Cash & Colcord Books in Order

This reading order guide provides the complete list of Cash & Colcord books in order, from the very first to the latest, so you won’t miss anything!

About the Cash & Colcord Series

If you like stories with mystery, science, a bit of myth and some scary parts you should check out the Cash & Colcord series by Douglas Preston. It’s set in the mountains of Colorado, a place that’s both beautiful and weird. The main characters are Agent Frankie Cash and Sheriff James Colcord. Together they deal with some very strange and deadly cases.

The first book Extinction starts with a wild idea. There’s a resort called Erebus hidden deep in a remote valley. It’s not a normal resort—this place has real prehistoric animals brought back through science. We’re talking mammoths, giant elk and huge sloths walking around like it’s the Ice Age again. At first it seems amazing. But there’s something dark behind all the science.

Things go wrong when a rich man’s son and his wife are found murdered out in the wilderness. At first people think it’s eco-terrorists. But soon Cash and Colcord realize the truth is much worse. More people die and the whole valley has to be evacuated. It looks like something very old—and very smart—is behind it. It’s not just a killer. It’s something from a different time… or maybe even a different world.

One of the things that makes the story so good is the relationship between Cash and Colcord. Frankie is tough and serious and she cares deeply about justice. Colcord is more calm and steady and used to life in the wild. They work really well together and you start to care about both of them as the story goes on.

The next book in the series gets even bigger. There are strange deaths in the forest, weird objects getting destroyed and rumors of a secret group doing weird things. Cash and Colcord are right in the middle of it all trying to figure out what’s really going on. The mystery gets deeper and mixes science, belief and madness.

And then there’s another big twist—Neanderthals. They were brought back at Erebus too, but they escaped into the wild. No one has seen them in a while, but they’re still out there. Watching. Waiting. Planning. They’re not gone. They’re just getting ready for something. Something that could change everything.

What makes this series special is that it combines different kinds of stories—mystery, science, horror—all in one. It also asks big questions: What happens when science goes too far? Can we really control the past? And what does it mean to be human?

If you haven’t read Extinction yet, now is the time to start. And if you have, then you know things are only going to get crazier from here.

So, if you’re ready for a ride into the unknown, grab a flashlight and head into the mountains. The world of Cash & Colcord is waiting.