Douglas Preston Books in Order

Douglas Preston is an American thriller and nonfiction author, best known for the long-running FBI Agent Pendergast series, which he co-writes with Lincoln Child and which now includes more than twenty books. Before he started writing fiction, he spent seven years working as a writer and editor at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the same museum that gave him and Lincoln Child the idea for Relic, the first Pendergast novel, after Preston took Child on a midnight tour of the empty building.

This page lists all Douglas Preston books in order, including his collaborative work with Lincoln Child, his solo novels, along with short stories and non-fiction books.

Latest Douglas Preston Books

Paradox
Paradox (Cash & Colcord #2), April 2026

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FBI Agent Pendergast Series (Books in Order)

The Pendergast series follows FBI Special Agent Aloysius X. L. Pendergast, a brilliant, eccentric, and unconventional investigator from a wealthy New Orleans family, as he solves cases that sit at the edge of crime, science, and the unexplained. He works mostly independently from the Bureau, showing up wherever his instincts take him, that is, usually where no one wants him and where the answers are never simple.

It has a cast of recurring characters, NYPD’s Vincent D’Agosta, archaeologist Nora Kelly, and Pendergast’s ward Constance Greene, who become more important as the series goes on. Several books are split into story arcs (the Diogenes trilogy, the Helen trilogy, the Dr. Leng trilogy) where consecutive books are directly linked, so reading from Relic is strongly recommended.

For the full Pendergast reading order, see Pendergast Books in Order.

Co-authored with Lincoln Child.

Reading Order

  1. Pendergast: The Beginning, 2026
  2. Relic, 1995
  3. Reliquary, 1997
  4. The Cabinet of Curiosities, 2002
  5. Still Life with Crows, 2003
  6. Brimstone, 2004
  7. Dance of Death, 2005
  8. The Book of the Dead, 2007
  9. The Wheel of Darkness, 2008
  10. Cemetery Dance, 2009
  11. Fever Dream, 2010
  12. Cold Vengeance, 2011
  13. Extraction, 2012
  14. Two Graves, 2012
  15. White Fire, 2013
  16. Blue Labyrinth, 2014
  17. Crimson Shore, 2015
  18. The Obsidian Chamber, 2016
  19. City of Endless Night, 2018
  20. Verses for the Dead, 2018
  21. Crooked River, 2020
  22. Bloodless, 2021
  23. The Cabinet of Dr. Leng, 2023
  24. Angel of Vengeance, 2024

Reading notes:

  • Pendergast: The Beginning is a novel set before the events of Relic but published much later.

Other Pendergast Books

Nora Kelly Series (Books in Order)

The Nora Kelly series follows museum archaeologist Nora Kelly and FBI Agent Corrie Swanson as they investigate crimes that have both historical and present-day elements. Nora Kelly brings field expertise; Corrie Swanson brings investigative authority. The two make an effective pair in cases where they encounter everything from old bones with no clear cause of death to deaths in the Badlands desert. The series is set primarily in the American Southwest and starts with Old Bones, although the earlier standalone novel Thunderhead has a younger Nora Kelly, thus it can be read as a prequel.

Co-authored with Lincoln Child.

Reading Order

  1. Thunderhead, 1999
  2. Old Bones, 2019
  3. The Scorpion’s Tale, 2021
  4. Diablo Mesa, 2022
  5. Dead Mountain, 2023
  6. Badlands, 2025

Gideon Crew Series (Books in Order)

The Gideon Crew series follows scientist and former art thief Gideon Crew who works for a secretive intelligence organization that sends him on high-risk missions where Gideon, while using his high level of technical knowledge and expertise, he also disregards known risks and his personal safety. He knows he has a terminal illness, which removes most of the normal constraints on what he’s willing to risk. The standalone novel The Ice Limit connects to the Gideon Crew storyline in Beyond the Ice Limit, so reading The Ice Limit first is recommended.

Co-authored with Lincoln Child.

Reading Order

  1. Gideon’s Sword, 2011
  2. Gideon’s Corpse, 2012
  3. The Lost Island, 2014
  4. Beyond the Ice Limit, 2016
  5. The Pharaoh Key, 2018

Wyman Ford Series (Books in Order)

The Wyman Ford series follows former CIA operative Wyman Ford, who takes on freelance intelligence assignments that are part espionage, science, and also morally complex. Wyman Ford is an ex-monk as well as an ex-spy, which gives him an unusual edge in the situations where official channels have already failed. The techno-thriller series has each book dealing with a different scientific threat, gene modification, energy, AI, each being investigated during a single mission.

