Bakeries book series in reading order

by Jenn McKinlay

by Joanne Fluke

by Kerry Greenwood

by Jenny Colgan

by Janet Evanovich

Cozy mysteries with a trade attached are Jenn McKinlay's speciality: a library, a cupcake bakery, a hat shop and a resale business each anchor a series. The catalogue reaches 69 titles between 2002 and 2026, including contemporary romance in the Bluff Point and Museum of Literature books and the Decoupage mysteries written as Lucy Lawrence. Stuck on Murder (2009) and Sprinkle with Murder (2010) start the main cozy runs, and Booking for Trouble is the most recent title.

Bailey Cates writes the Magical Bakery Mystery books, which mix baking with witches, charms and magic. The catalogue lists 12 books from 2012 to 2026, the earliest being Bewitched, Bothered, and Biscotti (2012) and Brownies and Broomsticks (2012). Charms and Chocolate Chips (2013), Spells and Scones (2016) and Witches and Wedding Cake (2020) are later titles. Rituals and Rolling Pins (2026) is the newest. Subjects include bakeries, aunts, murder and women sleuths.

Virginia Lowell wrote the Cookie Cutter Shop Mysteries, a six-book cozy series published between 2011 and 2015. A Cookie Before Dying (2011) opens it and Dead Men Don't Eat Cookies (2015) ends it. Baking, gingerbread, a town bakery and a friendship surround the murders, and every title turns on a cookie. No book has followed since 2015.

Joanne Fluke is the pen name of Joanne Fischmann, an American writer born Joanne Gibson around 1943 in Swanville, Minnesota. Fluke is chiefly known for the Hannah Swensen cozy mysteries about a small-town baker, and six Hallmark Channel films draw on that series. The catalogue counts 64 books between 1980 and 2024, opening with The Stepchild (1980), The Other Child (1983) and Winter Chill (1984); the newest entry is Pumpkin Chiffon Pie Murder (2024). Other pen names include Jo Gibson, Chris Hunter and Kathryn Kirkwood.

Ellery Adams writes murder mysteries, and women sleuths appear among the subject headings. The catalogue lists 57 books from 2006, the year of A Killer Collection and A Fatal Appraisal, to The Liars' Book Club (2026). Named series include the Secret, Book & Scone Society, Book Retreat Mysteries, Books by the Bay, Antiques & Collectibles Mysteries, Hope Street Church Mystery, Supper Club Mystery and A Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery. Librarians, bakeries and pies are listed there too.

Ellie Alexander writes mysteries, with subjects that include bakeries, family-owned businesses, Oregon and women sleuths. The catalogue lists 58 books from 2010 to 2027; the earliest, Underneath the Ash (2010), appeared as Kate Dyer-Seeley. Meet Your Baker (2014), A Batter of Life and Death (2015) and On Thin Icing (2015) come next. Series include Bakeshop Mysteries, Secret Bookcase Mysteries, Meg Reed Investigates, Novel Detectives Mystery and the Sloan Krause shorts. The Pumpkin Vice Cafe (2026) is the newest title and A Fatal Frost is set for 2027.

Janet Evanovich

79 books• 13 series

Stephanie Plum, a bail bond agent turned bounty hunter, is the recurring lead of Janet Evanovich's longest series. Evanovich writes humorous mystery and romance, and the catalogue holds 79 books from Full House (1981) to Split Second in 2026. Other recurring lines include Kate O'Hare & Nicolas Fox, Lizzy & Diesel, Knight and Moon, Alexandra Barnaby and the Culhane Family.

Jenny Colgan

67 books• 19 series

Jenny Colgan is a Scottish writer of romantic comedy and science fiction, born 14 September 1971 in Prestwick, Ayrshire. Colgan has written Doctor Who stories and also publishes as Jane Beaton and J. T. Colgan. Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweetshop of Dreams won the Romantic Novel of the Year award in 2013, and The Summer Seaside Kitchen won the Romantic Novelists' Association Comedy Novel of the Year in 2018. The catalogue lists 67 titles, from Amanda's Wedding (1999) to The Secret Christmas Library (2025), across series such as Scottish Island of Mure, Little Beach Street Bakery, Cupcake Café and Scottish Bookshop.

Kerry Greenwood

60 books• 11 series

Kerry Greenwood (17 June 1954 - 26 March 2025) was an Australian author and lawyer. Greenwood's historical detective novels about Phryne Fisher were adapted as the television series Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. Greenwood also wrote science fiction, historical fiction, children's stories and plays, and won the 2002 Davitt Award for the young adult novel The Three-Pronged Dagger. The catalogue holds 60 books, from Feral (1988) to Murder in the Cathedral (2025). Other series are Corinna Chapman, Delphic Women and Three Days.

Mary Ellen Taylor has 11 catalogued books, from The Union Street Bakery and Sweet Expectations (both 2013) to The Promise of Tomorrow (2024). At the Corner of King Street (2015), The View from Prince Street (2016), Winter Cottage (2018), Spring House (2019), Honeysuckle Season (2020) and The Words We Whisper (2021) are other titles. Union Street Bakery is the listed series. Bakeries, family secrets, single women, self-realization and Virginia appear among the subjects.

Joyce & Jim Lavene is a writing partnership credited with 67 books between 1999 and 2016, the catalogue opening with A Time for Love (1999). Subjects include mystery and detective fiction, murder investigation, sheriffs and North Carolina. Mystery series by Joyce & Jim Lavene include Sharyn Howard, Peggy Lee Garden Mysteries, A Renaissance Faire Mystery, Missing Pieces Mystery, Retired Witches Mysteries, Pie Shop Mysteries and Pet Psychic Mystery. Romance also appears among the subjects, and a non-fiction line sits alongside the novels. Putting on the Witch (2016) is the newest title, and the catalogue is marked likely complete.