Below is the complete list of Diane Mott Davidson’s Goldy Schulz books in order. For this series, the chronological reading order is the same as the order of publication.
Publication Order of Goldy Schulz Books
Publication Order of Goldy Schulz Non-Fiction Books
About Goldy Schulz
Diane Mott Davidson’s Goldy Schulz series is one of the best-known examples of the culinary mystery, combining traditional murder investigations with catering, recipes, family life, and the social complications of a small Colorado community. Across seventeen novels, Goldy develops from a divorced mother struggling to keep a catering business afloat into a more confident businesswoman and experienced amateur investigator. The mysteries are largely self-contained, but her family relationships, friendships, career, and marriage develop throughout the series, giving the books a stronger sense of continuity than their individual cases might initially suggest.
When Catering to Nobody introduces her, Goldy Bear is trying to rebuild her life after an abusive marriage while raising her young son, Arch. Her livelihood comes from catering, a profession that naturally places her inside weddings, parties, school functions, corporate gatherings, private homes, and community events. These assignments repeatedly put Goldy in contact with victims and suspects from very different backgrounds, making her involvement in local mysteries feel connected to her work rather than dependent entirely on coincidence.
Her personal circumstances matter almost as much as the murders. Goldy’s former husband, John Richard Korman—usually known by the unflattering nickname “the Jerk”—remains a disruptive presence, while Arch grows and changes across the novels instead of remaining permanently fixed at one age. Goldy eventually marries homicide investigator Tom Schulz, and her surname changes accordingly. Tom provides a professional law-enforcement perspective, but Davidson never turns him into someone who simply hands Goldy the solution. Their different roles frequently create tension over how deeply she should involve herself in dangerous situations.
Catering remains the series’ most distinctive investigative framework. In Prime Cut, business competition and a disastrous kitchen renovation complicate Goldy’s work, while Tough Cookie gives her an opportunity to host a cooking program at a Colorado ski resort. Elsewhere she caters legal functions, weddings, holiday events, and gatherings where professional pressures can quickly become entangled with murder. Davidson uses food practically: Goldy plans menus, worries about clients, manages equipment and schedules, and continues cooking even when an investigation is consuming her attention.
Aspen Meadow, Davidson’s fictional Colorado community, provides another source of continuity. Wealthy residents, schools, churches, businesses, neighbors, and local institutions repeatedly intersect with Goldy’s catering work. The mountain environment also gives the books a strong regional character, with snow, ski areas, remote properties, and unpredictable weather sometimes influencing both the investigation and Goldy’s ability to do her job.
Recipes are integrated throughout the series and became closely associated with Davidson’s fiction. They are not simply an added marketing feature; cooking is fundamental to how Goldy thinks, works, supports her family, and connects with other people. Davidson eventually collected many dishes from the novels in Goldy’s Kitchen Cookbook, further emphasizing how completely the culinary material had become part of the fictional world.
The seventeen-book sequence concludes with The Whole Enchilada, but Goldy’s greatest development occurs gradually across the entire run. She begins as a woman rebuilding her independence through a precarious small business and becomes firmly established within her family and community. The murders provide each book with its immediate puzzle; Goldy’s changing life as mother, caterer, wife, friend, and increasingly practiced sleuth provides the series with its lasting shape.