Michael Reisig Books in Order
Browse Michael Reisig books in order, with short summaries, series guides for Road to Key West and Caribbean Gold, and simple advice on where to start.
Last updated: July 4, 2026
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Publication Order
28 books
The Intrepid Arkansas Traveler
by Michael Reisig
1996
Part travel guide, part local companion, this early nonfiction book roams Arkansas through parks, lakes, campgrounds, fishing spots, hunting country, and town attractions. It's practical, outdoorsy, and written with some personality.
The New Madrid Run
by Michael Reisig
1998
After a catastrophic shift of the Earth's poles shatters civilization, Travis Christian survives the first wave in the Florida Keys. He sets sail toward refuge in the Arkansas mountains while storms, pirates, and desperate survivors close in.
The Hawks of Kamalon
by Michael Reisig
1999
Two World War II fighter pilots are pulled out of the skies over Germany and dropped onto a distant planet on the edge of war. There they are asked to defend the peaceful people of Kamalon against a powerful enemy bent on conquest.
The Fledgling Author's Handbook
by Michael Reisig
2000
Reisig turns his experience as a columnist and novelist into a practical guide for new writers. He covers publishing, self-publishing, promotion, and the hard truths behind getting a book into readers' hands.
The Old Man's Letters
by Michael Reisig
2000
Jake Strider writes sharp, funny, and often touching letters to his son over two decades, building a portrait of rural life and the wider world beyond it. The book mixes country humor with blunt social and political observation.
Michael Reisig's Great Little Bathroom and Bedtime Book
by Michael Reisig
2010
This compact nonfiction collection mixes brief essays, observations, and stories about love, faith, luck, memory, truth, and everyday absurdity. It's meant for quick dips, but the humor and reflection give it more weight than the title suggests.
The Road to Key West
by Michael Reisig
2010
In 1971, friends Kansas Stamps and Will Bell head for the Florida Keys planning to make a living as commercial divers. Instead they collide with smugglers, mystics, romance, and a lost Spanish treasure that drags them across the Caribbean.
The Truthmaker
by Michael Reisig
2012
In this earlier standalone version of the story later reworked as Along The Road To Key West, Trace West and Zach Zapeta uncover a device that compels the truth. Their discovery draws them into conspiracies, betrayals, and a chase that reaches from Key West to Washington.
Along The Road To Key West
by Michael Reisig
2013
Kansas and Will discover a hidden device that forces people to tell the truth, and suddenly everyone wants it. Con men, political fixers, and gunmen close in as the two friends try to survive their most dangerous idea yet.
Back On The Road To Key West
by Michael Reisig
2013
Kansas and Will are back in the early 1980s, chasing an ancient map, lost pirate treasure, and a mysterious device with strange powers. The trip swings through the Caribbean and South America with Rufus, cutthroats, and more romantic complications.
Somewhere On The Road To Key West
by Michael Reisig
2014
A diary from an amateur archaeologist sends Kansas and Will up a dangerous Panamanian river in search of the Emerald Cave and a lost Spanish treasure. A local gang, hired killers, and old enemies make every step worse.
The Golden Persuader
by Michael Reisig
2015
Texas rodeo cowboy Dax Dryder ends up with a strange gift that can bend other people to his will. Soon he is running from hoodlums, corporate killers, and enemies who know exactly how powerful that gift could be.
The Treasure of Margarita
by Michael Reisig
2015
A 300-year-old letter and the promise of Spanish black pearls send Travis Christian and William Cody into a chase that spans centuries. Pirate history, romance, and modern Caribbean crime collide as the clues grow more dangerous.
The Treasure of Time
by Michael Reisig
2015
In 1980, three adventurers leave Key West with an old parchment and a few clues pointing toward lost treasure on Tortuga. Their search pits them against a deadly bokor, Haiti's secret police, and the deeper question of what some treasures are really worth.
The Treasure Of Tortuga
by Michael Reisig
2015
In 1668, Englishman Trevor Holte and freebooter Clevin Greymore sail for the West Indies in search of fortune. They find brutal enemies, dangerous allies, and the kind of buried gold that can outlast the men who chase it.
Beyond The Road To Key West
by Michael Reisig
2016
A cache of ancient writings links Kansas and Will to the hidden treasure of a Mayan ruler and a love story that reaches back more than four centuries. Their hunt pulls them through Central America and the Bahamas with soldiers, bandits, and stranger things in pursuit.
Down The Road To Key West
by Michael Reisig
2016
Kansas and Will hunt the lost treasure of Pancho Villa while competing for the attention of a beautiful antiquities dealer. A secret-laden dagger, dangerous bandits, and a trail into Mexico keep the search moving fast.
A Far Road To Key West
by Michael Reisig
2017
Kansas, Will, and their crew head back into Guatemala to recover the rest of a Mayan king's treasure. Instead they land in revolution, Nazi loot, military pursuit, and one of Central America's most terrifying prisons.
The Wild Road to Key West
by Michael Reisig
2017
While rescuing an old friend from a brutal Venezuelan gem boss, the gang stumbles onto a larger mystery involving a lost city, ancient secrets, and a cave with a timeless message. It's jungle adventure with gems, bandits, and a very unstable guide.
A Pirate's Road to Key West
by Michael Reisig
2018
Kansas Stamps, Will Bell, and the Hole in the Coral Wall Gang chase a stolen Pre-Columbian treasure from Caracas to New Orleans, Haiti, and the Windward Islands. Old grudges, a drug boss, and an expert assassin make the ride even rougher.
