Below is the complete list of Kate Carlisle books in order. For each series, the chronological reading order is the same as the order of publication.
Publication Order of Bibliophile Books
Publication Order of Duke Brothers Books
Publication Order of Island Paradise Duet Books
Publication Order of MacLaren’s Pride Books
Publication Order of Fixer-Upper Mystery Books
About Kate Carlisle
Kate Carlisle is an American mystery and romance author best known for the Bibliophile Mysteries, a long-running cozy mystery series centered on rare-book expert and bookbinder Brooklyn Wainwright. She is also the creator of the Fixer-Upper Mysteries, featuring contractor Shannon Hammer and a Northern California town filled with Victorian architecture, renovation projects, and murder. With books that combine specialized professions, close-knit communities, humor, romance, and traditional whodunit plotting, Carlisle has become an established figure in contemporary cozy mystery fiction.
Carlisle grew up near the beach in Southern California. Before becoming a published novelist, she followed an unusually varied career path. She studied acting and singing, worked in television production, and spent time as an associate director on game shows. She later attended law school before deciding that the legal profession was not the direction she wanted to pursue. Her interest in writing eventually led her toward fiction.
One of the most important influences on her work came from bookbinding. Carlisle studied the craft and became fascinated by the physical construction and restoration of books, an interest she transformed into the professional background of Brooklyn Wainwright in the Bibliophile Mysteries.
The series began in 2009 with Homicide in Hardcover. Brooklyn is a skilled bookbinder and restoration expert whose work brings her into contact with valuable manuscripts, collectors, libraries, booksellers, and people willing to go to extraordinary lengths to possess rare books. After her mentor is murdered, Brooklyn becomes involved in solving the crime, beginning a pattern in which bibliographic treasures and murder repeatedly intersect.
Rather than using books merely as decorative elements, Carlisle incorporates bookbinding, restoration, collecting, and literary history into the mysteries. Individual installments frequently revolve around a particular rare volume or manuscript, giving each investigation its own bibliophilic focus. Brooklyn’s relationships also develop substantially across the series, particularly her romance with British security expert Derek Stone, making publication order rewarding even though the central murder in each novel is generally resolved within that book.
The Bibliophile Mysteries have also reached television. Hallmark Movies & Mysteries adapted the characters for the Bibliophile Mystery television films, with Julie Gonzalo portraying Brooklyn and Brendan Penny playing Derek. The adaptations introduced Carlisle’s book-centered mystery world to an audience beyond the novels.
Carlisle launched her second major cozy series with This Old Homicide in 2015. The Fixer-Upper Mysteries follow Shannon Hammer, a building contractor specializing in renovating and restoring Victorian homes in the fictional Northern California community of Lighthouse Cove. Shannon’s knowledge of construction gives the series its distinctive framework: old houses can conceal physical evidence, forgotten spaces, valuable objects, and secrets left behind by previous occupants.
The Fixer-Upper books combine renovation details with an ensemble of friends and townspeople, while Shannon’s developing relationship with writer Mac Sullivan provides an ongoing personal storyline. As with the Bibliophile Mysteries, the individual crimes can largely stand alone, but the characters’ lives change across the sequence.
Hallmark also adapted the Fixer-Upper concept into television as the Framed for Murder: A Fixer Upper Mystery, Concrete Evidence: A Fixer Upper Mystery, and Deadly Deed: A Fixer Upper Mystery films. Jewel Kilcher starred as Shannon Hammer, with Colin Ferguson as Mac Sullivan.
Outside her mystery fiction, Carlisle has written contemporary romance, including books published for Harlequin Desire. Her romance background remains visible in her mysteries, where relationships receive more sustained development than they do in many purely puzzle-driven cozies. Romantic arcs complement the investigations rather than replacing them.
Carlisle’s two principal mystery series share recognizable qualities while remaining distinct. Brooklyn Wainwright’s world revolves around books, manuscripts, collectors, and preservation; Shannon Hammer’s revolves around houses, tools, restoration, and architectural history. Both heroines possess genuine professional expertise, allowing their occupations to contribute directly to how they understand clues and environments.
That emphasis on craft is central to Kate Carlisle’s fiction. Whether the object being restored is a centuries-old book or a Victorian house, her mysteries are interested in things that carry evidence of their past. Beneath bindings, inside walls, and behind carefully maintained appearances, history has a habit of surviving—and in Carlisle’s mystery worlds, uncovering it can be the first step toward solving a murder.