Robert Dugoni Books in Order (Updated September 10, 2026)

Robert Dugoni writes police procedurals, legal thrillers, espionage, historical fiction, and character-driven standalone novels. His largest series follows Seattle homicide detective Tracy Crosswhite, while attorney David Sloane, former CIA officer Charles Jenkins, and defense lawyer Keera Duggan each lead separate continuing series.

The series also overlap more than a simple list suggests. Charles Jenkins first appears in the David Sloane world, and Sloane returns in The Eighth Sister. Tracy Crosswhite has two prequel stories that occur before My Sister’s Grave, but new readers can safely begin with the first full-length novel and return to those earlier episodes later.

Four protagonists define Dugoni’s series fiction

• Tracy Crosswhite: begin the main novels with My Sister’s Grave.
• David Sloane: begin with The Jury Master.
• Charles Jenkins: begin his own trilogy with The Eighth Sister.
• Keera Duggan: begin with Her Deadly Game.
• For a standalone: The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell, The World Played Chess, and A Killing on the Hill can be read independently.
• Next Tracy Crosswhite release: One Split Second is scheduled for September 15, 2026.

Tracy Crosswhite’s main novels begin with her sister’s grave

Tracy Crosswhite is a Seattle police detective whose decision to enter law enforcement is inseparable from the disappearance of her younger sister Sarah. That old crime shapes My Sister’s Grave and continues influencing Tracy’s family, career, fears, and sense of justice long after the original case is resolved.

1. My Sister’s Grave (2014): Twenty years after Sarah Crosswhite vanished, human remains are found near Tracy’s hometown, forcing Tracy to question the conviction obtained years earlier and reopen the crime that changed her family forever.
2. Her Final Breath (2015): Tracy hunts a serial killer known as the Cowboy, who abducts and murders dancers, while evidence suggests the predator may already be watching people close to the investigation.
3. In the Clearing (2016): Tracy reexamines the decades-old death of a Native American high-school girl after an old police file convinces her that the original conclusion of suicide may have concealed murder.
4. The Trapped Girl (2017): A woman’s body recovered from a submerged crab pot appears to belong to a person who supposedly died months earlier, leading Tracy into a case built around stolen identities and carefully planned deception.
5. Close to Home (2017): The hit-and-run death of a young boy and the overdose of a serviceman begin as separate investigations before Tracy and her colleagues discover connections involving addiction, military life, and institutional pressure.
6. A Steep Price (2018): A young woman disappears shortly before graduation while another woman is murdered in a public place, and Tracy’s team follows intersecting cases shaped by family expectations and hidden relationships.
7. A Cold Trail (2020): Tracy returns to Cedar Grove with her husband and daughter and investigates the murder of a local police officer while her husband handles a lawsuit connected to a devastating town fire.
8. In Her Tracks (2021): Tracy returns from maternity leave to discover that her position in Violent Crimes has changed, and two cases involving a missing woman and a murdered jogger pull her toward another difficult investigation.
9. What She Found (2022): Tracy investigates the disappearance of investigative reporter Lisa Childress, who vanished decades earlier while pursuing a story involving Seattle corruption and powerful people.
10. One Last Kill (2023): Tracy reopens the Route 99 serial-killer investigation nearly three decades after thirteen women were murdered and is forced to work with Captain Johnny Nolasco, who led the failed original task force.
11. A Dead Draw (2025): A firearms-evidence error allows suspected killer Erik Schmidt to escape prosecution, and his connection to Edmund House turns the case into a personal revenge campaign against Tracy and everyone she loves.
12. One Split Second (expected September 15, 2026): Tracy races to help outgoing Klickitat County sheriff Jenny Almond after Jenny responds to a late-night call and ends up arrested for the murder of a troubled Vietnam veteran who once served under her father.

A Dead Draw is the latest published Tracy Crosswhite novel as of September 10, 2026. One Split Second is Book 12 and is scheduled for September 15, 2026, five days after this update.

The Academy and Third Watch happen before Tracy’s first novel

Dugoni has written shorter prequel stories that show Tracy earlier in her police career. They are useful for readers interested in her training and early work but are not required before My Sister’s Grave.

1. The Academy (2014): Tracy attends the police academy and confronts the institutional and personal pressures involved in proving herself as a future officer.
2. Third Watch (2015): A younger Tracy works a Seattle police shift before the main novels and gains experience that helps shape the detective readers later meet.

