United States marshals book series in reading order

William Wallace Johnstone, October 28, 1938 to February 8, 2004, was an American author of westerns, horror and survivalist fiction. The Devil's Kiss opened the run in 1981, followed by The Last of the Dog Team (1981), Out of the Ashes (1983) and Anarchy in the Ashes (1984). Series filed under the name include Ashes, First Mountain Man, Smoke Jensen, Last Gunfighter, Blood Bond and Duff MacCallister, and subjects include outlaws, frontier and pioneer life, revenge and Texas. The catalogue carries 544 titles under the Johnstone name dated 1981 to 2026, well past the 2004 death date, and 400 of them carry a William W. Johnstone credit.

Delores Fossen writes romantic suspense and Western romance, much of it set in Texas. The catalogue counts 183 books, from Unbridled (1998) and Saddled (2001) to Crossfire Creek Takedown (2026). Series include Lawmen of Silver Creek Ranch, Appaloosa Pass Ranch, Sweetwater Ranch, Wrangler's Creek, Coldwater Texas, Lone Star Ridge, Last Ride, Texas, Marshals of Maverick County and several Hard Justice lines. Sheriffs, pregnant women and amnesia recur across the subjects.

Loren D. Estleman

122 books• 10 series

Loren D. Estleman, born September 15, 1952, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is an American author of detective fiction and westerns. Estleman is known for crime novels featuring Amos Walker, a private investigator, and Detroit recurs in the subject headings. Page Murdock, US Deputy Marshal, Peter Macklin, Valentino and Detroit are the other series. The catalogue counts 122 books from Red Highway (1976) to Man One (2026), and Motor City Blue appeared in 1980.

Robert B. Parker

87 books• 9 series

Robert B. Parker (September 17, 1932 – January 18, 2010) was an American writer working mainly in mystery and detective fiction. The Spenser novels, about a private detective, are Parker's most famous works and inspired the ABC series Spenser: For Hire and a run of TV movies. The Godwulf Manuscript (1973), God Save the Child (1974) and Mortal Stakes (1975) are among the early titles. Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall are further characters, and Virgil Cole & Everett Hitch form another series. Parker's books draw on detailed knowledge of the Boston metropolitan area, and Robert Crais, Harlan Coben and Dennis Lehane are among those who credit the Spenser novels with renewing the detective genre.

Dennis Lehane

19 books• 7 series

Dennis Lehane, born August 4, 1965, is an American novelist and screenwriter. Lehane's first several novels formed a mystery series with recurring characters, among them A Drink Before the War (1994). Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, both private investigators, are named in the subject tags. Mystic River, Shutter Island, Gone, Baby, Gone and Live by Night were each filmed under the same title, and the short story Animal Rescue became the 2014 film The Drop. The catalogue counts 19 books up to Small Mercies (2023), including the Coughlin novels, graphic novels and standalone fiction.

Cowboys, ranchers and ranch life run through Linda Lael Miller's 134 catalogued books, in historical, contemporary and western romance alike. Miller's families and places include the McKettricks, the Montana Creeds, Stone Creek, Springwater Seasons, Painted Pony Creek and the Brides of Bliss County, with a Tremayne vampire sequence off to one side. Desire and Destiny (1983) is the earliest title and The Silver Hills Boarding House the newest.

Lou Prophet, Sheriff Ben Stillman and Gideon Hawk are among the named figures in the westerns of Peter Brandvold, whose subject headings also cover outlaws, sheriffs, bounty hunters, revenge and frontier life. The catalogue counts 86 books from Once a Marshal (1998) to Finn and the Spirit Wolves (2026). Blood Mountain (1999), Dakota Kill (2000), Once a Lawman (2000) and Once Hell Freezes Over (2001) are early titles. Series include Lou Prophet, Sheriff Ben Stillman, Rogue Lawman, Bloody Joe Mannion, .45-Caliber, Rusty Spurr, Bush Riders, Lonnie Gentry, Tom Navarro and Bear Haskell: U.S. Deputy Marshal.

Sigmund Brouwer, born in 1959, is a Canadian author writing for children, young adults and adults, with more than 100 titles and four million books in print. Dead Man's Switch won the 2015 Arthur Ellis Award for best Canadian young adult mystery, and Shock Wave won the same award in 2025. Thief of Glory, a novel for adults, was named Book of the Year at the Christy Awards and also won an Alberta Readers Choice Award. The Last Disciple, co-authored with Hank Hanegraaff, was featured in Time magazine. The catalogue holds 162 books from Lost Beneath Manhattan (1990) to A Dangerous Game (2026), across series such as Accidental Detectives, Mars Diaries, Winds of Light, Lightning on Ice, Cyberquest and Robot Wars.

Greg Rucka

105 books• 35 series

Greg Rucka, born November 29, 1969, is an American novelist and comics writer. The Atticus Kodiak novels carry Rucka's name, as do the creator-owned comics Whiteout, Queen & Country, Stumptown and Lazarus. For DC Comics, Rucka wrote long runs on Detective Comics, Wonder Woman and Gotham Central, and co-created Kate Kane, the second Batwoman; the Marvel work includes Elektra, Wolverine and The Punisher. Crossover material by Rucka includes No Man's Land, Infinite Crisis and New Krypton. The catalogue lists 106 titles from 1994 onward, with Keeper (1996) and Whiteout (1998) among the early entries and a Batwoman collection scheduled for 2027.