The True Tales Of The Road To Key West
by Michael Reisig
2018
Not a novel but the real-life side of the series, this book gathers Michael Reisig's memories from the 1970s and 1980s Caribbean. It blends outrageous true stories, photos, quotes, and short introductions to the Road to Key West books.
The Lost Road To Key West
by Michael Reisig
2019
Kansas and Will chase a mystery tied to reports of ancient Egyptian ruins in the Grand Canyon. What starts as a treasure hunt turns into a high-risk fight over hidden artifacts, buried history, and truths powerful people would rather keep buried.
The Incredible Key West - Caribbean Race
by Michael Reisig
2020
After a hard night in Key West, Kansas Stamps and Will Bell get pulled into a bizarre contest that sends them across the Caribbean and into Central and South America. The scavenger-hunt setup brings promoters, hit men, storms, voodoo, and plenty of bad decisions.
Gamblers Fools And Fate On The Road To Key West
by Michael Reisig
2021
The gang heads to Panama's notorious Coiba Penal Colony, where an ancient secret may be hidden among convicts, guards, and armed opportunists. Kansas and Will also have to dodge the South Florida mafia and a pair of relentless hired crazies.
Gods, Guns, and Money On The Road To Key West
by Michael Reisig
2021
Kansas, Will, and the gang get swept into another far-flung run involving airplane crashes, bank thefts, river pirates, diamond thieves, a crystal skull, and drug lords. Under the chaos sits a quieter thread about power, wonder, and the bond between people and animals.
The Remarkable Wisdoms And Bizarre Tales of Tennison Hawk
by Michael Reisig
2023
This short collection gathers funny, blunt, and often politically edged pieces linked to the late Tennison Hawk. It's less a novel than a mix of stories, observations, and hard-earned opinions meant to provoke a grin and maybe an argument.
The Road To Mexico
by Michael Reisig
2024
Kansas Stamps and Will Bell head south again for another Road to Key West adventure, with Mexico serving as the jumping-off point for fresh trouble. Expect treasure hunting, dangerous rivals, and the same mix of humor, romance, and close calls that drives the series.
The Road To Roatan
by Michael Reisig
2024
Kansas and Will head to Roatan, where pirate history, a missing treasure, and a looming hurricane make a bad mix. Add a crime boss, angry monks, crocodiles, and the usual gang, and the island getaway turns wild fast.
Where should I start?
If you want the main Key West adventure from the beginning: The Road to Key West → Back On The Road To Key West → Along The Road To Key West
If you want the real-life stories behind the fiction: The True Tales Of The Road To Key West → The Road to Key West
If you want pirate-era historical adventure: The Treasure Of Tortuga → The Treasure of Time → The Treasure of Margarita
If you want a standalone outside the series: The New Madrid Run → The Golden Persuader
Author bio
Michael Reisig was born in Enid, Oklahoma, in 1948, the first son in a military family. His childhood moved around, with stretches in Europe and California before the family settled in Florida. He later went to high school and college in the Tampa Bay area, which gave him a lasting foothold in the state that would shape so much of his fiction.
He did not take a straight road to writing novels.
After college, he spent time as a working musician, then moved to the Florida Keys and built a commercial diving business with a friend. He earned his pilot's license and traveled widely through the Caribbean and the southern hemisphere, diving, treasure hunting, and taking the kind of chances that sound invented until you read his books. Those years gave him a storehouse of boats, bars, reefs, storms, hustlers, and close calls that later became fiction.
Writing first came through journalism. Reisig worked professionally for newspapers and magazines for many years, became an editor and publisher, and built a reputation as a columnist with a sharp, funny voice. In Arkansas he worked at The Mena Star and later helped found The Polk County Pulse with Bonnie Lightfoot. Newspaper work taught him pace, observation, and how to land a story cleanly.
Eventually the stories needed more room than a column could give them.
His first novel, The New Madrid Run, arrived in 1998 and imagined survival after a catastrophic shift of the earth's poles. But the book that truly opened things up was The Road to Key West, followed by a long run of Caribbean adventures starring Kansas Stamps and Will Bell. Readers tend to come for the treasure hunts, smugglers, lost maps, and old mysteries, then stay for the friendships, oddball supporting characters, and the sense that Reisig knows exactly how a small plane, rough water, or a bad island bar should feel.
That mix shows up across his work. Back On The Road To Key West and The Lost Road To Key West lean into fast-moving adventure and historical mystery. The Treasure Of Tortuga and the larger Caribbean Gold books push further into pirate-era seas, buried fortunes, and long trails of clues. Then a book like The Golden Persuader swerves into science fiction, which tells you something important about him: he liked a good story more than a tidy label.
His recurring themes are easy to spot. He wrote about people on the edge of maps, divers, pilots, treasure seekers, drifters, loyal friends, dangerous charmers, and the kind of villains who look almost funny until they are suddenly not funny at all. The Caribbean shows up again and again, not as a postcard, but as a working world full of weather, danger, beauty, and people improvising their way through it.
Reisig spent his later years in the mountains of western Arkansas, where he wrote, hunted, and fished, while still carrying the Florida Keys around in his imagination. His books were optioned for film, reached audio and overseas editions, and built a loyal following of readers who liked their adventure with humor and hard-earned detail.
He died in July 2025. The books still feel like they were written by someone who had actually been there, and who knew that the best stories usually begin when a reasonable plan goes wrong.
Edited by
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