowhood and the turns that reshape a life. The run starts with Going Home (1973) and continues through Celebration, with 24 Hours scheduled for 2027. Steel's catalogue also holds children's picture books, short stories and non-fiction beside the standalone novels that make up most of it.

Carolyn Keene is a Stratemeyer Syndicate pen name, the credit on the Nancy Drew mysteries. Mildred Wirt Benson, one of the writers behind the name, used it from 1929 to 1953 and contributed to 23 of the first 30 Nancy Drew books. The catalogue lists 647 Carolyn Keene books, beginning with The Secret of the Old Clock, The Hidden Staircase and The Bungalow Mystery (all 1930) and reaching Vans & Villains (2026). Series include Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, Nancy Drew Files, Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, Nancy Drew Diaries, Nancy Drew: Girl Detective and Dana Girls Mystery Stories.

John A. Russo

44 books• 2 series

John A. Russo, born in 1939 and sometimes credited as Jack Russo or John Russo, is an American novelist, screenwriter and film director. Russo co-wrote the screenplay for Night of the Living Dead (1968) with its director, George A. Romero, and afterwards became an author of horror fiction. The catalogue holds 44 books published between 1974 and 2024, opening with Night of the Living Dead (1974) and taking in Return of the Living Dead (1979), Midnight (1980), Black Cat (1982) and Day Care (1985) before Dead Time in Deadwood (2024). Subjects cover horror comics and graphic novels, horror films, independent film-makers, and motion picture production and direction. Living Dead is recorded as a character entry.

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.

Alan Bradley (October 10, 1938 to May 18, 2026) was a Canadian mystery writer and the creator of Flavia de Luce. The Flavia de Luce series began with The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (2009). Bradley's 18 catalogued books start earlier, with the non-fiction Ms Holmes of Baker Street: The Truth About Sherlock (1989), and end with Numb Were the Beadsman's Fingers (2026). Murder, investigation, girls and England are among the subjects.

Jen Calonita is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of books for teens and middle grade readers, with sales above one million copies and translations into 15 languages. A Boston College graduate, Calonita worked as an entertainment journalist at Teen People, which inspired Secrets of My Hollywood Life (2007); that first book won the Louisiana Young Readers Award and grew into a six-book series. The catalogue counts 46 books through Practically Magic (2026), with The Vanishing Isle listed for 2027. Other series include Fairy Tale Reform School, Disney's Lost Legends, Isle of Ever, Royal Academy Rebels and Enchanters.

Dan Gutman

198 books• 23 series

Dan Gutman is an American writer of mainly children's fiction, born in 1955. The best-known lines are the My Weird School books, The Genius Files and the Baseball Card Adventures, which began with Honus & Me. The catalogue holds 198 books from It Ain't Cheating If You Don't Get Caught (1990) to Mrs. Towne Is a Clown! (2026), including early baseball titles such as Baseball Babylon (1992). Subjects include schools, teachers, baseball, time travel and humorous stories.

Tanya Huff

67 books• 13 series

Tanya Huff, born in 1957, is a Canadian fantasy author published since the late 1980s. The Blood Books, whose detective is Vicki Nelson, were adapted for television as Blood Ties. The catalogue records 67 books from Child of the Grove (1988) to Saved by the Spell (2026), with Vicki Nelson, Confederation, Quarters, Peacekeeper, Smoke Trilogy, Gale Women and Wizard of the Grove among the series listed. Vampires, wizards, witches and life on other planets appear in the recorded subjects, and Doctor Who and Valdemar are also logged against the listing.

Don DeLillo

23 books• 2 series

Don DeLillo is an American novelist, short-story writer, playwright and essayist whose subjects reach across consumerism, nuclear war, language, art, television, mathematics, politics and sport. White Noise (1985) brought wide recognition and the National Book Award for fiction, and Libra (1988) followed, a novel about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Twenty-two books are catalogued between Americana (1971) and The Silence (2020), taking in End Zone (1972), Ratner's Star (1976), Players (1978) and The Names (1982). New York settings and psychological fiction recur as subjects.

Brian Selznick

12 books

Brian Selznick is an American author and illustrator of children's books. The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007) took the 2008 Caldecott Medal for picture book illustration, and Wonder Struck (2011), The Marvels (2015) and Kaleidoscope (2021) follow it. Selznick's catalogue holds 12 books dated 1991 to 2025, opening with The Houdini Box (1991) and The Robot King (1995), with subjects covering magicians, robots, motion pictures, and brothers and sisters. Run Away with Me (2025) is the newest.

Elisabetta Dami

309 books• 22 series

Elisabetta Dami, born 1 January 1958, is an Italian children's author known for the Geronimo Stilton book series. The catalogue credits Dami with 309 books from 1998 to 2026. Titles from 2000 include Lost Treasure of the Emerald Eye, Attack Of The Bandit Cats and Four Mice Deep in the Jungle. Other listings include Geronimo Stilton: Thea Stilton, Mouseford Academy, Kingdom Of Fantasy, Geronimo Stilton Cavemice, Geronimo Stilton Spacemice and Creepella von Cacklefur. Subjects include mice, journalists, time travel and humorous stories. The Legend of Chocolate Hills (2026) is the newest title.

Charlotte Lamb is the best-known pen name of Sheila Ann Mary Coates Holland (22 December 1937 to 8 October 2000), a British novelist. Books also appeared under the married and maiden names Sheila Holland and Sheila Coates and under the pen names Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Woolf and Laura Hardy. The catalogue holds 158 books beginning in 1972, when Prisoner of the Heart and Love In A Mist appeared as Sheila Holland and A Crown Usurped as Sheila Coates. Subjects include contemporary and historical romance, revenge, forbidden love and amnesia, and the series listed are Barbary Wharf and Enemies & Lovers. The writers Sarah Holland and Jane Holland are Lamb's daughters.

John Gaspard writes two kinds of books: guides to low-budget filmmaking and mystery novels. Fast, Cheap, and Under Control (2006) and Fast, Cheap & Written That Way (2007) cover film production and screenwriting. Mystery titles include The Ambitious Card (2013), The Bullet Catch and The Miser's Dream. Gaspard's series are Eli Marks Mystery, Young Eli Marks Mystery and Como Lake Players Mystery. The catalogue holds 23 books from Persistence of Vision (1995) to The Curious Mysteries of Eli Marks (2023).