James Patterson Books In Order

Last Updated on June 2, 2021 Reading the James Patterson books in order means delighting in his popular Alex Cross mystery series. Of course, the author has written several other series including his Women’s Murder Club and the Michael Bennett series, but nothing comes close to Alex Cross by far. This might change with a newer James Patterson series, Ali Cross, featuring the adventures of Alex’s son, Ali.

Here are all the James Patterson books in order for all his crime/mystery/thriller series, listed in chronological and reading order, with the year added for each book.

Alex Cross Series In Order Of Publication

The Alex Cross series is so popular that I have dedicated a separate page only for this particular series, not only listing the books in order, but also discussing a bit about the books. With over 20 books published so far, there are lots of books to catch up to if you are new to the Alex Cross universe.

To not clutter the list on both pages, since the Alex Cross list of books is pretty long, I have added a separate page for it.

Alex Cross Books in Order

New James Patterson Books

The Palm Beach Murders, 2021

The Red Book (The Black Book #2), 2021

21st Birthday (Women’s Murder Club #21), 2021

Like Father, Like Son (Ali Cross #2), 2021

Ali Cross Series

featuring Ali, the son of Alex Cross

1. Ali Cross (Ali Cross #1), 2019
2. Like Father, Like Son (Ali Cross #2), 2021

Black Book Series

1. The Black Book, 2017 (with David Ellis)
2. The Red Book, 2021 (with David Ellis)

Tom Moon Series

1. Lost (Tom Moon #1), 2019

Instinct Series

co-authored with Howard Roughan

1. Instinct / Murder Games (Instinct #1), 2017
2. Killer Instinct (Instinct #2), 2019

Invisible Series

co-authored with David Ellis

1. Invisible (Invisible #1), 2014
2. Unsolved (Invisible #2), 2019

Women’s Murder Club Series

Co-authored with Maxine Paetro

1. 1st to Die (Women’s Murder Club #1), 2000
2. 2nd Chance (Women’s Murder Club #2), 2002
3. 3rd Degree (Women’s Murder Club #3), 2004
4. 4th of July (Women’s Murder Club #4), 2005
5. The 5th Horseman (Women’s Murder Club #5), 2006
6. The 6th Target (Women’s Murder Club #6), 2007
7. 7th Heaven (Women’s Murder Club #7), 2008
8. The 8th Confession (Women’s Murder Club #8), 2009
9. The 9th Judgement (Women’s Murder Club #9), 2009
10. 10th Anniversary (Women’s Murder Club #10), 2011
11. 11th Hour (Women’s Murder Club #11), 2012
12. 12th of Never (Women’s Murder Club #12), 2013
13. Unlucky 13 (Women’s Murder Club #13), 2014
14. 14th Deadly Sin (Women’s Murder Club #14), 2015
15. 15th Affair (Women’s Murder Club #15) 2016
16. The Trial (Women’s Murder Club #15.5) 2016
17. 16th Seduction (Women’s Murder Club #16) 2017
18. 17th Suspect (Women’s Murder Club #17), 2018
19. 18th Abduction (Women’s Murder Club #18), 2019
20. 19th Christmas (Women’s Murder Club #19), 2019
21. 20th Victim (Women’s Murder Club #20), 2020
22. 21st Birthday (Women’s Murder Club #21), 2021

Michael Bennett Series

Co-authored with Michael Ledwidge

1. Step on a Crack (Michael Bennett #1), 2007
2. Run For Your Life (Michael Bennett #2), 2009
3. Worst Case (Michael Bennett #3), 2009
4. Tick Tock (Michael Bennett #4), 2010
5. I, Michael Bennett (Michael Bennett #5), 2012
6. Gone (Michael Bennett #6), 2013
7. Burn (Michael Bennett #7), 2014
8. Alert (Michael Bennett #8), 2015
9. Bullseye (Michael Bennett #9), 2016
10. Haunted (Michael Bennett #10), 2017
11. Manhunt (Michael Bennett #10.5), 2017
12. Ambush (Michael Bennett #11), 2018
13. Blindside (Michael Bennett #12), 2020
14. The Russian (Michael Bennett #13), 2021

Private Series

Co-authored with Michael White

1. Private (Private #1), 2010
2. Private London (Private #2), 2011
3. Private Games (Private #3), 2012
4. Private: No. 1 Suspect (Private #4), 2012
5. Private Berlin (Private #5), 2012
6. Private Down Under (Private #6), 2012
7. Private L.A (Private #7), 2014
8. Private India (Private #8), 2014
9. Private Vegas (Private #9), 2015
10. Private Sydney (Private #10), 2015
11. Private Paris (Private #11), 2016
12. The Games (Private #12), 2016 (also called Private Rio)
13. Private Royals (Private #12.5), 2016
14. Private Delhi (Private #13), 2017
15. Private Gold (Private #13.5), 2017
16. Private Princess (Private #14), 2017