Reading Order

  1. Tyrannosaur Canyon, 2005
  2. Blasphemy, 2008
  3. Impact, 2010
  4. The Kraken Project, 2014

Cash & Colcord Series (Books in Order)

The Cash & Colcord series follows CBI Agent Frances Cash and Sheriff James Colcord, who investigate strange cases at a Colorado resort which allows visitors to view extinct but now resurrected animals that were brought back to life with genetic manipulation. When people in the area are murdered, the killers might not be entirely human.

Co-authored with Aletheia Preston.

Reading Order

Standalone Novels

Novellas and Short Stories

Short Story Collections and Anthologies

Non-Fiction Books

Douglas Preston Biography


Douglas Preston is a New York Times bestselling author of fiction and non-fiction books, best known for co-creating the long-running FBI Agent Pendergast series with Lincoln Child.
Author website: prestonchild.com

Douglas Preston was born as Douglas Jerome Preston in 1956 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He grew up in Wellesley, and graduated from Cambridge School of Weston in Weston, Massachusetts, and then studied English literature at Pomona College in Claremont, California, graduating in 1978.

Douglas Preston

Between 1978 and 1985, he worked at the American Museum of Natural History as a writer, editor, and manager of publications. His nonfiction book about the museum’s history, Dinosaurs in the Attic, was edited by a young St. Martin’s Press editor named Lincoln Child, who would become his co-authored for many series and standalone novels, including the bestselling Pendergast series.

After leaving the museum, he began writing full time. His most widely known series to date is FBI Agent Pendergast, which was written in collaboration with Lincoln Child. He has also written several solo standalone thrillers, the Wyman Ford series, the new Cash & Colcord series with this daughter Aletheia Preston, and a several nonfiction books including The Monster of Florence and The Lost City of the Monkey God, many of which focus on archaeology, exploration, and the history of the American Southwest.

He writes regularly for The New Yorker on archaeology and science, has participated in USO tours supporting U.S. service members overseas and has received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Pomona College. He serves on the Board of Governors of the Authors Guild and is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Douglas Preston Books Adaptations and TV Works

  • The Relic – adapted into the film Relic (1997)
  • Jennie – adapted into the TV movie The Jennie Project (2001)
  • Superfire – TV movie (2002)
  • The Lost City of the Monkey God – adapted into the TV documentary based on the non-fiction book The Lost City of the Monkey God (2018)

Douglas Preston Awards and Honors

Awards

  • The Monster of Florence – Black Quill Awards for Dark Genre Book of Non-Fiction, Editors’ Choice (2008)
  • Impact – New England Book Festival, science fiction category (2010)

Nominations and Shortlists

  • The Ice Limit – Evergreen Book Award (2003)
  • Still Life with Crows – Audie Awards nomination for Science-Fiction (2004)
  • Brimstone – Audie Awards nomination for Mystery and Science-Fiction (2005)
  • White Fire – International Thriller Writers Award, Best Hardcover Novel (2014)
  • Blue Labyrinth – Audie Awards nomination for Thriller or Suspense (2016)
  • Crimson Shore – Audie Awards nomination for Mystery (2017)
  • The Lost City of the Monkey God – Goodreads Choice Award nomination (2017)
  • The Scorpion’s Tail – Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award for Mystery (2022)
  • Extinction – Goodreads Choice Award nomination (2024)
  • The Lost Tomb – Goodreads Choice Award nomination (2024)

Edited by

Marika

Founder of Mystery Sequels, a reference site focused on listing mystery and thriller books in the correct reading order. I maintain and update the site’s bibliographies as new titles are released, ensuring accuracy and consistency across author and series pages.

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5 Comments

  1. correction – he lives in NEW Mexico – still part of the USA

  5. At the age of 85 I finally had the time to seriously read again. My daughter sent me “two graves” for Christmas last
    year (2015). At this point in time (July), I possess 13 of the series and 2 of the 4 Gideons. The remaining 4 from both series are on order.

    Your writing is spell binding. I read one book in a day and a half. Did not eat much on the way. If you ever have had a fan,and I know you two do, count me in.

    How about a list from the both of you of your favorite singles. Jack\

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