Jeffery Deaver Books in Order (Lincoln Rhyme, Colter Shaw, Kathryn Dance)

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Born in 1950, Jeffery Deaver is an American mystery and crime writer. He always wanted to become a writer and wrote his first story at age eleven. But before embracing that path, Deaver worked as a journalist, folk singer, and then an attorney. Now, he’s, of course, a successful author, with his books sold in 150 countries and translated into twenty-five languages. He is most famous for his Lincoln Rhyme series, featuring Lincoln Rhyme, a quadriplegic detective, and NYPD Detective Amelia Sachs.

How to read Jeffery Deaver’s Books in Order?

Reading The Rune Trilogy

  1. Manhattan Is My Beat (1988) – Rune becomes the obsessed with the murder of one of the customers at her video store. Mr Kelly had been renting the classic noir movie – MANHATTAN IS MY BEAT – over and over again and she swiftly becomes convinced that the secret to his brutal death is hidden in its black-and-white frames. But what she doesn’t realise is that her interest is going to bring her far close to the killer than she ever could have wanted.
  2. Death of a Blue Movie Star (1990) – The explosion of the Velvet Venus Theater, an X-rated movie house, makes twenty-one-year-old Rune determined to create a documentary on adult films, but she soon discovers that she is also tracking a killer.
  3. Hard News (1991) – Working as an assistant camera operator for a major news network, Rune discovers a tape in the network’s archives of a man convicted of murder, and, convinced of his innocence, she begins resurrecting the old murder case

Reading the John Pellam series (aka the Location Scout series) (as by William Jefferies)

  1. Shallow Graves (1992) – John Pellam had a promising career as a Hollywood stuntman, until a tragedy sidetracked him. Now he’s a divorced, hard-living location scout who travels the country in search of shooting sites, and pulling his camper into any small town brings out the locals seeking their fifteen minutes of fame. But behind an idyllic locale in upstate New York is a hotbed of violence, lust, and conspiracy, and Pellam is thrust into the heart of an unfolding drama and the search for a killer when a brutal murder has him hunting down justice on behalf of a dear friend.
  2. Bloody River Blues (1993) – Hard-living Hollywood location scout John Pellam found the perfect backwater Missouri town for shooting a retro gangster film. But when real bullets leave two people dead and one cop paralyzed, Pellam-an unwitting witness to the brutal hits-is suddenly the South’s most wanted man. The feds and local police want him to talk. Mob enforcers want him silenced. And a mysterious blonde just wants him. Trapped in a town full of sinister secrets and deadly deceptions, Pellam must focus on facing down a killer before his own story fades to black.
  3. Hell’s Kitchen (2001) – Every New York City neighborhood has a story, but what John Pellam uncovers in Hell’s Kitchen has a darkness all its own. The Hollywood location scout and former stuntman is in the Big Apple hoping to capture the unvarnished memories of longtime Kitchen residents such as Ettie Washington in a no-budget documentary film. But when a suspicious fire ravages the elderly woman’s crumbling tenement, Pellam realizes that someone might want the past to stay buried. As more buildings and lives go up in flames, Pellam takes to the streets, seeking the twisted pyromaniac who sells services to the highest bidder.
  4. Paradice (2013) – Short Story published in Triple Threat. John finds himself stuck in a remote Colorado town, accused of murder.

The Lincoln Rhyme Series

Lincoln Rhyme was NYPD Homicide Detective until after an accident that left him completely paralyzed from the neck down. Now, he still works with the police department as a Forensic Consultant. Of course, he needs help to do the leg work and, for that, he is partnered with Amelia Sachs who acts as his substitute as she walks crime scenes.

To know more about it, take a look at our guide to the Lincoln Rhyme series.

  1. The Bone Collector (1997)
  2. The Coffin Dancer (1998)
  3. The Empty Chair (2000)
  4. The Stone Monkey (2002)
  5. The Vanished Man (2003) – includes an appearance by Parker Kincaid.
  6. The Christmas Present (2003) – Short story published in Twisted.
  7. The Twelfth Card (2005) – includes an appearance by Parker Kincaid.
  8. The Cold Moon (2006) – First appearance of Kathryn Dance.
  9. Locard’s Principle (2006) – Short story published in More Twisted.
  10. The Broken Window (2008)
  11. The Burning Wire (2010)
  12. A Textbook Case (2013) – Short story.
  13. The Kill Room (2013)
  14. Rhymes with Prey (2014) – Short story co-written with John Sandford. Crossover with the Prey series.
  15. The Skin Collector (2014)
  16. The Deliveryman (2016) – Short story.
  17. The Steel Kiss (2016)
  18. The Burial Hour (2017)
  19. The Cutting Edge (2018)
  20. A Perfect Plan (2021) – Short story.
  21. The Midnight Lock (2020)
  22. Swiping Hearts (2023) – Short story.
  23. The Watchmaker’s Hand (2023)

