Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gone to Dust | 2017 | Matt Goldman | Buy |
| 2 | Broken Ice | 2019 | Matt Goldman | Buy |
| 3 | The Shallows | 2019 | Matt Goldman | Buy |
| 4 | Dead West | 2020 | Matt Goldman | Buy |
| 5 | Dark Humor | 2025 | Matt Goldman | Buy |
The Nils Shapiro series by Matt Goldman currently has five books, published between 2017 and 2025. Shapiro is a private investigator based in Minneapolis, and the series uses Minnesota’s cold climate and particular social geography as a consistent backdrop. Goldman has said the setting draws on his own experience living in the Twin Cities area.
Gone to Dust (2017) opens the series and establishes Shapiro as a character: dry-witted, methodical, and better at understanding other people’s problems than his own. Broken Ice (2019) and The Shallows (2019) followed quickly, with Dead West (2020) taking the character to a different geographical setting. Dark Humor (2025) is the most recent installment, arriving after a five-year gap.
The series is best read in publication order, as Shapiro’s personal life develops across the books alongside the individual mysteries. Goldman’s background writing comedy for television is evident in the dialogue and tone, which distinguishes the series from more straightforwardly grim crime fiction.