Robin Burcell Books in Order
This page shows Robin Burcell books in order, with quick summaries, series guides, and simple where-to-start tips for her crime and adventure novels.
Last updated: July 6, 2026
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Publication Order
18 books
When Midnight Comes
by Robin Burcell
1995
Miami detective Kendra Browning is investigating a baffling homicide series when an accident throws her into nineteenth-century London. Stranded in another time, she finds danger, a protector, and a romance wrapped around the mystery.
Every Move She Makes
by Robin Burcell
1999
A serial killer is terrorizing San Francisco when Kate Gillespie's partner becomes the prime suspect after his ex-wife is murdered. To stop the killer, Kate has to solve the case before the police find Sam Scolari.
Fatal Truth
by Robin Burcell
2002
A late-night call from an informant drops Kate Gillespie into a corruption case that reaches deep into her department and her own family history. As cops close ranks, she becomes a target herself.
Deadly Legacy
by Robin Burcell
2003
A bizarre apparent murder-suicide sends Kate Gillespie into a case where the dead may not stay neatly identified. Family lies, hidden history, and powerful interests keep shifting the ground beneath her investigation.
Cold Case
by Robin Burcell
2004
Kate Gillespie reopens the trail of a suspect who almost killed her years earlier. New leads drag her back through San Francisco's drug and prostitution underworld, where old secrets and fresh betrayals put her back in the line of fire.
Face of a Killer
by Robin Burcell
2008
Twenty years after her father's murder, FBI agent and forensic artist Sydney Fitzpatrick meets the man condemned for the crime and realizes the story may be false. Her search for the truth puts her up against forces inside her own government.
The Bone Chamber
by Robin Burcell
2009
Called to reconstruct the face of a murdered woman, Sydney is drawn into a chase from Washington to Rome. A Knights Templar mystery, a hidden tomb, and secretive investigators turn the case into something far bigger.
The Black List
by Robin Burcell
2012
When two accountants tied to a refugee charity die, Sydney uncovers a trail of stolen funds, terror cells, and political power. The deeper she digs, the clearer it becomes that the danger is already moving toward Washington.
The Dark Hour
by Robin Burcell
2012
A murder in Amsterdam and the assassination of a U.S. senator pull Sydney into a global conspiracy. With a biological threat looming and Zachary Griffin missing, she has to untangle lies before millions are at risk.
The Kill Order
by Robin Burcell
2013
Sydney Fitzpatrick uncovers the Devil's Key, a deadly code tied to her father's murder and a national-security cover-up. When others start dying for what they know, she and Zachary Griffin race to stop a catastrophic attack.
The Last Second
by Robin Burcell
2013
Sydney Fitzpatrick and Zachary Griffin head to a small Arizona border town to check on a supposedly dirty cop who has vanished. The closer they look, the more the local story feels like a setup with a ticking clock.
The Last Good Place
by Robin Burcell
2015
Sgt. Al Krug and his younger partner Casey Kellog are hunting a strangler when a violent surprise at the crime scene blows the case open. Politics, real estate, media, and vice all close in as the clock runs down.
Pirate
by Robin Burcell
2016
What starts as a detour to a rare bookstore turns into a hunt for a treasure map and a historic fortune. As betrayals pile up, Sam and Remi realize someone close to the search cannot be trusted.
The Romanov Ransom
by Robin Burcell
2017
A kidnapping draws Sam and Remi into the hunt for a lost Romanov fortune and a dangerous neo-Nazi network. History, money, and ideology make a deadly mix, and the Fargos are caught in the middle.
The Gray Ghost
by Robin Burcell
2018
When Sam and Remi help clear a family's name, they end up chasing a legendary Rolls-Royce that vanished more than a century ago. The car holds a secret others will kill to possess.
The Oracle
by Robin Burcell
2019
An archaeological clue points Sam and Remi toward a stolen ancient scroll said to carry a curse. Their search collides with a kidnapping in Nigeria, forcing them to rescue hostages while racing to uncover the truth.
Wrath of Poseidon
by Robin Burcell
2020
A treasure Sam and Remi failed to recover years earlier pulls them back to Greece when a newly freed enemy returns. To stop him from finding King Croesus's lost gold, they have to finish the hunt that started it all.
The Serpent's Eye
by Robin Burcell
2027
Sam and Remi Fargo head into another treasure hunt that sends them into dangerous territory, where an old mystery, new enemies, and too many unanswered questions turn curiosity into a fight to stay alive.
Where should I start?
If you want police procedurals first: Every Move She Makes → Fatal Truth → Deadly Legacy → Cold Case
If you want FBI conspiracy thrillers: Face of a Killer → The Bone Chamber → The Dark Hour → The Black List → The Kill Order
If you want treasure hunts and global adventure: Pirate → The Romanov Ransom → The Gray Ghost → The Oracle → Wrath of Poseidon
If you want a one-book entry point: The Last Good Place
Author bio
Robin Burcell came to crime fiction the long way, through real police work. Raised mostly in Southern California, she spent nearly three decades in California law enforcement as a police officer, detective, hostage negotiator, criminal investigator, and FBI-trained forensic artist. That background gave her a close look at how cases actually move, how departments actually function, and how messy the truth can get when people start hiding it.
She once wanted to be a spy. For a while she also hoped to be an Olympic figure skater, and the training from that dream later helped her pass the physical agility test for the police academy. Burcell became the first female officer in her department, and the job was not exactly set up with her in mind: her badge still read "Policeman," and her locker room was a converted storeroom.
Writing had been there all along. Burcell has said she started writing seriously around 1990, when she was trying to decide whether to go back to school for a teaching credential or chase the thing she really wanted to do. Her first published novel, When Midnight Comes, was a time-travel romance, a reminder that she did not begin inside one narrow lane and has never stayed in one for long.
Then came the books most mystery readers know her for. In Every Move She Makes, San Francisco homicide detective Kate Gillespie is hunting a slasher while the case begins to close around her own partner. The book won the Barry Award, and Fatal Truth and Deadly Legacy later won Anthony Awards. Together the Kate novels helped make Burcell a regular name for readers who like procedural fiction that feels lived in rather than dressed up.
Burcell knows how institutions work, and how badly they can fail.
With the Sydney Fitzpatrick series, she widened the frame without losing that grounded feel. Sydney is an FBI Special Agent and forensic artist, which lets Burcell bring sketch work, reconstruction, and visual evidence directly into the story. Face of a Killer begins with the unresolved murder of Sydney's father, and later books like The Bone Chamber, The Dark Hour, and The Kill Order push outward into conspiracies, buried history, and national-security danger. The fifth Sydney book, The Kill Order, was named one of Library Journal's best thrillers of 2014.
She writes people who have to stay useful under pressure.
Burcell has also moved comfortably between kinds of suspense. The Last Good Place continues the Krug and Kellog world first created by Carolyn Weston, bringing a classic San Francisco detective pairing into a modern procedural. Soon after, Clive Cussler brought her into the Fargo adventures, where she co-wrote Pirate, The Romanov Ransom, The Gray Ghost, The Oracle, and Wrath of Poseidon. Those books are broader and more globe-trotting, full of treasure hunts and old mysteries, but they still carry her taste for competent characters, clear stakes, and danger that arrives fast.
Off the page, Burcell has appeared as a commentator on true-crime television and even produced a forensic sketch of "Baby Bigfoot" from a witness description, which tells you something about her range. She retired from law enforcement in 2010 and lives in Lodi, California. If you like thriller writers who make expertise feel human instead of showy, her books are an easy place to settle in.
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