Mark Edward Langley Books In Order

Publication Order of Arthur Nakai Mysteries Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Mark Edward Langley is a renowned novelist of crime fiction, thriller, and mystery stories. He hails from the American Southwest and is particularly famous for writing the Arthur Nakai Mystery book series. So far, he has only published a couple of novels in this series and has planned to write as many as nine books in total. Langley claims that the number of Arthur Nakai books may increase or decrease as per the response received from readers. His debut novel, Path of the Dead, was highly appreciated by readers across the globe. This motivated him to write more stories featuring the same lead character, Arthur Nakai. Author Langley says that he always wanted to tell stories. When he was small, he used to gather other kids from his neighborhood and keep them enthralled with intriguing stories that would continue for days at times.

After growing a little older, Langley started reading the books written by Robert B. Parker. Then he moved on to try the works of other authors, including John D. McDonald, Tony Hillerman, Mickey Spillane, Ernest Hemingway, Craig Johnson, etc. At a young age, Langley took a 2-week trip to the American West. This trip made him realize that he had found his home. Langley started from Alburquerque and drove to Glacier National Park in Montana. As he traveled through the iconic and beautiful scenery, Langley made up his mind to use it as the backdrop of his first book. And when he finally managed to do it, he felt very proud of himself. It was at the age of 12 that he first visited the Four Corners region of the US. He instantly fell in love with the place’s beauty and its lands. It made Langley create characters that would go on to inhabit it.

When Langley was all set to write his first novel, he set his first goal as gaining representation. Once that was achieved, he moved to establish himself as a published writer. This goal was also fulfilled when he signed a multiple-book deal with the Blackstone publishing company. Now, Langley has another goal for the future to relocate to the American southwest and get indulged in researching about the land, its Navajo people, and the culture followed by them so as to establish a more spiritual connection and a deeper understanding. He has created a personal website where he interacts with his fans and gives out details about the publishing dates of his books and book-signing events.

Langley is astonished to find that the number of his followers has grown multiple folds in the last couple of years. He wishes to see this number grow even more in the coming years. In his debut series, Langley has described Arthur Nakai as a former marine and ex Shadow Wolves member. This group is an ICE tactical team formed by Homeland Security. It consists of 15 trackers from different tribes of Native American people, who hunt the culprits of drug smuggling and human trafficking near the United States-Mexico border. Arthur has a wife named Sharon Keonie Nakai, who works as a reporter and news anchor. After the tragic death of her son, Sharon has been struggling to fight the demons inside her head.

Other important characters mentioned in the books by author Langley include Jake Bilagody, a police Captain of Navajo Nation and police chief; and a Blackfoot from the Montana mountains named Abraham Fasthorse, who is also an old friend of Arthur Nakai. All these characters are seen trying to deal with racial discrimination, missing children, organ harvesting, uranium mining, gas and oil fracking on their sacred land, selfish politics, mysterious murders, and pornography. In addition to facing these problems, they are shown undergoing a constant struggle to bring about a difference in the life of the Native American people and help make it better in the harsh, beautiful American Southwest landscape.

The debut book of the Arthur Nakai Mysteries series written by author Mark Edward Langley is entitled ‘Path of the Dead’. It was released by Blackstone Publishing in 2018. This book opens by depicting that Arthur Nakai has left his previous involvement with Homeland Security and the US Government behind and now lives with Sharon, his news reporter wife, in New Mexico. Arthur now runs a shop called White Mesa Outfitters. Sharon flies to Belen in New Mexico to report about the new renovations being carried out at the Fred Harvey House. She was unaware that her path was going to be crossed with a serial killer, who has recently murdered a 16-year-old girl named Renee Braun on the previous morning.

When Police Chief Jake Bilagody visits Arthur Nakai and informs him that Sharon’s cameraman has been found murdered in her news van and she is missing, he feels shattered from within. Meanwhile, Sharon finds herself in the captivity of the serial killer, who is now heading towards the Canadian Rockies. The killer meets his lover at a secret location and discusses further plans. Arthur’s search for his missing wife brings him to Montana mountain ranges, where he meets his old friend Abraham Fasthorse and asks for his help in finding Sharon. Together, the two men succeed in tracking down the killer and finally giving the readers an unforgettable showdown.

The second volume of the series is called ‘Death Waits in the Dark’. It was also published by Blackstone in 2020. This novel opens by mentioning the brutal murders of Margaret Tabaaha’s two sons in front of her eyes. She had already lost her husband in the line of duty in Afghanistan and her sons were all she had. Following their violent killings, Margaret plunges herself into excessive drinking and loses all hopes of living. When she could not bear her sufferings anymore, she decides to call her first love, Arthur Nakai, and ask him to help her in finding her sons’ killer.

As Arthur agrees to help Margaret, he gets involved in the world of a multi-billion dollar oil & gas industry and faces an old adversary named Elias Dayton. Elias runs a company that works for the oil & gas giants to keep the voices of the Native American protestors down. While Arthur tries to deal with Elias Dayton, Jake Bilagody does his part by looking into the shady dealings of the oil & gas company. Finally, Arthur succeeds in finding the man who killed Margaret’s sons. But, he is unable to sense the situation because he finds himself needing to make an important decision that is going to haunt him forever.