Ancient Secrets Books in Order

The Ancient Secrets novels are Joanne Pence in a very different mode. Instead of cozy kitchens and San Francisco murder scenes, these books move through archaeological digs, ruined landscapes, lost texts, family legacies, and old evils that never really died. The series centers on archaeologist Michael Rempart, a brilliant and troubled man whose work keeps drawing him toward mysteries that are far older, and far darker, than an academic puzzle should be.

Michael is not just chasing artifacts.

From the start, the series ties archaeology to alchemy, the occult, and the idea that history is still active in the present. Relics carry power. Manuscripts hold dangerous knowledge. Old myths turn out not to be safely buried stories, but warnings. That gives the books a broad, globe-spanning feel. One novel may reach back to the Lewis and Clark era in Idaho, another to the Silk Road, another to Russia, Ukraine, or Sicily. The settings change, but the pressure stays the same: Michael keeps uncovering things that other people would kill to possess.

There is also a strong ongoing arc running beneath the separate plots. Michael's family history matters, especially the shadow cast by his father and the strange inheritance that follows the Rempart name. Friends, allies, and occasional outsiders get pulled into that fight, so the books feel cumulative. The more you read, the more you see how each discovery adds weight to the next one.

The tone sits somewhere between archaeological thriller, supernatural suspense, and dark adventure. There are demons, dreamscapes, secret societies, violent obsessions, and ancient belief systems colliding with modern ambition. But Pence keeps the stories grounded through character. Michael is not a superhero. He is capable, but he is also haunted, emotionally exposed, and often forced to keep going long after common sense would suggest retreat.

That tension gives the series its edge.

If you like books where the past reaches out with claws, Ancient Secrets is built for you. These stories ask what happens when buried knowledge does not stay buried, and when people who start out looking for answers end up fighting for their sanity, their families, and sometimes the world around them. The action can get big, but the emotional stakes stay close to the bone.

Start with Ancient Echoes, and expect a series that grows stranger, darker, and more ambitious as it goes.