What Are the Best Books About Twin Peaks?

We’ve reached a milestone at Twin Peaks Blog – this is the 1,000th article published on this site. To celebrate, I’m sharing a comprehensive list of the best books about David Lynch and Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks. As an archivist attempting to document all aspects of this wonderful and strange show, these books are invaluable resources and, to paraphrase the Grandmother in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, would look nice on your bookshelf.

BOOKS IN TWIN PEAKS

Books in David Lynch and Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks were an important aspect of the show, from the extensive collection found in The Bookhouse, the secret society’s hideaway originally named Hemingway’s, and the Packard’s library at the Blue Pine Lodge to the Twin Peaks Library where Audrey Horne finds her book about civil disobedience and Harold Smith’s collection in his apartment.

In the real world, books about the show have been written since 1990. The first official books from the show’s creators appeared on September 15 1990 with “The Secret Diary Of Laura Palmer” by Jennifer Lynch. The following year saw the release of  “The Autobiography of F.B.I. Special Agent Dale Cooper: My Life, My Tapes” by Scott Frost along with the “Welcome to Twin Peaks: Access Guide to the Town” by book by Gregg Almquist, Tricia Brock, Robert “Bob” Engels, Lise Friedman and Harley Peyton.

Decades later, series co-creator Mark Frost would release two books – “The Secret History of Twin Peaks” and “Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier” in 2016 and 2017 respectively

The list below contains those books plus a slew of others written by many individuals. Some books are no longer in print but you can find them via used book shops or online auction sites.

• Official Books about Twin Peaks
• Books about David Lynch and Mark Frost
• Books featuring interviews with Twin Peaks cast and crew
• Books with details and behind-the-scenes looks at Twin Peaks
• Books with essays about Twin Peaks
• Twin Peaks-inspired cookbooks
• Other David Lynch or Twin Peaks-related books

OFFICIAL BOOKS ABOUT TWIN PEAKS

The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer
By: Jennifer Lynch
Release date: Sept. 15, 1990
Audio book release date: May 2, 2017

“Laura Palmer was introduced to television audiences in the opening scenes of Twin Peaks —as a beautiful dead girl, wrapped in plastic.

Now, The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer chronicles Laura’s life from age twelve to her death at seventeen, and is filled with secrets, character references, and even clues to the identity of her eventual killer.

Fans of the show will love seeing their favorite characters again, and Laura’s diary makes compelling reading as she turns from a naive freshman having her first kiss to experimenting with drugs, sex, and the occult. Authentic, creepy, and heartbreaking, this is the ultimate gift for anyone who loves television classics and supernatural suspense.”

The book has seen numerous reprints since it’s first release in 1990 and it’s been translated into many different languages.

You can find it in paperback and an audio book, and is read by Sheryl Lee who played Laura Palmer.

“Diane …” The TWIN PEAKS Tapes OF AGENT COOPER
Performed by Kyle MacLachlan
Release date: September 1990

Re-experience the mystery of Twin Peaks in an all new way. The Cooper Tapes. The private world of Special Agent Dale Cooper, previously reserved for one woman … Diane, including notes and stories never revealed on television. From the man in the black suit, Twin Peaks, in his own words.

Released around the same time as “The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer,” this audio cassette from Simon & Schuster features Kyle MacLachlan performing his role as F.B.I. Special Agent Dale Cooper. It contains dialogue from the show along with new scripting describing action that didn’t happen on screen.

While more of an audio book, I wrote extensively about this cassette in this Twin Peaks Blog article. Simon & Schuster reissued the cassette as an audio book on Dec. 27, 2016 (no doubt in advance of Twin Peaks: The Return).

The Autobiography of F.B.I. Special Agent Dale Cooper – My Life, My Tapes
By: Scott Frost
Release date: May 1, 1990

“A collection of transcripts from Agent Dale Cooper’s audio tapes, from his childhood to the day he is assigned to Laura Palmer’s murder. The book includes Dale’s upbringing in Philadelphia, family, education at Quaker institutions Germantown Friends School and Haverford College, first stumbles with love, obsession with the FBI, and the relationship between him, Windom Earle, and Earle’s wife, Caroline. Many of these tape transcripts are dictated to “Diane”, though a later tape states that Cooper enjoys the thought of Diane listening to his tapes so much that he will address all tapes to her, whether she will ever listen to them or not.”

The original book was released is out of print but you can find an e-book version.

Welcome to Twin Peaks: Access Guide to the Town
By: David Lynch, Mark Frost, and Richard Saul Wurman
Release date: June 1, 1990

Long out of print, this book is “comprehensive tourist guide” to the small Washington state town that doesn’t exist. It’s an imaginative hoot with chapters about the town’s history, area geology and weather, and best places to eat, sleep and worship. There are also short biographies about the town’s residents along with maps, iconography and more from Lynch and Frost’s wonderful and strange show.  You can find copies via used book stores or online auction sites.

The Secret History of Twin Peaks
By: Mark Frost
Release date: October 18, 2016

This book “enlarges the world of the original series, placing the unexplained phenomena that unfolded there into a vastly layered, wide-ranging history, beginning with the journals of Lewis and Clark and ending with the shocking events that closed the finale. The perfect way to get in the mood for the Showtime series, Twin Peaks: The Return.”

The book was originally released in 2016 but now appears out of print. You can find second hand copies at bookstores or auction sites.

An audio book was also released featuring stars from the show.

“A vastly layered, wide-ranging history that deepens the mysteries of the iconic town in ways that will thrill disciples of the original series, and will prep fans for the Showtime series like nothing else out there.

Four original TWIN PEAKS cast members― Kyle MacLachlan, Russ Tamblyn, Michael Horse, and David Patrick Kelly―who are appearing in the new TWIN PEAKS for SHOWTIME ―join three new actors―Amy Shiels, Robert Knepper, James Morrison―to voice the audiobook edition of the novel, along with co-creator Mark Frost and original cast member Chris Mulkey. Additional actors Annie Wersching (Bosch) and Len Cariou (Blue Bloods) will also be featured.

Of the audiobook, creator Mark Frost says, ‘I am thrilled that both original cast members and new actors will be coming together on this project to bring this other aspect of the world of Twin Peaks to life.'”

Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier
By: Mark Frost
Release date: October 31, 2017

The crucial sequel to the New York Times bestselling The Secret History of Twin Peaks, this novel bridges the two series, and takes you deeper into the mysteries raised by the new series. The book was originally released in October 2017 and an audio book version was created.

The return of Twin Peaks is one of the most anticipated events in the history of television. The subject of endless speculation, shrouded in mystery, fans will come flocking to see Mark Frost and David Lynch’s inimitable vision once again grace the screen. Featuring all the characters we know and love from the first series, as well as a list of high-powered actors in new roles, the show will be endlessly debated, discussed, and dissected.

While The Secret History of Twin Peaks served to expand the mysteries of the town and place the unexplained phenomena that unfolded there into a vastly layered, wide-ranging history, Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier tells us what happened to key characters in the twenty-five years in between the events of the first series and the second, offering details and insights fans will be clamoring for. The novel also adds context and commentary to the strange and cosmic happenings of the new series. For fans around the world begging for more, Mark Frost’s final take laid out in this novel will be required reading.

BOOKS ABOUT DAVID LYNCH AND MARK FROST

Lynch on Lynch
By: Chris Rodley
Release date: 1997
Revised edition release date: March 24, 2005

David Lynch erupted onto the cinema landscape in 1977 with Eraserhead, establishing himself as one of the most original and imaginative directors at work in contemporary cinema. Over the course of his career, he has remained true to a vision of the innocent lost in darkness and confusion, balancing hallucination and surrealism with a sense of Americana that is as pure and simple as his compelling storylines. In this volume, Lynch speaks openly about his films as well as about his lifelong commitment to painting, his work in photography, his television projects, and his musical collaborations with Angelo Badalamenti.

The book is based on interviews conducted by Rodley with David Lynch between 1993 and 1996. It was first published in 1997 with a revised edition published in 2005.

David Lynch: Beautiful Dark
By: Greg Olson
Release date: March 28, 2011

In “David Lynch: Beautiful Dark,” author Greg Olson explores the surreal intricacies of the director’s unique visual and visceral style not only in his full-length films but also his early forays into painting and short films, as well as his television landmark, Twin Peaks. This in-depth exploration is the first full-length work to analyze the intimate symbiosis between Lynch’s life experience and artistic expressions: from the small-town child to the teenage painter to the 60-year-old Internet and digital media experimenter.

To fully delineate the director’s life and art, Olson received unprecedented participation from Lynch, his parents, siblings, old school friends, romantic partners, children, and decades of professional colleagues, as well as on-set access to the director during the production of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. Throughout this study, Olson provides thorough analyses of the filmmaker’s works as Lynch conceived, crafted, and completed them. Consequently, “David Lynch: Beautiful Dark” is the definitive study of one of the most influential and idiosyncratic directors of the last four decades.

Room To Dream
By: Kristine McKenna and David Lynch
Release date: June 19, 2018

In this unique hybrid of biography and memoir, David Lynch opens up for the first time about a life lived in pursuit of his singular vision, and the many heartaches and struggles he’s faced to bring his unorthodox projects to fruition. Lynch’s lyrical, intimate, and unfiltered personal reflections riff off biographical sections written by close collaborator Kristine McKenna and based on more than one hundred new interviews with surprisingly candid ex-wives, family members, actors, agents, musicians, and colleagues in various fields who all have their own takes on what happened.

The book was originally published in June 2018 and an audio book is available.

Conversations with Mark Frost
By: David Bushman
Release date: March 2, 2020

Mark Frost, co-creator of both the original Twin Peaks and Twin Peaks: The Return, is often lost in the shadow of co-creator David Lynch in the eyes of critics and scholars — one newspaper even called him the “Other Peak.” In fact, Frost played at least as crucial a role in developing the narrative, mythology, and aesthetic of what has come to be revered as one of the most artful and influential shows ever to air on television.

Originally published on March 2, 2020, this book, comprising a series of interviews with Frost over the course of a single year, finally and fully acknowledges the extent of Frost’s contributions not only to those series, but also to American television in general, as a writer/producer on Hill Street Blues and other shows, and as a mentor to numerous other writers.

The book traces the arc of his entire life and career, from his boyhood days in New York, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis, to his nascent playwriting career in Pittsburgh, to his days as a writer at Universal TV’s famed factory of the seventies, to his work on Hill Street Blues alongside such industry titans as Steven Bochco and David Milch, to his multiple collaborations with the famously enigmatic Lynch, who perhaps emerges as slightly less enigmatic in the pages of this book. Conversations with Mark Frost deconstructs that legendary partnership, while at the same time exploring Frost’s values, influences, thematic preoccupations, and approach to creating art — for the screen, the stage, and the printed page — as well as his thoughts about such topics as politics, extraterrestrial life, ethics, and the future of the human race.

To order the Kindle version of this book, click here.

BOOKS FEATURING INTERVIEWS WITH TWIN PEAKS CAST AND CREW

The Essential Wrapped in Plastic: Pathways to Twin Peaks
By: John Thorne
Release date: April 11, 2016

For thirteen years, Wrapped In Plastic magazine studied the celebrated television series, Twin Peaks, and the follow-up feature film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Many of the important essays and interviews from those pages have been revised and reorganized for The Essential Wrapped In Plastic: Pathways to Twin Peaks. The Essential Wrapped In Plastic is a work of critical analysis and historical reporting.

The core of the book is a detailed episode guide that reviews each chapter of David Lynch and Mark Frost’s landmark series (which originally aired on ABC television in 1990 and 1991). These reviews are supplemented by comments from actors, writers, producers and other creative personnel who provide intimate and first-hand remarks about Twin Peaks. Each critique also includes analysis of scripted scenes that were deleted from the final televised episodes, allowing for a deeper understanding of how Twin Peaks was being crafted as it went along. The last episode of Twin Peaks is examined in detail, with a chapter that focuses on the installment’s final, mesmerizing act—an essay that sheds light on what really happened to the series’ enigmatic protagonist, Dale Cooper.

