Genre

Crime Thriller Books in Order

10 series in crime thriller — each with the full reading order and direct Amazon UK and US links.

Dexter
Jeff Lindsay
Dexter Morgan is a Miami blood-spatter analyst with a secret: he's a serial killer who only targets murderers. Jeff Lindsay's darkly comic series balances forensic procedural with pitch-black character study across eight novels.
8 books · Complete
Jesse Stone
Robert B. Parker
Alcoholic ex-LAPD detective Jesse Stone rebuilds his life as chief of police in Paradise, Massachusetts, where trouble follows him anyway. Robert B. Parker's most introspective hero, continued by Michael Brandman and then Reed Farrel Coleman.
24 books · Ongoing
Linda Castillo (Kate Burkholder)
Linda Castillo
Former Amish woman Kate Burkholder polices the small Ohio town of Painters Mill, where her dual cultural identity gives her unique insight into crimes touching the Amish community. Dark plots, beautifully rendered landscape.
17 books · Ongoing
Lisa Gardner
Lisa Gardner
Lisa Gardner is one of America's premier thriller writers, spinning four interlocking series — from FBI profiler Pierce Quincy to Boston detective D.D. Warren to wandering searcher Frankie Elkin — relentlessly paced and psychologically sharp.
27 books · Ongoing
Longmire (Walt Longmire)
Craig Johnson
Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire solves crimes against breathtaking high-plains landscape, Cheyenne culture, and bone-dry humor in Craig Johnson's beloved series — basis for the hit Netflix show.
27 books · Ongoing
Lucas Davenport (Prey)
John Sandford
Minneapolis detective-turned-U.S. Marshal Lucas Davenport hunts serial killers and organized criminals across one of crime fiction's most durable franchises. One book a year since 1989, no signs of slowing.
36 books · Ongoing
Stuart Woods (Stone Barrington)
Stuart Woods
Stone Barrington is a former NYPD detective turned Manhattan attorney whose jet-set lifestyle keeps colliding with crime and powerful enemies. Stuart Woods wrote prolifically until his 2022 death; Brett Battles continues the series.
68 books · Ongoing
Tony Hillerman (Leaphorn & Chee)
Tony Hillerman
Navajo Tribal Police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee solve crimes on the American Southwest's high desert in Tony Hillerman's landmark 18-novel series, continued by his daughter Anne Hillerman from 2013.
28 books · Ongoing
Will Trent
Karin Slaughter
Karin Slaughter's Atlanta-set crime series follows Will Trent, a dyslexic GBI agent with a haunted past, and his partner Faith Mitchell as they investigate brutal cases across Georgia. Several entries crossover with Slaughter's Grant County series through the character of medical examiner Sara Linton.
14 books · Ongoing
William Kent Krueger
William Kent Krueger
Half-Irish, half-Ojibwe former sheriff Cork O'Connor navigates crime and community in the Minnesota lake country, where Krueger weaves Anishinaabe spirituality into richly human mysteries. His standalone novels, including the Edgar-winning Ordinary Grace, are equally acclaimed.
25 books · Ongoing

Crime Thriller series

Dexter

Jesse Stone

Linda Castillo (Kate Burkholder)

Lisa Gardner

Longmire (Walt Longmire)

Lucas Davenport (Prey)

Stuart Woods (Stone Barrington)

Tony Hillerman (Leaphorn & Chee)

Will Trent

William Kent Krueger

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