DI Kate Burrows Books in Order

The DI Kate Burrows novels turn Martina Cole’s trademark world of gangsters and estates on its head by following a woman who stands on the other side of the law – and then falls in love with one of its most dangerous enemies.

In The Ladykiller we meet Kate as a seasoned detective inspector in the fictional town of Grantley. She is smart, stubborn and used to wading through the worst that people can do to each other, but the case now on her desk is different. A sadistic killer is stalking women and the press quickly labels him the “Grantley Ripper”. Cole switches between the police investigation and the killer’s chilling point of view, building a story that is as much about fear in a community as it is about forensic detail.

The investigation brings Kate face to face with Patrick Kelly, a wealthy, ruthless gangster whose daughter becomes one of the killer’s targets. Patrick is used to getting his own way, whether by charm or by violence. Working together to catch a murderer, Kate and Patrick strike sparks off each other, and a relationship develops that horrifies her colleagues and blurs every line she has ever drawn between good people and bad ones.

In Broken, Kate is dealing with an even more sensitive nightmare: children are vanishing. At first, the kids come back alive but deeply traumatised, and it is hard to see the pattern behind the crimes. When one child is found dead, the investigation becomes a race against time. Cole pushes Kate and her team into the darkest corners of organised abuse, while at home Kate’s bond with Patrick is under intense strain. He would do anything to protect her, but his own criminal ties are part of the world that produces the monsters she is chasing.

By Hard Girls, Kate has left the force but can’t quite step away. She consults for the police when a new killer starts targeting sex workers, leaving bodies so mutilated that even experienced officers struggle to cope. Working with DCI Annie Carr, Kate insists the victims be treated as daughters, sisters and friends, not just “hard girls” whose deaths are ignored. The book digs into the exploited lives of the women on Grantley’s streets and shows how easily violent men slip through the cracks.

In Damaged, Kate is living with Patrick and trying to build something like an ordinary life. When the bodies of missing schoolgirls are found, Annie drags her back into yet another serial killer case. At the same time, Patrick’s long‑lost son turns up, bringing danger and unfinished business. Kate finds herself surrounded by different kinds of violence – the sadism of the predator she is hunting, the legacy of Patrick’s past and the anger of a younger generation raised in the shadow of old crimes.

Taken together, the DI Kate Burrows books blend the pleasures of a police procedural with the emotional pull of a long, messy love story. Cole does not romanticise the job: she shows exhaustion, bureaucracy and the toll that repeated exposure to horror takes on a person’s health and relationships. Kate herself is tough, flawed and deeply human, caught between a career built on rules and a private life tied to a man who has broken most of them.

If you want to see Martina Cole explore both sides of the criminal divide – the station and the safe house, the incident room and the gangster’s mansion – this is the series to reach for. Reading the books in order lets you watch Kate’s life, her relationship and her town evolve across four dark, absorbing cases.