Mystery & detective, women sleuths book series in reading order

by Gladys Mitchell

by Peter Tremayne

by Leslie Meier

by Susan Wittig Albert

by Patricia Wentworth

by Marcia Muller

by Ellen Hart

by Sue Grafton

by Nancy Atherton

by Donna Andrews

by Peter O’Donnell

by Lydia Adamson

by James Patterson

by Elliott Roosevelt

by Kerry Greenwood

by Rita Mae Brown

by Parnell Hall

by Elizabeth Peters

by Janet Evanovich

by Dana Stabenow

by Jeanne M. Dams

by Patricia Cornwell

by Victoria Thompson

by Mary Daheim

by Kate Collins

by Claire McNab

by Nevada Barr

by Joanne Fluke

by Emily Brightwell

by Laurie R. King

by Katherine Hall Page

by Mary Stanton

by Lillian O’Donnell

by Carol Ann O’Marie

by Ann Cleeves

by Carolyn Haines

by Alexander McCall Smith

by Laurien Berenson

by Jo Dereske

by Charlaine Harris

by Richard Castle

by Frances Brody

by Simon Brett

by Mary Kay Andrews

by Richard & Frances Lockridge

by Linda Fairstein

Nora Roberts

279 books• 37 series

Nora Roberts, born Eleanor Marie Robertson on October 10, 1950, is an American writer of romance under that name. As J. D. Robb, Roberts writes police procedurals with science-fiction elements, and has also published as Jill March and, in the UK, as Sarah Hardesty. This listing carries 280 Roberts books, opening with Irish Thoroughbred (1981); The Missing is scheduled for 2027. Series on the page include the In Death Universe, the MacGregors, Night Tales, the Calhoun Women, the Chesapeake Bay Saga, Irish Hearts and the O'Hurleys.

James Patterson

510 books• 73 series

James Patterson, born on March 22, 1947, is an American writer whose catalogue here holds 514 books published from 1976 to 2027. The run opens with The Thomas Berryman Number (1976), and Along Came a Spider (1992) and Kiss the Girls (1995) follow later. Alex Cross, Michael Bennett, Maximum Ride, Daniel X, Witch & Wizard, NYPD Red, Private, Middle School and the Women's Murder Club are among the Patterson series, alongside standalone thrillers, non-fiction and romance. Marshall Karp shares the credit on 5 of the books. Patterson's sales exceed 425 million copies, and Patterson was the first person to sell one million e-books. Forbes ranked Patterson the highest-paid author in 2016, for a third year running, and the National Book Foundation gave Patterson the Literarian Award in November 2015. 27 Stars is scheduled for 2027.

Sue Grafton

33 books• 4 series

Sue Grafton is known for the alphabet mysteries, a California series starring the private investigator Kinsey Millhone that runs from A is for Alibi (1982) to Y is for Yesterday (2017). Grafton's catalogue holds 33 books in total, beginning with the novel Keziah Dane in 1967 and taking in standalones and non-fiction. The catalogue is listed as complete.

Patricia Wentworth was the pen name of Dora Amy Turnbull (formerly Dillon, born Elles), a British crime writer who lived from 15 October 1877 to 28 January 1961. Miss Maud Silver, a woman private investigator in England, is the recurring character of the Miss Silver series. The Wentworth list begins with A Marriage Under the Terror (1910), and the 1930s are the busiest decade. Benbow Smith, Ernest Lamb and Frank Garrett are the other series characters.

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.

Eighty catalogued books carry Gladys Mitchell's name, from A Speedy Death (1929) to Sleuth's Alchemy (2005). Mitchell was an English author, and Mrs Bradley, whose full name is Beatrice Lestrange Bradley, is the woman sleuth of 66 detective novels set largely in England and London. Timothy Herring and Pamela Stewart are the other named series. Mitchell also published as Stephen Hockaby and as Malcolm Torrie.

Donald Bain (March 6, 1935 - October 21, 2017) was an American author and ghostwriter credited with more than 115 books over a 40-year career. Murder, She Wrote is the series listed for Bain, and the subjects include Jessica Fletcher and the fictional Cabot Cove, Maine. The catalogue holds 59 books, from Coffee, Tea or Me? (1967) to A Time for Murder (2019), and also lists Veronica: The Autobiography of Veronica Lake (1969).