Also, Parker Kincaid has been the star of one book before making appearances in the Lincoln Rhyme series:

  1. The Devil’s Teardrop (1999) – includes a scene with Lincoln Rhyme. After an early morning machine-gun attack by a madman called the Digger leaves dozens dead in the Washington, D.C., subway, the mayor’s office receives a message demanding twenty million dollars by midnight or more innocents will die. It is New Year’s Eve, and with the ransom note as the only evidence, Special Agent Margaret Lukas calls upon retired FBI agent and the nation’s premier document examiner Parker Kincaid to join the manhunt for the Digger – or for hundreds, the first moments of the new year will be their last on earth.

Reading the Sanchez & Heron Series in Order

A new series co-written with Isabella Maldonado.

  1. Fatal Intrusion (2024) – Carmen Sanchez is a tough Homeland Security agent who plays by the rules. But when her sister is attacked, revealing a connection to a series of murders across Southern California, she realizes a conventional investigation will not be enough to stop the ruthless perpetrator. With nowhere else to turn, Sanchez enlists the aid of Professor Jake Heron, a brilliant and quirky private security expert who, unlike Sanchez, believes rules are merely suggestions. The two have a troubled past, but he owes her a favor and she’s cashing in. They team up to catch the assailant, who, mystifyingly, has no discernable motive and fits no classic criminal profile. All they have to go on is a distinctive tattoo and a singular obsession that gives this chillingly efficient tactician his nickname: Spider.

Reading The Kathryn Dance Series in Order

  1. The Sleeping Doll (2007) – includes a brief appearance by Lincoln Rhyme. California Bureau of Investigation interrogator and body language expert Kathryn Dance works to recapture a dangerous escaped killer with the help of three victims from his former cult and the lone survivor from a family he slaughtered.
  2. Roadside Crosses (2009) – When a troubled teenager is pushed over the edge by cyber-bullies, he plots a violent revenge for which he plants roadside crosses throughout the Monterey peninsula, a situation for which body-language expert Kathryn Dance and Monterey County Sheriff’s Senior Deputy Michael O’Neil race against the clock to stop the youth from acting on his rage.
  3. XO (2012) – includes a brief appearance by Lincoln Rhyme. Kayleigh Towne is gorgeous with a voice that is taking her to the heights of the country pop charts. Her hit single “Your Shadow” puts her happily in the spotlight, until an innocent exchange with one of her fans leads Kayleigh into a dark and terrifying realm. The fan warns, “I’m coming for you,” and soon accidents happen and people close to Kayleigh die. Special Agent Kathryn Dance must use her considerable skills at investigation and body language analysis to stop the stalker – but before long she learns that, like many celebrities, Kayleigh has more than just one fan with a mission.

  1. Fast (2013) – Short Story published in Triple Threat. The special agent race against time to stop a terrorist group plotting to kill 200 innocent people.
  2. Solitude Creek (2015) – A tragedy occurs at a small concert venue on the Monterey Peninsula. Cries of “fire” are raised and, panicked, people run for the doors, only to find them blocked. A half dozen people die and others are seriously injured. But it’s the panic and the stampede that killed them; there was no fire. Kathryn Dance discovers that the stampede was caused intentionally and that the perpetrator, a man obsessed with turning people’s own fears and greed into weapons, has more attacks planned. She and her team must race against the clock to find where he will strike next before more innocents die.

