Brad Meltzer Books in Order

Brad Meltzer is a New York Times bestselling author known for his political thrillers, legal thrillers, nonfiction history books, comics, and children’s biographies. His adult thrillers often use Washington, D.C., the White House, the Supreme Court, the National Archives, old letters, hidden objects, and real historical oddities as the starting point for dangerous situations. His first published novel, The Tenth Justice, became a New York Times bestseller, and he later became one of the rare authors to appear on bestseller lists in several different categories, including fiction, nonfiction, advice, children’s books, and graphic books. Meltzer has also written for DC Comics, won an Eisner Award, hosted history shows, and co-created the television series Jack & Bobby.

His best-known thriller series is the Culper Ring trilogy, built following archivist Beecher White. His current series, Zig & Nola’s first book The Escape Artist hit #1 on its debut. Zig and Nola books follow a military mortician and a former Army artist with a violent past, and the nonfiction conspiracy books are true-history narratives written with Josh Mensch. Brad Meltzer also writes the Ordinary People Change the World children’s series with illustrator Chris Eliopoulos, and has won an Eisner Award for his comic book work on Justice League of America.

This page lists all Brad Meltzer books in order, including his series, standalone novels, graphic novels, picture books, nonfiction, short stories, adaptations, and awards.

Latest Brad Meltzer Books

Culper Ring Trilogy (Books in Order)

The Culper Ring trilogy follows Beecher White, a young archivist at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., who finds evidence that George Washington’s Revolutionary War spy ring, a real network society known as the Culper Ring, has never stopped operating. Beecher isn’t a spy or a soldier. He’s just a paper-pusher with security clearance who suddenly finds himself in the middle of events that are way above his pay grade which he has no clearance for.

The trilogy is inspired by a real-life American spy network originally established by George Washington during the American Revolutionary War and the books use real presidential history, old documents, hidden rooms, and government secrets to create his present-day threats.

1. The Inner Circle, 2011
2. The Fifth Assassin, 2013
3. The President’s Shadow, 2015

Zig & Nola Series (Books in Order)

The Zig and Nola series follows Jim “Zig” Zigarowski, a former Army counterintelligence officer and current mortician at Dover Air Force Base who works with the bodies of people connected to secret government missions. He teams up with portrait artist and highly trained soldier, Nola Brown, to solve murder cases while they both uncover dangerous historical conspiracies and deadly government secrets. The first book, The Escape Artist, begins when Zig is asked to prepare Nola’s body and realizes the dead woman is not Nola. Zig and Nola are an unusual pair, as Zig is methodical, working-class, who is grieving his own losses, while Nola is unpredictable, and quite brilliant but also damaged by her violent past.

1. The Escape Artist, 2018
2. The Lightning Rod, 2022
3. The Viper, 2026

The Conspiracy Series (Books in Order)

The Conspiracy books are standalone non-fiction histories that examine documented political plots and conspiracies from American and world history. Each book focuses on a particular important point in the history of humanity. They cover real plots tied to major political figures like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, and John F. Kennedy.

Co-authored with Josh Mensch.

1. The First Conspiracy, 2019
2. The Lincoln Conspiracy, 2020
3. The Nazi Conspiracy, 2023

Standalone Novels

• The Tenth Justice, 1997
• Dead Even, 1998
• The First Counsel, 2001
• Natural Suspect, 2001 (with John Lescroart, Lisa Scottoline, et al)
• The Millionaires, 2002
• The Zero Game, 2005
• The Book of Fate, 2006
• The Book of Lies, 2008
• The House of Secrets, 2016

Graphic Novels

Identity Crisis

• Identity Crisis, 2004
• Absolute Identity Crisis, 2004

Justice League of America Series

• Justice League of America, 2008 (collected edition)

Picture Books

Stories Change the World

• I Am Batman, 2022
• I Am Superman, 2022
• I Am Wonder Woman, 2023

Ordinary People Change the World

Short Stories

• Green Arrow: Archer’s Quest, 2003

Short Story Collections and Anthologies

• The Mighty Johns, 2002 (with David Baldacci, Anne Perry, Dennis Lehane)
• Heroes for My Son, 2010
• Suspense Magazine, January 2011, 2011 (with Jeffery Deaver, Stuart Woods
• Half-Minute Horrors, 2011
• Heroes for My Daughter, 2012
• The Mystery Box, 2013
• Suspense Magazine January 2013, 2013
• Last Night, a Superhero Saved My Life, 2016

Non-Fiction Books

• History Decoded: The 10 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time, 2013
• Make Magic: The Book of Inspiration You Didn’t Know You Needed, 2025

Brad Meltzer Biography

Brad Meltzer is an American author, non-fiction author, TV producer, who wrote political thrillers, non-fiction books, children’s books, and contributed to comics and television. He has published over 60 books, with each one reaching the New York Times bestseller list.
Official website: bradmeltzer.com

Brad Meltzer was born on April 1, 1970 in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in Sheepshead Bay and later in Miami. He studied History and Political Science at the University of Michigan, and in 1993, he earned a law degree from Columbia Law School.

