Alex Kava Books In Order

Alex Kava is a New York Times, USA Today and Amazon bestselling American crime thriller author best known for FBI profiler Maggie O’Dell and K-9 handler Ryder Creed. Her books have sold more than seven million copies and have been published in 35 countries. She has received two Nebraska Book Awards, a Florida Book Award and the Mari Sandoz Award.

Maggie profiles killers for the FBI and travels from Quantico to crime scenes around the country, and Ryder is a former Marine who trains search-and-rescue dogs to find missing people, human remains, drugs and other difficult scents that cannot be followed. The author brought Ryder and his dog Grace into the Maggie O’Dell series in Stranded, then continued their partnership in the Ryder Creed novels.

This page lists all Alex Kava books in order, including the Maggie O’Dell and Ryder Creed series, standalone novels, novellas, short stories and collections, with notes explaining how the two series connect and where the prequel Before Evil belongs.

Latest Alex Kava Books

More upcoming releases:

• Chasing Creed (Ryder Creed #9) – September 15, 2026

Where to Start with Alex Kava

• If you’re new to Alex Kava, start with A Perfect Evil (Maggie O’Dell #1). It introduces FBI profiler Maggie O’Dell and begins the storyline involving serial killer Albert Stucky, which continues into later books.
• Want the Ryder Creed K-9 series? Start with Breaking Creed (Ryder Creed #1). Although each case can stand on its own, Maggie O’Dell has an important role here and continues to appear throughout the series.
• To learn how Maggie and Ryder first met, read Stranded (Maggie O’Dell #11) before Breaking Creed. It introduces Ryder, Grace and their relationship that continues in the K-9 books.
• Leave Before Evil until after the earlier Maggie O’Dell novels. It is a prequel about Maggie’s first investigation of Albert Stucky, but it was published as book 12 and gives more context once you already know their history.

Maggie O’Dell Series (Books in Order)

The Maggie O’Dell series follows FBI criminal profiler Maggie O’Dell, who works from Quantico and travels around the country to help local investigators with serial killers and other difficult cases. Maggie studies the usual profiling patterns, like how the killer choses their victims, what are common in the crimes, and which piece of evidence doesn’t quite fit the obvious. She often works with fellow FBI agent R.J. Tully, psychiatrist Gwen Patterson and detectives she meets during individual investigations.

Maggie’s history with serial killer Albert Stucky is a main part in the early books and continues to affect her long after the original investigation ends. Later, beyond serial killers, she also deals with other cases like into bombings, arson, biological threats and disasters where several agencies have to work together. Ryder Creed and his dog Grace first appear in Stranded, the last book in the main Maggie O’Dell series.

Before Evil was published later as book 12, although the story takes place before A Perfect Evil and shows Maggie’s first investigation of Albert Stucky.

1. Before Evil, 2015
2. A Perfect Evil, 2000
3. Split Second, 2001
4. The Soul Catcher, 2002
5. At the Stroke of Madness, 2003
6. A Necessary Evil, 2006
7. Exposed, 2008
8. Black Friday, 2009
9. Damaged, 2010
10. A Breath of Hot Air, 2010 (with Patricia Bremmer)
11. Hotwire, 2011
12. Fireproof, 2012
13. Stranded, 2013

Maggie O’Dell Short Stories

• Goodnight, Sweet Mother, 2016 (first published in the anthology Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night)
• A Breath of Hot Air, 2016
• Cold Metal Night, 2016 (Maggie O’Dell story from Slices of Night)
• Electric Blue, 2016

Maggie O’Dell Collections

• Off the Grid, 2016 (Goodnight, Sweet Mother, A Breath of Hot Air, Cold Metal Night, Electric Blue, and the standalone story After Dark)

Ryder Creed K-9 Series (Books in Order)

The Ryder Creed K-9 series follows former Marine Ryder Creed, who runs a search-and-rescue dog business in the Florida Panhandle. There He takes in abandoned dogs and trains them to follow particular scents. His regular partner is Grace, a Jack Russell terrier who can search for several different scents.