Reading The Colter Shaw Series in Order

  1. The Deadline Clock (2022) – Novella. A serial kidnapper is on the loose in a small town in Maine, targeting wealthy women and demanding a huge ransom in bitcoin for their safe return. When his latest victim’s husband claims that he can’t come up with the money, the word “deadline” takes on a disturbingly literal meaning. The local police are out of their depth, but Colter Shaw takes the lead in the investigation. Soon, he’s using his survivalist instincts to uncover clues and pursue suspects, putting his own life on the line to catch the would-be killer before the countdown hits zero.
  2. Captivated (2019) – Short Story. Colter Shaw is a career “reward-seeker”, making his living traveling the country and locating missing persons, collecting reward money in return. A wealthy entrepreneur hires him to track down his wife, an enigmatic artist who vanished one month before.
  3. The Never Game (2019) – A young woman has gone missing in Silicon Valley and her father has hired Colter Shaw to find her. But what seems a simple investigation quickly thrusts him into the dark heart of America’s tech hub and the cutthroat billion-dollar video-gaming industry.
  4. The Second Hostage (2020) – Short Story. A man is holding a hostage in a lakeside cabin, and the Humble police need Shaw’s experience and know-how to assess the situation, and the captor’s motives. As Shaw begins negotiating, he begins to realize that nothing about the hostage situation is as it seems, including the hostage himself.
  5. The Goodbye Man (2020) – In the wilderness of Washington State, expert tracker Colter Shaw has located two young men accused of a terrible hate crime. But when his pursuit takes a shocking and tragic turn, Shaw becomes desperate to discover what went so horribly wrong and if he is to blame.
  1. Forgotten (2021) – Short Story. A teenage boy has been arrested and convicted of murder, but his parents are convinced that he didn’t commit the crime–and offer a reward to anyone who can prove it. Colter’s investigation into the murder, the shooting of a local drug dealer, brings him deep into a small-town conspiracy, with plenty of members who will go to any lengths to keep Shaw from learning the truth.
  2. The Final Twist (2021) – Colter Shaw finds himself in San Francisco, where he has taken on the mission his father began years ago: finding a missing courier bag containing evidence that will bring down a corporate espionage firm responsible for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of deaths.
  3. Hunting Time (2022) – Allison Parker is on the run with her teenage daughter, Hannah, and Colter Shaw has been hired by her eccentric boss, entrepreneur Marty Harmon, to find and protect her. Though he’s an expert at tracking missing persons–even those who don’t wish to be found–Shaw has met his match in Allison, who brings all her skills as a brilliant engineer designing revolutionary technology to the game of evading detection.

Reading The Broken Doll Series in Order

The Broken Doll collection is a series of interconnected short stories by Jeffery Deaver about killers and prey, justice and revenge, that can be read or listened to in a single breathless experience–they are “short reads,” stories read in 90 minutes or less.

  1. The Pain Hunter (2022) – A violent jailbreak bleeds into a street fair in Wisconsin. In the wake of the carnage, a getaway van barrels down a rural highway. Inside are two men with a tenuous bond: an obsession with pain. One is Paul Offenbach, a sadistic crime boss with a life-threatening bullet wound. The other is his hostage, Dr. Stuart Collier, now faced with a harrowing ethical quandary. Mile by mile, as a calculated battle of wills and wits plays out, the killer plots his next move. So does the doctor, sworn to do no harm but desperate to escape.
  2. Dodge (2022) – Nothing can stop an avenging vigilante from channeling her rage-or pursuing her prey. Not the relentless cops in her rearview. Not the cunning and elusive sociopath she’s closing in on. A robbery goes awry. A female deputy is tortured and murdered. The killer, hiding in plain sight, has officials in rural Wisconsin under his thumb-except for Special Agent Constant Marlowe, on an unsanctioned mission to avenge her friend’s death. Constant isn’t letting a notorious sadist like Paul Offenbach get away. Traps are set. A cat-and-mouse game begins. Both hunter and hunted are ready to play.
  1. Execution Day (2022) – When justice is on the line, the courtroom becomes a battleground for a prosecutor obsessed with victory, a defense attorney hired to thwart it and a wily defendant making a bid for freedom. Steven Ross, a family man from a small midwestern town, has been arrested for murder. Evidence suggests he’s an accomplice of the sadistic killer Paul Offenbach. County district attorney Evan Quill believes in his heart that Ross is guilty, but as the trial unfolds, doubts emerge. He presses forward anyway, in a legal fencing match against a brilliant big-city defense attorney. Will Quill’s uncompromising beliefs put an innocent man in jail? Or will a misstep let a killer go free?
  2. Sixty-One Seconds (2022) – The hunter has captured her prey, and a sociopathic crime boss faces justice at last. But it’s not the end of the story. On a crowded street, gunfire and death are waiting to explode. A festive street fair is underway in the shadow of the courthouse where a judge has just signed an extradition order. Paul Offenbach is escorted outside in handcuffs to a police cruiser-with another trick up his sleeve no one expects. In a matter of seconds, the killer is free, a hostage is taken from his family and Special Agent Constant Marlowe has lost her bid for justice. But is this the final chapter? As the lives of the guilty, the innocent and the vengeful converge, the winner remains uncertain.

