Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Painting the Roses Red | 1974 | Michael Malone | Buy |
| 2 | The Delectable Mountains, Or, Entertaining Strangers | 1976 | Michael Malone | Buy |
| 3 | Dingley Falls | 1980 | Michael Malone | Buy |
| 4 | Handling Sin | 1986 | Michael Malone | Buy |
| 5 | Foolscap | 1991 | Michael Malone | Buy |
| 6 | The Last Noel | 2002 | Michael Malone | Buy |
| 7 | The Killing Club | 2005 | Michael Malone | Buy |
| 8 | The Four Corners of the Sky | 2009 | Michael Malone | Buy |
Michael Malone’s standalone novels range from campus satire to sweeping Southern comedy. His debut, Painting the Roses Red (1974), was a stream-of-consciousness novel he wrote to avoid his Harvard dissertation. Dingley Falls (1980) is a satirical ensemble piece set in a small Connecticut town where secrets involving biological warfare research start unraveling.
Handling Sin (1986) is his most loved book — a picaresque comedy about Raleigh Hayes, a strait-laced insurance agent whose dying father sends him on an increasingly absurd quest across the South. Foolscap (1991) turned to academia and theater, following a professor whose play about Sir Walter Raleigh is stolen by a famous playwright. The Last Noel (2002) spans 12 Christmas Eves from 1963 to 2003, tracing a love story across racial lines. The Four Corners of the Sky (2009), his final novel, follows a Navy pilot on a wild treasure hunt for her con-artist father.