Kate Ivory Books in Order

Kate investigates disappearing books in Oxford’s libraries, where computer records can conceal valuable thefts. Discovering a connection to a murdered trainee turns an assignment meant to avoid scandal into a search for a killer operating among the collections.

Kate’s encounter with an uncooperative Oxford academic turns serious when the woman is found dead. With her boyfriend under suspicion, the novelist must move beyond their earlier disagreement to uncover the truth behind a university murder.

After a college official falls from a tower, Kate temporarily takes his job and encounters unexpected hostility. A threatening message raises doubts about the apparent accident, drawing her into the secrets surrounding her predecessor’s death.

Grieving a friend, Kate retreats to a country cottage in hopes of recovering and writing. The suspicious death of her gardener instead draws her into village feuds and hidden wrongdoing that the official police explanation fails to resolve.

An unexplained gold ring arrives just before Kate leaves on a promotional book tour with another novelist. His talent for causing chaos conceals a separate agenda, while Kate finds herself attracting attention from increasingly troubling strangers.

Hired to find a missing widow, Kate enlists her mother’s help to understand the woman’s disappearance. Finding a body changes the search, and she must locate Joyce before the danger surrounding her becomes another fatal mystery.

Researching a historical novel, Kate discovers a wartime child evacuee’s diary and investigates his death. As the trail points toward her partner’s family, finding the truth threatens the stability of the home they share.

Kate’s new neighbours seem unlikely participants in serious crime: a reserved academic on one side and a retired couple on the other. A brutal murder outside her home forces her to reconsider the people living closest to her.

A successful publisher’s interest promises Kate a career breakthrough, until her new editor becomes entangled in fraud. When the culprit is murdered and the editor falls under suspicion, she must investigate to protect both him and her future.

A student’s complaint against her unpopular tutor draws Kate into college politics despite her wish to stay clear. When the student is murdered, a friend’s belief in the tutor’s innocence pushes Kate to investigate beyond the obvious suspect.

Kate returns from holiday to discover her usually energetic mother gravely diminished and dependent on new friends. Suspecting their interest in her mother’s wealth, she investigates their past and uncovers a deception that may threaten them both.

Kate’s literary agent disappears shortly after a lavish wedding, and her husband refuses to involve police. Searching for Estelle pulls Kate into questions about the bookseller and his brother while her own writing and relationship remain unsettled.

Novelist Kate joins her jogging friends in reclaiming antique mourning boxes taken by a woman’s estranged husband. Their amateur raid seems a simple favour, until it provides cover for a far more serious crime they never anticipated.

Oxford biotechnology researchers face smoke bombs and defamatory attacks that threaten their work and safety. Asked to investigate, Kate must determine whether activists are responsible or someone with a more specific motive is sabotaging the research.