David Wolf Books in Order: How to read Jeff Carson’s Series?

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Written by Jeff Carson, the David Wolf Series is an adventure/thriller series full of action, mystery, and suspense, but also with a bit of humor and romance.

The series is set in the high country of Colorado and the Mountain West. David Wolf is the sheriff of Sluice County SD headquartered in the ski resort town of Rocky Points. With his deputies, he hunts criminals and solves mysteries.

How to read the David Wolf Series in Order?

Every entry in the David Wolf book series works as a standalone story, but the lives of the different characters evolve from one novel to the other.

  1. Gut DecisionA prequel short story. After six tours as an Army Ranger, David Wolf is finally back home in Rocky Points, Colorado, where he’s in his third week of training for the Sluice County Sheriff’s Department.
  2. Foreign Deceit – As if narrowly escaping an attempt on his life, his addict ex-wife being back in the picture, and complications to his all-but-certain appointment to sheriff weren’t enough, Sergeant David Wolf’s just received word that his brother has committed suicide in the Alps of Italy. Devastation and resentment over his only sibling’s selfish act quickly gives way to a nagging suspicion that he isn’t getting the whole truth.
  3. The Silversmith – Deputy David Wolf has waited sixteen years to follow in his father’s footsteps and be appointed Sheriff of the Sluice County sheriff’s department, headquartered in the ski resort town of Rocky Points, Colorado. But instead of the dream job, he’s offered something else. When Wolf refuses, and a dead body shows up with clues pointing to Wolf as the culprit, he soon finds himself chased by his own department.
  4. Alive and Killing – When a man with fresh burns turns up on their trail, falling from the heavy load in his backpack and running wild from something, Sheriff David Wolf suspects the camping trip may have taken a turn for the worse. Unfortunately, his instincts are spot on, and Wolf is forced into action with the last person he wants by his side in a deadly battle. When news of their episode travels through the valleys, local FBI agents want to take over the investigation.
  1. Deadly Conditions – The ski resort town of Rocky Points, Colorado has just been hit with an epic snowstorm, and when a plow uncovers a young woman brutally murdered and marked with a cryptic message, Sheriff David Wolf and his deputies are left scrambling to find a killer before he strikes again. Wolf will stop at nothing to halt the fear running rampant through Rocky Points, which means he needs to find the killer, and fast.
  2. Cold Lake – A fisherman reels in a plastic bag containing a severed human head from the depths of Cold Lake, Colorado. When Sheriff David Wolf and his deputies scramble to the scene, they quickly find more surprises lurk below. Their grim discoveries reopen a cold case Wolf’s father worked twenty-two years ago, and Wolf must try to succeed where his father failed before him. Wolf has the advantage on his dad, however, because he has bodies. Lots of them.
  3. Smoked Out – With over a dozen mending bones and other injuries wreaking havoc on his body, along with a shredded spirit twisting his sanity, David Wolf is in no shape for any sort of action. But when FBI surveillance units move into the valley and surround his house, it seems he’s about to have no choice. Wolf quickly learns, however, things are not what they seem, and a trap has been set with him as the prey.
  1. To the Bone – Chief Detective David Wolf’s son has a new girlfriend, and when she discovers her father has been murdered, she and the rest of her shattered family turn to Wolf to bring them justice. With the help of a small town sheriff and a retired police dog named Jet, Wolf follows the clues to a dig site in western Colorado, where secrets have been entombed for eons, and people are dying to keep them that way.
  2. Dire – When a man careens off the road into the frigid waters of the Chautauqua River, Chief Detective David Wolf risks his own life to bring the man to shore. News of Wolf’s bravery travels fast through the burgeoning ski town of Rocky Points, Colorado, and before long he’s pulled into the political grinder, where candidates are eager to exploit Wolf’s character for their own gain. Injured as well in the process, it seems his heroic deed was some cruel twist of fate, that is, until he meets Lauren Coulter, a new girl in town and a nurse at the local hospital.
