Kimberly Steele Books in Order

The Kimberly Steele books show Madison Johns working in a lighter, more openly romantic mode. Kimberly is younger than Agnes Barton, more style-conscious, and dealing with a very different kind of problem. Instead of chasing killers, at least at first, she is trying to manage work, love, pregnancy, and the awkward fact that life refuses to stay neat for more than five minutes.

That setup drives Pretty and Pregnant. Kimberly is six months pregnant, keeping painful secrets about the baby's father, and working for attorney Jeremy Preston. Jeremy is attracted to her, Kimberly is trying not to notice, and then a perfume campaign called Pretty and Pregnant adds one more complication to an already messy emotional life. The series start is very much about vulnerability, pride, and the slow move from professional tension to romance.

Pretty and Pregnant Again picks up after marriage and motherhood have already changed Kimberly's life. It is smaller in scale, but that is part of the point. The drama is domestic now. Kimberly worries she may be pregnant again just as Jeremy has made it clear he is not ready for that idea, and the book leans into how even happy lives can wobble when expectations do not line up.

These are not mystery novels.

What carries the series is Kimberly herself. She is polished on the surface, but Johns writes her as someone who has to keep adjusting, even when she would rather project confidence. Jeremy works best as the steady counterpoint, and the appeal comes from watching the two of them sort through real-life worries rather than external danger.

If you like Madison Johns's faster mysteries but want to see her do something softer, more relationship-driven, and more contemporary, Kimberly Steele is worth a look. It keeps her plainspoken style and her interest in lively characters, just without the dead body arriving on page one.