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Richard Prosch Books in Order

Explore Richard Prosch books in order, with concise summaries, series guides, recurring-character background, and clear suggestions for where to start.

Last updated: July 14, 2026

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Richard Prosch books in publication order

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15 books

On Solid Ground: The Jo Harper Collection

by Richard Prosch

2015

This collection follows thirteen-year-old Deputy Constable Jo Harper through new dangers in 1911 Willowby, Wyoming. With friends, enemies, and strangers crossing her path, Jo must keep solving mysteries without losing her footing.

Season of Ice

by Richard Prosch

2016

Seventeen crime stories range from a 1965 blackout to Depression-era Nebraska, Manhattan streets, and rural South Carolina. Criminals, bystanders, cops, and old secrets collide in tales where justice is often brutal.

Answer Death

by Richard Prosch

2017

Ex-state cop Dan Spalding wants only to run his vintage record shop in peace. When a stolen valuable LP leads to a murder connected to a notorious entertainer, Dan becomes the next person in danger.

Spalding's Groove

by Richard Prosch

2017

Former state cop Dan Spalding runs a vintage record store in Ozark City, until a washed-up television star brings in suspicious vinyl. The collection launches Dan into gangs, hidden secrets, and the sort of trouble that is bad for business.

Two for Midnight

by Richard Prosch

2017

In the early twentieth century, Phil Dunlap sees profit in selling phonograph records to friends and family. But an encounter with the wrong customer turns his small business plan into a dangerous brush with the past.

Back Mask

by Richard Prosch

2018

Dan Spalding tries to protect old friend Digger Strickland when buried secrets point toward Darian Cole, an evangelist running for the Senate. A backwards message on an old record opens a path to a long-hidden evil.

Flip Side

by Richard Prosch

2018

Dan takes what looks like an easy private-security job for a college professor and his girlfriend. Instead, he steps into a case where love, betrayal, vengeance, and criminal favors turn a simple assignment deadly.

The Scalper

by Richard Prosch

2018

This Western story collection brings together outlaws, gunmen, young inventors, artists, and lawmen across the old frontier. The title story, a Spur Award winner, sits beside tales of grudges, oddball trouble, and wide-open country.

Stage Fright

by Richard Prosch

2019

Runaway performer Apple May wants out of an Ozark City club, and Dan agrees to help. But escaping mob boss Adrian Mitchell proves far more dangerous than either of them expects, especially when powerful people refuse to let her go.

Tough Job in Driftwood: Western Short Stories

by Richard Prosch

2019

A collection of Western tales set among Nebraska and Wyoming ranges, where wrecked wagons, dangerous jobs, gambling, and old memories lead to trouble. Lawmen, gunfighters, and strangers face hard choices with action and dry humor.

Dead Beat

by Richard Prosch

2020

Without Marti Stahl, the Ozarks feel lonelier than ever to Dan Spalding. When a battered, drowned woman appears to match Marti's description, Dan pursues justice through a small-town crime boss and his hired guns.

Deep Cuts

by Richard Prosch

2020

A day of violence leaves Dan Spalding facing a ruthless warning: criminals will target everyone around him. With friends under attack and old losses weighing on him, Dan moves against Reese Hogan's powerful criminal empire.

Needle Drop

by Richard Prosch

2020

Dan witnesses a young woman plunge from Stu Heinrichs's yacht, then finds himself trapped in a case involving murder and public outrage. To expose the truth, he risks his life, the people he loves, and his hard-won future.

Pony Boys

by Richard Prosch

2022

In 1879 Nebraska, young Augustus John rides with Doc Middleton's Pony Boys, a loose band of horse thieves. As vigilantes and lawmen close in, Gus must decide whether loyalty to the gang is worth its mounting cost.

The Dagger Before Me

by Richard Prosch

2024

In Tatendra, leader Celestyne and mechanician Devron Koert face Mage-King Govannon as magic and engineered armor collide. With the realm's twin moons nearing disaster, their uneasy alliance may be its only defense.

Where to start with Richard Prosch

For an Ozarks crime series: Answer DeathFlip SideBack MaskStage Fright.
For a quick Dan Spalding introduction: Spalding's GrooveAnswer Death.
For young-reader historical mysteries: Waiting for a CometRacing a Dog StarRoping a Planet.
For Nebraska frontier history: Pony BoysCast a Wide Loop.
For crime short stories: Season of IceTwo for Midnight.

Curse of the Niobrara books in order

Explore this series
  1. Book cover for "Pony Boys"

    Pony Boys

    by Richard Prosch

    2022Curse of the Niobrara, Book 1

Curse of the Niobrara books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "Pony Boys"

    Pony Boys

    by Richard Prosch

    2022Curse of the Niobrara, Book 1

Dan Spalding Thriller books in order

Explore this series
  1. Book cover for "Answer Death"

    Answer Death

    by Richard Prosch

    2017Dan Spalding Thriller, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "Spalding's Groove"

    Spalding's Groove

    by Richard Prosch

    2017Dan Spalding Thriller, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "Back Mask"

    Back Mask

    by Richard Prosch

    2018Dan Spalding Thriller, Book 4
  4. Book cover for "Flip Side"

    Flip Side

    by Richard Prosch

    2018Dan Spalding Thriller, Book 3
  5. Book cover for "Stage Fright"

    Stage Fright

    by Richard Prosch

    2019Dan Spalding Thriller, Book 5
  6. Book cover for "Dead Beat"

