Women cooks book series in reading order

by Jerrilyn Farmer

26 catalogued books stand under Julie Hyzy's name, published between 2004 and 2018 and opening with Artistic License (2004). Hyzy is an American author of mystery fiction. The White House Chef Mysteries run through the middle of that list, with the cook Olivia Paras investigating murders in Washington, D.C. Manor of Murder Mysteries, the Alex St. James series and Riley Drake Mystery follow, and the catalogue closes with Virtual Sabotage (2018).

Jerrilyn Farmer is an American writer of humorous cozy mysteries. The catalogue holds 9 books published between 1998 and 2009, built around the Hollywood caterer Madeline Bean, and records two series: Madeline Bean Culinary Mystery and Red Carpet Murder Mystery. Sympathy for the Devil (1998), the first novel, won the Macavity Award and took Agatha and Edgar nominations. Immaculate Reception, Killer Wedding, Dim Sum Dead, Mumbo Gumbo, Perfect Sax and The Flaming Luau of Death follow, and the listing ends with Murder at the Academy Awards (2009). Farmer wrote for television game shows and sketch comedy, and has taught mystery writing at the UCLA Extension Writers Program.

Krista Davis writes cozy mysteries with amateur women sleuths. The Domestic Diva Mysteries feature Sophie Winston and open with The Diva Runs Out of Thyme (2008); the Paws and Claws and Pen & Ink series sit beside them, with cooks, advice columnists, hotels and a Jack Russell terrier among the recurring subjects. Davis's catalogue reaches 34 books, the newest being The Diva Hosts a Murderer, and publication continues into 2026.

Joanne Pence writes culinary mysteries. The amateur sleuth is Angie Amalfi, an underemployed food writer and gourmet chef in San Francisco, and Amalfi's romance with homicide inspector Paavo Smith runs alongside the cases; the flavour is humorous, screwball adventure. Born Joanne Lopez in San Francisco, Pence attended the University of California, Berkeley and managed operations analysis at the Social Security administration from 1970 to 1998. The catalogue lists 58 titles, opening with Dangerous Journey (1987) and Something's Cooking (1993) and reaching Deadly Ever After in 2025. Series include Cook and Inspector Mysteries, Inspector Rebecca Mayfield Mystery, Angie & Friends Food & Spirits Mysteries and Donnelly Cabin Inn.

Nancy Pickard

26 books• 3 series

Nancy Pickard, born September 19, 1945, in Kansas City, Missouri, is an American crime novelist. Pickard has won five Macavity Awards, four Agatha Awards, an Anthony Award and a Shamus Award, the only author to take all four. Pickard served on the Mystery Writers of America board, holds a journalism degree from the University of Missouri, and began writing at 35. The Scent of Rain and Lightning became a film in 2017. The catalogue lists 26 books, among them Generous Death (1984), Say No to Murder (1985) and Marriage Is Murder (1987), with Jenny Cain and Marie Lightfoot as series.

Tim Myers writes mysteries, and the subjects name North Carolina, lighthouses, hotelkeepers and the fictional Alex Winston. The catalogue holds 109 books from Innkeeping with Murder (2001) to The Last Donut (2023). Series include Lighthouse Inn Mystery, Candlemaking Mystery, Soapmaking Mystery, Pizza Lovers, Cardmaking Mysteries and Paranormal Kids. Reservations for Murder (2002), Murder Checks Inn (2003) and At Wick's End (2004) are among the early titles.

Mollie Hardwick (1916–2003), also known as Mary Atkinson, was an English author best known for the books accompanying the television series Upstairs, Downstairs. Hardwick started as a BBC radio announcer in the 1940s and worked in the BBC drama department until 1962. Other work includes Thomas & Sarah, The Duchess of Duke Street, three Juliet Bravo books and the Doran Fairweather novels. The catalogue lists 51 books from The Sherlock Holmes Companion (1962) to Come Away, Death (1995), including Charles Dickens Encyclopedia (1973).

Lou Jane Temple is the author of the Heaven Lee and Spice Box series, with 10 books catalogued from 1996 to 2006. Subject headings name the fictional character Heaven Lee, Kansas City, caterers, women cooks, restaurants and cooking, and file the books as women-sleuth mysteries. Death by Rhubarb (1996) is the first title; A Stiff Risotto (1997), The Cornbread Killer (1999) and Red Beans and Vice (2001) follow. The listing also includes The Big Platter Cookbook (2004), and Death du Jour (2006) is the newest.

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.

Anthony Bourdain

23 books• 3 series

Anthony Bourdain (June 25, 1956 – June 8, 2018) was an American celebrity chef, author and travel documentarian. A 1978 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Bourdain spent several years as executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles in Manhattan, and an essay in The New Yorker in the late 1990s launched the writing career. The catalogue opens with Bone in the Throat (1995) and Gone Bamboo (1997), then Kitchen Confidential (2000), A Cook's Tour (2001) and Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook (2004). The Anthony Bourdain Reader (2025) is the newest title, and Hungry Ghosts and Get Jiro Graphic Novels are the listed series. Cooking, restaurants and food share the subjects with mystery and detective fiction.

Camilla Trinchieri writes two mystery series: the Simona Griffo books, whose lead is a woman detective and cook, and the Tuscan Mysteries. The Trouble with a Small Raise (1991) is the earliest of 16 catalogued titles, followed by six more Trouble books through 1997, and Murder Returns to Gravigna (2026) is the most recent. Cooking, Italian Americans, Italy and Rome fill the subject tags.

Cathy Gillen Thacker is an American romance novelist. The catalogue lists 153 books published from 1982 to 2025, from Island of Desire to Stand-In Texas Dad. Texas appears among the subjects, alongside cowboys, ranchers, physicians, single fathers and single mothers, and the romance is tagged as both contemporary and western. Family series under the Thacker name include McCabes of Texas, McCabe Multiples, Lockharts of Texas, Deveraux Legacy and Texas Legacies: The Carrigans.

Laurie Graham, born in 1947, is an English journalist, radio scriptwriter and novelist who lives in London. The catalogue opens with humorous guides, Parents' Survival Guide (1986), A Marriage Survival Guide (1988), Teenagers: A Family Survival Guide (1992), before the novels take over with Perfect Meringues (1997) and The Dress Circle (1998). Twenty-eight books are catalogued through Dr. Dan, Dr Dad (2021), with female friendship, British social life and historical settings among the subjects.

Sarah Zettel, born December 14, 1966, is an American author working mainly in science fiction. A first short story reached Analog Science Fiction and Fact in 1991, and the debut novel Reclamation followed in 1996 with Fool's War in 1997. Zettel's novels have taken the Philip K. Dick Award and the Locus Award for Best First Novel. Romance novels and mysteries appear under the pseudonym Darcie Wilde, and the novel Bitter Angels under C. L. Anderson. The catalogue gathers 36 titles running to The Abduction of Rosalind Thorne (2026), and Isavalta, Paths to Camelot, Useful Woman Mysteries, American Fairy, Palace of Spies and Vampire Chef are among the series on record.

Liza Palmer writes contemporary fiction about women, family and friendship, with subject headings naming overweight women, female friendship, women cooks, waitresses and weddings. Conversations with the Fat Girl (2005) is the first title, followed by Seeing Me Naked (2008) and A Field Guide to Burying Your Parents (2009). More Like Her (2011), Nowhere But Home (2013), Girl Before a Mirror (2015) and The F Word (2017) come later. The Nobodies (2019) appears next, and Young Fools (2025) is the newest.