Best Craig Schaefer Audiobooks

The best Craig Schaefer audiobooks — 12 titles ranked by listening experience across Thriller, Fantasy, averaging 4.08 ABR stars.

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Craig Schaefer writes noir urban fantasy with the soul of a crime thriller — his Daniel Faust series drops a Las Vegas con man and sorcerer into a criminal underworld where demons are just another faction fighting for turf. The Long Way Down sets the tone immediately: sharp, propulsive prose, morally complicated protagonists, and a city that feels genuinely dangerous rather than decoratively seedy. Schaefer layers occult mythology over heist mechanics with real craft — the magic never overwhelms the plot, it complicates it. Titles like A Plain-Dealing Villain and The Neon Boneyard signal exactly what he's doing: classic noir sensibility reframed for readers who want their darkness supernatural. Adam Verner's narration in the audiobooks is a perfect fit, lean and street-smart. If you love Dresden Files but want something grittier and more grounded in genre crime fiction, Schaefer is the writer you've been looking for.

Craig Schaefer's highest-rated audiobook in our collection is The Long Way Down, narrated by Adam Verner (4.01 ABR stars). Performed by Adam Verner. Rankings here weight the listening experience — narrator performance and Audible ratings factor alongside reader scores.

Where to Start with Craig Schaefer

  1. 1
    The Long Way Down cover

    The Long Way Down

    Daniel Faust • Book 1

    by Craig Schaefer

    Narrated by Adam Verner

    4.01 ABR Score (8.1K ratings)
    ★ 3.94 Goodreads (6.5K) ★ 4.18 Audible (1.6K)
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    Vegas sorcerer Daniel Faust mixes black magic with bullets as a supernatural problem-solver, but a simple revenge job spirals into chaos involving corrupt cops and murderous porn directors. Adam Verner captures the noir grittiness.

  2. 2
    Redemption Song cover

    Redemption Song

    Daniel Faust • Book 2

    by Craig Schaefer

    Narrated by Adam Verner

    4.01 ABR Score (4.9K ratings)
    ★ 4.05 Goodreads (4.1K) ★ 4.49 Audible (807)
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    Las Vegas sorcerer Daniel Faust faces an impossible choice: kill an innocent or lose his lover forever. Adam Verner captures both the noir atmosphere and magical elements perfectly.

  3. 3
    The Living End cover

    The Living End

    Daniel Faust • Book 3

    by Craig Schaefer

    Narrated by Adam Verner

    4.06 ABR Score (4.0K ratings)
    ★ 4.1 Goodreads (3.4K) ★ 4.57 Audible (637)
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    Daniel Faust's criminal empire crumbles as the FBI closes in and rival factions wage war for control of Las Vegas's supernatural underworld. Meanwhile, homeless people vanish and something worse than demons stalks the streets.

  4. 4
    A Plain-Dealing Villain cover

    A Plain-Dealing Villain

    Daniel Faust • Book 4

    by Craig Schaefer

    Narrated by Adam Verner

    4.09 ABR Score (3.4K ratings)
    ★ 4.19 Goodreads (2.9K) ★ 4.59 Audible (534)
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    Fleeing Vegas and FBI pursuit, Daniel Faust attempts a risky Chicago heist that promises easy money but hides impossible complications.

  5. 5
    The Killing Floor Blues cover

    The Killing Floor Blues

    Daniel Faust • Book 5

    by Craig Schaefer

    Narrated by Adam Verner

    4.10 ABR Score (3.3K ratings)
    ★ 4.23 Goodreads (2.8K) ★ 4.58 Audible (519)
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    Framed for murder, Daniel Faust lands in an inescapable desert prison where gangs rule inside and snipers wait outside the walls.

  6. 6
    The Castle Doctrine cover

    The Castle Doctrine

    Daniel Faust • Book 6

    by Craig Schaefer

    Narrated by Adam Verner

    4.13 ABR Score (2.6K ratings)
    ★ 4.3 Goodreads (2.2K) ★ 4.63 Audible (427)
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    Daniel Faust returns from prison to find Las Vegas at war between local crime families and Chicago invaders. Urban fantasy where magic meets mob violence in a battle for territory.

  7. 7
    Double or Nothing cover

    Double or Nothing

    Daniel Faust • Book 7

    by Craig Schaefer

    Narrated by Adam Verner

    4.17 ABR Score (2.3K ratings)
    ★ 4.35 Goodreads (1.9K) ★ 4.72 Audible (348)
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    Las Vegas crime boss and sorcerer Daniel Faust must pull off a high-risk heist against his godlike arch-nemesis to pay an old debt. Adam Verner returns to continue this urban fantasy series with perfect noir tone.

  8. 8
    The Neon Boneyard cover

    The Neon Boneyard

    Daniel Faust • Book 8

    by Craig Schaefer

    Narrated by Adam Verner

    4.12 ABR Score (2.0K ratings)
    ★ 4.29 Goodreads (1.7K) ★ 4.69 Audible (287)
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    Sorcerer-turned-mob-boss Daniel Faust juggles underworld responsibilities while his buried past threatens everything he's built in Vegas. Adam Verner captures both the magical and criminal elements with dark charisma.

  9. 9
    The White Gold Score cover

    The White Gold Score

    Daniel Faust #1.5 • Book 1

    by Craig Schaefer

    Narrated by Adam Verner

    4.01 ABR Score (1.6K ratings)
    ★ 4.13 Goodreads (1.4K) ★ 4.6 Audible (262)
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    Vegas sorcerer Daniel Faust must banish a stubborn ghost from a casino penthouse, but the spirit has unfinished business in Sin City. Adam Verner captures both the supernatural mystery and noir atmosphere perfectly.

  10. 10
    The Locust Job cover

    The Locust Job

    Daniel Faust • Book 9

    by Craig Schaefer

    Narrated by Adam Verner

    4.12 ABR Score (1.4K ratings)
    ★ 4.42 Goodreads (1.2K) ★ 4.69 Audible (198)
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    Daniel Faust discovers he's trapped in the universe's first story, doomed to play the eternal Thief until death. Adam Verner's performance captures the mounting dread of a mobster-magician facing his scripted fate.

  11. 11
    Down Among the Dead Men cover

    Down Among the Dead Men

    Daniel Faust • Book 10

    by Craig Schaefer

    Narrated by Adam Verner

    4.12 ABR Score (1.1K ratings)
    ★ 4.51 Goodreads (993) ★ 4.74 Audible (133)
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    Daniel Faust wakes up in hell after a heist gone wrong, racing against time to return to life while hunted through an endless damned city. Verner captures both the supernatural horror and dark humor.

  12. 12
    Dig Two Graves cover

    Dig Two Graves

    Daniel Faust • Book 11

    by Craig Schaefer

    Narrated by Adam Verner

    4.03 ABR Score (800 ratings)
    ★ 4.45 Goodreads (735) ★ 4.72 Audible (65)
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    Daniel Faust returns from hell with a new face, hunting the tiger-queen Naavarasi and his traitorous brother for a final reckoning.

How We Rank Audiobooks

Rankings are driven by listener ratings and review counts from Audible and Goodreads. Books with high ratings across a large number of listeners rank higher — a 4.5 with 50,000 ratings says more than a 4.8 with 200.

Unlike most book lists, we weight audiobook-specific factors: narrator performance, production quality, and how well a story translates to audio. A great book with a poor narration isn't a great audiobook.

We don't accept paid placements or prioritize new releases. These rankings reflect what listeners actually enjoy, not what's being promoted.

Rankings update periodically as new ratings come in and new titles are added to the collection.

Read our full ranking methodology →