NYPD RED Series

Co-authored with Marshall Karp

1. NYPD Red (NYPD RED #1), 2012
2. NYPD Red 2 (NYPD RED #2), 2014
3. NYPD Red 3 (NYPD RED #3), 2015
4. NYPD Red 4 (NYPD RED #4), 2016
5. NYPD Red 5 (NYPD RED #5), 2018
6. NYPD Red 6 (NYPD RED #6), 2020

Detective Luc Moncrief Series

1. The French Kiss (Luc Moncrief #1), 2016
2. The Christmas Mystery (Luc Moncrief #2), 2016
3. French Twist (Luc Moncrief #3), 2017

Detective Harriet Blue Series

1. Black & Blue (Harriet Blue #0.5), 2016
2. Never Never (Harriet Blue #1), 2016
3. Fifty Fifty (Harriet Blue #2), 2018
4. Liar Liar (Harriet Blue #3), 2018
5. Hush Hush (Harriet Blue #4), 2019

Murder is Forever Non-Fiction Series

1. Murder, Interrupted (Murder is Forever #1), 2018
2. Home Sweet Murder (Murder is Forever #2), 2018
3. Murder Beyond Grave (Murder is Forever #3), 2018
4. Murder Thy Neighbour (Murder is Forever #4), 2020

Rory Yates Series

(co-authored with Andrew Bourelle)

• Texas Ranger (Rory Yates #1), 2018 (co-authored with Andrew Bourelle)
• Texas Outlaw (Rory Yates #1), 2020

Standalone James Patterson Books

• The Thomas Berryman Number, 1976 (his first published novel)
• Season of the Machete, 1977
• See How They Run, 1979
• Cradle and All, 1980
• Black Friday, 1986 (first published as Black Market)
• The Midnight Club, 1988
• Hide & Seek, 1995
• Miracle on the 17th Green, 1996 (co-authored with Peter de Jonge)
• When the Wind Blows, 1998
• The Beach House, 2002 (co-authored with Peter de Jonge)
• The Jester, 2003 (co-authored with Andrew Gross)
• The Lake House, 2003
• Honeymoon, 2005 (co-authored with Howard Roughan)
• Lifeguard, 2005 (co-authored with Andrew Gross)
• Beach Road, 2006 (co-authored with Peter de Jonge)
• Judge & Jury, 2006 (co-authored with Andrew Gross)
• The Quickie, 2007 (co-authored with Michael Ledwidge)
• You’ve Been Warned, 2007 (co-authored with Howard Roughan)
• Sail, 2008 (co-authored with Howard Roughan)
• Swimsuit, 2009 (co-authored with Maxine Paetro)
• The Postcard Killers, 2010 (co-authored with Liza Marklund)
• Don’t Blink, 2010 (co-authored with Howard Roughan)
• Toys, 2011 (co-authored with Neil McMahon)
• Now You See Her, 2011 (co-authored with Michael Ledwidge)
• Kill Me If You Can, 2011 (co-authored with Marshall Karp)
• Guilty Wives, 2012 (co-authored with David Ellis)
• Zoo, 2012 (co-authored with Michael Ledwidge)
• Second Honeymoon, 2013 (co-authored with Howard Roughan)
• Mistress, 2013 (co-authored with David Ellis)
• Miracle at Augusta, 2015 (co-authored with Peter de Jonge)
• Truth or Die, 2015 (co-authored with Howard Roughan
• The Murder House, 2015 (co-authored with David Ellis)
• Woman Of God, 2016 (co-authored with Maxine Paetro)
• The President is Missing, 2018 (co-authored with Bill Clinton)
• The First Lady, 2018 (co-authored with Brendan DuBois)
• The Cornwalls are Gone / Out of Sight (co-authored with Brendan DuBois)
• The Inn, 2019 (co-authored with Candice Fox)
• The Warning, 2019 (co-authored with Robison Wells)
• Revenge, 2020 (co-authored with Andrew Holmes)
• The Summer House, 2020 (co-authored with Brendan DuBois)
• Cajun Justice, 2020 (co-authored with Tucker Axum)
• 1st Case, 2020 (co-authored with Chris Tebbetts)
• The Coast-to-Coast Murders, 2020 (co-authored with J.D. Barker)
• The Palm Beach Murders, 2021

What Are James Patterson’s Best Books?

I’m certain that everyone has their own list of what they consider the best books by James Patterson, but there are a few that I have noticed lots of readers (including me) love above all.

I think Along Came a Spider, the first book in the Alex Cross series, is a favorite overall for many. Also, First to Die, the first book in the Women’s Murder Club is usually in the top 5 books of most Patterson book lovers.

