Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Dead Priest of Sedona | 2015 | Charles Williamson | Buy |
| 2 | The Dead Chef of Santa Fe | 2015 | Charles Williamson | Buy |
| 3 | The Murders at El Tovar | 2015 | Charles Williamson | Buy |
| 4 | The Victim at Vultee Arch | 2015 | Charles Williamson | Buy |
| 5 | The Arson at Happy Jack | 2015 | Charles Williamson | Buy |
| 6 | The Dead Man at Doyle Saddle | 2015 | Charles Williamson | Buy |
| 7 | The Mauling at Kinnickinick Pueblo | 2017 | Charles Williamson | Buy |
| 8 | The Body at Midgley Bridge | 2018 | Charles Williamson | Buy |
| 9 | The Homicide on the Grand Canyon Railway | 2021 | Charles Williamson | Buy |
| 10 | The Corpse at Canyon Diablo | 2021 | Charles Williamson | Buy |
| 11 | The Abduction at Eldon Mountain | 2022 | Charles Williamson | Buy |
| 12 | The Remains at Slide Rock | 2023 | Charles Williamson | Buy |
| 13 | The Missing Hacker at Jacob Lake | 2023 | Charles Williamson | Buy |
The Mike Damson Mystery series is Charles Williamson’s longest-running sequence, starting in 2015 with The Dead Priest of Sedona and continuing through thirteen entries to The Missing Hacker at Jacob Lake in 2023. Six of the books came out in the first year alone, an unusually rapid pace that gave readers a substantial run of Damson material from the beginning.
Each title follows the same pattern: a crime at a named location in the American Southwest. Sedona, the Grand Canyon, Canyon Diablo, and the surrounding canyon country all appear, and the geographical specificity is one of the series’ pleasures. Readers who have visited these places will recognise them; readers who have not will get a vivid sense of the landscape that shapes the stories.
Start with The Dead Priest of Sedona and read in order, as Mike Damson is a recurring character whose world develops across the series. Later books in the sequence, including the 2021 to 2023 entries, suggest Williamson returned to the series with fresh energy after a gap following The Body at Midgley Bridge in 2018.