Books On Board
series Reading Order

Angie Amalfi Books in Order

15 Books
2 Reading orders
1993 – 2016 Published
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Reading order

Where to Start

For readers looking to dive into the culinary adventures of food writer Angie Amalfi and San Francisco Homicide Inspector Paavo Smith, there are two distinct paths. You can read the Classic Original Series (published between 1993 and 2015) to enjoy the books as they were originally released, or you can read the Cook and Inspector Mysteries, which are the author's newly updated and reimagined versions of these stories published between 2023 and 2025.

Option 1: The Reimagined Cook and Inspector Mysteries (Recommended)

Joanne Pence recently modernized, updated, and retitled her classic backlist into a streamlined 13-book series. This is the author's preferred version for modern readers, concluding the story with Deadly Ever After. Read them in this order:

  1. Death on a Silver Platter (2023) — Reimagines Something's Cooking
  2. A Quiche Before Dying (2024) — Reimagines Too Many Cooks
  3. The Marinara Murders (2024) — Reimagines Cooking Most Deadly
  4. Close Encounters of the Deadly Kind (2024) — Reimagines A Cook in Time
  5. Death by Devil's Food (2024) — Reimagines Bell, Cook and Candle
  6. Blind Date's Bitter End (2024) — Reimagines If Cooks Could Kill
  7. The Taverna Affair (2025) — Reimagines Courting Disaster
  8. The Music Box Mystery (2025)
  9. Truffles to Die For (2025)
  10. Cooking Spirits (2013 / Re-released)
  11. Add a Pinch of Murder (2017 / Re-released)
  12. Salsa & Secrets (Re-released)
  13. Deadly Ever After (2025) — The definitive series finale

Option 2: Classic Angie Amalfi Mysteries (Original Order)

If you prefer to read the original publications as they were released in the 1990s and 2000s, follow the original publication order. This run consists of the core 14 novels followed by two subsequent novels that added paranormal elements:

  1. Something's Cooking (1993)
  2. Too Many Cooks (1994)
  3. Cooking Up Trouble (1995)
  4. Cooking Most Deadly (1996)
  5. Cook's Night Out (1997)
  6. Cooks Overboard (1998)
  7. A Cook in Time (1999)
  8. To Catch a Cook (2000)
  9. Bell, Cook, and Candle (2002)
  10. If Cooks Could Kill (2002)
  11. Two Cooks A-Killing (2003)
  12. Courting Disaster (2004)
  13. Red Hot Murder (2006)
  14. The Da Vinci Cook (2007)
  15. Cooking Spirits (2013)
  16. Cook's Big Day (2015)

Novellas, Spin-offs, and Crossovers

If you want to read everything in the Amalfi universe, look out for these extra releases:

  • The Thirteenth Santa (2011) — A crossover holiday novella where Angie Amalfi meets Joanne Pence's other detective protagonist, Rebecca Mayfield.
  • Cook's Curious Christmas (2013) — A festive holiday novella.
  • Cook's Dessert Cookbook (2016) — A non-fiction companion cookbook gathering the sweet recipes featured throughout the series.

Frequently Asked

QWhat is the difference between the original series and the Cook and Inspector Mysteries?

The Cook and Inspector Mysteries is a modernized, rebranded, and updated version of the original Angie Amalfi series. Joanne Pence revised the stories, updated the technology and pacing, and retitled several books to present them as a cohesive 13-book series.

QWhere should I start reading the Angie Amalfi series?

You should start with either the original first book, Something's Cooking (1993), or the reimagined first book, Death on a Silver Platter (2023), depending on whether you want to read the classic editions or the modernized versions.

QHow many books are in the reimagined series?

The reimagined Cook and Inspector Mysteries series consists of 13 books, concluding with the series finale, Deadly Ever After, which was released in October 2025.

QIs there a cookbook associated with the series?

Yes. Joanne Pence released Cook's Dessert Cookbook in 2016, which compiles the dessert recipes that Angie Amalfi prepares across her culinary mystery adventures.

QDo the Angie Amalfi books cross over with other series?

Yes, the holiday novella The Thirteenth Santa features a crossover between Angie Amalfi and Rebecca Mayfield, the protagonist of Joanne Pence's other mystery series.