Clive Cussler: Official Photographer
Clive Cussler authored and co-authored 80+ international bestsellers. He died in 2020 at 88. Other authors continue the legacy he launched.
I’ve been Clive’s photographer and fan for 40+ years.
It has been my privilege and honor to photograph Cussler and his family for decades. And I was happy to be his official photographer for many of those years. It’s no exaggeration when I mention that millions of his printed novels feature my portrait photographs.
Two of his novels were adapted for the big screen—most notably Sahara starring Matthew McConaughey, Steve Zahn, and Penélope Cruz. Less impressive was the 1980 Raise the Titanic film starring Jason Robards, Richard Jordan, Anne Archer, and Alec Guinness.
Cussler wasn’o’t a fan of either film, but he had a cameo appearance as a reporter in Raise the Titanic. And, if you’ve read his novels, you know how much Clive loved cameos.
Table of Contents
The Beginning
In 1983, I was shopping in a used bookstore in Alexandria, Louisiana, and the cover art on a worn paperback titled Vixen 03 grabbed my attention. When I bought that book, I never could have guessed that twenty years later, I would become Clive Cussler’s official photographer.
Collecting Clive Cussler
I’m a book collector with a library of 2000+ first editions—many of them signed.
Years ago, in addition to collecting Clive Cussler’s first editions, I also sought other printings. Those variants included UK editions, book club editions, large print editions, collector’s editions, and foreign language editions.
I prefer owning signed books. But I couldn’t ask Clive to sign every edition in my collection. If I did, I’d need his signature on hundreds of books.
But then I had a crazy idea.
NUMA Webmaster
NUMA is a fictional government agency featured in many Cussler novels. It’s also a real-life non-profit organization founded by Cussler credited with discovering more than 60 shipwrecks around the world.
The real-life NUMA organization had a website. And as a dotcom veteran, I knew how to build websites. I came up with the insane idea that if I offered a NUMA website redesign, I’d be in a great position to ask Cussler to sign my books.
After dozens of e-mails and phone calls with Clive’s public relations agency, I was accepted as the new NUMA webmaster. I loved the idea of promoting shipwreck conservation. And I loved doing website work for my favorite author. I served as the NUMA webmaster until 2017.
The Signatures
After I redesigned the NUMA website, I joined Cussler on his next book tour. Putnam arranged for an exclusive Amtrak-based signing as Cussler traveled from Los Angeles to San Francisco.
I boarded the train with two huge suitcases—both heavy with books. Other collectors brought similar quantities. Cussler generously agreed to sign everything for every collector. Ironically, I then realized that Clive would have signed all my books even if I hadn’t worked on the NUMA website.
If you’re interested, here’s the full story.
2004 Portraits
I first visited Clive’s Scottsdale, Arizona, home in 2004.
I was a newly minted professional photographer, hoping to create a nice portrait for the NUMA website. But I was nervous and inexperienced, and I didn’t know how to light or direct a book-world celebrity whom I admired.
My photography mojo that day wasn’t strong, but I captured one acceptable portrait that I’ve shared here. I hope you enjoy it!
2006 Portraits
In 2006, I returned to Clive’s Arizona home as a better photographer. On this visit I brought several Profoto studio lights, a 10’ wide black-cloth background, and an assistant named Morgan Yeates—also a Cussler fan.
Now let me share my most embarrassing moment as a professional photographer.
Without enough room for studio lights and a large background inside, we created an impromptu outdoor studio on Clive’s back patio. The one thing I didn’t consider was that wind can be an issue for outdoor photography—especially when you’re not using sandbags.
Naturally, when we began the photography a gust of wind blew the cloth background down, covering Clive completely. After we pulled the background off, Clive was unfazed and laughed at the mishap. I was incredibly grateful for his graciousness. But my embarrassment and horror were deeply real.
One portrait from this session appeared on seven G.P. Putnam’s Sons titles including:
2009 Portraits
My third visit to Cussler’s Arizona home was in 2009. This was a spontaneous trip, and I was again seeking updated photographs for the NUMA website. On this trip, I created a natural-light portrait that later appeared on nine G.P. Putnam’s Sons titles.
