Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | In the Last Analysis | 1964 | Amanda Cross | Buy |
| 2 | The James Joyce Murder | 1967 | Amanda Cross | Buy |
| 3 | Poetic Justice | 1970 | Amanda Cross | Buy |
| 4 | The Theban Mysteries | 1971 | Amanda Cross | Buy |
| 5 | The Question of Max | 1976 | Amanda Cross | Buy |
| 6 | Death in a Tenured Position | 1981 | Amanda Cross | Buy |
| 7 | Die Tote von Harvard. | 1981 | Amanda Cross | N/A |
| 8 | Sweet Death, Kind Death | 1984 | Amanda Cross | Buy |
| 9 | No Word From Winifred | 1986 | Amanda Cross | Buy |
| 10 | A Trap for Fools | 1998 | Amanda Cross | Buy |
| 11 | Players Come Again | 1990 | Amanda Cross | Buy |
| 12 | An Imperfect Spy | 1995 | Amanda Cross | Buy |
| 13 | The Puzzled Heart | 1998 | Amanda Cross | Buy |
| 14 | Honest Doubt | 2000 | Amanda Cross | Buy |
| 15 | The Edge of Doom | 2002 | Amanda Cross | Buy |
The Kate Fansler series features a New York English professor who keeps finding herself drawn into murder investigations. Fansler is clever, independent, and well-connected in the world of academia, making her a natural fit for cases that involve university politics, literary feuds, and the occasional tenured corpse. The series started with In the Last Analysis in 1964 and continued for nearly four decades.
Each novel tends to center on a specific literary or cultural theme. The James Joyce Murder, for example, takes place during a summer in the Berkshires where Fansler is editing the letters of a deceased poet. The books are lighter on action and heavier on dialogue and ideas, appealing to readers who enjoy their mysteries with a side of intellectual discussion. Fansler herself ages and changes over the course of the series, making it rewarding to read in order.