Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Deadly Appearances | 1990 | Gail Bowen | Buy |
| 2 | Murder at the Mendel | 1991 | Gail Bowen | N/A |
| 3 | Murder at the Mendel / Love and Murder | 1991 | Gail Bowen | Buy |
| 4 | The Wandering Soul Murders | 1992 | Gail Bowen | Buy |
| 5 | A Colder Kind of Death | 1994 | Gail Bowen | Buy |
| 6 | A Killing Spring | 1996 | Gail Bowen | Buy |
| 7 | Verdict in Blood | 1998 | Gail Bowen | Buy |
| 8 | Burying Ariel | 2000 | Gail Bowen | Buy |
| 9 | The Glass Coffin | 2002 | Gail Bowen | Buy |
| 10 | The Last Good Day | 2004 | Gail Bowen | Buy |
| 11 | The Endless Knot | 2006 | Gail Bowen | Buy |
| 12 | The Brutal Heart | 2008 | Gail Bowen | Buy |
| 13 | The Nesting Dolls | 2010 | Gail Bowen | Buy |
| 14 | Kaleidoscope | 2012 | Gail Bowen | Buy |
| 15 | The Gifted | 2013 | Gail Bowen | Buy |
| 16 | 12 Rose Street | 2015 | Gail Bowen | Buy |
| 17 | What’s Left Behind | 2016 | Gail Bowen | Buy |
| 18 | The Winners’ Circle | 2017 | Gail Bowen | Buy |
| 19 | A Darkness of the Heart | 2018 | Gail Bowen | Buy |
| 20 | The Unlocking Season | 2020 | Gail Bowen | Buy |
| 21 | The Unlocking Season: A Joanne Kilbourn Mystery | 2020 | Gail Bowen | N/A |
| 22 | An Image in the Lake | 2021 | Gail Bowen | Buy |
| 23 | An Image in the Lake: A Joanne Kilbourn Mystery | 2021 | Gail Bowen | N/A |
| 24 | What’s Past Is Prologue | 2022 | Gail Bowen | Buy |
| 25 | The Legacy | 2023 | Gail Bowen | Buy |
| 26 | The Solitary Friend | 2025 | Gail Bowen | Buy |
The Joanne Kilbourn Mystery series is one of the longest-running Canadian mystery series. Beginning with Deadly Appearances in 1990, the 26 books follow Joanne Kilbourn, a political analyst and university professor in Saskatchewan, as she becomes entangled in murder investigations.
Gail Bowen writes Joanne as a woman whose life changes with the series: she raises children, remarries, and ages alongside her readers. The mysteries are rooted in politics, academia, and the particular tensions of prairie life. The series has earned Bowen the Arthur Ellis Award and a loyal readership in Canada and beyond.