Those titles included:
2012 Portraits
My early Cussler portraits only appeared on co-authored series titles from The NUMA Files, The Oregon Files, Isaac Bell Adventures, and Fargo Adventures. Those portraits never appeared on Dirk Pitt® series novels. As Dirk Pitt is Cussler’s best known, most-beloved character, that’s an important distinction.
Except for a few early titles, every Dirk Pitt novel features a photo of Cussler alongside an automobile from his personal classic car collection. Each car also has a starring role in the book. The best photographs were by Paul Peregrine.
I couldn’t have been more thrilled when Dirk Cussler called and asked me to fly to Colorado so I could create the dust jacket photograph for Clive Cussler’s and Dirk Cussler’s novel, Poseidon’s Arrow.
This photograph was created when I was raised high above the car on a battery-operated scissor lift.
One of the later photos from this session appears posthumously on The Devil’s Sea (Nov 2021) dust jacket. I have one more photo from this visit that may one day be used on a Dirk Pitt novel, but I’ll hold that one in secret and reserve for now.
After creating the dust jacket portrait, I also created headshots for Clive, Dirk, and the entire Cussler Museum staff. You can see the museum staff in my portrait portfolio.
I really enjoyed making these headshots. I spent more than I should have acquiring portable lighting and grip gear that could emulate my studio headshot style with minimal equipment. That seems to be a recurring theme with my equipment purchases.
One of the museum headshots, like the one seen below, appears on many of Cussler’s paperback titles, including Condor’s Fury.
2018 Portraits
I was again asked to visit Denver so I could photograph Clive Cussler’s and Dirk Cussler’s for their latest Dirk Pitt adventure, Celtic Empire.
I created this dust jacket cover photograph standing on a ladder precariously positioned in the bed of a lifted pickup truck owned by Clive’s grandson.
Unlike my previous visit, the grass was no longer green. It was winter, and the grass was dead, brown, and patchy. It was also high noon, which didn’t make for the best lighting.
However, taking inspiration from older Cussler jacket photos by Paul Peregrine, I contacted my buddy and incredible Canadian retoucher Christian Lalonde, and together we used the magic of Adobe Photoshop to add our own snow. Christian went outside on a snow day and took pictures of fresh snowfall that we incorporated into this composite.
After we created the cover photo, I photographed the Cussler family around the Cussler Car Museum. I even took a minute to grab this photo with Clive, taken by his daughter Teri.
I also captured a few natural-light headshots for Clive and Dirk. I always had difficulty directing Clive’s posing. He had a certain way he liked to be photographed, and I certainly wasn’t going to push back against my hero.
My Dirk Pitt Cameos
Over the years Clive and Dirk Cussler have created characters with fan names in their novels. In 2021, it was finally my turn.
Dirk Cussler wrote me into The Devil’s Sea (Nov 2021). He described me as a “robust version of Billy Bob Thornton” and introduced me as the owner of a Tibetan museum that doubles as a bar. My cameo begins on page 204 of the hardcover and continues for a few chapters. You can read some of those pages here in The Devil’s Sea Excerpt.
I would have appeared in an earlier book, Celtic Empire, but my proposed appearance was cut from the final draft. In that novel, I would have been a sea captain! I’ve included that deleted scene in this Celtic Empire Excerpt.
Dirk has given me permission to use this content here.
The Devil’s Sea by Dirk Cussler (Excerpt)
Summer and Dirk stepped inside. A young woman popped up from behind the bar, carrying a tray of empty glasses. Dressed in a yellow blouse, wool vest, and chupa, she turned to the visitors and smiled. With dark skin, a broad face, and deep almond eyes, she was unmistakably Tibetan.
“Can I get you a drink?” she asked in near-flawless English.
“Not just yet, thank you.” Dirk set the case on the bar. “We’re here to return some artifacts.”
The girl nodded. “Let me get the owner.” She stepped into a room behind the bar. A minute later, she returned with a man resembling a robust version of Billy Bob Thornton.
“Rob Greer,” he said pleasantly. “What can I do for you?”
Startled the man was an American, Dirk proceeded to introduce themselves. “You are the owner?” he asked.
“Yes,” Greer replied. “I was a photographer by trade and joined an expedition years ago to document the monasteries of Tibet. Those are my photos on the wall over there,” he said with a proud wave of his arm. “I came to McLeod Ganj to photograph the Dalai Lama and members of the government-in-exile and never left.” He gave a bemused look. “I acquired the establishment when I married the owner’s daughter.”
