Disaster Books in Order

How to Read Max Allan Collins' Disaster Series

Max Allan Collins' Disaster series offers a brilliant concept for fans of historical fiction and classic whodunits: real-life mystery and adventure writers are cast as amateur sleuths, solving fictional crimes against the ticking clock of history's greatest catastrophes. Because each novel is a self-contained story featuring a different author-turned-detective and a distinct historical setting, there is no continuous overarching plot or recurring protagonist. This leaves readers with two primary paths: publication order or chronological order.

Option 1: Publication Order (Recommended)

Reading the series in the order of publication is the most popular way to experience these historical whodunits. This matches the progression of Collins' writing style and the development of the series' core concept, starting with the ill-fated voyage of the Titanic and ending with the panic of Orson Welles' legendary radio broadcast.

1. The Titanic Murders (1999)
2. The Hindenburg Murders (2000)
3. The Pearl Harbor Murders (2001)
4. The Lusitania Murders (2002)
5. The London Blitz Murders (2004)
6. The War of the Worlds Murder (2005)

Option 2: Chronological Order (By Date of Disaster)

For readers who want to follow the timeline of twentieth-century history, reading the books chronologically based on the historical date of the disasters is a compelling alternative. This path allows you to travel from the pre-World War I era of 1912 up to the heights of World War II in 1941.

1. The Titanic Murders (Set in April 1912)
2. The Lusitania Murders (Set in May 1915)
3. The Hindenburg Murders (Set in May 1937)
4. The War of the Worlds Murder (Set in October 1938)
5. The London Blitz Murders (Set in 1940)
6. The Pearl Harbor Murders (Set in December 1941)

Book-by-Book Breakdown of the Disaster Series

1. The Titanic Murders (1999)

The series opener takes place aboard the Titanic during its maiden voyage in April 1912. The detective is Jacques Futrelle, a real-life American journalist and mystery writer famous for his "Thinking Machine" stories. When two passengers are found murdered in first class, Futrelle is asked to quietly solve the crime. The tension is high, as the reader knows the ship is steaming toward a tragic collision with an iceberg. In real life, Futrelle did indeed perish on the Titanic, making this whodunit a poignant tribute to his legacy.

2. The Hindenburg Murders (2000)

Set in May 1937, this novel takes readers aboard the Hindenburg airship during its final, fateful flight from Germany to Lakehurst, New Jersey. The detective is Leslie Charteris, the brilliant and suave creator of "The Saint" (Simon Templar). Charteris must navigate Nazi-era political tensions, espionage, and a suspicious case of a missing passenger who seems to have been replaced by an impostor, all before the zeppelin meets its explosive end.

3. The Pearl Harbor Murders (2001)

In December 1941, Edgar Rice Burroughs—the world-famous creator of Tarzan and John Carter of Mars—is staying in Honolulu, Hawaii. Working as one of the oldest war correspondents of the era, Burroughs and his son find themselves investigating the murder of a young Japanese-American woman. The investigation takes a frantic turn as they uncover clues pointing to a massive espionage ring, culminating in the historic air raid on Pearl Harbor.

4. The Lusitania Murders (2002)

Traveling back to the era of the First World War, this installment takes place in May 1915 aboard the British ocean liner Lusitania. The sleuth is Willard Huntington Wright, better known to mystery fans by his pen name S.S. Van Dine, the creator of the aristocratic detective Philo Vance. Wright must untangle a web of espionage, secret cargo disputes, and murder before a German U-boat torpedoes the ship off the coast of Ireland.

5. The London Blitz Murders (2004)

Set during the dark days of 1940, this novel stars the Queen of Crime herself, Agatha Christie. While volunteering in a London hospital dispensary during the height of the German bombing campaigns, Christie stumbles upon a series of horrific murders that mirror the work of a serial killer known as the "Blitz Butcher." As bombs rain down on London, Christie uses her unmatched deductive reasoning to track down the killer before she becomes the next victim.

6. The War of the Worlds Murder (2005)

The final book in the series takes place in a radio studio on the evening of October 30, 1938. Walter Gibson, the prolific writer behind the pulp superhero "The Shadow" (writing as Maxwell Grant), is at CBS studios to collaborate with the young genius Orson Welles. When a body is discovered in the studio just before the live broadcast of The War of the Worlds, Welles becomes the primary suspect. Gibson is forced to solve the crime within the one-hour duration of the infamous broadcast to clear Welles' name.

What to Know Before You Start

One of the highlights of the Disaster series is Max Allan Collins' devotion to historical accuracy. Collins conducts extensive research for each novel to ensure that the settings, historical figures, and events are represented as accurately as possible. To help readers separate fact from fiction, Collins includes a detailed historical afterword at the end of each book. These sections explain which elements of the story were drawn from real life, which characters actually existed, and where he took creative liberties for the sake of the mystery. This adds an educational and satisfying layer to the reading experience, making the books appeal equally to history buffs and mystery enthusiasts.