Order of Book Series
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Linda Barnes Books in Order

Linda Barnes has written 21 books, published between 1982 and 2015. The first book is Blood Will Have Blood (1982) and the newest is Further Adventures of Carlotta Carlyle (2015). Publication order is the reading order below. 16 of the 21 books listed here are in the Carlotta Carlyle series, which has its own page: Carlotta Carlyle books in order.

Books
21
Published
1982–2015
Pages on record
5,152 in 17 of 21 books
Reading time
86–129 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 5,152 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 17 of 21 titles with a page count on record.

See all 21 books in order Printable Linda Barnes checklist

Two Boston detectives anchor Linda Barnes's crime fiction: Carlotta Carlyle, a woman private investigator, and Michael Spraggue, an actor. Barnes wrote 21 catalogued books between 1982 and 2015, the last of them Further Adventures of Carlotta Carlyle. Massachusetts settings and women detectives run through the work, and no new title has appeared since 2015.

How many Linda Barnes books are there?

Linda Barnes has 21 books, released between 1982 and 2015. They include 2 series and 1 title listed outside any series.

Linda Barnes Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 21 Linda Barnes books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.

  1. Cover of Bitter Finish by Linda Barnes, book 2 of the Michael Spraggue Mystery series (1983)
  2. Cover of Dead Heat by Linda Barnes, book 3 of the Michael Spraggue Mystery series (1984)
  3. Cover of Cities of the Dead by Linda Barnes, book 4 of the Michael Spraggue Mystery series (1986)
  4. Cover of A Trouble of Fools by Linda Barnes, book 1 of the Carlotta Carlyle series (1987)
  5. Cover of The Snake Tattoo by Linda Barnes, book 2 of the Carlotta Carlyle series (1989)
  6. Cover of Coyote by Linda Barnes, book 3 of the Carlotta Carlyle series (1990)
  7. Cover of Steel Guitar by Linda Barnes, book 4 of the Carlotta Carlyle series (1991)
  8. Cover of Snapshot by Linda Barnes, book 5 of the Carlotta Carlyle series (1993)
  9. Cover of Hardware by Linda Barnes, book 6 of the Carlotta Carlyle series (1995)
  10. Cover of Cold Case by Linda Barnes, book 7 of the Carlotta Carlyle series (1997)
  11. Cover of Flashpoint by Linda Barnes, book 8 of the Carlotta Carlyle series (1999)
  12. Cover of Deep Pockets by Linda Barnes, book 10 of the Carlotta Carlyle series (2004)
  13. Cover of Heart of the World by Linda Barnes, book 11 of the Carlotta Carlyle series (2006)
  14. Cover of Lie Down with the Devil by Linda Barnes, book 12 of the Carlotta Carlyle series (2008)
  15. Cover of The Perfect Ghost by Linda Barnes (2013)
  16. Cover of Lucky Penny by Linda Barnes, book 13 of the Carlotta Carlyle series (2013)
  17. Cover of Miss Gibson by Linda Barnes, book 14 of the Carlotta Carlyle series (2013)
  18. Cover of Stealing First by Linda Barnes, book 15 of the Carlotta Carlyle series (2013)
  1. 1
    Blood Will Have BloodMichael Spraggue Mystery #11982 · 192 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1982192
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    Bitter FinishMichael Spraggue Mystery #21983 · 183 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1983183
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    Dead HeatMichael Spraggue Mystery #31984 · 288 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1984288
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    Cities of the DeadMichael Spraggue Mystery #41986 · 184 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1986184
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    A Trouble of FoolsCarlotta Carlyle #11987 · 207 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1987207
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    The Snake TattooCarlotta Carlyle #21989 · 290 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1989290
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    CoyoteCarlotta Carlyle #31990 · 257 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1990257
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    Steel GuitarCarlotta Carlyle #41991 · 272 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1991272
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 9
    SnapshotCarlotta Carlyle #51993 · 400 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1993400
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 10
    HardwareCarlotta Carlyle #61995 · 400 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1995400
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 11
    Cold CaseCarlotta Carlyle #71997 · 496 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1997496
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 12
    FlashpointCarlotta Carlyle #81999 · 384 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1999384
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 13
    The Big DigCarlotta Carlyle #92002 · 341 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2002341
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 14
    Deep PocketsCarlotta Carlyle #102004 · 292 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2004292
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  15. 15
    Heart of the WorldCarlotta Carlyle #112006 · 336 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2006336
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  16. 16
    Lie Down with the DevilCarlotta Carlyle #122008 · 320 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2008320
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  17. 17
    The Perfect Ghost2013 · 310 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2013310
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  18. 18
    Lucky PennyCarlotta Carlyle #132013 · confirmed 2/4
    2013–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  19. 19
    Miss GibsonCarlotta Carlyle #142013 · confirmed 2/4
    2013–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  20. 20
    Stealing FirstCarlotta Carlyle #152013 · confirmed 2/4
    2013–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  21. 21
    Further Adventures of Carlotta CarlyleCarlotta Carlyle #162015 · confirmed 2/4
    2015–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Linda Barnes series in order

The series linked below has its own reading-order page.

Linda Barnes books grouped by series

Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.

Michael Spraggue Mystery in order

4 books
  1. 1. Blood Will Have Blood
  2. 2. Bitter Finish
  3. 3. Dead Heat
  4. 4. Cities of the Dead

Standalone books

1 book

1 Linda Barnes title here is not listed as part of any series.

Do you have to read Linda Barnes books in order?

You only need to read Linda Barnes books in order within each series: the books listed here span 2 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.

Where to start with Linda Barnes

Start with A Trouble of Fools (1987), the first Carlotta Carlyle book. The earliest catalogued title overall is Blood Will Have Blood (1982).

What is the newest Linda Barnes book?

Further Adventures of Carlotta Carlyle (2015) is the newest Linda Barnes book released so far.

Is there a new Linda Barnes book coming?

No next Linda Barnes book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Linda Barnes at a glance

No recent titles
The newest Linda Barnes title on record dates from 2015, 11 years ago. No later title is catalogued.
Release pace
Linda Barnes books have appeared about one every 2 years on average.
Length
5,152 pages across the 17 of 21 books with a recorded length, a median of 292 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Linda Barnes books, 6 of 21, were published in the 1990s.

What the Linda Barnes books are about

16 of the 21 Linda Barnes books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: boston (mass.) is tagged on 8 of 16. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.