Dirk explained their discovery in the Philippines, and Summer opened the case on the bar.
“You came all the way here with these?” Greer said with an air of suspicion.
“The curator at the National Palace Museum in Taiwan indicated they are important cultural relics,” Summer said. “We were traveling to the Maldives, so it wasn’t terribly far out of the way to come here. My brother and I work for NUMA.”
“I know about NUMA,” the man said. “Let’s see what you have.”
Dirk removed the silk covering, picked up one of the carvings, and handed it to Greer. “We thought they belonged to the Tibet Museum at the Dalai Lama’s compound.”
“For many years, we paid better prices for the antiquities smuggled out of Tibet,” he said. “As a result, we have acquired a better collection than the Tibet Museum.” He pointed to one of the glass cases. “We have some seventh-century idols from Jokhang, for example. The Tibet Museum has nothing that old.”
He slipped on a pair of reading glasses that dangled from a cord around his neck and took hold of the artifact. “A thokcha carving.” He cupped it in his hand. “Very nice.”
Dirk and Summer looked at each other and nodded. “We were told,” Summer said, “they were sculpted from meteorites.”
“That’s right,” Greer said. “I’ve got a small example, an amulet, on the shelf behind you. Tibet, with its high, open plains, was a favorite hunting ground for meteorites. The sky iron, as the locals call it, has always been highly valued. Depending on the composition, they can be very difficult to work with. So carved specimens, particularly of this size and quality, are quite rare.”
He studied each carving carefully, examining them in detail, as he made his way through the collection. “The eight auspicious symbols of Buddhism. The parasol, shell, vase, victory banner, dharma wheel, fish, knot, and lotus.” He replaced the last carving in the case. “A rare and desirable collection, without doubt.”
“They are believed to have come from the Nechung Monastery in Lhasa,” Summer said.
Greer nodded, but said nothing.
“The label indicates they were under the care of the Tibet Club Museum, does it not?” Dirk asked.
Greer studied the label. “Yes, that’s what it says. Of course, I have no direct knowledge of events or any idea who this Chodron character is. You said the Taiwan plane crashed in 1959? That was many years before my arrival, but my father-in-law was a bit of a pack rat.” He turned to the young woman. “Talai, get these folks a drink while I go check the files in back.”
After Greer disappeared into the back room, Summer ordered a cup of local Kangra green tea, while Dirk sampled a Simba, an Indian beer. Over the pleasant sounds of 1940s big band music, quietly piped in, Dirk could detect the bar’s owner speaking softly on a phone. Greer emerged from the back ten minutes later and slapped a thick folder of handwritten invoices on the bar.
“I’m afraid no luck so far.” Greer reached under the bar for a shot glass and poured himself three fingers from a dusty bottle of bourbon. “The old man kept pretty good records of the artifacts he acquired, but I can’t find anything related to these items.” He threw back the bourbon and set the empty glass on the bar.
“Perhaps they were only loaned to the club, not purchased,” Summer said.
“Yes, but something this rare should have been noted.” Greer reached into the case and removed one of the carvings, which featured swirling banners emanating from an ornate pole. “My favorite, the banner. A symbol of the victory of Buddhist thought over ignorance, negativity, and other pernicious forces.”
He gave Dirk and Summer a stern gaze. “You may think I’m some callous collector exploiting the poor, ragged Tibetans who managed to flee their oppressed lands. But the fact is, I’ve never sold so much as a button.” He peered across the room, but his eyes were looking much farther away.
“The Chinese are putting a bulldozer to Tibet,” he said. “After decades of razing monasteries and looting artifacts, they’re now inundating the culture with financed mass immigration from across China. That’s in addition to their blatant assault on the environment. Huge Chinese dams are already drying up the Mekong and Brahmaputra Rivers. The Indus is next. This side of the Himalayas will eventually be turned into a desert.”
He shook his head. “Sixty years of oppression isn’t enough. Now they’re quietly overrunning the place. It won’t end until the last vestiges of native language, culture, and beliefs are wiped off the Tibetan Plateau.”
He poured himself another bourbon and waved a hand around the room. “It’s not much, but this will all go to Tsuglagkhang, and the museum there, when I’m gone. A remnant of Tibet will survive, even if it has to remain in India.”
