Deadwood Undertaker Books in Order

The Deadwood Undertaker books head back to Deadwood, but much earlier than Violet Parker's time. Set in late 1876 and co-written with Sam Lucky, they turn the same rough country into an Old West adventure series with horror edges, gun smoke, and a lot more snow and mud. The first book, Life at the Coffin Joint, introduces Clementine Johanssen, an undertaker who is just as ready to fight trouble as she is to bury it.

This is Deadwood before the tourist brochures.

Clementine is not alone for long. Two men from Santa Fe ride in looking for a missing uncle, and the series gradually builds a working crew around her, including Boone McCreery, Jack Rabbit Fields, Hank Varney, and, later, one especially talkative ghost. Their jobs overlap whether they want them to or not, because Deadwood keeps producing bodies, enemies, and problems that do not stay politely in their graves.

The setting matters in a big way. This is a boomtown running hot on gold, greed, weather, and bad judgment. Charles and Lucky use that instability well. Streets are rough, law is thin, loyalties shift fast, and the wilderness around town feels just as dangerous as the people inside it. When the books move into places like Slagton, the mood gets darker, stranger, and more outright monstrous.

Across the series, the mysteries widen into something much bigger than missing men or stolen corpses. A Long Way from Ordinary and Can't Ride Around It deepen the Black Hills danger. Catawampus Christmas Carol gives the group a warmer holiday turn. Then The Backside of Hades and Hip Deep in Bad Company push the ongoing fight into territory that feels part western, part supernatural siege. The stakes are often local, until suddenly they are not.

It is grimy, funny, and surprisingly heartfelt.

Readers who like the modern Deadwood books will recognize Ann Charles's love of banter, mayhem, and off-kilter characters, but this series has its own rhythm. It is rougher around the edges, more openly Western, and very comfortable mixing shootouts with monsters. Start with Life at the Coffin Joint and read in order. The crew dynamics are half the joy, and the larger supernatural thread grows stronger with every book.