Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Cartel | 2008 | Ashley Antoinette | Buy |
| 2 | Tale of the Murda Mamas | 2009 | Ashley Antoinette | Buy |
| 3 | The Cartel 3: The Last Chapter | 2010 | Ashley Antoinette | N/A |
| 4 | The Last Chapter | 2010 | Ashley Antoinette | Buy |
| 5 | Diamonds Are Forever | 2012 | Ashley Antoinette | Buy |
| 6 | The Cartel 4: Diamonds Are Forever | 2012 | Ashley Antoinette | N/A |
| 7 | La Bella Mafia | 2013 | Ashley Antoinette | Buy |
| 8 | The Cartel 5: La Bella Mafia | 2013 | Ashley Antoinette | N/A |
| 9 | The Cartel 6: The Demise | 2016 | Ashley Antoinette | N/A |
| 10 | The Demise | 2016 | Ashley Antoinette | Buy |
| 11 | Illuminati: Roundtable of the Bosses | 2015 | Ashley Antoinette | N/A |
| 12 | Illuminati | 2017 | Ashley Antoinette | Buy |
| 13 | Long Live The Cartel | 2020 | Ashley Antoinette | Buy |
| 14 | Money Devils 1 | 2020 | Ashley Antoinette | Buy |
| 15 | Cartel Queen: Aries Manifesto | 2023 | Ashley Antoinette | Buy |
| 16 | Cartel Queen 2: Mother of Murder | 2025 | Ashley Antoinette | Buy |
| 17 | Cartel Queen 3: Long Kiss Goodnight | 2026 | Ashley Antoinette | Buy |
The Cartel series by Ashley and JaQuavis is one of the most successful franchises in urban fiction. Beginning with The Cartel in 2008, the series introduces a powerful drug organization and the people whose lives revolve around it. The early books establish the core characters and the violent world they inhabit, while later installments expand the story into new territory with spinoffs and continuation novels.
The series has grown from a planned trilogy into a much larger saga. The Cartel 3: The Last Chapter was originally intended as the finale, but reader demand brought the story back with Diamonds Are Forever, La Bella Mafia, and The Demise. The Illuminati books explore a different corner of the same criminal world, and the Cartel Queen sub-series focuses on a new protagonist while keeping ties to the original storyline.
What keeps readers coming back is the combination of fast-paced street drama with genuine emotional stakes. The books deal in loyalty, betrayal, and the cost of power, told through characters who feel real even when the situations are extreme. Long Live The Cartel and the Money Devils books show that the series continues to find new angles more than fifteen years after it began.