With his dogs, Creed is searching for missing people, human remains, drugs and survivors that are still trapped after storms or various other disasters. Sometimes the dogs sometimes evidence that is useful to the police, but as Creed is not a police officer, he cannot decide one way or another, so he works with FBI profiler Maggie O’Dell during the investigations.

Ryder and Grace first appear in the last Maggie O’Dell novel Stranded. The cases are usually solved within each book, but Ryder’s missing sister, his K-9 team and his relationship with Maggie develop in several books, so reading the books in publication order is the best for the overarching story.

1. Breaking Creed, 2015
2. Silent Creed, 2015
3. Reckless Creed, 2016
4. Lost Creed, 2018
5. Desperate Creed, 2019
6. Hidden Creed, 2020
7. Fallen Creed, 2022
8. Midnight Creed, 2023
9. Chasing Creed, 2026

Standalone Novels

• One False Move, 2004
• Whitewash, 2007

Short Stories and Novellas

• After Dark, 2016 (short story co-written with Deb Carlin)
• Slices of Night, 2011 (three-part novella with Erica Spindler and J.T. Ellison)
• Storm Season, 2012 (three-part novella with Erica Spindler and J.T. Ellison)

Short Story Anthologies

• Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night, 2006 – edited by James Patterson, includes Goodnight, Sweet Mother
• First Thrills, 2010 – edited by Lee Child; includes After Dark, co-written with Deb Carlin
• Florida Heat Wave: A Crime Fiction Anthology, 2010 – includes A Breath of Hot Air, co-written with Patricia A. Bremmer

Alex Kava Biography

Alex Kava is an American crime thriller author whose work includes the Maggie O’Dell and Ryder Creed series, standalone novels, novellas and short stories.
Official website: alexkava.com

She grew up in the countryside near Silver Creek, Nebraska. She wanted to write from an early age, so she secretly wrote her stories on the back of unused calendars since her parents didn’t agree too much with reading. She later attended the College of Saint Mary in Omaha on an art scholarship, graduating magna cum laude in 1982 with a degree in art and English. While studying, she worked in a hospital’s central supply department, where she cleaned and sterilized equipment returned from surgery, pathology and the morgue.

After college, Alex Kava worked in advertising, marketing and public relations. Later, at twenty-six, she started a graphic design company called Square One, where she designed food packaging, corporate brochures, logos and other promotional material. In 1992, she returned to the College of Saint Mary as its director of public relations, however, she left four years later to be able to spend more time writing. In 1996, she reopened Square One, and to be able to pay the bills, she also delivered newspapers while trying to sell her novels.

After completing her first manuscript and submitting it, she got 116 rejections from literary agents. She put it aside, wrote another book and then found an agent. Eventually, A Perfect Evil, her debut novel, was published in 2000 and became an international bestseller. She loosely based the story on what she remembered about the serial killer John Joubert, who murdered two boy sin Nebraska in 1983, during which time Alex Kava was working for the Papillion Times.

Alex Kava originally wrote A Perfect Evil as a standalone novel, and FBI profiler Maggie O’Dell doesn’t appear until several chapters into the book. Because readers and her publisher wanted Maggie to return, she finally became the main character of a twelve-book series. The author introduced former Marine and K-9 handler Ryder Creed in Stranded, the last book ok the series, and then gave him his own series beginning with Breaking Creed in 2015.

After sixteen years with traditional publishers, she began publishing independently in 2016 and later started a publishing company with her business manager. This way, her new books and reprints of her older novels would remain available. Her current work continues the Ryder Creed series, with Maggie O’Dell appearing alongside Creed in the investigations.

Alex Kava is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. She is based in Omaha, Nebraska.

Alex Kava Awards and Honors

Awards

• Mari Sandoz Award, Nebraska Library Association (2007)
• Stranded – Bronze Medal, Popular Fiction, Florida Book Awards (2013)
• Stranded – Nebraska Book Award for Fiction (2014)
• Lost Creed – Nebraska Book Award for Fiction (2019)

Honors

One False Move – One Book One Nebraska selection (2006)uild.

Readers Also Like