  3. Signature – Chief Detective David Wolf is called to a crime scene next to the Chautauqua River, where a woman resident of Rocky Points has been murdered. The killer has left a well-known signature not seen for years–a severed ear. For Wolf, the gruesome display is a surprise, but so is the FBI beating the local department to the scene. While the town reels with panic, Wolf learns the latest victim was dating an SBCSD deputy whose past directly links to similar killings in the Four Corners area.
  1. Dark Mountain – When a dead body is discovered stuffed inside a car trunk in the forest outside Rocky Points, Colorado, Chief Detective David Wolf finds himself involved in a case that will rock the local community. But as details emerge, the tension rises higher when it’s clear the driver’s last client was Tom Rachette, Wolf’s loyal detective. Worse yet, Detective Rachette is no longer answering his phone. At the same time, Wolf gets a cryptic email that jars loose war memories he’d rather forget.
  2. Rain – A woman crashes her car near the scenic Colorado ski resort town of Rocky Points and slips into a coma after suffering head trauma. The Sluice-Byron County first responders discover she’s stolen her vehicle from central Washington and doctors find her body is riddled with wounds that have nothing to do with the collision. Chief Detective David Wolf of Rocky Points is two days from getting married when he learns the crash victim’s identity as Special Agent Kristen Luke of the FBI–Wolf’s colleague and former lover.
  3. Drifted – A Rocky Points businessman goes missing. But the answers are hard to come by, and Chief Detective David Wolf’s personal problems aren’t making investigating any easier for him and his team. As the temperatures rise in the Chautauqua Valley, the most important clue emerges from the melting drifts. At the same time, Wolf’s memories surface from the shadowy depths of his mind and back into his life. Even for a man with Wolf’s history, dealing with the case and facing his demons head-on proves too much, and Wolf is brought to his knees, both physically and mentally.
  1. Divided Sky – One man is dead and another is missing down south near Ridgway, Colorado. When the local law enforcement reaches out to Chief Detective David Wolf’s department, his task is to check on former-sheriff Harold “Hal” Burton. Because a person of interest in the case has also gone missing–Burton’s estranged nephew, Jesse. Out of loyalty to his old boss, Wolf is sucked into the case, and it soon becomes clear there is more going on than meets the eye.
  2. In the Ground – When diggers at a high altitude surface mine exhume the corpse of one of their workers, the Sluice-Byron SD is called to the scene. Upon arrival, detectives find answers are hard to come by, but one thing’s for certain-they are looking at murder. David Wolf, now acting interim sheriff, is finding this second time around running the show less desirable than the last, so when a spot opens up in the investigation he wastes no time jumping into the action.
  3. High Road – When a sheriff’s son is found dead in a neighboring county to the south, clues show foul-play. Led by the same sheriff now doubling as a father hell-bent on vengeance, the investigation turns violent, pushing the local district attorney north to Rocky Points for help. They need somebody with an outside perspective to lead the investigation, and Chief Detective David Wolf is just their man.
  1. Dead Canyon – When a drug runner on pre-trial release disappears, nobody’s surprised in Sluice-Byron county. What is shocking, however, is when Wolf finds the man’s severed foot, tracking ankle bracelet still attached. It looks like somebody has come to retrieve their man, and make a statement while doing so.
  2. Echoes Fade – Detective David Wolf’s slow winter in the Colorado Rockies is interrupted by two events: a mountain lion attack in a remote trailer park, and a wealthy man coming into headquarters to report the robbery of three valuable paintings.

If you like our article about the David Wolf reading order, don’t forget to bookmark it! You may be interested in the Joe Pickett series or the Walt Longmire books.

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One Comment

  1. I am know reading book #11 in your series about David Wolf – I have a hard time putting the books down and want to read more. Please add me to your list of permanent readers and keep me up to date on each new book.

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