The James Bond Series


Stand-alone works by Jeffery Deaver

  • Voodoo (1988) (as by Jeffery Wilds Deaver) – It started with a tourist’s brush with evil on a sun-drenched Caribbean island, and Eleanor Bowers thought that the dark spot on her vacation was best forgotten. But a savage and ancient power has come home to New York with her, and soon the city’s pulse throbs to a primitive beat.
  • Always a Thief (1988) (as by Jeffery Wilds Deaver) – Joseph Packer is by day a successful gallery owner, by night a cat burglar who specializes in stolen art – leads a life surrounded by famous paintings. But when a millionaire is gunned down over a stolen masterpiece that Packer delivered, his game of adventure turns deadly in a world of beautiful women and violent killers.
  • Mistress of Justice (1992) – When Mitchell Reece asks her to help him locate a missing bond that could cost him a multimillion-dollar case, Wall Street paralegal secretary Taylor Lockwood jumps at the chance of working side by side with the handsome, young attorney.
  • The Lesson of Her Death (1993) – While investigating the murder of a young woman, police detective Bill Corde realizes that the killer has turned his attention to Bill and his family.
  • Praying for Sleep (1994) – Michael Hrubeck, a twenty-eight-year-old man with childlike yearnings, escapes from a hospital for the criminally insane and sets out to find the woman who named him as the Indian Leap State Park murderer.
  • A Maiden’s Grave (1995) – Somewhere on the flat Kansas landscape, a school bus carrying 8 deaf schoolgirls and their teachers brakes suddenly. Waiting are 3 ruthless men, just escaped from prison. And now, the girls are their hostages. Convicted killer Lou Handy promises that he and his crew will kill a girl each hour unless the FBI, led by negotiator Arthur Potter, cuts a deal to avoid the bloodbath.
  • Speaking in Tongues (1995) – The disappearance of his teenage daughter pits prosecutor Tate Collier against Aaron Matthews, a Harvard-educated psychiatrist consumed with revenge.
  • The Devil’s Teardrop (1999) – In the final hours of December 31, 1999, the Washington, D.C., police are called in to investigate a horrifying mass murder and must try to prevent further killings, and their only clue is a ticking clock.
  • The Blue Nowhere (2001) – A notorious computer hacker is cutting down people all over the Silicon Valley but L.A.P.D. Computer Crimes geek and former felon Wyatt Gillette is on the warpath hoping to bring him down.
  • Garden of Beasts (2004) – Reputed for his vow to take only morally righteous assignments in 1936 New York City, a German-American hit man is forced by the government to pose as an Olympic contender and kill a member of Hitler’s regime.
  • The Chopin Manuscript (2008) – It is a collaboration by 15 thriller writers. Jeffery Deaver conceived the characters and set the plot in motion; the other authors each wrote a chapter in turn. Deaver then completed what he started, bringing The Chopin Manuscript to its conclusion.
  • The Bodies Left Behind (2008) – Arriving at a deserted lake house to investigate an aborted call to police, Deputy Anna McCafferty walks into the middle of a heinous crime and is deprived of her weapon, car, and phone, forced to flee, along with the twenty-five-year-old daughter of the murdered couple, into the surrounding forest to escape the perpetrators who must eliminate any potential witnesses.
  • Edge (2010) – Behind the well-known U.S. security organizations-the FBI and CIA among them-lies a heavily guarded, anonymous government agency dedicated to intelligence surveillance and to a highly specialized brand of citizen protection. Shock waves of alarm ripple through the clandestine agency when Washington, D.C., police detective Ryan Kessler inexplicably becomes the target of Henry Loving, a seasoned, ruthless “lifter” hired to obtain information using whatever means necessary.
  • No Rest for the Dead (2011) – More than twenty New York Times bestselling authors team up to create a serial novel, a tale of vengeance, greed, and love
  • The October List (2013) – Two days ago, Gabriela’s life was normal. Then, out of the blue, she gets word that her six-year-old daughter has been taken. She’s given an ultimatum: pay half a million dollars and find a mysterious document known as the “October List” within 30 hours, or she’ll never see her child again.

Collections

  • Twisted (2003) – An anthology of short fiction which includes “The Christmas Present,” the holiday tale featuring his famed protagonist Lincoln Rhyme, as well as “Gone Fishing,” “Triangle,” “The Kneeling Soldier,” and “Without Jonathan.”
  • Nocturne (2004) – A second anthology of unabridged short fiction which includes “All the World’s a Stage,” “Nocturne, “The Blank Child,” “Lesser-Included Offenses,” “Together,” “The Widow of Pinecreek,” “Gone Fishing,” and “The Kneeling Soldier.”
  • More Twisted (2006) – Sixteen more tales from Deaver.
  • Trouble in Mind (2012) – twelve tales, including six written just for this anthology.
  • Triple Threat (2013) – A selection of three gripping short stories from the critically acclaimed master of suspense, Jeffery Deaver. Tales include ‘Fast’, a Kathryn Dance story; ‘Game’, where a housekeeper must search for her employer’s missing body and discovers more than she bargained for; and ‘Paradice’, a John Pellam story.
  • Nothing Good Happens After Midnight (2020) – Teaming up with New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver, Suspense Magazine offers up a nail-biting anthology. This thrilling collection consists of thirteen original short stories representing the genres of suspense/thriller, mystery, sci-fi/fantasy, and more. Edited by Jeffery Deaver and includes his story “Midnight Sonata.”

If you like our article about reading Jeffery Deaver books in order, don’t forget to bookmark it! You may also be interested in Karin Slaughter, Kathy Reichs, or Jonathan Kellerman.

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