Sandra Balzo Books in Order
Sandra Balzo has written 23 books, published between 2004 and 2025. The first book is Uncommon Grounds (2004) and the newest is Poison and Pooches (2025). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 23
- Published
- 2004–2025
- Pages on record
- 2,589 in 12 of 23 books
- Reading time
- 43–65 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 2,589 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 12 of 23 titles with a page count on record.
Maggy Thorsen, a Wisconsin businesswoman in the coffeehouse trade, is the sleuth Sandra Balzo returns to most often, from Uncommon Grounds (2004) onward. Balzo grew up in southeastern Wisconsin and came to mystery writing after twenty years in corporate public relations, event management and publicity. 23 catalogued books reach Poison and Pooches (2025), across three series: Maggy Thorsen Mystery, Main Street Mystery and the Dog-sitting Mysteries. A displaced journalist, AnnaLise Griggs, carries a second strand. Balzo's novels have been nominated for the Anthony and Macavity awards, and her short fiction has taken the Macavity, Derringer and Robert L. Fish awards.
How many Sandra Balzo books are there?
Sandra Balzo has 23 books, released between 2004 and 2025. They include 3 series and 2 titles listed outside any series.
Sandra Balzo Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 23 Sandra Balzo 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.
- 120042452/4
- 2Viscery2004 · confirmed 2/42004–2/4
- 320072522/4
- 420082512/4
- 520092512/4
- 62010–2/4
- 72010–2/4
- 8Heaven's Fire2011 · 197 pages · confirmed 2/420111972/4
- 920112012/4
- 102011–2/4
- 1120122012/4
- 122013–2/4
- 1320142242/4
- 1420161842/4
- 1520171832/4
- 1620191922/4
- 172020–2/4
- 1820212082/4
- 192022–2/4
- 202022–2/4
- 212023–2/4
- 222024–2/4
- 232025–2/4
Sandra Balzo characters in order
The character linked below has its own reading-order page.
- Maggy Thorsen books in order 17 books
Sandra Balzo 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.
Maggy Thorsen Mystery in order
17 books- 1. Uncommon Grounds
- 2. Grounds for Murder
- 3. Bean There, Done That
- 4. Brewed, Crude and Tattooed
- 5. From the Grounds Up
- 6. A Cup of Jo
- 7. Triple Shot
- 8. Murder on the Orient Espresso
- 9. To the Last Drop
- 10. Importance of Being Urnest
- 11. Murder a la Mocha
- 12. Death of a Bean Counter
- and 5 more in the table above
Main Street Mystery in order
3 books- 1. Running on Empty
- 2. Dead Ends
- 3. Hit and Run
Dog-sitting Mysteries in order
1 bookStandalone books
2 books2 Sandra Balzo titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Sandra Balzo books in order?
You only need to read Sandra Balzo books in order within each series: the books listed here span 3 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.
Where to start with Sandra Balzo
Start with Uncommon Grounds (2004), the first Maggy Thorsen book. It is also the earliest catalogued title.
What is the newest Sandra Balzo book?
Poison and Pooches (2025) is the newest Sandra Balzo book released so far.
Is there a new Sandra Balzo book coming?
No next Sandra Balzo book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Sandra Balzo at a glance
- Still publishing
- Sandra Balzo published a book as recently as 2025.
- Release pace
- Sandra Balzo books have appeared about one a year on average.
- Length
- 2,589 pages across the 12 of 23 books with a recorded length, a median of 204 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Sandra Balzo books, 11 of 23, were published in the 2010s.
What the Sandra Balzo books are about
16 of the 23 Sandra Balzo books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: mystery & detective is tagged on 7 of 16. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Mystery & detective 7 of 16 books
- Investigation 6 of 16 books
- Murder 6 of 16 books
- Wisconsin 6 of 16 books
- Businesswomen 5 of 16 books
- Coffeehouses 5 of 16 books
- Crime 4 of 16 books
- Mystery & detective, women sleuths 4 of 16 books
- American literature 3 of 16 books
- Social conditions 3 of 16 books
- Maggy Thorsen (Fictitious character) 2 of 16 books