The feature film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, is the subject of two in-depth essays. The first delves into the character of Laura Palmer and shows how David Lynch transformed the idea of Laura (from the series) into a fully realized character (in the film). The second essay radically challenges the design of the Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me prologue, arguing that Dale Cooper is a more prominent and vital presence in the story than might first appear. Vibrant and provocative, Twin Peaks is an enduring masterpiece. “The Essential Wrapped In Plastic” is a crucial guide to this remarkable work.

Reflections: An Oral History of Twin Peaks
By: Brad Dukes
Release date: June 24, 2014

Longtime fan and original Bookhouse Boy Brad Dukes goes behind the curtain of Twin Peaks and documents the series’ unlikely beginnings, widespread success, and peculiar collapse. Featuring first-hand accounts from series co-creator Mark Frost and cast members including Kyle MacLachlan, Joan Chen, Sherilyn Fenn, Piper Laurie, Michael Ontkean, Ray Wise, Billy Zane, and many more Reflections explores the magic and mystique of a true television phenomenon.

TV Peaks: Twin Peaks & Modern Television Drama
By: Andreas Halskov
Release date: October 1, 2015

In 1990, American television was in the midst of a transition, but the three major networks still dominated the American TV landscape: CBS, NBC, and ABC. CBS and NBC had a financial stronghold, and ABC was “languishing in last place.” The crisis of ABC called for something new, for something that would break the mold and reposition the network. Executives like Robert Iger were willing to take a risk, even if network television was largely conservative, and the willingness to push the envelope made way for a new and edgier type of television drama.

Meanwhile, producer and agent Tony Krantz had talked to David Lynch, the director of Eraserhead (1977) and Blue Velvet (1986), about going into television. This was the beginning of the show Twin Peaks (ABC, 1990-1991), a drama series which was created by David Lynch and Mark Frost, and which would come to push the boundaries of TV drama in many different ways. This book explores the last 25 years of American and Scandinavian television and argues that Twin Peaks was a game changer, pointing to a more transgressive, genre-bending, and serialized type of TV drama. Structural changes in the TV landscape were an important factor, as were the rise of new outlets, new media, and new modes of viewing. The way we watch TV has, indeed, changed during the last 25 years, but so has the way we view television, and, in this context, Twin Peaks has been a small but important factor. Based on interviews with numerous TV scholars, fans, and cast/crew members, TV Peaks investigates the recent changes in television, at a time when Twin Peaks was returning to television.

This book was originally published in October 2015 but is now out of print. I do, however, invite you to check out Andreas’ blog which has some fantastic interviews.

Angelo Badalamenti’s Soundtrack from Twin Peaks (33 1/3)
By: Clare Nina Norelli
Release date: February 9, 2017

Part of Twin Peaks‘ charm was its unforgettable soundtrack by Angelo Badalamenti, a longtime musical collaborator of film director and Twin Peaks co-creator David Lynch. Badalamenti’s evocative music, with its haunting themes and jazzy moodscapes, served as a constant in a narrative that was often unhinged and went on to become one of the most popular and influential television soundtracks of all time. How did a unique collaborative process between a director and composer result in a perfectly postmodern soundtrack that ran the gamut of musical styles from jazz to dreamy pop to synthesizer doom and beyond? And how did Badalamenti’s musical cues work with Twin Peaks‘ visuals, constantly evolving and playing off viewers’ expectations and associations? Under the guidance of Angelo Badalamenti’s beautifully dark sonic palette, Clare Nina Norelli delves deep into the world of Twin Peaks to answer all this and more.

Universo Twin Peaks
By: Javier J. Valencia
Release date: April 18, 2018
Audio book release date: November 15, 2021

Written for Twin Peaks fans fluent in Spanish, “Universo Twin Peaks” takes a deep dive into David Lynch’s iconic, surreal TV series, exploring its lore, characters, and cultural impact, available in print and as a long audiobook, alongside a vibrant online community celebrating the show’s bizarre world, from its mysterious town to its iconic music and visuals. It’s also available as an audio book.

Twin Peaks Unwrapped
By: Ben Durant and Bryon Kozaczka
Release date: April 8, 2020

With over 200 episodes for Twin Peaks Unwrapped, hosts Ben Durant and Bryon Kozaczka have interviewed just about every actor on the show, writer, fan and crazy theorist over the 200 episodes. The book compiles all they have unwrapped about David Lynch & Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks over the past few years. This book was released on the 30th Anniversary of the first broadcast of the Twin Peaks pilot on the ABC Television Network.

A Skeleton Key to Twin Peaks – One Experience of The Return
By: JB Minton
Release date: November 20, 2020

JB Minton takes you minute by minute, scene by scene, hour by hour, through all 18 hours of Twin Peaks: The Return. With detailed analysis in the form of an iconographic framework, charts, graphs, detailed synopsis of every scene followed by in-depth analysis and essays, the author explores all facets of this masterpiece that is Twin Peaks: The Return. Completely designed by the author, “A Skeleton Key To Twin Peaks” also includes beautiful full-page images from the author’s collection as he’s followed Twin Peaks around the world.

Music in Twin Peaks – Listen to the Sounds
Edited by: Reba Wissner and Katherine Reed
Release date: May 31, 2021

In this edited volume, contributors explore an essential element of the influential television series Twin Peaks: the role of music and sound. From its debut in 1990 to its return to television in 2017, Twin Peaks has amassed a cult following, and inspired myriad scholarly studies. This collection considers how the music and sound design not only create the ambience of this ground-breaking series, but function in the narrative, encouraging multiple interpretations. With chapters that consider how music shapes the relationship of audiences and fans to the story, the importance of sound design, and the symbolism embedded in the score, this book provides a range of perspectives for scholars of music and film studies, while giving fans new insight into an iconic television show.

The Return of Twin Peaks – Squaring the Circle
By: Franck Boulègue
Release date: September 1, 2021

In this volume, Franck Boulègue explores Twin Peaks: The Return through a philosophical, mythological, and spiritual lens.

Divided into three sections, the book first examines the third season as expanded storytelling through the lens of Gene Youngblood’s theory of synesthetic cinema, intertextuality, integrationist, and segregationist approaches in the realm of fiction, and focuses on the role of audio and visual superimpositions in The Return. It goes on to question the nature of the reality depicted in the seasons via scientific approaches, such as electromagnetism, time theory, and multiverses. The third and final section aims to transcend this vision by exploring the role of theosophy, the occult, and other spiritual sources. With a foreword by Matt Zoller Seitz, editor at large at RogerEbert.com and television critic for “New York Magazine,” this book is essential reading for fans of the landmark show and anyone who studies it.