Two mystery series carry most of Mary Daheim's catalogue: the Bed-and-Breakfast books around Judith McMonigle Flynn, and the Emma Lord novels about a newspaper publisher in Washington state. Eighty-four titles are catalogued between The Royal Mile (1983) and Lady MacDeath in 2020, with historical romances among the early work. The 1990s were the densest decade.

Laura Childs writes cozy mysteries in three series: the Tea Shop Mysteries, with Theodosia Browning in Charleston, South Carolina, the Scrapbooking Mysteries and the Cackleberry Club Mysteries. Death by Darjeeling (2001) opens the catalogue, which holds 56 books and reaches Death at a Firefly Tea. Buttermint Bomb is scheduled for 2027.

Carolyn Keene is a Stratemeyer Syndicate pen name, the credit on the Nancy Drew mysteries. Mildred Wirt Benson, one of the writers behind the name, used it from 1929 to 1953 and contributed to 23 of the first 30 Nancy Drew books. The catalogue lists 647 Carolyn Keene books, beginning with The Secret of the Old Clock, The Hidden Staircase and The Bungalow Mystery (all 1930) and reaching Vans & Villains (2026). Series include Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, Nancy Drew Files, Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, Nancy Drew Diaries, Nancy Drew: Girl Detective and Dana Girls Mystery Stories.

Marcia Muller, born September 28, 1944 in Detroit, is an American mystery and thriller author who created the female private detective Sharon McCone. Vanishing Point won the Shamus Award for Best P.I. Novel after four earlier nominations, and Mystery Writers of America named Muller a Grand Master in 2005. Muller studied English at the University of Michigan and worked at Sunset magazine. Muller is married to Bill Pronzini, a collaborator on several novels. The catalogue lists 74 books, including Edwin of the Iron Shoes (1977) and Circle in the Water (2024).

Carolyn G. Hart writes mystery and detective fiction with women sleuths, and the subject records name Annie Laurance Darling, Max Darling and Henrie O as fictitious characters, alongside booksellers and bookselling, women journalists and murder. The catalogue holds 69 books, from The Secret of the Cellars (1964) to Ghost Blows a Kiss (2021), with the 2000s the heaviest decade. Death On Demand, Bailey Ruth, Henrie O and Nela Farley are the lines on record, beside standalone novels, short stories and non-fiction. No new title has been listed since 2021, so the entry is dormant.

Elizabeth Peters was a pen name of Barbara Louise Mertz (September 29, 1927 to August 8, 2013), an American writer who also published as Barbara Michaels. Mertz earned a PhD in Egyptology from the University of Chicago in 1952. Mertz was best known for mystery and suspense novels, above all the Amelia Peabody series. In the 1960s Mertz also wrote two histories of ancient Egypt, Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs and Red Land, Black Land, both revised in 2007 and 2008. The catalogue lists 43 Elizabeth Peters titles from The Jackal's Head (1968) to The Locked Tomb Mystery: And Other Stories (2018), with the Amelia Peabody, Vicky Bliss and Jacqueline Kirby series.

Peter Tremayne

67 books• 3 series

Peter Tremayne is a pseudonym of Peter Berresford Ellis, a British historian, literary biographer and novelist born on 10 March 1943. Ellis has published more than 98 books under that name and as Peter Tremayne and Peter MacAlan, along with 100 short stories, and the work has appeared in 25 languages. As Tremayne, Ellis writes the Sister Fidelma historical mysteries, an international bestseller. The catalogue lists 67 titles from 1974 to 2026, opening with The Cornish Language and its Literature, issued under the Ellis name. Dracula Unborn and Hound of Frankenstein (both 1977) follow, and Blood on the Wind (2026) is the newest. Nuns, the Celtic Church, Ireland and horror appear in the subject tags.

Sara Paretsky

34 books• 6 series

Sara Paretsky is an American author of detective fiction, born June 8, 1947, and most noted for the novels built around the protagonist V. I. Warshawski. The catalogue holds 34 Paretsky books, from Indemnity Only (1982) to Bad Company (2026), including Deadlock (1984), Killing Orders (1985), Bitter Medicine (1987) and Burn Marks (1990). Subjects on the books include women private investigators, women detectives and Chicago, and the list also carries short story collections and standalone novels.