The front door banged open, and a thickset man entered the club. He carefully scrutinized the occupants, then shut the door behind him and slid the dead bolt to its locked position. All eyes were on him as he moved farther into the room.
He was short and wore a heavy coat. A dark blue cap was pulled down low over his brow, but not enough to hide his hostile black eyes. He crossed the room with a brusque confidence, stopping a few feet shy of the bar. He reached beneath his coat, pulled out an automatic pistol, and leveled it at the group.
“All of you,” he said in accented English. “On the floor.”
Listen here.” Greer stepped from behind the bar. “You can’t—”
His words were truncated by the bark of the pistol. The bullet struck Greer high in the shoulder, sprouting a red stain on his shirt. Talai screamed.
“On the floor,” the gunman countered.
Summer slowly reached for a bar towel while maintaining eye contact with the gunman. She pressed it against Greer’s shoulder and helped him to the floor as Talai and Dirk dropped down beside them.
“The money’s in the register,” Greer said. “Take it and leave us be.”
“Shut up.” The intruder trained his gun on Dirk, viewing him as the highest threat, then stepped to the bar. He went right for the open case, pulled the wrappings off the carvings and inspected each one. Replacing them, he backed away from the bar and considered the captives on the floor. He waved his gun at Summer. “You . . . stand up.”
Celtic Empire by Dirk Cussler (Deleted Scene Excerpt)
Rising sharp and jagged, the blue-tinted iceberg floated serenely on the calm waters, towering over the ship like a marble skyscraper. Its stark beauty and benign appearance belied its danger. Every mariner worth his salt knew what an iceberg had done to the Titanic, knew there wasn’t a ship afloat that could withstand the crushing force of such an encounter. Every captain in the North Atlantic always steered well clear of a big berg, giving them wide berth.
Every captain, that is, except Rob Greer.
Standing on the bridge of his 260-foot offshore work boat S.W. Hogan, Greer glanced at the radar, spotting a pair of fixed targets ten miles to the south. They were the two oil-drilling platforms Greer was paid to protect at all costs. Sitting 200 miles off the east coast of Newfoundland and built at a cost of $1 billion each, the oil platforms had the misfortune to reside in the dangerous Atlantic waters known as Iceberg Alley. From February to July, calving chunks of ice from Greenland’s coastal glaciers splashed down and drifted south through the frigid Labrador Sea, continuing on a path toward Newfoundland before melting in warmer waters.
Greer looked out the bridge window at the towering berg beside his ship, the largest he had seen in May, and picked up a handheld radio. “Bridge to stern. Prepare for deployment. Let’s round her up.”
Greer took a Nikon camera from the chart table and snapped a picture of the iceberg to add to his photo collection, then ordered the helm to reduce speed.
On the stern deck, two crewmen tossed over a large orange float attached to a thick polypropylene towrope and began spooling out the line. The Hogan began a slow loop around the iceberg, keeping a safe distance from its unseen mass beneath the surface.
Every thousand feet, the crewmen clipped together another float and another section of rope. They repeated the process until they had circled the iceberg and reached the original buoy, which they hoisted aboard with its line.
The iceberg wranglers completed their lasso, attaching the rope ends to a steel tow line secured to the ship’s stern. The Hogan then began the slow process of towing the iceberg off the path of the oil platforms.
The iceberg outweighed the ship by a factor of twenty, and the vessel’s twin turbines strained to budge the mass, towing it at a speed of under a knot. Satellite photos and aircraft reconnaissance fed Greer a constant update of incoming icebergs. Once this one was safely moved aside, more behemoths would be tracked from the north.
Six hours and five miles later, they reached a safe release zone, and the crew prepared to cut loose the iceberg. The lasso was unclipped and the rope reeled in as the ship circled the berg once more. Only this time, the iceberg didn’t cooperate.
“Bridge, this is Cooper,” radioed one of the crewmen. “We’ve got a stuck line that went high on the berg. Rather than jettison the line, I think I can clear it from the RIB.”
A thousand feet of heavy rope didn’t come cheap. Greer scanned the latest satellite photos. There were no sizeable icebergs within the immediate radius, so time was on their side. He picked up the radio. “Okay, Coop. Do what you can; just don’t get your feet wet. Bridge out.”
