National Park Mystery Books in Order

Chuck Bender and his teenage stepdaughter Carmelita head to California for a grueling 150-mile ultra race from Mount Whitney to Death Valley. As mishaps mount on the course and Chuck probes an archaeological find linked to water-rights battles, they begin to suspect deliberate sabotage and murder.

Janelle Ortega’s cousin is found murdered at a remote petroglyph site in Saguaro National Park near the U.S.–Mexico border. As Janelle and archaeologist Chuck Bender investigate, they uncover buried resentments, cross-border crime, and ancient Hohokam secrets someone is willing to kill to protect.

Chuck Bender signs on for a whitewater rafting expedition through Cataract Canyon in Canyonlands National Park with water-policy experts and corporate insiders. When a series of suspicious “accidents” and a sudden death hit the group, the river trip turns into a hunt for a killer on board.

After a shocking death near the remote western edge of Mesa Verde National Park, Chuck Bender finds himself accused of murder. To clear his name, he and his family chase a killer through rugged canyons and ancient Ancestral Puebloan sites where priceless artifacts are at stake.

A dramatic arch collapse in Arches National Park kills a visitor and is quickly written off as an accident. Hired for preservation work, archaeologist Chuck Bender uncovers signs of deliberate sabotage that link ruthless development schemes to painful secrets in his own family.

Chuck Bender brings his family to Yosemite National Park to investigate a pair of 150-year-old murders during a big rock-climbing competition. When a climber disappears and an old friend dies, Chuck and Janelle must untangle past and present crimes to clear their own names.

In Yellowstone National Park, grizzlies and wolves begin acting violently as a team of scientists studies the backcountry. Archaeologist Chuck Bender joins his old friend, the park’s chief ranger, to protect the researchers and his family when the wild behavior escalates into murder.

Leading a summer field course in Rocky Mountain National Park, archaeologist Chuck Bender expects long days in the high country, not a body near an old mine. When his brother-in-law is accused of murder, Chuck and his family are drawn into a tightening circle of danger.

Archaeologist Chuck Bender brings his new wife and two young stepdaughters to Grand Canyon National Park for what should be a routine survey job. When his oldest stepdaughter vanishes from their campsite, Chuck must navigate buried histories and modern greed to uncover a deadly conspiracy.