Black Coffee Lightning: David Lynch Returns to Twin Peaks
By: Greg Olson
Release date: November 8, 2023

In Black Coffee Lightning: David Lynch Returns to Twin Peaks, Greg Olson, in his characteristically intimate and personal way, traces the Twin Peaks currents of Lynch’s emotional-visceral storytelling, themes, imagery, and sound: the way the artist and viewer share an electrified circuit of mystery and understanding. Olson details Lynch’s kinship with transcendence-seeking artists like William Blake, Walt Whitman, Jean Cocteau, Philip K. Dick, and the post-World War II mystical Northwest painters. Small-town values, coffee culture, the color pink, the Bible, Vedic literature, Marvel Comics superheroes, and a Parisian camera crew wanting Olson to guide them through Twin Peaks territory all make appearances.

Over a thirty-year span, Lynch and Mark Frost created forty-eight hours of Twin Peaks TV and film, hypnotic cinematic music immersed in the depths and divine heights of human nature, a soulful song of the forest, America, the world, the cosmos. Olson, Lynch, and Twin Peaks have been on parallel tracks for decades. Olson’s longtime love, Linda Bowers, died shortly before Twin Peaks: The Return aired, and his lived experience with Lynch’s art speaks to the healing power of artistic engagement. Here his chronicle includes personal interaction with Lynch and Frost and their colleagues, as well as Olson’s perception of Lynch’s inner world of karmic balancing, reincarnation, spiritual evolution, and veneration of women.

Always Music in the Air: The Sounds of Twin Peaks
By: Scott Ryan
Release date: May 2025

In “Always Music in the Air: The Sounds of Twin Peaks,” Scott Ryan interviews band members who performed the songs, music editors and directors from the series, as well as uses archive interviews from the late Angelo Badalamenti and singer from the series, Julee Cruise. This book takes a look at all the music that was in the air from Cruise’s 1989 release Floating into the Night, through all the Twin Peaks soundtracks, the 2011 online releases called the Twin Peaks Archives, as well as the releases from the Twin Peaks: The Return in 2017.

Ryan conducts brand new Interviews with Dean Hurley (Composer for The Return,  curator of the Twin Peaks Archive), Mark Frost (Creator, Director) Tim Hunter (Director), Lori Eschler (Music Editor), David Slusser (Composer, Music Editor), Kevin Laffey (A&R for Julee Cruise), Duwayne Dunham (Editor, Director), Kinny Landrum, (Keyboards) and Al Regni (Saxophone), and excerpts from Ryan’s 2018 interview with Julee Cruise. Plus quotes from David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti from previously printed interviews throughout the years about the music of Twin Peaks

Scott discussed this book with Josh Eisenstadt during the Real Twin Peaks 2025 event at Boxley’s in North Bend, Washington.

Twin Peaks: Through the Red Curtain
By: Scott Ryan
Release date: December 2025

Ever since Twin Peaks aired on television in 1990, fans and critics have been discussing who killed Laura Palmer, what the ceiling fan means, and wondering when that gum we like is going to come back in style. But in “Twin Peaks: Through the Red Curtain,” it is the cast and crew that get to do the talking about what it was like to work with David Lynch and Mark Frost on one of the most influential series of all time. On-screen stars Kyle MacLachlan, Sheryl Lee, Ray Wise, Piper Laurie, and Sherilyn Fenn join behind the scenes participates of Mark Frost, Jennifer Lynch, and Sabrina S. Sutherland, who mix with The Return stars of George Griffith, Amy Shiels, and Clark Middleton to bring together their shared memories of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, and Twin Peaks: The Return.

Scott Ryan has compiled over sixty interviews from ten years of research to tell the story of the pop culture phenomena of Twin Peaksthrough the words of the people who created it. Learn how the famous Red Room was created, how the feature film got greenlit, and how the Showtime reunion series of 2017 was created. Grab a piece of cherry pie, brew a cup of black coffee, and dance through the red curtains of Twin Peaks.

The book is being released in December 2025 in paperback and hardback versions.

BOOKS WITH DETAILS AND BEHIND THE SCENES LOOKS AT TWIN PEAKS

Twin Peaks: Behind the Scenes – An Unofficial Visitors Guide to TWIN PEAKS
By: Mark Altman
Release date: February 1, 1991

Long out of print, Mark Altman’s “Twin Peaks: Behind the Scenes – An Unofficial Visitors Guide to Twin Peaks” is a a treasure trove of early reports from the production of the show. Released in 1991, the book offers details about the production of the series, including casting, directing, writing and merchandising. Altman spoke with several individuals involved with the production including Catherine Coulson, Mark Frost, Caleb Deschanel, David Lynch, Peggy Lipton and many more. It’s worth tracking down a copy from a second hand source.

Wrapped in Plastic. Twin Peaks
By: Andy Burns
Release date: February 1, 2015

In a town like Twin Peaks, nothing is as it seems, and in “Wrapped in Plastic”, pop culture writer Andy Burns uncovers and explores the groundbreaking stylistic and storytelling methods that have made the series one of the most influential and enduring shows of the past 25 years.

Twin Peaks FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About a Place Both Wonderful and Strange
By: David Bushman
Release date: May 1, 2016

“Twin Peaks FAQ” guides longtime fans and the newly initiated through the origins of the series, take them behind the scenes during its production, and transport readers deep into the rich mythology that made Twin Peaks a cultural phenomenon. The book features detailed episode guides, character breakdowns, and explorations of the show’s distinctive music, fashion, and locations. With a sometimes snarky, always thoughtful (but never dry or academic) analysis of Twin Peaks’ myriad oddities, mysteries, references, and delicious insanity, Twin Peaks FAQ is a comprehensive, immersive, and irresistible reference for experts and newbies alike.

