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Ellie Kline Books in Order

Part ofMary Stone Books in Order

This page lists every Ellie Kline novel by Mary Stone in order, with brief plot summaries, series background, and tips on following Ellie’s Charleston cold-case investigations.

Last updated: December 21, 2025

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Publication Order

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15 books

1

Cold Finish

by Mary Stone

2025

Facing what may be her last confrontation with a long‑time adversary, Ellie Kline races for a finish that could either free her from the past or end her story altogether.

2

Cold Theory

by Mary Stone

2024

Ellie Kline tests a risky theory about how several unsolved cases connect, knowing that if she’s wrong she’ll waste precious time—and if she’s right, she’s hunting a killer who’s been perfecting their methods for years.

3

Cold Crash

by Mary Stone

2024

A fatal crash that looks like an accident leads Ellie Kline to evidence of something far more deliberate, and the deeper she digs, the more she realizes someone is staging deaths to look like bad luck.

4

Cold Intentions

by Mary Stone

2023

Ellie Kline pursues a killer whose every move seems meticulously planned, proving that intent can be as deadly as any weapon when someone is willing to wait for the perfect moment to strike.

5

Cold Judgment

by Mary Stone

2022

As a killer begins playing judge, jury, and executioner with victims tied to old wrongs, Ellie Kline has to untangle who’s being punished—and why—before more lives are claimed in the name of twisted justice.

6

Cold Heart

by Mary Stone

2022

Ellie Kline investigates a murder that looks like a crime of passion but feels calculated, uncovering just how cold a supposedly loving heart can be when secrets are threatened.

7

Cold Trail

by Mary Stone

2021

A long‑forgotten lead resurfaces, sending Ellie Kline across the country to help a friend in trouble and follow a cold trail that may finally expose a killer who should have been stopped years ago.

8

Cold Death

by Mary Stone

2021

When a new victim turns up bearing the hallmarks of an old case, Ellie Kline must confront the possibility that a presumed‑dead predator—or someone inspired by him—is killing again.

9

Cold Truth

by Mary Stone

2020

Charleston detective Ellie Kline takes on her first cold case in the new unit when a dismembered young woman is found with no identity, uncovering links to other forgotten victims and to the serial killer who once held Ellie captive.

10

Cold Threat

by Mary Stone

2020

As Ellie Kline builds a case against a dirty detective, a sadistic captor begins recreating the night he kidnapped her years ago, turning her investigation into a personal countdown to finish what he started.

11

Cold Shadows

by Mary Stone

2020

A string of eerily similar cold cases suggests a killer operating in the gaps between investigations, forcing Ellie Kline to follow shadows that move through Charleston’s most respectable circles.

12

Cold Revenge

by Mary Stone

2020

When a vigilante begins targeting people linked to an old crime, Ellie Kline must decide whether she’s dealing with justice, revenge, or something far more dangerous—and how much of her own anger she’s willing to unleash.

13

Cold Hunt

by Mary Stone

2020

A hunter stalking human prey in the rural outskirts of Charleston pulls Ellie Kline into a deadly game, exposing a human‑trafficking ring and a killer who may have been watching her far longer than she realized.

14

Cold Highway

by Mary Stone

2020

When bodies start appearing along remote stretches of road, Ellie Kline must trace a killer who uses the highway as his hunting ground, even as the ghosts of her own escape refuse to stay in the rearview mirror.

15

Cold Grave

by Mary Stone

2020

Tasked with identifying the countless victims of a dead serial killer, Ellie Kline confronts the full weight of past atrocities while a new threat rises from the ashes of an old case.

Series background & context

The Ellie Kline series drops readers into the humid, haunted streets of Charleston, South Carolina, where old money and old secrets collide. Ellie is a detective in the Charleston PD’s Cold Case Unit, but her real obsession is anything but cold: at fifteen she was kidnapped and tortured by a sadistic killer, Dr. Kingsley, and escaped while he vanished into the dark. That night left scars on her body and gaps in her memory, and it’s the reason she refuses to back down from any case.

In the opening book, Cold Truth, an unidentified young woman’s dismembered body is found, with no missing‑person report and almost no evidence. As Ellie works the file, she begins to link it to other forgotten cases and to the man who once held her captive. That pattern—an apparently isolated crime that turns out to be connected to something much bigger—runs throughout the series, whether she’s tracking a hunter who uses rural farms as his hunting ground, unmasking human‑trafficking networks, or realizing a killer has been watching her for years.

Ellie’s life is complicated by the world she comes from. She’s heir to the powerful Kline family, with a mother who would prefer she play the polished socialite instead of chasing killers. At work, her uncompromising style and refusal to accept easy answers put her at odds with corrupt colleagues and city politics. Her closest allies are people she’s chosen rather than people she was born to—file clerk Jillian Reed, fellow detective Jacob Garcia, and others who see past her reputation for bending the rules.

Stone uses Ellie’s history to turn every investigation into a tightrope walk. The deeper Ellie digs, the more her hazy memories surface, tangling with current cases in ways that would make a more cautious detective step back. She doesn’t. That drive is what makes her effective, but it’s also what puts a target on her back when old monsters decide she’s getting too close.

The cases themselves are dark—underground trafficking rings, manipulators who treat victims like puppets, buried scandals that powerful people would kill to protect—yet the series never forgets the people at the center of them. Ellie’s empathy for victims and survivors tempers her steel, even when she’s chasing justice for those no one else seemed to miss.

By the time later books introduce spin‑off characters like Savannah detective Charli Cross, the Ellie Kline novels have built a full, lived‑in world where past crimes echo forward and no cold case is ever truly closed.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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All 15 Ellie Kline Books in Order (Complete List 2026)