Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Man Of Little Evils | 1973 | Stephen Dobyns | Buy |
| 2 | Dancer with One Leg | 1983 | Stephen Dobyns | Buy |
| 3 | Cold Dog Soup | 1985 | Stephen Dobyns | Buy |
| 4 | A Boat Off the Coast | 1987 | Stephen Dobyns | Buy |
| 5 | The Two Deaths of Senora Puccini | 1988 | Stephen Dobyns | Buy |
| 6 | The House on Alexandrine | 1990 | Stephen Dobyns | Buy |
| 7 | After Shocks/Near Escapes | 1991 | Stephen Dobyns | Buy |
| 8 | The Wrestler’s Cruel Study | 1993 | Stephen Dobyns | Buy |
| 9 | The Church of Dead Girls | 1997 | Stephen Dobyns | Buy |
| 10 | Boy in the Water | 1999 | Stephen Dobyns | Buy |
| 11 | The Burn Palace | 2013 | Stephen Dobyns | Buy |
| 12 | Is Fat Bob Dead Yet? | 2015 | Stephen Dobyns | Buy |
Stephen Dobyns’s standalone novels cover a broad range of tones and subjects, from the gothic tension of The Church of Dead Girls to the black comedy of Cold Dog Soup and Is Fat Bob Dead Yet? What connects them is Dobyns’s interest in how ordinary communities respond to disruption and violence.
The Church of Dead Girls (1997) is probably his best-known work outside the Charlie Bradshaw series. Set in a small upstate New York town, the novel traces the social unraveling that follows the disappearance of three young women. Boy in the Water (1999) and The Burn Palace (2013) explore similar territory, examining how fear and suspicion take root in tight-knit places. His earlier novels, including A Boat Off the Coast (1987) and The Two Deaths of Senora Puccini (1988), show a writer experimenting with genre and voice across very different settings.