Jonathan Santlofer Books in Order
At a Glance
Jonathan Santlofer is an American author well known for his two mystery series: Kate McKinnon, which includes 3 books, and Nate Rodriguez, which includes 2 books.
I’ve first heard about this author several years ago when I got in the mail (through an international book exchange) The Death Artist, in a hardcover edition.I still have this book at home, even after almost 10 since receiving it.
Sadly the author hasn’t written too many novels since then, which is a pity because his two series have lots of loyal fans.
Jonathan Santlofer is also an established artist, and if you check out his website, you can find very beautiful drawings, sketches, paintings, carvings and prints.
Jonathan Santlofer was born in 1946 in New York City. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Boston University in 1967. Next, he attended the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn from where he got his Master of Fine Arts degree in 1969.
Besides being a well-established author, Jonathan Santlofer is also a prominent artist. He started exhibiting his paintings for the first time in 1977. After a fire destroyed most of his abstract work from the past five years in 1989 at a Chicago gallery, he moved for a while to Rome in Italy where he began learning from the old masters of the Renaissance, studying classical painting and sculpture.
When he returned home from Italy, his art was more complex and he started to include collages of photographic images and objects in his pieces. This way he would combine the abstract with the real in his work.
During this time he also started becoming interested in writing books. In an interview, he mentioned that what he wrote in his novels was real except for the murders.
Since 1977, Jonathan Santlofer took part in over one hundred group and solo exhibitions in several countries including the US, Italy, and Japan.
Santlofer considers himself an artist first and an author second. For him, the written word merely expresses visual images. He is a verbal artist, expressing in words what images would otherwise convey. That’s why in his book crime exists. Art is becoming the subject of crime, where crime is his medium of choice.
The first Jonathan Santlofer book was The Death Artist, in which he used many art pieces. The book focuses on series of killings in which the murders are staged to resemble classic paintings.
For example, one of the victims is staged to resemble a Pablo Picasso portrait. She had her face slashed. Also, the killer loves sending collages to his next victims as contain clues about the planned crimes he intends to commit.
Kate McKinnon Rothstein is a retired cop who is now an art historian, and due to her knowledge in both fields is asked to help with solving the crime.
Here are the Jonathan Santlofer books in order for his two popular mystery series.
Kate McKinnon Series In Order
- The Death Artist (Kate McKinnon #1), 2002
- Color Blind (Kate McKinnon #2), 2004
- The Killing Art (Kate McKinnon #3), 2005
Nate Rodriguez Series In Order
- Anatomy of Fear (Nate Rodriguez #1), 2007
- The Murder Notebook (Nate Rodriguez #2), 2008
Short Stories and Anthologies by Jonathan Santlofer
With 5 main books published, the author has also released several short stories which were included in various mystery anthologies, the latest one published in 2018 with the title It Occurs to Me That I Am America.
- The Dark End Of The Street,2010
- L.A. Noire, 2010
- New Jersey Joir, 2011
- The Rich And The Dead, 2011
- No Rest For The Dead, 2011
- Inherit The Dead, 2013
- The Marijuana Chronicles, 2013
- Dark City Lights, 2015
- It Occurs to Me That I Am America: New Stories and Art, 2018