Kate Jones Thriller Books in Order

The Kate Jones Thriller series follows Kate Jones, a woman who has spent too long looking over her shoulder. Her past is tied to a dangerous Mexican cartel leader, and the early stories begin with Kate trying to stay alive, protect the people she cares about, and make sense of the trouble that follows her across borders.

Kate is not a spy or a trained assassin. She is a survivor who has learned to think fast, keep moving, and fight back when running is no longer enough. That gives the series a more scrappy, on-the-ground feel. Kate can be scared, wrong-footed, and furious, but she does not quit.

Her past never stays buried for long.

The main novels begin with Cruising for Death. Kate and her partner, Cole, are on a Caribbean cruise when a passenger dies, pirates board the ship, and Kate is abducted by an old enemy. The story mixes a mysterious artifact, a shipwreck, and a dangerous island detour with the larger problem of someone who still wants revenge.

In Yucatán Dead, Kate's former lover and cartel leader pulls her back into the conflict she thought she had escaped. After she is kidnapped, she ends up deep in Mexico with a group of off-the-grid commandos fighting cartel power in the jungle. The question running through the book is simple and brutal, whether Kate can ever have a normal life while her past remains alive and hunting her.

Then the series changes direction without losing its momentum.

A One Way Ticket to Dead finds Kate trying to put that past behind her, only to uncover a threat involving a powerful enemy, children in danger, and the possibility of a leak inside the DEA. Its action moves between Seattle, the Yucatán, and the Sonoran desert. The story keeps Kate in the middle of people and institutions that are hard to trust.

By Vigilante Dead, Kate is working as a private investigator in Seattle. She takes a case after a college student with no known drug history dies of an overdose. As similar deaths mount, Kate starts to suspect the pattern is not what police assume, and the investigation leads into a story about drug dealing, addiction, profit, and revenge.

Expect fast-paced crime and adventure stories with travel, conspiracies, kidnappings, and a heroine who has every reason to leave town but keeps choosing to help. The first four shorter Kate stories set up her past, but Cruising for Death is a strong place to begin the main run of novels.