Fire Walk With Me: Your Laura Disappeared
By: Scott Ryan
Release date: February 24, 2022

Author Scott Ryan was among the few Twin Peaks fans who saw David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me on the day it was released and loved it from the beginning. He takes an in-depth look at the film, its legacy, and the people who created it, weaving in his own story of how the film has inspired him throughout his life, and still does.

The book features Interviews with producer Gregg Fienberg, Director of Photography Ron Garcia, editor Mary Sweeney, lead actress Sheryl Lee, and other cast members, as well as Ryan’s essays covering the different iterations of the script, Angelo Badalamenti’s superb score, the fandom, and the lore of the The Missing Pieces (the feature-length compilation of deleted scenes that went unseen for over twenty years before premiering at the Vista Theatre in Los Angeles on July 16, 2014, followed by a Blu-ray release as a component of Twin Peaks: The Entire Mystery).

Ryan also recounts his own journey as a Twin Peaks fan for over thirty years, the friends and celebrities he has met through the film.

This book is available in a color copy or black and white.

“Ominous Whoosh: A Wandering Mind Returns to Twin Peaks”
By: John Thorne
Release date: August 20, 2022

In “Ominous Whoosh: A Wandering Mind Returns to Twin Peaks,” John Thorne dives deep into Twin Peaks: The Return, closely examining each episode and offering in-depth theories about the show’s most perplexing riddles: Who is “telling” the story we see? What is Laura Palmer’s new role in the Twin Peaks universe? How do Audrey and Diane fit into this complex new tale? Drawing on a study of David Lynch’s past work and Lynch’s observations about Hindu theology, Thorne offers compelling answers to these and other questions.

This book made me appreciate the show’s third season even more. John discussed his thoughts during a conversation with fellow fan Josh Eisenstadt at the Real Twin Peaks event in February 2024.

Movies Minute by Minute – Twin Peaks: The Return, Part 8
By: Jeff Wood
Release date: October 16, 2025

Much has been written about the work of David Lynch and existential fear in relation to Americana and the American Dream-as-American Nightmare in terms that are circular and artistically self-referential-or Lynchian. But with Part 8 of his most recent work, the 2017 series Twin Peaks: The Return, Lynch locates his singular and unsettling visual vocabulary within an epic historical context: the world’s first atomic explosion, the Trinity Test. With reference to the 1983 television phenomenon The Day After, Lynch’s work is newly situated in a resurgence of works reassessing the legacy of Trinity. Among them: HBO’s Chernobyl, Trevor Paglen’s Trinity Cube, Cormac McCarthy’s The Passenger and Stella Maris, and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. With David Lynch’s Part 8, a cultural circuit is completed, from the idiosyncratic and personal-or Lynchian-to the shared space of what theorist Paul Virilio describes as “cosmic fear”-or an emergency of social media.

The Dreamer’s Path: Twin Peaks and David Lynch the Actor
By: Brent Simon
Release date: February 2026

An award-winning entertainment journalist who has contributed to dozens of international and domestic publications both as a freelancer and through a variety of masthead tenures, Brent Simon is a longtime member and former president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

Much has been written about David Lynch and his films, but his new book, The Dreamer’s Path being released in February 2026, approaches his canon from a distinctive angle, seeking to unpack and assay the sum of Lynch’s work as an on-screen performer and, by extension, where and how this unique and heretofore unexplored part of his enormous creative output intersects with his broader embrace of “the art life.”

For someone not generally thought of as an actor, Lynch managed to put his inimitable stamp on a memorable collection of characters who each, in their own way, fed his idiosyncratic off-screen persona—from 1988’s Zelly and Me (recounted here in detail by Isabella Rossellini and writer-director Tina Rathborne) and television’s Louie to the tenderhearted Lucky and The Fablemans.

All of these projects and more—including Lynch’s renowned weather reports, plus curios like The Black Ghiandola—receive loving, detailed tribute, in addition to Lynch’s voice work in animated efforts like The Cleveland Show and his own Dumbland.

Naturally, centerpiece examination is also afforded Lynch’s portrayal of FBI Regional Bureau Chief (and later Deputy Director) Gordon Cole in Twin Peaks—both in the trailblazing run of the original series and its striking, equally complex 2017 return. In plumbing the central question, “We are like the dreamer who dreams, and then lives inside the dream—but who is the dreamer?” this work explores the significance of Lynch stepping so deeply inside a world of his co-creation and what that says both about him and Twin Peaks as a whole.

Commingling analysis and scholarship with dozens of new interviews and warm first-person reminiscences from key collaborators and facilitators of these works, “The Dreamer’s Path“ is a one-of-a-kind look at a one-of-a-kind artistic talent and the breadth and depth of his lasting legacy.

A Place Both Wonderful and Strange: The Extraordinary Untold History of Twin Peaks
By: Scott Meslow
Release date: February 24, 2026.

For the first time, the complete history of David Lynch and Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks—from the landmark, original cult series that changed the course of television to its 25-years-in-the-making sequel—is told through fascinatingly detailed reporting and exclusive interviews with the show’s cast and creators.

From its start, when studio executives drafted a plan to recoup costs after what they predicted would be the series’ inevitable failure, to the 1992 prequel movie that earned scathing reviews at Cannes, to its unexpected and acclaimed return some twenty-five years later, Twin Peaks garnered millions of devoted fans who refused to let it die.

In “A Place Both Wonderful and Strange,” entertainment reporter Scott Meslow takes readers behind the curtain of Lynch’s and Frost’s dedication to finishing what they started, with both the prequel film and Showtime’s Twin Peaks: The Return, offering dozens of original and revelatory interviews that cast a whole new light on the extraordinary show. Twin Peaks fans will discover how hard the mercurial Lynch and affable Frost fought impatient ABC execs (ultimately losing) to keep Laura Palmer’s murder unsolved, as well as the omerta-like secrecy around the filming of the show. For a series that left as many questions unanswered as answered, Meslow’s deep reporting will give readers a new perspective, detailing scenes left on the cutting–room floor and how Season Two’s finale stunned and infuriated studio execs in what Mark Frost calls “a defiant middle finger to what they [studio executives] thought the show should be.”

