Policewomen book series in reading order

by J.A. Jance

by Lillian O’Donnell

by Claire McNab

by Gwendoline Butler

by Eleanor Taylor Bland

by James Patterson

by Deborah Crombie

by Susan Dunlap

by Leslie Glass

by Faith Martin

by Katherine V. Forrest

by M.J. Arlidge

by Laurie R. King

by Sara Blaedel

by Keith McCafferty

by S.D. Tooley

by Richard Castle

by J.T. Ellison

by Amy Stewart

by Harry Bingham

by Denise Mina

by Jeffery Deaver

by Faye Kellerman

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.

J.D. Robb

41 books• 3 series

J.D. Robb is the name under which Nora Roberts, born Eleanor Marie Robertson on October 10, 1950, publishes police procedurals with science fiction elements. The catalogue holds 42 J.D. Robb books from 1995 to 2027, opening with Naked in Death (1995). Subjects include Eve Dallas, women detectives and New York City. Fury in Death (2026) is the newest release, and Perfect in Death is scheduled for 2027. Nora Roberts also publishes romance under the Nora Roberts name and has used the names Jill March and Sarah Hardesty.

J.A. Jance writes mysteries and police procedurals, with J.P. Beaumont, Joanna Brady and Ali Reynolds as recurring leads. The catalogue lists 82 books, starting with After the Fire (1984) and Until Proven Guilty (1985). The Taken Ones arrived in 2026, and Smoke and Mirrors is scheduled for 2027. Subjects include sheriffs, policewomen and women sleuths, and the Joanna Brady books form a named series alongside Jance's standalone novels.

Lillian O'Donnell (1926-2005) was an American crime novelist, among the first to make a woman police officer the lead of a book series. That officer is Norah Mulcahaney, whose police procedurals are set in New York. Gwenn Ramadge and Mici Anhalt head O'Donnell's two other series, with private investigators and women sleuths among the recorded subjects. The 33 catalogued books open with Death Schuss (1963) and close with Blue Death (1998), taking in Babes in the Woods (1965), The Phone Calls (1972) and Don't Wear Your Wedding Ring (1973).

Claire McNab writes lesbian crime fiction set largely in Australia. Detective Inspector Carol Ashton heads the longest series, opening with Lessons in Murder in 1988, and the Denise Cleever thrillers and Kylie Kendall mysteries follow with an intelligence officer and a private investigator. Policewomen, women detectives and lesbian relationships run through 33 books, reaching Aspects of the Heart in 2020 at a median of 201 pages.

Gwendoline Butler, who lived from 1922 to 2013, was a British writer of mysteries and romances who also published as Jennie Melville. Butler is credited with inventing the woman's police procedural. Her two main sequences are the Inspector John Coffin novels and the Charmian Daniels books, the latter issued under the Melville name. The catalogue holds 76 titles from Receipt for Murder in 1956 onward, taking in Victorian mysteries, gothic tales and romantic novels as well as contemporary detection.

Eleanor Taylor Bland (December 31, 1944 to June 2, 2010) was an African-American crime novelist. Bland created police detective Marti MacAlister, who works in Lincoln Prairie, Illinois, a fictional town modelled on Waukegan. The catalogue lists 14 books from Dead Time (1992) to A Dark And Deadly Deception (2005), among them Slow Burn (1993), Keep Still (1996) and Windy City Dying (2002). Subjects include police procedurals and women sleuths.

Joan Hess's mysteries run in three series: Claire Malloy, a bookseller who investigates; Arly Hanks, a policewoman in the imaginary Arkansas town of Maggody; and Theo Bloomer. The catalogue holds 45 books, from Strangled Prose (1985) to Caveat Emptor and Other Stories in 2016, with Malice in Maggody (1987) and Dear Miss Demeanor (1987) among the early titles. The catalogue is listed as likely complete.

Carol O’Connell is a crime writer, born in New York on May 26, 1947, whose mysteries follow Kathy Mallory, a sociopathic but gifted detective with the NYPD. O’Connell earned a BFA in painting from Arizona State University and worked as an artist while writing fiction privately. American publishers rejected Mallory's Oracle, so the rights went to the British publisher Hutchinson and then to European publishers at auction. The catalogue lists 15 books from Mallory's Oracle (1994) to Mallory (2022), including Killing Critics (1995), Shell Game (1999) and Winter House (2004).

Tess Gerritsen

38 books• 6 series

Tess Gerritsen, born Terry Tom on June 12, 1953, is an American novelist who worked as a general physician before retiring from medicine. Gerritsen's 39 catalogued books start with Adventure's Mistress (1985) and continue through The Shadow Friends (2026), with The Italian Affair listed for 2028. Rizzoli & Isles is the recurring pairing named on the page, and Detective Jane Rizzoli appears in the subject tags. Other series are the Martini Club and the Tavistock Family. Subjects range across suspense, thrillers, medical fiction, women forensic scientists and romantic suspense.

Fly fishing and murder meet in Victoria Houston's Loon Lake mysteries, set in Wisconsin around the police officer Lew Ferris and Doc Osbourne. Dead Angler (2000) opens that series, followed by Dead Creek and Dead Water. Houston's catalogue holds 30 books, the earliest of them non-fiction from the 1980s, and reaches The Wolves Are Watching in 2026.

Deborah Crombie

20 books• 1 series

Deborah Crombie writes English police procedurals around two detectives, Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James. A Share in Death (1993) opens the sequence, which runs to 21 books and one series, with A Killing of Innocents the most recent published title. Murder investigations in England carry every entry, and A Long Cold Sleep is scheduled for 2027.

