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Lust, Money & Murder Books in Order

Part ofMike Wells Books in Order

Explore the Lust, Money & Murder books by Mike Wells in order, with quick summaries, series background, and help choosing where to start.

Last updated: July 8, 2026

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Lust, Money & Murder books in publication order

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19 books

1

Lust

by Mike Wells

2011

Elaine Brogan grows up tough and ambitious, then sees her life shattered by a counterfeit-money scam that destroys her family. She chooses revenge, and that choice sends her toward the U.S. Secret Service.

2

Money

by Mike Wells

2011

Elaine's new career should mean control, but betrayal and financial crime pull her into even deeper danger. Soon the hunt stretches across borders and toward far more powerful enemies.

3

Murder

by Mike Wells

2011

The series shifts focus to master counterfeiter Giorgio Cattoretti, revealing the man behind so much of Elaine's pain. His ambition, history, and moral pull make him more than a simple villain.

4

Cattoretti's Return

by Mike Wells

2014

Giorgio is back, and the balance between enemy, ally, and obsession grows even murkier. Elaine has to face him again while trying not to lose herself in the game he understands so well.

5

On Russian Soil

by Mike Wells

2014

Elaine's pursuit takes her back into hostile territory, where every alliance feels temporary and every mistake could be fatal. Russia becomes a proving ground for trust and endurance.

6

The Extraction

by Mike Wells

2015

A rescue mission should be straightforward, but nothing in Elaine's world ever is. This installment turns survival itself into a tense, globe-spanning operation.

7

Blood Diamonds

by Mike Wells

2016

A new counterfeit trail leads into the brutal economics of diamonds and organized crime. Elaine faces a case where greed and violence are tightly entwined.

8

Escape from Sudan

by Mike Wells

2016

The stakes turn human as well as criminal when danger in Sudan leaves escape uncertain. Elaine has to navigate chaos, geography, and enemies all at once.

9

Off the Grid

by Mike Wells

2016

Stripped of safety nets, Elaine is forced to operate in the shadows. The less protection she has, the more her instincts, and her judgment, matter.

10

Black Widow

by Mike Wells

2017

This case turns on deception, seduction, and the deadly uses of charm. Elaine is up against a threat that is hard to read and even harder to outrun.

11

Panacea

by Mike Wells

2017

The promise of a miracle becomes part of a dark criminal scheme. Elaine has to sort hope from fraud before more lives are ruined.

12

Phoenix Rising

by Mike Wells

2018

After everything she has endured, Elaine is pulled into another chapter of reinvention and danger. Old conflicts flare back up just when she most needs a clean start.

13

Face-Off

by Mike Wells

2019

Enemies, allies, and unfinished business are pushed into direct confrontation. Elaine can no longer keep distance between herself and the forces chasing her.

14

The Invisible Manhunt

by Mike Wells

2019

A new chase begins when a seemingly impossible target keeps slipping out of view. Elaine is drawn into a case where visibility, truth, and motive are all in question.

15

The Japanese Trilogy, Book 3

by Mike Wells

2021

With Giorgio Cattoretti finally behind bars, Elaine should be safer than before. Instead, the fallout of their long struggle opens the door to yet another dangerous reckoning.

16

Outback Diamonds

by Mike Wells

2024

Elaine is pulled to Australia when a counterfeit pink-diamond scheme reaches far beyond a private business dispute. The case forces her back toward old enemies and into harsh, remote country.

17

Mortal Silence

by Mike Wells

2025

Elaine's expertise in financial crime pulls her into Zurich's elite banking world, where too-perfect U.S. bills hint at a much larger network of corruption. Quiet surfaces hide enormous danger.

18

Sky Trap

by Mike Wells

2025

Another international case puts Elaine in a situation where movement itself becomes dangerous and trust is in short supply. Fast decisions, shifting loyalties, and high stakes drive the story forward.

19
New

The Fifty Million Dollar Job: A Prequel to Mortal Silence, Lust, Money & Murder #18

by Mike Wells

2026

This prequel sets up the criminal logic behind a massive score and the people reckless enough to attempt it. It works as a tense lead-in to the events surrounding Mortal Silence.

