Mercy Thompson reading order

Publication order is the first-read path. The cases accumulate. So do the treaties.

Briggs keeps a book list and a timeline on her site. Use those when a novella collection and a hardcover disagree. A first read can be novels only.

The novels

Read them in this order. There is no “the series gets good at book six, start there” door that does not also skip the cost of the first five.

The series is not finished. A later Mercy novel may exist after Winter Lost. It will not be a starting point.

Alpha and Omega — a spin-off, not an on-ramp

Charles and Anna have their own novels, beginning with Cry Wolf (after the prequel novella Alpha and Omega). They share a world with Mercy. They are not Mercy 2.5, and they are a poor place to meet the Columbia Basin pack for the first time.

House rule: read Mercy in publication order. If you want Charles and Anna, start Cry Wolf after you already like the setting — Briggs’s timeline shows how the two lines interleave. Do not open Cry Wolf because it looks shorter than Moon Called.

Novellas and collections

Keep these out of the numbered novel column.

Collections such as Shifting Shadows and later short volumes gather Mercy and Alpha and Omega stories. Lists titled “complete Mercy order” go stale when a new short appears. The novels are the stable objects. Insert a novella if you have it and Briggs’s timeline puts it after a book you already read. Do not stall Iron Kissed on a short.

Common mistakes

• Starting with Winter Lost because it is the newest hardcover.
• Starting with Cry Wolf because someone said Alpha and Omega is “better.”
• Treating a collection as Mercy book 8.
• Using a fan interleave that quietly includes every cameo as a required chapter.

What to read next

1. Kate Daniels (Ilona Andrews) — If you want another long urban-fantasy job with a later-city continuation that looks like a new book one.
2. The Dresden Files (Jim Butcher) — If you want the other long supernatural-case run, still unfinished.
3. October Daye (Seanan McGuire) — If you want another series that accumulates fae politics on purpose.
4. Fever (Karen Marie Moning) — If you want another long supernatural street whose later Dani book looks like a new series.
5. Rivers of London (Ben Aaronovitch) — If you want the police paperwork instead of the garage.

FAQ

Do I have to read the shorts?
No. The novels carry the argument.

Do I need Alpha and Omega?
No. It is a neighboring pack.

Can I start at Fire Touched?
You can. You will spend several books standing on a porch you never walked up.

Is Winter Lost a starting point?
No. It follows Soul Taken.

Sources

• Patricia Briggs, printable book list — official Mercy titles through Winter Lost. Opened 2026-09-13.
• Patricia Briggs, reading-order timeline — official interleave of novels and shorts. Opened 2026-09-13.