A strict chronological reader can place both before My Sister’s Grave. A first-time publication-order reader loses nothing by saving them until after meeting Tracy in the novel that originally introduced her.

Tracy’s career changes instead of resetting after every case

One of the main reasons to keep the series in order is Tracy’s movement through Seattle policing. She begins in Violent Crimes, later works cold cases, becomes a wife and mother, and repeatedly has to decide how much of her identity should remain tied to the trauma surrounding Sarah’s murder.

Her relationships with Dan O’Leary, Faz, Del, Kinsington Rowe, Johnny Nolasco, and other recurring figures also develop over years rather than restarting in each book.

My Sister’s Grave casts a shadow that reaches A Dead Draw

Edmund House is central to the crime that shaped Tracy’s childhood and her decision to become a detective. The emotional consequences of that history continue long after My Sister’s Grave.

A Dead Draw deliberately reaches back toward that trauma through Erik Schmidt, who has ties to House and understands exactly how to destabilize Tracy.

A reader can follow the immediate plot without remembering every earlier detail, but the psychological pressure makes much more sense after the series has been read from the beginning.

One Last Kill changes Nolasco from old antagonist to necessary partner

Johnny Nolasco and Tracy have a difficult history dating back to their training years. In One Last Kill, that rivalry is no longer simply personal.

The Route 99 investigation was originally Nolasco’s case. When Tracy is ordered to reopen it, the two must work together to understand why the killer stopped and whether corruption helped keep the truth hidden.

The book therefore rewards readers who already know why Tracy distrusts him.

One Split Second takes Tracy outside Seattle to defend another law officer

The upcoming twelfth novel gives another investigator much of the initial crisis. Jenny Almond is nearing the end of her term as sheriff when Anthony Alvarez calls asking for Jenny’s deceased father, former sheriff Buzz Almond.

Jenny goes to see Alvarez herself. Minutes later he is dead and she is accused of killing him.

Tracy travels from Seattle to help her old police-academy classmate, while attorney Dan O’Leary takes on Jenny’s legal defense. The structure combines Tracy’s detective work with the legal expertise already established through Dan.

David Sloane’s five courtroom battles

David Sloane is a Seattle attorney famous for connecting with juries but haunted by dreams and gaps in his childhood memories. His five novels mix courtroom strategy with conspiracy, corporate misconduct, murder, and questions about Sloane’s own past.

1. The Jury Master (2006): Sloane wins another major trial but becomes involved in a suicide and conspiracy that force him to investigate disturbing gaps in his own childhood memory.
2. Wrongful Death (2009): The widow of a soldier asks Sloane to sue the United States government after her husband’s death, placing him against legal barriers and military interests determined to stop the case.
3. Bodily Harm (2010): A wrongful-death lawsuit involving a child’s toy leads Sloane to evidence that a manufacturer may have concealed a much broader product danger.
4. Murder One (2011): Sloane represents a woman accused of murdering the Russian drug dealer she blames for her daughter’s death, while former CIA officer Charles Jenkins becomes part of the investigation.
5. The Conviction (2012): Sloane’s teenage son and a friend are arrested while on a camping trip and sent into a brutal juvenile system, forcing Sloane to fight a legal structure controlled by powerful local interests.

There are five David Sloane novels. The Conviction remains the final full-length book centered on him.

Murder One quietly introduces the man who later gets his own spy trilogy

Charles Jenkins does not first appear in The Eighth Sister. He already exists in the David Sloane world and plays a role in Murder One.

That makes Sloane Book 4 useful background for Jenkins readers, although The Eighth Sister provides enough context to function as the official beginning of the Charles Jenkins series.

Charles Jenkins returns to Russia when retirement stops being an option

Charles Jenkins is a former CIA case officer who is in his sixties, has a young family, and runs a security company that is struggling financially. His need for money makes an offer to return to Russia difficult to refuse.

1. The Eighth Sister (2019): Jenkins returns to Moscow to investigate whether a secret group of Russian women has been spying for the United States, but he is betrayed, accused of espionage, and forced into a desperate attempt to escape Russia and prove his innocence.
2. The Last Agent (2020): Evidence suggests that Paulina Ponomayova, one of the women Jenkins believed had died helping him, may still be alive in a Russian prison, sending him back into enemy territory to find her.
3. The Silent Sisters (2022): Jenkins becomes responsible for helping the remaining women of the Seven Sisters network escape after their identities are compromised and Russian intelligence begins closing in.