Anne Perry

111 books• 14 series

Anne Perry (28 October 1938 – 10 April 2023), born Juliet Marion Hulme, was a British writer of historical detective fiction. Perry wrote the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt novels and the William Monk series. In 1994 it became public that Perry, at fifteen, had been convicted in 1954 in Christchurch, New Zealand, of murdering Honorah Parker, mother of Perry's friend Pauline Parker; after a five-year sentence, Perry took a new name and returned to the United Kingdom. The catalogue holds 111 Perry books, opening with The Cater Street Hangman (1979) and reaching Death Times Seven (2026). Other series include Daniel Pitt, Elena Standish, Timepiece and Tathea.

Alexander McCall Smith

165 books• 25 series

Sir Alexander McCall Smith, born 24 August 1948, is a Scottish legal scholar and novelist who created The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. Born and raised in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), McCall Smith was Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh and worked on medical law and bioethics committees. English-language sales passed 40 million by 2010, with translations into 46 languages. The catalogue lists 165 books from White Hippo (1980) to 2026, including 44 Scotland Street, Isabel Dalhousie, Detective Varg and children's titles.

Susan Wittig Albert

67 books• 7 series

Susan Wittig Albert is an American mystery writer from Vermilion County, Illinois, who has also published as Robin Paige and Carolyn Keene. Before writing full time, Albert worked in academia and became the first female vice president of Southwest Texas State University. The catalogue lists 67 titles from 1992 to 2024. Thyme of Death (1992) comes first, then Witches' Bane (1993), Hangman's Root (1994) and Rosemary Remembered (1995), and Forget Me Never (2024) is the newest. Series include China Bayles, Darling Dahlias, Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter, Crystal Cave and the Pecan Springs Enterprise Trilogy. Herbalists, Texas and the 1930s feature in the subject tags.

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.

Leslie Meier's listed books run from 1991 to 2026, opening with Mistletoe Murder / Mail Order Murder and reaching Countdown to Christmas Murder. Meier's series are Lucy Stone and Carole and Poopsie Mystery. Lucy Stone appears in the subjects alongside women sleuths, reporters, librarians and Maine. Other titles include Tippy Toe Murder (1994), Trick or Treat Murder (1996), Back to School Murder (1997) and Turkey Day Murder (2000). Meier is still publishing.

Kate Kingsbury is a pseudonym of Doreen Roberts, a romance writer. The catalogue lists 70 books from 1987 to 2025, beginning with Gambler's Gold (1987) under the Doreen Roberts name. As Kate Kingsbury, the series include Pennyfoot Hotel Mysteries, Manor House Mysteries, Merry Ghost Inn Mysteries and Misty Bay Tearoom. Other lines appear as Allison Kingsley and Rebecca Kent. Subjects include the Pennyfoot Hotel in England, Cecily Sinclair Baxter, women sleuths and World War II. A Nice Cup of Tea (2025) is the newest title.

Marion Chesney

184 books• 22 series

Marion Chesney, later Marion Gibbons (1936-2019), was a Scottish writer of romance and mystery whose published career began in 1979. Historical romances appeared under the Chesney name, the Travelling Matchmaker and Daughters of Mannerling books among them, while the Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth mysteries appeared as M. C. Beaton; both of those mystery runs were adapted for television. Helen Crampton, Ann Fairfax, Charlotte Ward, Jennie Tremaine and Sarah Chester are further pen names on the record. This listing gathers 185 books dated from 1979 onward, including later titles on which R.W. Green is credited.

Ellen Hart writes mystery novels around two recurring sleuths, Jane Lawless and Sophie Greenway. Women detectives, Minneapolis, restaurateurs and lesbian characters are standing subjects, and culinary detail runs through the books: Hart worked as a professional chef for 14 years. The catalogue holds 35 titles published between 1989 and 2020, opening with Hallowed Murder (1989) and continuing through Vital Lies (1991), Stage Fright (1992), A Small Sacrifice (1994) and The Oldest Sin (1995). In a Midnight Wood (2020) is the last catalogued book.

Cats and women sleuths define the Lydia Adamson catalogue. Alice Nestleton Mystery is the main series, with Deirdre Quinn Nightingale, Lucy Wayles Mystery and Sally Tepper beside it, and actresses, women veterinarians, cat owners and pet sitting all appear in the subject list. Cat titles fill the run: A Cat in the Manger (1990), A Cat in Wolf's Clothing (1991), A Cat of a Different Color (1991) and A Cat in the Wings (1992). Early books carry the byline Frank King, starting with Down and Dirty in 1978. The 42 catalogued titles close with A Cat Tells Two Tales in 2012.