Catherine Bruns Books in Order

Where to Start Reading Catherine Bruns

With dozens of cozy mysteries under her belt, Catherine Bruns has created several beloved series, each featuring a unique theme, small-town setting, and a strong-willed female lead. If you are new to her work, the absolute best place to start is the Cookies & Chance Mysteries, starting with the series debut, Tastes Like Murder. This is her flagship series and perfectly encapsulates her signature blend of humor, family dynamics, and culinary-themed sleuthing.

For readers who prefer a faster-paced real estate setting over flour and sugar, the Cindy York Mysteries starting with Killer Transaction is another excellent entry point. If you want shorter, tightly focused runs, both the Italian Chef Mysteries and the Maple Syrup Mysteries offer delightful trilogies that can be read quickly.

Cookies & Chance Mysteries: Reading Order & Caveats

The Cookies & Chance series follows Sally Muccio, a baker in the fictional town of Colwestern, New York, who finds herself solving local crimes. A unique aspect of this series is the prequel novella, Formals, Fortune Cookies & Fraud. While published in 2022, it is chronologically the first story, taking place on Sally's disaster-filled high school prom night.

Chronological vs. Publication Order: You have two ways to read this series. Reading in publication order is highly recommended, as it allows you to get to know Sally in her adult years first and appreciate the backstory of the prequel as a fun flashback. Reading chronologically is also viable for purists who want to see Sally's very first sleuthing attempt before she opens her bakery.

Cookies & Chance publication order:

• Tastes Like Murder (2015)
• Baked to Death (2016)
• Burned to a Crisp (2016)
• Frosted with Revenge (2017)
• Silenced by Sugar (2018)
• Crumbled to Pieces (2018)
• Sprinkled in Malice (2019)
• Ginger Snapped to Death (2019)
• Icing on the Casket (2020)
• Knee Deep in Dough (2021)
• Dessert is the Bomb (2021)
• Seasoned with Murder (2022)
• Formals, Fortune Cookies & Fraud (2022) - Prequel Novella
• Cookies, Chamomile, and Corpses (2023)
• Bake, Batter, and Roll (2023)
• Crimes and Confections (2024)

Cookies & Chance chronological order:

1. Formals, Fortune Cookies & Fraud (Prequel)
2. Tastes Like Murder
3. Baked to Death
4. Burned to a Crisp
5. Frosted with Revenge
6. Silenced by Sugar
7. Crumbled to Pieces
8. Sprinkled in Malice
9. Ginger Snapped to Death
10. Icing on the Casket
11. Knee Deep in Dough
12. Dessert is the Bomb
13. Seasoned with Murder
14. Cookies, Chamomile, and Corpses
15. Bake, Batter, and Roll
16. Crimes and Confections

Cindy York Mysteries

This series stars Cindy York, a determined real estate agent navigating both cutthroat property deals and unexpected murders in Upstate New York. Unlike the baking series, the Cindy York mysteries should be read strictly in publication order, as Cindy's career and personal relationships develop sequentially over the books.

• Killer Transaction (2015)
• Priced to Kill (2016)
• For Sale By Killer (2018)
• Killer View (2022)
• With Option to Kill (2023)
• A Killer Market (2023)

Italian Chef Mysteries

Set in the town of Harvest Park, this culinary series features Tessa Esposito, a widowed Italian chef trying to uncover the truth behind her husband's suspicious death while pursuing her dream of opening her own restaurant. It is best read in order:

1. Penne Dreadful (2019)
2. It Cannoli Be Murder (2020)
3. The Enemy You Gnocchi (2021)

Maple Syrup Mysteries

In this cozy series set in Sugar Ridge, Vermont, Leila Khoury returns to her hometown to run her late father's artisanal maple syrup business. The series blends family dynamics, Lebanese-American heritage, and sweet syrup-themed crimes. It must be read in order:

1. A Doomful of Sugar (2022)
2. Syrup to No Good (2023)
3. In the Blink of a Pie (2024)

Collaborations and Shared Universes

Aloha Lagoon Mysteries

Aloha Lagoon is a shared, multi-author cozy mystery universe set in a fictional resort town in Hawaii. Various authors write separate subseries within this world focusing on different characters. Catherine Bruns writes the books featuring Carrie Jorgenson, an aspiring actress from Vermont who moves to Hawaii and ends up waitressing at the resort's Loco Moco Café. While the franchise has over 20 books, you can focus specifically on Catherine's Carrie Jorgenson novels for a consistent character arc, though reading the full series in order provides a broader view of the resort's recurring cast.

Catherine Bruns' Carrie Jorgenson books in the Aloha Lagoon series include:

• Mele Kalikimaka Murder (Book 5, 2016)
• Death of the Big Kahuna (Book 6, 2017)
• Death of the Kona Man (Book 9, 2017)
• Death of the Hula Girl (Book 25)

High Heels Mysteries

The popular High Heels Mysteries series, centered on fashion-obsessed shoe designer Maddie Springer, is created and primarily written by Gemma Halliday. However, Catherine Bruns co-authored the twelfth installment, Jeopardy in High Heels (2020), as a guest collaborator. If you are reading Gemma Halliday's series, this book fits directly between Deceit in High Heels and Jeopardy in High Heels, though cozy fans will enjoy Bruns' signature humor injected into Maddie's world.

What to Know Before You Start

Catherine Bruns writes traditional cozy mysteries: they feature amateur sleuths, quirky small-town casts, close-knit families, and a complete absence of graphic violence or explicit content. A wonderful bonus for readers is that her culinary mysteries (especially Cookies & Chance and the Italian Chef series) feature real, delicious recipes at the end of the books, allowing you to recreate Sally Muccio's cookies or Tessa Esposito's Italian specialties in your own kitchen.