The trilogy should be read consecutively because Paulina and the Seven Sisters network connect all three books.

The Eighth Sister also brings David Sloane back

Jenkins’s attempt to clear himself eventually requires legal help, allowing David Sloane to reenter the fictional world after his own five-book series.

For readers interested in every crossover, the richest order is to read the David Sloane books before beginning Charles Jenkins. It is not mandatory, but it turns returning characters into familiar allies instead of names requiring fresh introduction.

Keera Duggan treats courtroom strategy like competitive chess

Keera Duggan is a Seattle defense attorney and former prosecutor who returns to her family’s law practice after a difficult personal and professional break. She was once a highly competitive chess player, and that background shapes the way she anticipates opposing counsel several moves ahead.

1. Her Deadly Game (2023): Keera defends wealthy investment adviser Vince LaRussa against a murder charge and must outmaneuver both a strong prosecution and evidence suggesting her client may be manipulating everyone around him.
2. Beyond Reasonable Doubt (2024): Keera takes another high-stakes case in which forensic evidence, legal strategy, family tensions, and the possibility of a wrongful accusation challenge her ability to control the courtroom narrative.
3. Her Cold Justice (2026): Keera defends Michael Westbrook after he is accused of murdering a suspected drug smuggler and the man’s girlfriend, and discovers that the circumstantial case may hide a much larger conspiracy.

Her Cold Justice, published January 27, 2026, is Keera Duggan Book 3 and the latest published installment.

The Duggan family is part of the courtroom pressure

Keera’s professional problems cannot be separated cleanly from her family. She returns to a law firm shaped by her father’s formidable reputation and alcoholism and must work with relatives whose personal relationships are embedded in the practice.

That continuing family dynamic makes the Keera books better in publication order even though each novel presents a new defendant and trial.

Dugoni’s standalones move far beyond police procedurals

1. Damage Control (2007): A corporate crisis-management expert becomes trapped inside a dangerous investigation where controlling the public story may matter as much as identifying the people responsible.
2. The 7th Canon (2016): San Francisco attorney Peter Donley takes on the defense of a priest accused of murdering a teenage boy and finds that the apparent evidence hides deeper problems involving police, gangs, and the Church.
3. The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell (2018): Sam Hill looks back on a life shaped by ocular albinism, childhood bullying, faith, friendship, family, and the question of whether the difference that isolated him also gave his life a particular purpose.
4. The World Played Chess (2021): An adult writer remembers the summer of 1979, when a construction job and friendship with a Vietnam veteran forced him to confront adulthood, war trauma, and the lasting consequences of choices made when young.
5. A Killing on the Hill (2024): In 1933 Seattle, young reporter William Shoemacher covers a sensational murder trial and learns that newspaper ambition, corruption, organized crime, and courtroom truth do not always point in the same direction.
6. Hold Strong (2025), with Chris Crabtree and Jeff Langholz: A Second World War story follows soldiers and prisoners whose survival depends on endurance, loyalty, and refusing to surrender under brutal circumstances.

These books do not share a protagonist. They can be selected independently and should not be folded into Tracy Crosswhite or David Sloane chronology.

A Killing on the Hill is historical fiction rooted in Dugoni’s journalism background

William Shoemacher wants the kind of front-page story that can establish a newspaper career. A murder trial in Depression-era Seattle appears to provide exactly that opportunity.

The deeper William moves into the case, the more he discovers that the story told in court, the story printed in newspapers, and the truth may be three different things.

The book is a standalone and does not introduce a new modern detective series.

The Last Line is short fiction rather than another series launch

• The Last Line (2021): A short work centered on war, difficult choices, and the consequences carried home by people who have survived extreme circumstances.

It belongs with Dugoni’s shorter fiction rather than inside the Tracy Crosswhite, Sloane, Jenkins, or Keera numbering.

The Cyanide Canary is the nonfiction outlier

• The Cyanide Canary (2004), with Joseph Hilldorfer: This nonfiction environmental-crime account follows a cyanide poisoning investigation and the legal effort to hold the responsible company and individuals accountable.

It predates Dugoni’s first published David Sloane novel and should remain separate from his fiction bibliography.