Lust, Money & Murder books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "Lust"

    Lust

    by Mike Wells

    2011Lust, Money & Murder, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "Money"

    Money

    by Mike Wells

    2011Lust, Money & Murder, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "Murder"

    Murder

    by Mike Wells

    2011Lust, Money & Murder, Book 3
  4. Book cover for "Cattoretti's Return"

    Cattoretti's Return

    by Mike Wells

    2014Lust, Money & Murder, Book 4
  5. Book cover for "On Russian Soil"

    On Russian Soil

    by Mike Wells

    2014Lust, Money & Murder, Book 5
  6. Book cover for "The Extraction"

    The Extraction

    by Mike Wells

    2015Lust, Money & Murder, Book 6
  7. Book cover for "Off the Grid"

    Off the Grid

    by Mike Wells

    2016Lust, Money & Murder, Book 7
  8. Book cover for "Blood Diamonds"

    Blood Diamonds

    by Mike Wells

    2016Lust, Money & Murder, Book 8
  9. Book cover for "Escape from Sudan"

    Escape from Sudan

    by Mike Wells

    2016Lust, Money & Murder, Book 9
  10. Book cover for "Black Widow"

    Black Widow

    by Mike Wells

    2017Lust, Money & Murder, Book 10
  11. Book cover for "Panacea"

    Panacea

    by Mike Wells

    2017Lust, Money & Murder, Book 11
  12. Book cover for "Phoenix Rising"

    Phoenix Rising

    by Mike Wells

    2018Lust, Money & Murder, Book 12
  13. Book cover for "Face-Off"

    Face-Off

    by Mike Wells

    2019Lust, Money & Murder, Book 13
  14. Book cover for "The Invisible Manhunt"

    The Invisible Manhunt

    by Mike Wells

    2019Lust, Money & Murder, Book 14
  15. Book cover for "The Japanese Trilogy, Book 3"

    The Japanese Trilogy, Book 3

    by Mike Wells

    2021Lust, Money & Murder, Book 15
  16. Book cover for "Outback Diamonds"

    Outback Diamonds

    by Mike Wells

    2024Lust, Money & Murder, Book 16
  17. Book cover for "Sky Trap"

    Sky Trap

    by Mike Wells

    2025Lust, Money & Murder, Book 17
  18. Book cover for "Mortal Silence"

    Mortal Silence

    by Mike Wells

    2025Lust, Money & Murder, Book 18
  19. Book cover for "The Fifty Million Dollar Job: A Prequel to Mortal Silence, Lust, Money & Murder #18"

    The Fifty Million Dollar Job: A Prequel to Mortal Silence, Lust, Money & Murder #18

    by Mike Wells

    2026Lust, Money & Murder, Book 19

Series background & context

Lust, Money & Murder is the center of Mike Wells's fiction. It begins with Elaine Brogan, a young woman from Pittsburgh whose life is wrecked by a counterfeit-money scam and the fallout that follows in her family. Instead of walking away from that damage, Elaine builds her life around it. She becomes a U.S. Secret Service agent and turns revenge into a career path.

That choice gives the whole series its drive.

Elaine is not a cozy sleuth and not a detached professional. She is smart, stubborn, ambitious, and emotionally exposed in ways that matter. Wells uses her to move through counterfeit investigations, organized crime, corrupt institutions, and international settings without losing the personal stakes. Even when the cases get large, the books keep circling back to what the work is doing to her.

The recurring figure who gives the series much of its shape is Giorgio Cattoretti, master counterfeiter, manipulator, and long-term problem. He is more interesting than a straightforward villain, which helps explain why the series keeps returning to him. The best tension in these books often comes from the fact that Elaine's enemies are not always people she can neatly hate. Some of them are clever, persuasive, useful, or weirdly hard to cut loose.

Geography matters too. The books move from U.S. training grounds and offices to cities and crisis points across Europe, Russia, Africa, Japan, Australia, and beyond. Yet the structure is usually reader-friendly. The series grows in arcs and trilogies, with self-contained cases inside the larger Elaine story. That makes it easy to start near the beginning and keep going without feeling lost.

Tone is everything here. These books are fast, cinematic, and built around cliff edges, betrayals, shifting loyalties, and moral fatigue. If you want the fullest picture of what Mike Wells does best, start here. Lust, Money & Murder has the clean hook of a thriller series, but what keeps it alive is Elaine herself, her long war with the people who shaped her life, and the uncomfortable truth that the deeper she goes into crime, the harder it becomes to stay untouched by it.

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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