Larry McMurtry Books in Order: The Way You Should Actually Read Them

Most people think they know Larry McMurtry because they’ve seen the Lonesome Dove miniseries or cried through Terms of Endearment on a rainy Sunday afternoon. But if you actually want to tackle larry mcmurtry books in order, you’re stepping into a massive, dusty, beautiful labyrinth of Texas grit and Hollywood glitz. He wasn't just a "Western writer." He was a guy who owned a bookstore with nearly half a million volumes and spent decades trying to dismantle the very cowboy myths he helped create.

Honestly, it gets confusing. Characters hop from one series to another. Prequels were written ten years after sequels. If you just grab a book off the shelf based on the publication date, you’re going to find yourself reading about a character's funeral before you’ve even seen them learn how to ride a horse.

The Lonesome Dove Saga: Don't Start with the Prequels

This is the big one. The "Texas Bible." When discussing larry mcmurtry books in order, the Lonesome Dove series is usually the first thing people look for.

There are four books.

Now, you have two choices here. You can read them in the order Larry wrote them (Publication Order) or the order the story actually happens (Chronological Order). Most hardcore fans—and I’m with them on this—will tell you to start with the original 1985 Pulitzer winner, even though it’s technically the third book in the timeline.

Chronological Order (The Timeline)

1. Dead Man’s Walk (1995) – Gus and Call as teenage Rangers. It's brutal.
2. Comanche Moon (1997) – The bridge. You see the Rangers in their prime and the tragic backstory of Maggie and Newt.
3. Lonesome Dove (1985) – The masterpiece. The cattle drive to Montana.
4. Streets of Laredo (1993) – Captain Call is old, Gus is gone, and the world is becoming a place where old lawmen don't fit anymore.

If you read Dead Man's Walk first, you might get burnt out on the sheer violence before you get to the lyrical beauty of the main novel. Start with Lonesome Dove. Let Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call win your heart first. Then, go back and see how they became such stubborn old goats.

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The Thalia, Texas "Duane Moore" Series

If Lonesome Dove is McMurtry's heart, Thalia is his home. This series includes The Last Picture Show, which most people know from the black-and-white movie. It’s about a dying town, teenage horniness, and the crushing weight of small-town life.

McMurtry kept coming back to these characters for forty years. It’s kinda wild to watch Duane Moore age from a high school football player to an old man wandering around in the woods in Rhino Ranch.

• The Last Picture Show (1966)
• Texasville (1987)
• Duane’s Depressed (1999)
• When the Light Goes (2007)
• Rhino Ranch (2009)

Actually, some folks include his very first novel, Horseman, Pass By (the basis for the movie Hud), and Leaving Cheyenne as part of a "Thalia Trilogy." While they are set in the same general area and share that bleak, dusty vibe, they don't follow the same characters. If you want the true "Duane" experience, stick to the list above.

The Houston Series: The Urban Side of Larry

McMurtry grew up a ranch kid, but he became a city intellectual. The Houston series is where he explores that tension. These books are less about gunfights and more about messy divorces, graduate school, and the weirdness of 1970s Texas.

You've definitely heard of Terms of Endearment. What you might not know is that the main character, Emma Horton, is just one small piece of a much larger puzzle.

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1. Moving On (1970)
2. All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers (1972)
3. Terms of Endearment (1975)
4. Somebody’s Darling (1978)
5. Some Can Whistle (1989)
6. The Evening Star (1992)

All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers introduces Danny Deck, a character who pops up in several other books. He’s basically McMurtry’s alter ego—a writer who can't quite figure out how to be happy. If you want to understand the man behind the books, read Danny Deck.

The Berrybender Narratives: Larry Gets Weird

Late in his career, McMurtry wrote a four-book series called the Berrybender Narratives. It’s... a lot. It follows a wealthy, eccentric English family traveling up the Missouri River in the 1830s.

It’s almost like a parody of a Western. It’s filled with absurdist humor, bizarre deaths, and a very cynical view of American expansion.

• Sin Killer (2002)
• The Wandering Hill (2003)
• By Sorrow’s River (2003)
• Folly and Glory (2004)

Don't start here. This is for when you've already read the "Big Three" (Lonesome Dove, Terms of Endearment, The Last Picture Show) and you’re ready for something a little more experimental.

The Standalones and "Fictional Biographies"

McMurtry loved taking real historical figures and putting them in his own weird, melancholic versions of history.

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• Anything for Billy (1988) – His take on Billy the Kid.
• Buffalo Girls (1990) – Calamity Jane in her later years. It's heartbreaking.
• Zeke and Ned (1997) – Co-written with Diana Ossana, about the last Cherokee warriors.
• Telegraph Days (2006) – A fun, fast-paced romp featuring Nellie Courtright.

Why Order Matters (And Why It Doesn't)

Look, Larry McMurtry wasn't a guy who obsessed over "canon." He famously had some continuity errors between his books. Characters' ages don't always line up perfectly. Locations shift.

He wrote fast. Sometimes he wrote five pages a day, every day, for decades.

If you're looking for a perfect, seamless universe like Marvel, you won't find it here. What you will find is a consistent voice. Whether he’s writing about a 19th-century Ranger or a 21st-century retiree, McMurtry is always talking about the same thing: the way time changes people and the way we try (and fail) to hold onto the past.

Actionable Roadmap for New Readers

If you're staring at a shelf of thirty books and feeling overwhelmed, here is your path:

1. Start with Lonesome Dove. If you don't like this, you won't like the rest. It's the high-water mark.
2. Read The Last Picture Show. It's short, punchy, and shows his "modern" (well, 1950s) side.
3. Go to Terms of Endearment. It proves he could write women and domestic drama just as well as he wrote cowboys.
4. Fill in the gaps. If you loved the Rangers, go to Streets of Laredo. If you loved the Thalia kids, go to Texasville.

McMurtry passed away in 2021, leaving behind a massive library of work that basically chronicles the entire soul of the American West. There’s no wrong way to read him, but seeing the characters evolve across the decades—just as Larry did—is the real magic of the journey.

Go find a used copy of Lonesome Dove. The ones with the sunset on the cover are the best. Start there and don't rush. The trail is long, but the company is great.