The influence of Twin Peaksis inescapable. It’s hard to imagine prestige television like True Detective, Severance, and so many other shows in this genre could exist without Lynch and Frost’s visionary brilliance. With David Lynch’s passing in 2025, there may never be another return to the quirky, mysterious, and unforgettable town of Twin Peaks, but “A Place Both Wonderful and Strange” serves as testament to the impact it had on the world.

BOOKS WITH ESSAYS ABOUT TWIN PEAKS

Full of Secrets: Critical Approaches to Twin Peaks
Edited by: David Lavery
Release date: December 1, 1994

This collection of essays considers David Lynch’s politics, the enigmatic musical score, and the show’s cult status, treatment of family violence, obsession with doubling, and silencing of women. Also included are a director and writer list, a cast list, a Twin Peaks calendar, a complete scene breakdown for the entire series, and a comprehensive bibliography. I recall this book being one of the first containing critical essays about the show.

Between Two Worlds: Perspectives on Twin Peaks
By: H. Perry Horton
Release date: November 18, 2016

From the virtual pages of the former renowned film site One Perfect Shot, writer H. Perry Horton has collected 17 original essays that delve into the mystery and intrigue of David Lynch and Mark Frost’s cult-TV series Twin Peaks. Topics include the influence of Film Noir on the series, the influence of pop icon Marilyn Monroe on the character of Laura Palmer, the loves of F.B.I. Special Agent Dale Cooper, the literary inspirations for The White and Black Lodges, themes of duality, the symbolism of water, of food, and many more. Also included is one of the most extensive episode guides in existence, a guide to the prequel Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, and a separate section of essays devoted to how the latter film expands the Twin Peaks mythology. Written for the novice and the fanatic alike, “Between Two Worlds” offers a path through the darkness of Twin Peaks and illuminates why it is, as noted in the introduction, the dawn of television’s Golden Age.

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
By: Maura McHugh
Release date: June 1, 2017

In this book author Maura McHugh examins the themes that thread through some of David Lynch s films prior to Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, and also touches upon the original TV series to offer context. Her primary interest is exploring Lynch’s 1992 film as a powerful account of trauma and a nuanced portrait of a complex young woman trying to hold together her shattered personality for the cosy community which wishes her to conform to their ideals and never speak of her torment, or their complicity in it.

Approaching Twin Peaks: Critical Essays on the Original Series
Edited by Eric Hoffman and Dominick Grace
Release date: July 29, 2017

This collection of essays explores its filmic influences, its genre-bending innovations and its use of horror and science fiction conventions, from the original series through the earlier film prequel Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and subsequent video releases.

Return to Twin Peaks: New Approaches to Materiality, Theory, and Genre on Television
Edited by: Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock and Catherine Spooner
Release date: November 17, 2015

“Return to Twin Peaks” offers new critical considerations and approaches to the Twin Peaks series, as well as reflections on its significance and legacy. With texts that analyze the ways in which readers and viewers endow texts with meaning in light of historically situated and culturally shared emphases and interpretive strategies, this volume showcases the ways in which new theoretical paradigms can reinvigorate and enrich understanding of what Twin Peaks was and what it has become since it went off the air in 1991.

Postcards from Twin Peaks
By: Benjamin Louche as told to Madison Bell
Release date: March 23, 2017

Within this book dwell mysteries deep and dark, syntactic secrets, beautiful otherness, rhyme and unreason, all springing from the singular town of Twin Peaks. How does one get to Twin Peaks? Is it in the heart, or in the mind? Does the Log Lady know more than she’s letting on? Is Cooper still the man he always was? What are we really to take from the tragic end of Waldo? Who is Diane? Who was Agent Jeffries? And what did Harold Smith’s suicide note really mean? Answers to these questions and more will you find within these pages. This is a book for Twin Peakers, backwards-speakers, loggers, Black Lodgers, Special Agents, one-armed show salesmen, fans, fanatics and everyone in between…

For nearly a decade Benjamin Louche, host of London’s infamous Double R Club, has been penning strange ‘Peaksian’ poems, prose and the like, much of which has been performed in front of original Twin Peaks cast members at the former Twin Peaks UK Festival.

Devil’s Advocates – Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
By: Lindsay Hallam
Release date: May 29, 2018

In this Devil’s Advocate, Lindsay Hallam argues that the horror genre aids Lynch’s purpose in presenting the protagonist Laura Palmer’s subjective experience leading to her death as the incorporation of horror tropes actually leads to a more accurate representation of a victim’s suffering and confusion. She goes on to explore how the film was an attempt by Lynch to take back ownership of the material and to examine the initial reaction and subsequent reevaluation of the film, as well as the paratexts that link to it and the influence that Fire Walk with Me now has on contemporary film and across popular culture.

The Women of David Lynch: A Collection of Essays
Concept by Scott Ryan and edited by David Bushman
Release date: July 7, 2018

David Lynch has been accused for decades of sexism and even misogyny in his work, due largely to frequent depictions of violence against women. Yet others see in Lynch’s work the deification of the female, and actresses like Laura Dern and Naomi Watts jump at every opportunity to work with him. “He is the master of the juxtaposition of the creepy and the sweet, the sexual and the chaste,” wrote W’s Lynn Hirschberg. “And at the heart of this tense, intriguing friction, you will always find Lynch’s women.”

“The Women of Lynch” is a deep, provocative dive into this paradox, featuring twelve essays, thought pieces, and impressionistic interpretations of Lynch’s depiction of women on screen by an eclectic array of accomplished female critics, scholars, performers, and writers, each tackling this vexing conundrum in her own unique way. It also contains brand new interviews with Lynch actresses Mädchen Amick (Shelly Johnson, Twin Peaks) and Charlotte Stewart (Eraserhead, Twin Peaks).