    Dead Beat

    by Richard Prosch

    2020Dan Spalding Thriller, Book 6
  7. Book cover for "Deep Cuts"

    Deep Cuts

    by Richard Prosch

    2020Dan Spalding Thriller, Book 7
  8. Book cover for "Needle Drop"

    Needle Drop

    by Richard Prosch

    2020Dan Spalding Thriller, Book 8

Dan Spalding Thriller books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "Answer Death"

    Answer Death

    by Richard Prosch

    2017Dan Spalding Thriller, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "Spalding's Groove"

    Spalding's Groove

    by Richard Prosch

    2017Dan Spalding Thriller, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "Flip Side"

    Flip Side

    by Richard Prosch

    2018Dan Spalding Thriller, Book 3
  4. Book cover for "Back Mask"

    Back Mask

    by Richard Prosch

    2018Dan Spalding Thriller, Book 4
  5. Book cover for "Stage Fright"

    Stage Fright

    by Richard Prosch

    2019Dan Spalding Thriller, Book 5
  6. Book cover for "Dead Beat"

    Dead Beat

    by Richard Prosch

    2020Dan Spalding Thriller, Book 6
  7. Book cover for "Deep Cuts"

    Deep Cuts

    by Richard Prosch

    2020Dan Spalding Thriller, Book 7
  8. Book cover for "Needle Drop"

    Needle Drop

    by Richard Prosch

    2020Dan Spalding Thriller, Book 8

Jo Harper books in order

Explore this series
  1. Book cover for "On Solid Ground: The Jo Harper Collection"

    On Solid Ground: The Jo Harper Collection

    by Richard Prosch

    2015Jo Harper, Book 1

Jo Harper books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "On Solid Ground: The Jo Harper Collection"

    On Solid Ground: The Jo Harper Collection

    by Richard Prosch

    2015Jo Harper, Book 1

Reign of Hex & Steel books in order

Explore this series
  1. Book cover for "The Dagger Before Me"

    The Dagger Before Me

    by Richard Prosch

    2024Reign of Hex & Steel, Book 1

Reign of Hex & Steel books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "The Dagger Before Me"

    The Dagger Before Me

    by Richard Prosch

    2024Reign of Hex & Steel, Book 1

Richard Prosch collections, short stories, and related book types

Collections

  1. Book cover for "Season of Ice"

    Season of Ice

    by Richard Prosch

    2016
  2. Book cover for "Two for Midnight"

    Two for Midnight

    by Richard Prosch

    2017
  3. Book cover for "The Scalper"

    The Scalper

    by Richard Prosch

    2018
  4. Book cover for "Tough Job in Driftwood: Western Short Stories"

    Tough Job in Driftwood: Western Short Stories

    by Richard Prosch

    2019

Author bio

Richard Prosch was born in Denver in 1966, but much of the landscape that shapes his fiction comes from northeast Nebraska. He grew up in Bloomfield, where farm work, open country, old stories, and long drives through the range gave him plenty of time to make up tales of his own.

A fifth-grade teacher helped turn that habit into a goal. After Prosch handed in a vampire story, Mrs. Neuharth responded with enthusiasm and told him he could become a writer someday. That early encouragement stuck.

Before publishing fiction, Prosch worked in several creative jobs. He has been an artist, teacher, writer, and web developer, and has lived and worked in Wyoming, South Carolina, and Missouri. With his wife, Gina, he also created the comic strip Comics and Emma Davenport, which ran in Comics Buyers Guide and led to a series of comic books. The two later worked on projects connected to television, syndicated media, and cartoon licensing.

His fiction moves comfortably between the old West, present-day crime, young-reader adventures, and fantasy. The settings matter. Nebraska's plains, Wyoming's range country, and the tourist-town energy of the Ozarks are not just backdrops, they help shape the people making difficult choices inside each story.

Prosch's Western work often follows lawmen, drifters, outlaws, and people trying to make a living where the rules are unsettled. His short story The Scalper won a Spur Award from Western Writers of America in 2016. Later books such as Pony Boys return to Nebraska history, using the real-world story of Doc Middleton and Kid Wade as the starting point for a tale about horse thieves, vigilantes, loyalty, and consequences.

He also writes a very different kind of crime story in the Dan Spalding books. Beginning with Answer Death, the series follows a former state cop who runs a vintage record store in Ozark City, Missouri. Dan would prefer to focus on old vinyl, but trouble keeps arriving at the shop. The books mix local crime, long memories, friendship, and the stubborn impulse to step in when somebody needs help.

Then there is Jo Harper, a young deputy constable in 1910 Wyoming. Created with Gina Prosch, the Jo stories pair period details, humor, danger, and a kid detective who is much more interested in solving a mystery than being told to stay out of it. They are a lighter entry point into Prosch's work, though the stakes still feel real.

He doesn't seem interested in staying in one lane.

That range also includes the sword-and-sorcery series Reign of Hex & Steel, written with Robert E. Vardeman, where magic and machinery collide. Across genres, Prosch tends to return to people under pressure: a kid trying to do the right thing, a lawman with too little backup, an outlaw facing a changing world, or an ordinary person forced to decide whether to walk away.

Prosch lives near Jefferson City, Missouri, with Gina and their son, Wyatt. Away from the desk, he has a well-documented fondness for old paperbacks, comics, action figures, antique shops, and vintage records, especially jazz. Those interests show up in the texture of his stories, often when readers least expect them.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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