Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Collected Short Stories | 2013 | Dana Stabenow | N/A |
| 2 | A Cold Day For Murder | 1992 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 3 | A Fatal Thaw | 1992 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 4 | Dead in the Water | 1993 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 5 | A Cold-Blooded Business | 1994 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 6 | Play with Fire | 1995 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 7 | Blood Will Tell | 1996 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 8 | Breakup | 1997 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 9 | Killing Grounds | 1998 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 10 | Hunter’s Moon | 1999 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 11 | Midnight Come Again | 2000 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 12 | The Singing of the Dead | 2001 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 13 | A Fine and Bitter Snow | 2002 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 14 | A Grave Denied | 2003 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 15 | A Taint in the Blood | 2004 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 16 | A Deeper Sleep | 2006 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 17 | Whisper to the Blood | 2009 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 18 | A Night Too Dark | 2010 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 19 | Zaułek potworów | 2011 | Dana Stabenow | N/A |
| 20 | Though Not Dead | 2010 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 21 | Any Taint of Vice | 2004 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 22 | Restless in the Grave | 2012 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 23 | Bad Blood | 2013 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 24 | Less than a Treason | 2017 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 25 | No Fixed Line | 2019 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 26 | Not the Ones Dead | 2023 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
| 27 | The Monster’s Corner: Stories Through Inhuman Eyes | 2011 | Dana Stabenow | Buy |
Kate Shugak is a former investigator for the Anchorage District Attorney who now lives in a homestead in a fictional national park in Alaska. The series opens with A Cold Day for Murder, where Kate is pulled back into detective work to find a missing park ranger. That first book won the 1993 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original and launched one of the longest-running mystery series set in Alaska.
Over more than 25 novels, the series covers Kate’s complicated ties to her Aleut community, her on-and-off relationships, and her role as an unofficial problem solver in a region where law enforcement is spread thin. The Alaskan setting is as much a character as any person in the books, with weather, wildlife, and the politics of land use shaping every story.
Stabenow draws on her own Alaskan upbringing to make the setting feel lived-in rather than exotic. The books deal with issues like oil pipelines, fishing rights, and village governance alongside the murder investigations, giving readers a picture of Alaska that goes well beyond tourist brochures.