Favorite Stories
Here are a few of my favorite Clive Cussler stories. I obviously have more, but these my top-of-mind adventures.
Clive’s Surprise Visit
In 2008, I was holding a party at my downtown Los Angeles photography studio. I had invited Clive’s daughter, Dayna, to the party. She was having trouble locating my studio and suggested that I meet her outside. Imagine my surprise when she arrived, and her passenger was Clive Cussler!
I invited them inside and I promptly forgot my other guests. I showed him around our 4000 square foot studio. During that tour Clive said, “This looks just like Dirk Pitt’s hangar.” That was one of the greatest and most thrilling complements that I’ve ever received. I still get tingly inside when I think about that day.
Amtrak Trip with Clive Cussler
Before I was Clive’s photographer, I collected his books.
Like a few other lucky Clive Cussler fans, I booked passage on the December 4th Amtrak Trojan Odyssey Book Tour train trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco. I had met Cussler earlier in the week at a book signing at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena, California.
That experience was fabulous but paled compared to my one-on-one access on Amtrak.
To set the stage, imagine a 13-hour train trip up the California coast with an international best-selling author, his publicist, his publisher’s publicist, a vice president for Amtrak, a few cops in riot gear, and a small group of rabid Dirk Pitt fans (some of whom had traveled from as far away as Perth, Australia). Toss in a few martinis, a wine tasting, two book signings, bewildered travelers who’d never heard of Clive Cussler, and an intimate conversation with the master of seafaring adventure, and you have the trip of a lifetime.
I booked a sleeper cabin with my then girlfriend, Lucretia, selling her on the idea that we were taking a romantic trip to San Francisco. I’m certain I didn’t mention the two suitcases of books we’d have to lug along with our other baggage. But beggars can’t be choosers can they?
We boarded the train around 10:00AM and were underway shortly thereafter. Shortly after we passed the first few whistle stops, Cussler began his first signing. As a collector of his books, this schedule event was one of the main highlights of my trip. I hoisted my first suitcase of books over my shoulder and made my way back to the last car on the train. I waited about thirty minutes until all the other fans had taken their turn and then brought my books forward. A very sweet woman helped organize and hand me books as I placed them under Cussler’s blazing pen. In addition to my books, I also had Cussler inscribe one of my antique Ford Tri-motor photos. He inscribed it with “Dirk’s Ford Tri-motor Airplane” and signed underneath. That cinched an undeniably unique item for my collection.
After Cussler finished signing my books and had made his way forward, I spent the next five minutes trying to fit the books back into my suitcase. It’s funny how nothing ever fits back into a suitcase quite like at home. Finishing up, I made my way back to our cabin where I stowed the luggage safely away. I wasn’t going to leave the suitcase in regular baggage; the temptation would have been too much for some fans.
While I was away at the first signing, Lucretia had taken a great seat in the first class lounge. She had spent her time watching the coast speed by the large bay windows of the lounge. However, she was unable to save a seat for me, so I just stood against the wall near her chair and spent some time with other fans—all of us bragging about our collections and the great finds we’ve had over the years.
Cussler appeared mid-afternoon for a wine tasting being held for the first class passengers. When he arrived in the room, one of the fans sitting next to Lucretia offered his chair to Cussler. You can imagine how happy I was that I was FORCED to stand next to Lucretia’s chair to keep her company.
Cussler drank a few glasses of wine (I won’t be the one to say how many), regaling us with stories and answering a slew of questions from fans. He chatted for at least an hour before he decided it was time to start his second signing. Of course, that meant I was off for my second suitcase of books. I again waited until everyone else had a chance go get their books signed and then presented my second set of books. Perhaps my I was getting better at the process, but the second batch of books went rather quickly. I was particularly happy when I handed Cussler my copy of Bizarre Colorado. A chapter from this trade paperback provides details and photos chronicling Cussler’s search for the Lost Locomotive of Kiowa Creek. Now my copy bears his signature.