A chronology for readers who want Tracy before My Sister’s Grave

1. The Academy: Tracy during police training.
2. Third Watch: Tracy during an earlier stage of her Seattle policing career.
3. My Sister’s Grave: The first full-length novel and the point where Sarah’s disappearance becomes the central case.
4. Continue through A Dead Draw: Follow Tracy’s cases, marriage, motherhood, career changes, and cold-case work.
5. One Split Second: Add Book 12 when published on September 15, 2026.

This is the internal-life route. Publication order still works better for readers who prefer to meet Tracy as Dugoni originally introduced her.

A publication-first route through Dugoni’s connected legal and spy worlds

1. The Jury Master: Meet David Sloane.
2. Continue through Bodily Harm: Establish Sloane’s legal career and personal history.
3. Murder One: Meet Charles Jenkins inside Sloane’s world.
4. The Conviction: Finish Sloane’s own five-book run.
5. The Eighth Sister: Move Jenkins into the lead and welcome Sloane back as a crossover character.
6. The Last Agent: Return with Jenkins to Russia.
7. The Silent Sisters: Complete the Seven Sisters trilogy.

Where Keera Duggan fits beside David Sloane

Both series are legal thrillers centered in the Pacific Northwest, but Keera Duggan is not a continuation of the David Sloane numbering.

Sloane’s books focus on his exceptional relationship with juries and the mysteries surrounding his personal history. Keera’s books use her chess background, family law firm, prosecutor relationships, and strategic courtroom thinking as their foundation.

Readers can move directly from The Conviction to Her Deadly Game for a thematic legal-thriller route, but no missing continuity needs to be filled between them.

The September 2026 publication line is unusually close

This page is updated on September 10, 2026. One Split Second is scheduled for September 15, only five days later.

Until that date, A Dead Draw remains the latest available Tracy Crosswhite novel. Once One Split Second is released, it should become the new endpoint as Book 12.

Her Cold Justice, published January 27, 2026, remains the latest Keera Duggan novel.

A seven-book Dugoni sampler without committing to every series

1. The Jury Master: Sample Dugoni’s original legal-thriller mode.
2. My Sister’s Grave: Meet Tracy Crosswhite and experience the family mystery at the center of her life.
3. The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell: See Dugoni outside suspense and police work.
4. The Eighth Sister: Move into Russian espionage with Charles Jenkins.
5. The World Played Chess: Read his coming-of-age and Vietnam-memory novel.
6. Her Deadly Game: Enter the newer Keera Duggan courtroom series.
7. A Killing on the Hill: Finish with Dugoni’s historical Seattle crime fiction.

This is only a sampler. Tracy Crosswhite, David Sloane, Charles Jenkins, and Keera Duggan are all better followed from their respective first books once you decide to continue.

The questions most likely to cause a Dugoni order mistake

What is the first full-length Tracy Crosswhite novel?

My Sister’s Grave, published in 2014, is Tracy Crosswhite Book 1.

Should The Academy be read before My Sister’s Grave?

It comes first chronologically, but it is optional prequel material. My Sister’s Grave remains the strongest first novel.

What is Tracy Crosswhite Book 11?

A Dead Draw, published in May 2025, is Book 11.

What comes after A Dead Draw?

One Split Second is Book 12 and is scheduled for September 15, 2026.

How many David Sloane novels are there?

There are five, from The Jury Master through The Conviction.

Where does Charles Jenkins first appear?

He appears in the David Sloane novel Murder One before becoming the protagonist of The Eighth Sister.

How many Charles Jenkins novels are there?

There are three: The Eighth Sister, The Last Agent, and The Silent Sisters.

How many Keera Duggan books are published?

Three are published through Her Cold Justice.

Is The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell part of a series?

No. It is an independent novel centered on Sam Hill’s life rather than a crime-series protagonist.

Is A Killing on the Hill connected to Tracy Crosswhite?

No. It is a standalone historical crime novel set in Seattle in 1933.

The order that preserves Dugoni’s crossovers without creating false ones

Read Tracy Crosswhite from My Sister’s Grave through A Dead Draw, then add One Split Second after its September 15, 2026 publication. Treat The Academy and Third Watch as optional earlier episodes rather than forcing them ahead of the novel that originally introduced Tracy.

For the legal and espionage side, read David Sloane from The Jury Master through The Conviction before moving to Charles Jenkins if you want every returning character to carry full context. Keep Keera Duggan as her own three-book legal series. The remaining novels can then stand independently, which lets Dugoni move from courtrooms and homicide units to wartime history, coming-of-age fiction, and family stories without turning every Seattle setting into a shared continuity.