The Recommended Reading Order for the Hook Runyon Mysteries
For the best reading experience, it is highly recommended to follow the Hook Runyon series in its original publication order. Because the books follow a linear narrative progression, reading them chronologically allows you to watch Hook’s personal life, his professional status on the Santa Fe Railroad, and his evolving cast of companions grow and change. Below is the complete order of the novels:
- The Yard Dog (2009)
- The Insane Train (2010)
- Dead Man's Tunnel (2012)
- The Hanging of Samuel Ash (2013)
- The Bridge Troll Murders (2017)
- Justice Rode the Train (2020)
A Closer Look at the Books
1. The Yard Dog (2009)
The series opens at the tail end of World War II in 1944. Hook Runyon is working as a "yard dog"—a railroad security agent—at a divisional point in Waynoka, Oklahoma. The job is gritty, but Hook gets by with his beloved collection of rare books and a caboose for a home. When a local coal salvager is found dead near a nearby German POW camp, the local authorities dismiss it. Hook suspects murder, throwing himself into an investigation that reveals a dangerous black market smuggling ring operating right under the camp commander's nose.
2. The Insane Train (2010)
Set immediately after the war's conclusion, Hook is tasked with a bizarre and hazardous assignment. A California mental asylum has burned down, and its remaining patients must be transported across the Mojave Desert to a new facility in Oklahoma. Hook is hired to run security for the transport train. As the journey progresses, patients and staff begin dying under mysterious circumstances. Trapped on a moving asylum, Hook must separate the delusions of the passengers from the calculations of a cold-blooded killer.
3. Dead Man's Tunnel (2012)
In this installment, Hook and his loyal dog Mixer are stationed near the strategic Johnson Canyon Tunnel in Arizona, a vital artery for military supply lines. When a guard is run down and killed by a train inside the dark tunnel, military officials are quick to declare it a suicide or the result of a tragic love triangle. Hook believes otherwise. Partnering with Lieutenant Allison Capron of the Army Transportation Department, Hook is forced to navigate military bureaucracy and hazardous mountain terrain to solve the crime.
4. The Hanging of Samuel Ash (2013)
While investigating a routine signal malfunction in a remote area, Hook makes a gruesome discovery: the body of a young man hanging from a railroad wigwag signal. The victim's only identifying item is a Bronze Star engraved with the name "Samuel Ash." Driven by a personal code of honor to ensure this decorated veteran receives a proper burial instead of a pauper's grave, Hook searches for the man's origins. His quest leads him to a corrupt, isolated Oklahoma orphanage where powerful figures will do anything to keep their dark secrets buried.
5. The Bridge Troll Murders (2017)
The series takes a narrative shift with the introduction of Ria Wolfe, a Boston University graduate student studying the newly emerging field of forensic science. She convinces Hook to let her shadow him to gather practical experience. Their partnership gets off to a horrific start when they find the body of a sixteen-year-old boy near a railroad bridge hobo camp. Soon, similar murders occur along the railway lines stretching across Kansas and Texas, forcing Hook's old-school street smarts to merge with Ria's modern forensic techniques to catch a transient serial killer.
6. Justice Rode the Train (2020)
In the final volume of the main series, Hook faces his most emotionally demanding assignment yet. He is ordered to transport a group of Jewish orphans who survived the concentration camps from a displaced persons camp to their new homes. However, the train is also carrying hundreds of defeated German prisoners of war. Tensions flare to a boiling point on the tracks, and Hook is forced to stand as the thin line between innocence and post-war vengeance.
Publication Order vs. Chronological Order
Fortunately for readers, Sheldon Russell wrote the Hook Runyon series in strict chronological order. The Yard Dog begins during the final year of World War II, and subsequent books trace the early post-war years of the mid-to-late 1940s. Because the historical setting shifts progressively and Hook's life experiences build directly upon the events of previous books, there is no benefit to altering the reading order. Simply start at the beginning and read straight through.
What to Know Before You Start
Before diving into the Hook Runyon series, it helps to understand the unique flavor Sheldon Russell brings to these books:
- A Different Kind of Protagonist: Hook Runyon is not a polished, traditional detective. He lost his arm in a car accident, was once a hobo, and lives in a retired caboose. He is cynical, loves moonshine, yet possesses a surprising soft spot for classic literature and rare books.
- The Historical Setting: Russell excels at highlighting the often-ignored corners of the American home front during and after WWII. You will read about German POW camps in the American Midwest, the harsh treatment of mental patients, the realities of transient hobo camps, and the struggle of veterans returning home with physical and psychological trauma.
- A Rich Cast of Side Characters: Hook's investigations are rarely solo efforts. He is accompanied by Mixer, a loyal dog of indeterminate breed, and Runt, a local moonshiner. In the later novels, Ria Wolfe brings a fascinating dynamic as a female forensic pioneer in a male-dominated mid-century railroad culture.
Practical Reader Advice
Can the books be read as standalones? Yes. Each novel features a self-contained mystery that is fully resolved by the final chapter. However, doing so will cause you to miss the slow-burning character development, especially the introduction of forensic student Ria Wolfe in The Bridge Troll Murders and Hook's evolving domestic life. To fully appreciate Hook's growth from a lonely railroad bull to a man with a makeshift family, reading them in order is highly recommended.