Marie Force has 132 books catalogued from Line of Scrimmage (2008) to State of Mind (2026), across contemporary romance and romantic suspense. Force's series include Gansett Island, Fatal, First Family, Quantum, Green Mountain, Butler, Vermont, Treading Water, Wild Widows and Miami Heat/Miami Nights. Islands, Vermont, Washington, D.C., policewomen and murder investigations appear among the subjects. Fatal Affair dates from 2010. Force is still publishing.

Margaret Maron

43 books• 6 series

Two detective series carry Margaret Maron's mysteries: Judge Deborah Knott, a woman on the bench, and Sigrid Harald, a police officer. One Coffee With (1981) opens the catalogue, followed by Death of a Butterfly, Bloody Kin and The Right Jack. Forty-three books reach Take Out in 2017, and the catalogue is listed as complete.

Steven F. Havill writes police procedurals set in New Mexico. Sheriff Bill Gastner is the recurring investigator, alongside the policewoman Estelle Reyes-Guzman. Havill has 34 catalogued books published between 1981 and 2026, from The Killer (1981) to Reverse (2026), sorted into the Posadas County Mysteries, the Bill Gastner Mysteries, the Dr. Thomas Parks books and a set of standalone novels. Westerns sit in the catalogue beside the mysteries, and Havill remains actively publishing.

David Handler writes mysteries, and the catalogue holds 34 books from Kiddo (1986) to The Man Who Led a Dream Life (2026). Series include Stewart Hoag & Lulu, Berger and Mitry, Danny Levine and Benji Golden. Ghostwriters, film critics, policewomen and murder investigation are among the recorded subjects. Titles include The Man Who Died Laughing (1988), The Man Who Would Be F. Scott Fitzgerald (1990) and The Boy Who Never Grew Up (1992).

J.A. Konrath writes crime thrillers, and the subject tags point to Chicago, policewomen and women sleuths, along with horror and women spies. Whiskey Sour (2004) is the first catalogued title, followed by Bloody Mary (2005), Rusty Nail (2006) and Dirty Martini (2007). Dark and Stormy (2026) is the most recent title. Jacqueline Daniels, known as Jack, is the character named in the subject tags. Series on the author page include Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels, Codename: Chandler, Timecaster, Phineas Troutt Mysteries, Harry McGlade Mystery and the Konrath/Kilborn Collective.

Julie Smith, born November 25, 1944, is an American mystery writer whose sixth book, New Orleans Mourning, won the 1991 Edgar Award for Best Novel. Skip Langdon, Talba Wallis, Rebecca Schwartz and Paul MacDonald are series, and subjects include policewomen, New Orleans, women lawyers and San Francisco. The catalogue lists 31 books, starting with Death Turns a Trick (1982) and ending with The Big Crazy (2019). The Axeman's Jazz (1991) and Jazz Funeral (1993) are listed titles.

Inspector Lloyd and Judy Hill are the detectives Jill McGown (1947-2007) is remembered for, a police procedural pairing that runs through most of her 18 catalogued books. The British writer was born in Campbeltown, Scotland and died in Kettering, Northamptonshire; a redundancy from the British Steel Corporation in 1980 preceded the first mystery novel. A Perfect Match opened the catalogue in 1983 and Unlucky for Some closed it in 2004. A Shred of Evidence reached television in 2001, with Philip Glenister and Michelle Collins in the leads, and McGown is sometimes credited as Elizabeth Chaplin.

Patricia H. Rushford is an award-winning author and speaker with more than sixty fiction and nonfiction books. Rushford holds a nursing degree and a master's in counseling and is also an artist and quilter. The Jennie McGrady Mysteries for young adults have sold over 500,000 copies, and Silent Witness won the Silver Angel Award and received an Edgar nomination. The catalogue lists 50 books from 1983 to 2018, opening with Have You Hugged Your Teenager Today? (1983). Series include Helen Bradley, McAllister Files, Angel Delaney and Max & Me Mysteries.

David Thurlo's mystery fiction is set in New Mexico. Ella Clah and Sister Agatha are the recurring characters named in the subject headings, which also list Navajo Indians, policewomen, nuns, Catholics and women sleuths. The catalogue holds 34 books from Second Shadow (1990) to Kill the Heroes (2017), across the Ella Clah, Sister Agatha, Lee Nez, Charlie Henry and Navajo Rez series. Vampires appear among the subjects as well.

Four sleuths carry the mysteries of Susan Dunlap: Vejay Haskell, Jill Smith, Kiernan O'Shaughnessy and Darcy Lott, each heading a series. Born in 1943, Dunlap has also edited crime fiction and written short stories for Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and Checkout took both the Macavity and the Anthony Award in 1994. The catalogue lists 30 books from Karma (1981) to Out of Nowhere (2016), at a median of 247 pages, with California policing and San Francisco among the standing subjects.

Leslie Glass, born April 19, 1945, is an American author, playwright, journalist, philanthropist and filmmaker. Glass co-founded Reach Out Recovery, a nonprofit addiction recovery organization in the United States, with a daughter. The catalogue records 15 books from Getting Away With It (1976) to Sleeper (2010) and the April Woo series. Subject tags include policewomen, police procedurals, New York City and Chinese American women, and titles include Burning Time (1993), Judging Time (1998) and The Silent Bride (2002).