This book contains essays by:

• An Introduction by Philippa Snow
• The Uncanny Electricity of David Lynch’s Women by Leigh Kellmann Kolb
• Women’s Films: Melodrama and Women’s Trauma in the Films of David Lynch by Lindsay Hallam
• A Colorless Sky: On the Whiteness of Twin Peaks by Melanie McFarland
• Welcome to the Bipolar Silencio Club! by Hannah Klein
• Warding off the Darkness with Coffee and Pie by Mallory O’Meara
• “This is where we talk, Shelly.” An Interview with Mädchen Amick by Lindsey Bowden
• The Triple Goddess by Lauren Fox
• Isabella Rossellini: The Shocking “Real” in Blue Velvet by Kathleen Fleming
• Tea And Sympathy: Mrs. Kendal and The Elephant Man by Rebecca Paller
• Jade: Ornamental Gem or Protective Talisman? A Character Study by Marisa C. Hayes
• “Mary X Marks The Spot.” An Interview with Charlotte Stewart by Lisa Hession
• Impressions of Lynch: Journaling a Requiem by Mya McBriar

Twin Peaks and Philosophy: That’s Damn Fine Philosophy!
Edited By: Richard Greene and Rachel Robison-Greene
Release date: August 7, 2018

This book is a collection of essays that philosophically analyzes David Lynch and Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks, exploring themes like evil, reality, madness, and responsibility through various philosophical lenses, including metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics, to make sense of the show’s complex and enigmatic nature.

Critical Essays on Twin Peaks: The Return
Edited by: Antonio Sanna
Release date: January 17, 2019

This edited collection offers an interdisciplinary study of Twin Peaks: The Return, the third season of a televisoin program that has attracted the attention (and appreciation) of spectators, fans, and critics for over two decades. The book takes readers into several distinct areas and addresses the different approaches and the range of topics invited by the multidimensionality of the subject itself: the philosophical, the artistic, the socio-cultural, and the personal. The eighteen chapters constituting the volume are academic in their approach to the subject and in their methodology, whether they apply a historical, psychoanalytical, film studies, or gender studies perspective to the text under examination.

The variety and range of perspectives in these aforementioned chapters reflect the belief that a study of the full complexity of Twin Peaks: The Return, as well as a timely assessment of the critical importance of the program, requires both an interdisciplinary perspective and the fusion of different intellectual approaches across genres. The chapters demonstrate a collective awareness of the television series as a fundamental milestone in contemporary culture

Laura’s Ghost: Women Speak About Twin Peaks
By: Courtenay Stallings
Release date: July 7, 2020

In 1990, the groundbreaking television series Twin Peaks, co-created by David Lynch and Mark Frost, opened with a murder mystery when a homecoming queen washed up on a rocky beach. Laura Palmer’s character began as a plot device that triggered a small town to face its fractured self. After three seasons and a film, Laura Palmer is no longer just a plot device. Twin Peaks allows the audience to get to know the victim—a complex woman finding her strength while enduring incredible trauma. “Laura’s Ghost: Women Speak about Twin Peaks” explores Laura’s legacy through the perspectives of women in the fan community and women involved in the show.

Actor Sheryl Lee, who also wrote the book’s foreward, examines the challenges of playing Laura Palmer. Filmmaker Jennifer Lynch discusses writing Laura’s backstory in “The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer” Grace Zabriskie argues about the complicity of Sarah Palmer, Laura’s mother. Sabrina S. Sutherland, executive producer of Twin Peaks, talks about Laura’s legacy. Women in the Twin Peaks fan community share their powerful and heart-wrenching stories of survival and what Laura Palmer means to them. This book is a reckoning in which women speak about trauma, mischief, humor, sexuality, strength, weakness, wickedness, and survival.

The Politics of Twin Peaks
By: Amanda DiPaolo and Jamie Gilles
Release date: March 10, 2022

“The Politics of Twin Peaks” investigates the show’s engagement with American politics and identity. With a close relationship between the two, Twin Peaks is the rare cultural landmark in both film and television whose timelessness is defined by the fact that it can constantly be reinterpreted. Within that sometimes dreamlike Lynchian narrative, Twin Peaks hints at, sometimes explicitly and sometimes subtly, the political fault lines in the United States. In this edited collection, the politics inherent in Twin Peaks is approached from numerous points of view.

David Lynch and the American West: Essays on Regionalism and Indigeneity in Twin Peaks and the Films
Edited by: Rob E. King, Christine Self and Robert G. Weaver

This collection convenes diverse analyses of David Lynch’s newly conceived, dreamlike neo-noir representations of the American West, a first in studies of regionalism and indigeneity in his films. Twelve essays and three interviews address Lynch’s image of the American West and its impact on the genre. Fans and scholars of David Lynch’s work will find a study of his interpretations of the West as place and myth, spanning from his first feature film, Eraserhead (1977), through the third season of Twin Peaks in 2017. Symbols of the West in Lynch’s work can be as obvious as an Odessa, Texas street sign or as subtle as the visual themes rooted in indigenous artistry. Explorations of cowboy masculinity, violence, modern frontier narratives and representations of indigeneity are all included in this collection. John Thorne wrote the forward to this book which was originally published on February 2, 2023.

David Lynch’s American Dreamscape: Music, Literature, Cinema
By: Mike Miley

By interrogating this question, David Lynch’s “American Dreamscape” broadens the interpretive horizons of Lynch’s filmography, calling for a new approach to Lynch’s films that goes beyond cinema and visual art to explore how Lynch’s work engages with literary and musical works that have shaped the American imagination. As much as Lynch stands as a singular artistic voice, his work arises from and taps into the cultural zeitgeist in a way that illuminates not only his approach to creativity but also the way works interact with each other in an age of mass media. From children’s literature to teen tragedy ballads, Nathanael West and Cormac McCarthy to folk music and mixtapes, David Lynch’s “American Dreamscape” investigates the cultural frequencies Lynch’s films tune into and positions Lynch’s work as a conduit for American popular culture, a medium or channel through which the subconscious of American life finds its way into full view. The book was originally published on February 6, 2025.

The Tao of Twin Peaks: The Meaning Behind David Lynch’s Hit TV Series
By: William Dickerson

Is  Twin Peaks a cult-like phenomenon…or a mystery that needs to be solved…or simply the fever dream of its eccentric co-creator? No other show in the history of television has sparked so many questions and William Dickerson’s “The Tao of Twin Peaks” proposes answers to those who seek to understand this surreal, multilayered, and metafictional story. Much has been written about Twin Peaks, but this book is markedly different. It is not just for the most ardent fans who love decoding clues in the series. It also explores the show’s cinematic techniques, its cultural references, and its mythological, psychological, and religious influences.