During the second signing, Cussler mentioned how he thought Lucretia was very attractive. He also said I should “hang on to that one.” In the end, I didn’t, but his small slice of envy made me feel pretty great. Ok, perhaps I’m projecting. As I had mentioned, Lucretia sat patiently and quietly next to Cussler all afternoon. She didn’t read fiction and had never heard of Cussler before we started dating. Near the end of the signing session, after I was done and Cussler was signing some bookstore copies for VJ Books, she mentioned aloud, “I really should read one of his books.” That was all I needed to hear. I ran back to our cabin, grabbed my reading copy of Trojan Odyssey, and brought it back to her. I dragged her to where Cussler was signing bookstore copies for VJ Books. When Cussler had a short break, I prompted Lucretia to ask him for a signature. With a big smile on his face, he motioned for her to take a seat next to him, took the book, and wrote a very nice inscription about her beauty and nice dimples. I couldn’t have been happier!
After the second signing concluded, Cussler bolted for his own cabin where he retired for a short time until dinner. I’m certain he had his fill of book signing and fan adoration for one day. At dinner, we saw he was seated with three lucky fans that had flown from the east coast, just to attend the Amtrak trip. The last time I saw Cussler was when we had finished eating and were leaving the dining car. He was still sitting there, chatting with fans, and enjoying a nice glass of wine. Or was it Tequila? Or Cutty Sark? My memory fades with time.
After sharing the details of this trip and the excitement I felt both then and now, some people might accuse me of being Cussler’s biggest fan. And they’d be right.
Missing Clive
Photographing Clive Cussler and Dirk Cussler has been a huge honor. And to have my photographs appear on millions of books around the world has been an amazing experience. But to have my name forever associated with Cussler novels, even in this small way, is a dream come true. I’m profoundly grateful and humbled.
I love you Clive. You’ll be missed.
Cussler Bibliography: By Publication Date
After authoring 18 books on his own, in 1999 Cussler began a co-writing career with other authors including Dirk Cussler (his son), Grant Blackwood, Russell Blake, Graham Brown, Jack Du Brul, Robin Burcell, Craig Dirgo, Paul Kemprecos, Boyd Morrison, Thomas Perry, and Justin Scott.
Cussler’s novels and non-fiction works include:
- The Mediterranean Caper (1973 – Dirk Pitt #1)
- Iceberg (1975 – Dirk Pitt #2)
- Raise the Titanic! (1976 – Dirk Pitt #3)
- Vixen 03 (1978 – Dirk Pitt #4)
- Night Probe! (1981 – Dirk Pitt #5)
- Pacific Vortex! (1983 – Dirk Pitt #6)
- Deep Six (1984 – Dirk Pitt #7)
- Cyclops (1986 – Dirk Pitt #8)
- Treasure (1988 – Dirk Pitt #9)
- Dragon (1990 – Dirk Pitt #10)
- Sahara (1992 – Dirk Pitt #11)
- Inca Gold (1994 – Dirk Pitt #12)
- Shock Wave (1996 – Dirk Pitt #13)
- The Sea Hunters (1996 – Non-Fiction)
- Flood Tide (1997 – Dirk Pitt #14)
- Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed (1998 – Non-Fiction)
- Serpent (1999 – NUMA Files #1)
- Atlantis Found (1999 – Dirk Pitt #15)
- Blue Gold (2000 – NUMA Files #2)
- Valhalla Rising (2001 – Dirk Pitt #16)
- Fire Ice (June 2002 – NUMA Files #3)
- The Sea Hunters II (2002 – Non-Fiction)
- White Death (June 2003 – NUMA Files #4)
- Golden Buddha (October 2003 – Oregon Files #1)
- Trojan Odyssey (November 2003 – Dirk Pitt #17)
- Lost City (July 2004 – NUMA Files #5)
- Sacred Stone (October 2004 – Oregon Files #2)
- Black Wind (November 2004 – Dirk Pitt #18)
- Polar Shift (August 2005 – NUMA Files #6)
- Dark Watch (November 2005 – Oregon Files #3)