While in college, he did a Capitol Hill internship in Washington, which influenced his later interest in political and historical topics in his books. During this time, he wrote the manuscript that would become his debut thriller, The Tenth Justice (1997), and Columbia actually awarded him course credit for it. The book landed on the New York Times bestseller list. After graduating from college, Brad Meltzer moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked for several years as a lawyer.

The Tenth Justice was published in 1997 which became a best-seller and launched his career as a published author. The book was loosely inspired by his legal background. His early standalones, Dead Even, The First Counsel, The Millionaires, The Zero Game, established him as a reliable political thriller author, each built around various Washington institutions, and legal or governmental settings. The Book of Fate was researched in part with access granted by former Presidents Clinton and Bush, and Bush shared with Meltzer the private letter he left for Clinton in the Oval Office desk. This level of access was unusual for a book author, and it shows the trust his books have earned.

His later books used this very setting to start the stories: Washington insiders, buried secrets, and plots that weaponize weaponize historical revisionism that widened the gap between fiction and what actually happened. The Culper Ring trilogy and the Zig and Nola series are some of his best-known series, and both have as basis real institutions and documented history.

The Culper Ring trilogy, beginning with The Inner Circle, became a longer series and based directly on Brad Meltzer’s existing relationship with the National Archives, where he sits on the board of the Archives Foundation. His high-level security clearance-level research led the Department of Homeland Security to recruit him for their Red Cell program, where he worked with a chemist and a Secret Service agent to help identify potential terrorist vulnerabilities. This was an assignment that not many thriller writers can claim, which makes his government-insider plots that much more credible.

His comics work, Identity Crisis (DC) and Justice League of America, earned him an Eisner Award, the top honor in comics. His Ordinary People Change the World children’s series, co-created with illustrator Chris Eliopoulos, was adapted into the Emmy-nominated PBS KIDS show Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum. He has also hosted two History Channel shows: Brad Meltzer’s Decoded and Brad Meltzer’s Lost History, the latter of which led directly to locating the missing 9/11 flag that firefighters raised at Ground Zero, now on display at the 9/11 Museum in New York.

In addition, Brad Meltzer co-wrote the official AmeriCorps oath with his mentor Eli Segal, co-authored the non-fiction Conspiracy series with Josh Mensch, co-created the TV drama Jack & Bobby, and hosted two History Channel series.

Brad Meltzer lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Brad Meltzer TV Works

• Jack & Bobby – Political drama television series (2004-2005)
• Brad Meltzer’s Decoded – History Channel documentary series (2010-2012)
• Lost History – History Channel documentary series (2014)
• The Ordinary People Change the World – animated television series Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum (2019).
• Xavier Riddle and the Secret Movie: I Am Madam President! – Animated television movie based on the book series (2020)

Brad Meltzer Awards and Honors

Awards

• The Book of Fate – Florida Book Award Bronze medal (2006)
• Justice League of America #11: “Walls” – Eisner Award for Best Single Issue/One-Shot (2008)
• International Thriller Writers – Silver Bullet Award (2009)
• Heroes for My Son – Florida Book Award (2010)
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer – GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book (2011)
• The Fifth Assassin – Florida Book Award (Silver) (2013)
• History Decoded: The 10 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time – Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award (2014)
• I Am Jane Goodall – Nerdy Book Award (Nerdies) (2016)

Nominations and Shortlists

• Identity Crisis – ALA Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens (2007)
• The Fifth Assassin – Audie Award for Thriller/Suspense (2014)
• I Am Jane Goodall – Washington Library Association OTTER Award (2018)
• The First Conspiracy – Goodreads Choice Award (2019)
• The First Conspiracy – Audie Award for History/Biography (2020)
• The Lincoln Conspiracy– Goodreads Choice Award (2020)
• The Lincoln Conspiracy – Audie Award for History/Biography (2021)
• Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum – Emmy Award for Outstanding Preschool Animated Series (2022)
• I Am Oprah Winfrey – Eisner Award for Best Publication for Early Readers (2022)
• The Nazi Conspiracy – Goodreads Choice Award (2023)

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