Featuring artwork by Gilbert Leiker, “The Tao of Twin Peaks” will set you on the road to solving the show’s enigmas and, as a result, deepen your appreciation of future viewings along the way. Uncover the details of David Lynch’s cinematic craft as he creates the off-kilter world of Twin Peaks and turns the mirror on us.

The book was first published on July 27, 2025.

TWIN PEAKS-INSPIRED COOKBOOKS

Damn Fine Cherry Pie: The Unauthorized Cookbook Inspired by the TV Show Twin Peaks
By: Lindsey Bowden

A damn fine collection of seventy-five mouthwatering recipes, inspired by iconic scenes and characters from David Lynch’s groundbreaking cult classic series Twin Peaks. Lindsey Bowden, the founder of the former Twin Peaks festival in the United Kingdom, has gathered dozens of recipes inspired by its most memorable scenes and characters, including Percolator Fish Supper, the Log Lady’s Chocolate and Chestnut Roulade, and the Double R Diner’s famous Cherry pie. The book was first published on November 15, 2016.

OTHER DAVID LYNCH OR TWIN PEAKS-RELATED BOOKS

Catching the Big Fish – Meditation, Consciousness and Creativity
By: David Lynch

First published on December 27, 2007, David Lynch’s “Catching the Big Fish – Meditation, Consciousness and Creativity” has been celebrated for being “as close as Lynch will ever come to an interior shot of his famously weird mind” (Rocky Mountain News). In this 10th anniversary edition published on September 6, 2016, Lynch dives deeper into the creative process and the benefits of Transcendental Meditation with the addition of his exclusive q-and-a interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

The musicians open up to Lynch about their artistry, history, and the benefits they have experienced, artistically and personally, from their decades-long practice of Transcendental Meditation—a technique that they and their fellow Beatles helped popularize in the 1960s. “Catching the Big Fish” is a revelation for all want to understand Lynch’s personal vision. And it is equally compelling for any who wonder how they can nurture their own creativity.

Murder at Teal’s Pond: Hazel Drew and the Murder that Inspired Twin Peaks
By: David Bushman and Mark T. Givens

In 1908, Hazel Drew was found floating in a pond in Sand Lake, New York, beaten to death. The unsolved murder inspired rumors, speculation, ghost stories, and, almost a century later, the phenomenon of Twin Peaks. Who killed Hazel Drew? Like Laura Palmer, she was a paradox of personalities―a young, beautiful puzzle with secrets. Perhaps the even trickier question is, Who was Hazel Drew?

Seeking escape from her poor country roots, Hazel found work as a domestic servant in the notoriously corrupt metropolis of Troy, New York. Fate derailed her plans for reinvention. But the investigation that followed her brutal murder was fraught with red herrings, wild-goose chases, and unreliable witnesses. Did officials really follow the leads? Or did they bury them to protect the guilty?

The likely answer is revealed in an absorbing true mystery that’s ingeniously reconstructed and every bit as haunting as the cultural obsession it inspired. The book was first published on January 1, 2022.

Lost Highway – The Fist of Love
By: Scott Ryan

Author Scott Ryan turned his interviewing sites on the cast and crew of Lost Highway to write maybe the first book ever to focus on this forgotten 1997 David Lynch film. The book has interviews with Academy Award winner Patricia Arquette, Producer Deepak Nayar, Production Supervisor Sabrina S. Sutherland, Make up Artist Debbie Zoller, Director of Photography Peter Deming, Cameraman Scott Ressler, Actress Natasha Gregson-Wagner and more. The book also covers the film, the script and the famous soundtrack by Angelo Badalamenti and Trent Reznor.

Devious Dreams: Reimagining David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive
By: John Thorne
Release date: August 5, 2024

In this book, John Thorne argues that a simple story hides beneath the film’s chaotic surface. Through a study of Mulholland Drive’s production documents, shooting script, and original configuration as a television pilot, and through analysis of David Lynch’s approach to editing, sound design, scene arrangement, and camera movement, Thorne offers compelling evidence that the first part of the film is an exaggerated reflection of the latter—that a dream interpretation is the most coherent way to read Mulholland Drive. It may not be 100-percent related to Twin Peaks but it’s worth the read!

Twin Peeks
By: Scott Rinckenberger
Release date: February 21-23, 2025

From an east-facing office window on the second floor of the historic Sunset Garage building at North Bend Way and Bendigo Boulevard in downtown North Bend, Washington, two features dominate the view. To the left, the towering form of Mount Si, as much a character as a geographic feature of this town. And across the street, lighting up rainy evenings with red and blue neon, is Twede’s Cafe, better known as the Double R Diner, an iconic location from the Twin Peaks series and a mini-mecca for devoted fans.

Initially amused, then fascinated, and finally inspired, Scott began keeping a camera loaded with film, staying alert for any strange or amusing happenings at the Double R. Seven years of diligent observation resulted in a collection of work that feels both spontaneous and revealing, a Venn diagram formed from vanity, fandom, fashion, addiction, pilgrimage, love, and gymnastics. This book was released during the Real Twin Peaks 2025 on February 21-23.

Lynchian – The Spell of David Lynch
By: John Higgs
Release date: November 13, 2025

The loss of David Lynch in January 2025 produced an extraordinary outpouring of love and grief that revealed how deeply he mattered. But the strength and size of this reaction came as a surprise to many. In life, Lynch was a willfully obtuse cult filmmaker who had been unable to get a film financed for the last two decades of his life. In death, both the man himself and his work are unquestionably in the pantheon of all-time greats.

He leaves behind an adjective, ‘Lynchian’, a term used to describe work that echoes his. And yet, only Lynch could be truly Lynchian, and those who copy him fail to have an impact. So why does his work affect people so deeply? Why do some find it haunting and unforgettable while others dismiss it as meaningless? Answering that question takes us into the strange realms of psychology, art and theology. We will discover why ambiguity and mystery are so seductive, how Lynch’s creative and meditative practices overlapped and why a director whose work contains so much abuse of women has such a female-skewing fanbase.

Through a personal, first-person lens, “Lynchian” unpacks the mystery but refuses to solve the enigma of an artist whose work reshaped cinema from the inside out – where story gives way to dreams, and meaning lies not in answers, but in experience.