Alexandre Dumas
in order.
The master of swashbuckling adventure behind The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo.
Hundreds of millions of copies worldwide (estimated)
Copies sold
Alexandre Dumas was a French novelist and playwright, and one of the most widely read authors in history. The grandson of a French nobleman and an enslaved Haitian woman, Dumas rose from a modest upbringing in Villers-Cotterets to become the literary superstar of 19th-century Paris, producing an enormous body of work with the help of collaborators, most famously Auguste Maquet. His serialized novels of the 1840s, packed with duels, intrigue, revenge, and unforgettable heroes, made him wealthy, famous, and perpetually broke thanks to his extravagant lifestyle.
Dumas wrote roughly 100,000 pages in his lifetime, spanning novels, plays, travel writing, and even a celebrated cookbook. His two towering achievements, The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, both appeared in 1844 and have never gone out of print. His work has been translated into more than 100 languages and adapted for film and television hundreds of times, and in 2002 his remains were moved to the Pantheon in Paris, France's highest literary honor.
Where to start
Start with The Three Musketeers (1844): it is the fastest, funniest entry point to Dumas and kicks off the d'Artagnan Romances, which you should then read in order: Twenty Years After, followed by the massive Vicomte de Bragelonne, which most publishers split into three or four volumes ending with The Man in the Iron Mask. The Count of Monte Cristo stands completely alone, so it works equally well as your very first Dumas or as a reward after finishing the Musketeers saga. The Marguerite de Valois trilogy (starting with La Reine Margot) is the best next stop for readers who want more historical intrigue.
The d'Artagnan Romances 6 BOOKS · IN ORDER
The saga of d'Artagnan and his three musketeer friends, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, spanning forty years of French history; the final novel, The Vicomte of Bragelonne, is so long that it is almost always sold split into the three or four volumes listed below.
01
The Three Musketeers 1844
Young Gascon hothead d'Artagnan comes to Paris, befriends three musketeers, and tangles with Cardinal Richelieu and the deadly Milady de Winter.
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02
Twenty Years After 1845
The four friends, now middle-aged and scattered, reunite amid the Fronde uprising in France and the execution of Charles I in England.
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03
The Vicomte de Bragelonne 1847
The first volume of the final saga finds an aging d'Artagnan serving young Louis XIV while plotting the restoration of Charles II to the English throne.
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04
Ten Years Later 1848
Court intrigue deepens at Louis XIV's Versailles as Raoul de Bragelonne's love for Louise de la Valliere collides with the king's own desires.
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05
Louise de la Valliere 1849
The love triangle between the king, Raoul, and Louise reaches its heartbreaking crisis while Aramis pursues a secret conspiracy.
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06
The Man in the Iron Mask 1850
Aramis's plot to swap Louis XIV with a mysterious masked prisoner brings the musketeers' story to its famous, tragic conclusion.
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The Marguerite de Valois Trilogy (Last Valois) 3 BOOKS · IN ORDER
A trilogy of court intrigue set during the French Wars of Religion, following the poisonous rivalries of the last Valois kings and the jester-spy Chicot.
01
La Reine Margot (Marguerite de Valois) 1845
The forced marriage of Catholic princess Marguerite to Protestant Henry of Navarre erupts into the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.
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02
La Dame de Monsoreau (Chicot the Jester) 1846
At the court of Henri III, the brilliant jester Chicot untangles conspiracies while the dashing Bussy d'Amboise falls for a dangerously married woman.
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03
The Forty-Five Guardsmen 1847
Henri III's new bodyguard of forty-five Gascons and the ever-scheming Chicot face down the Duke of Guise's bid for the throne.
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Standalone books by Dumas 4 BOOKS · BY YEAR
In publication order — read these in any order you like.
01
Georges 1843
A mixed-race hero returns to Mauritius to confront the racial prejudice of colonial society, Dumas's most personal novel and his only one to tackle race directly.
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02
The Count of Monte Cristo 1844
Wrongly imprisoned sailor Edmond Dantes escapes, finds a hidden fortune, and reinvents himself to exact meticulous revenge on the men who betrayed him.
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03
The Corsican Brothers 1844
Conjoined-at-birth twins separated as infants remain mystically linked, and when one is killed in a duel, the other feels it, and answers it.
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04
The Black Tulip 1850
A gentle Dutch tulip-grower is thrown into prison on false charges of treason just as he races to breed the world's first black tulip.
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The movies READ IT BEFORE YOU WATCH IT
The Three Musketeers 1993
Based on: The Three Musketeers
Disney's crowd-pleasing version with Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, Chris O'Donnell, and Tim Curry as a scenery-chewing Richelieu.
The Man in the Iron Mask 1998
Based on: The Man in the Iron Mask
Leonardo DiCaprio plays both Louis XIV and the masked prisoner, backed by Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, and Gerard Depardieu as the aging musketeers.
The Count of Monte Cristo 2002
Based on: The Count of Monte Cristo
Jim Caviezel and Guy Pearce star in the streamlined Hollywood adaptation that remains many readers' gateway to the novel.
The Three Musketeers 2011
Based on: The Three Musketeers
Paul W.S. Anderson's steampunk-flavored 3D take with Milla Jovovich, Orlando Bloom, and flying warships.
The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan / Milady 2023
Based on: The Three Musketeers
A lavish French two-part epic starring Francois Civil and Eva Green as Milady, the biggest French-language Dumas production in decades.
The Count of Monte Cristo 2024
Based on: The Count of Monte Cristo
The acclaimed three-hour French adaptation starring Pierre Niney, a major box-office hit in France.
Frequently asked questions
What order should I read the Alexandre Dumas Musketeers books in?
Read the d'Artagnan Romances in publication order: The Three Musketeers, then Twenty Years After, then the final saga usually split into The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Ten Years Later, Louise de la Valliere, and The Man in the Iron Mask. The story follows the same four heroes across roughly forty years, so the order matters. Some editions split the last novel into three volumes instead of four, but the reading sequence stays the same.
Do I need to read The Three Musketeers before The Count of Monte Cristo?
No. The Count of Monte Cristo is a complete standalone novel with no connection to the Musketeers saga. You can start with either book; Monte Cristo is longer and darker, while The Three Musketeers is lighter and faster-paced.
Is The Man in the Iron Mask a standalone book?
Not really. It is the final section of The Vicomte de Bragelonne, the third d'Artagnan novel, which publishers split into volumes because of its length. You can enjoy it on its own, but the ending lands far harder if you have read at least The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After first.
How many books did Alexandre Dumas write?
Dumas was staggeringly prolific, producing well over 100 novels and plays plus travel books and essays, often working with collaborators like Auguste Maquet. His collected works run to roughly 100,000 pages. Only a fraction is widely read in English today, which is why most readers focus on the dozen or so classics listed on this page.