- The Adventures of Vin Fiz (February 2006 – Children’s Book) ‡
- Skeleton Coast (October 2006 – Oregon Files #4)
- Treasure of Khan (November 2006 – Dirk Pitt #19)
- The Navigator (June 2007 – NUMA Files #7)
- The Chase (November 2007 – Isaac Bell #1)*
- Plague Ship (June 2008 – Oregon Files #5)*
- Arctic Drift (October 2008 – Dirk Pitt #20)
- Corsair (February 2009 – Oregon Files #6)*
- Medusa (June 2009 – NUMA Files #8)*
- Spartan Gold (September 2009 – Fargo Adventures #1)*
- The Wrecker (November 2009 – Isaac Bell #2)*
- The Silent Sea (March 2010 – Oregon Files #7)*
- The Spy (May 2010 – Isaac Bell #3)*
- Lost Empire (August 2010 – Fargo Adventures #2)*
- Crescent Dawn (November 2010 – Dirk Pitt #21)
- The Adventures of Hotsy Totsy (2010 – Children’s Book)*
- The Jungle (March 2011 – Oregon Files #8)*
- The Kingdom (June 2011 – Fargo Adventures #3)*
- The Race (September 2011 – Isaac Bell #4)*
- Built for Adventure (October 2011 – Non-Fiction)
- Devil’s Gate (November 2011 – NUMA Files #9)*
- The Thief (March 2012 – Isaac Bell #5)*
- The Storm (May 2012 – NUMA Files #10)*
- The Tombs (September 2012 – Fargo Adventures #4)
- Poseidon’s Arrow (November 2012 – Dirk Pitt #22)*
- The Striker (March 2013 – Isaac Bell #6)
- Zero Hour (May 2013 – NUMA Files #11)
- The Mayan Secrets (September 2013 – Fargo Adventures #5)
- Mirage (November 2013 – Oregon Files #9)
- The Bootlegger (March 2014 – Isaac Bell #7)
- Ghost Ship (May 2014 – NUMA Files #12)
- The Eye of Heaven (September 2014 – Fargo Adventures #6)
- Havana Storm (October 2014 – Dirk Pitt #23)
- The Assassin (March 2015 – Isaac Bell #8)
- Piranha (May 2015 – Oregon Files #10)
- The Solomon Curse (September 2015 – Fargo Adventures #7)
- The Pharaoh’s Secret (November 2015 – NUMA Files #13)
- The Gangster (March 2016 – Isaac Bell #9)
- The Emperor’s Revenge (May 2016 – Oregon Files #11)
- Pirate (September 2016 – Fargo Adventures #8)
- Built to Thrill (October 2016 – Non-Fiction)
- Odessa Sea (November 2016 – Dirk Pitt #24)
- The Cutthroat (March 2017 – Isaac Bell #10)
- Nighthawk (May 2017 – NUMA Files #14)
- The Romanov Ransom (September 2017 – Fargo Adventures #9)
- Typhoon Fury (November 2017 – Oregon Files #12)
- The Rising Sea (March 2018 – NUMA Files #15)
- The Gray Ghost (May 2018 – Fargo Adventures #10)
- Shadow Tyrants (September 2018 – Oregon Files #13)
- Sea of Greed (November 2018 – NUMA Files #16)
- Celtic Empire (March 2019 – Dirk Pitt #25)*
- The Oracle (June 2019 – Fargo Adventures #11)
- The Titanic Secret (September 2019 – Isaac Bell #11)
- Final Option (November 2019 – Oregon Files #14)
- Journey of the Pharaohs (March 2020 – NUMA Files #17)
- Wrath of Poseidon (May 2020 – Fargo Adventures #12)
- Marauder (November 2020 – Oregon Files #15)
- Fast Ice (March 2021 – NUMA Files #18)
- The Saboteurs (May 2021 – Isaac Bell #12)
- The Devil’s Sea (November 2021 – Dirk Pitt #26)*
- Dark Vector (May 2022 – NUMA Files #19)
- Hellburner (September 2022 – Oregon Files #16)
- The Sea Wolves (November 2022 – Isaac Bell #13)
- Fire Strike (May 2023 – Oregon Files #17)
- Condor’s Fury (September 2023 – NUMA Files #20)
- Desolation Code (November 2024 – NUMA Files #21)
- The Heist (May 2024 – Isaac Bell #14)
- Corsican Shadow (August 2024 – Dirk Pitt #27)
- Ghost Soldier (September 2024 – Oregon Files #18)
- The Iron Storm (May 2025 – Isaac Bell #15)
- The Serpent’s Eye (September 2025 – Fargo Adventures #13)
* book titles featuring author photographs by Rob Greer
‡ author photograph misattributed to Robert Greer
Usage Requests
If you’d like to use my Cussler photographs for editorial or commercial purposes, please contact me for further information. I’d love to hear from you.
Using my copyrighted Cussler photos without my written permission is prohibited.