James Patterson himself considers his book The Black Book, one of his best by far. In an interview in 2017, he mentioned that “it is the best work I’ve done in twenty years.”

Kiss the Girls, the second Alex Cross book, is pretty darn good too. I remember reading it back in the day, and it was one of the books that got me hooked on this crime mystery author.

On Goodreads, some readers consider The Angel Experiment (the first book in the Maximum Ride series) as one of the top choices to start reading the author’s books with.

My personal 5 favorites in any reading order you choose are:

1. Along Came a Spider
2. Kiss the Girls,
3. When the Wind Blows,
4. 1st to Die
5. Craddle and All

Which ones are your favorites?

James Patterson Biography

James Patterson was born and grew up in 1947 in Newburgh, New York. After attending the Manhattan College, he graduated in 1969 with a BA in English, after which he went to the  Vanderbilt University where he got an MA in English, he earned both degrees summa cum laude.

While in the process of earning his Ph.D. at Vanderbilt, he shifted gears after a year instead and went to work in the advertising business. He became a junior copywriter for J. Walter Thompson, the well-known advertising agency, where he eventually became the CEO of the North American company.

In 1976, while still working at J.W.T, he got his first novel with the title The Thomas Berryman Number published by Little, Brown and Company, a book which won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel after being turned down by no less than 31 publishers. Here’s to perseverance!

His first Alex Cross novel, Along Came A Spider was published some 20 years later in 1993. From the time he published his first book, James Patterson has written around 150 novels, out of which some 115 books became New York Times bestselling novels.

Over the years his books have received numerous well-deserved awards, including the Edgar Award, the BCA Mystery Guild’s Thriller of the Year Award, Children’s Choice Book Award for Author of the Year and the International Thriller of the Year award.

Several of his books have been close collaborations with other authors, such as  Maxine Paetro, Peter De Jonge, Mark Sullivan, Andrew Gross, Michael Ledwidge and Ashwin Sanghi.

Along Came A Spider has been turned into a movie in 2001 featuring Morgan Freeman, while in 2012 and Tyler Perry got to play the role of Alex Cross instead. While I enjoyed both movies, I am a bit biased towards the first one since Morgan Freeman is one of my most favorite actors ever.

With close to 100 books written today, he is an author that has something for everybody, be it a child, young adult or mature person. His books range from thrillers, crime mystery, paranormal, sci-fi, romances to picture books for kids, so often times to read the James Patterson books in order you need a proper listing for all his series.

Along Came A Spider is the first book I’ve read by James Patterson and I remember I was instantly hooked. Since then I’ve caught up to everything he has written in the crime mystery genre, and he has become in the meantime one of my favorite authors ever, along with names like Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, James Rollins, Kathy Reichs, Harlan Coben, John Sandford and David Baldacci, among others.

If you are a crime mystery book lover, I strongly recommend (if you haven’t already done so) the following series: Alex Cross, Women’s Murder Club, Michael Bennett and Private, NYPD Red and even Maximum Ride, which is a dystopian, sci-fi young adult thriller series. His latest series is evolving around Luc Moncrief, a French detective who joined NYPD. These are series that will keep you reading for ages.

So what is the new James Patterson book? There are several, actually. He wrote a new thriller with the title The President is Missing, a book which was co-authored with ex-president Bill Clinton.The book was published in June 2018, and Showtime has already bought its TV rights. The date for the TV series is yet unknown. The story is about a sitting US president who goes missing, and it will have great details about the presidency, which comes from Bill Clinton’s personal knowledge of the White House.

Then he wrote with Candice Fox the fourth book, Hush Hush, in the Harriet Blue crime mystery series. He is continuing the Women’s Murder Club series, and in 2019 he wrote another standalone novel, Out of Sight.

He is also working together with managers of Albert Einstein’s archives to create a new a series for kids inspired by the major discoveries by Albert Einstein.

In addition, the author James Patterson is regularly giving grants to independent booksellers across the US. At the end of 2017, he donated $350,000 in grants to over 300 booksellers, which is $100,000 more than the years before.

All this is part of the author’s Holiday Bookstore Bonus Program run through a partnership with the American Booksellers Association. The author is personally choosing the winners from independent bookstores all over America.

Also, beginning in January 2018, Patterson started a new non-fiction series in collaboration with ID (Discovery).

The James Patterson Middle School series is one for the young adult readers. The novels in the series are currently up to 12 starting from Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life.  These books can be read by the entire family from children to adults, as they are quite funny, and the people involved in the stories are mostly young students, teachers, and families. There are lots of secrets and a treasure or two to discover as well.

The author’s FBI series titled Invisible became a series only recently with the second book published in 2019. The first book was released back in 2014. The fans of the Alex Cross series can now enjoy more adventures with Ali Cross, Alex’s son who has his own series now as of 2019. The original Alex Cross series is not dead, however, as new stories are still coming in every year.