Linda Castillo Books in Order
Linda Castillo is an American crime fiction author and the New York Times and USA Today bestselling creator of the Kate Burkholder police procedural series set in Ohio’s Amish country that has sold over four million copies worldwide and been translated into fourteen languages. In 2024, she became a double Edgar Award winner with the Best Short Story for Hallowed Ground and the G.P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award for An Evil Heart.
This page lists all Linda Castillo books in order, including the full Kate Burkholder series, plus her earlier romantic suspense series and standalone novels.
Latest Linda Castillo Books

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Kate Burkholder Series (Books in Order)
The Kate Burkholder series follows former Amish chief of police Kate Burkholder, who returns to Painters Mill, a small Ohio town where the Amish and English communities have lived together peacefully for generations. Due to her growing up in the Amish community, she has access to a close-knit community with many secrets, some of which include murder, disappearances, and other crimes that are not easy to solve.
Reading Order
- Sworn to Silence, 2009
- Pray for Silence, 2010
- Breaking Silence, 2011
- Gone Missing, 2011
- Long Lost, 2013
- Her Last Breath, 2013
- The Dead Will Tell, 2014
- A Hidden Secret, 2015
- After the Storm, 2015
- Seeds of Deception, 2016
- Among the Wicked, 2016
- Only the Lucky, 2017
- Down a Dark Road, 2017
- In Dark Company, 2018
- A Gathering of Secrets, 2018
- In Plain Sight, 2019
- Shamed, 2019
- The Pact, 2020
- Outsider, 2020
- Fallen, 2021
- Blood Moon, 2022
- The Hidden One, 2022
- Hallowed Ground, 2023
- An Evil Heart, 2023
- Dark Storm Rising, 2024
- The Burning, 2024
- Rage, 2025
Kate Burkholder Short Collections
- Kate Burkholder: Three Novellas, 2016
- A Simple Murder, 2021
- A Dark Path, 2026
High Country Heroes (Books in Order)
The High Country Heroes series is an early Harlequin Intrigue romantic suspense trilogy set around the Colorado Rockies. Each book brings together a hero with a dangerous job and a woman he has to protect or work together with.
Reading Order
- A Hero to Hold, 2001
- Just A Little Bit Dangerous, 2002
- A Cry In The Night, 2002
Operation: Midnight Series (Books in Order)
The Operation: Midnight series is a five-book Harlequin Intrigue romantic suspense series following agents of MIDNIGHT, a fictional covert federal unit. Each book features another protagonist who is either a deep-cover operative, a former bodyguard, or a cowboy, in different missions while trying to protect the women they love.
Reading Order
- Operation: Midnight Tango, 2005
- Operation: Midnight Escape, 2005
- Operation: Midnight Guardian, 2006
- Operation: Midnight Rendezvous, 2006
- Operation: Midnight Cowboy, 2007
Series Contributed To
- Remember the Night, 2000 (Expectantly Yours series)
- Uncharted Waters, 2003 (Family Secrets series)
- The Phoenix Encounter / The Secret Encounter, 2003 (Family Secrets series)
- Operation: Midnight Tango, 2005 (Safe Haven series)
- A Baby Before Dawn / Safe Before Dawn, 2007 (Lights Out series)
Standalone Novels
- Remember the Night, 2000
- Lay Down the Law (also titled Cops and … Lovers?), 2001
- Midnight Run, 2003
- The Shadow Side, 2003
- Fade to Red, 2004
- Dead Reckoning, 2005
- Depth Perception, 2005
- A Whisper in the Dark, 2006
- In the Dead of the Night, 2007
- Overkill, 2007
Short Story Anthologies
Linda Castillo Biography
Linda Castillo is an American crime fiction and romantic suspense author best known for the Kate Burkholder mystery series, set in Ohio’s Amish country. She has published close to 20 Kate Burkholder novels since the debut in 2009.
Official website: lindacastillo.com
Born in 1960 in a small farming community in Western Ohio (which is also the setting for her Kate Burkholder series), Linda Castillo knew from an early age that she was meant to write novels. She wrote her first story at the age of 13.
She began her publishing career writing romance and romantic suspense, first with Harlequin Intrigue with the High Country Heroes trilogy and the Operation: Midnight series, and with standalone novels for Berkley Sensation, including The Perfect Victim (2002), The Shadow Side (2003), Midnight Run (2003), Fade to Red (2004), Depth Perception (2005), and Dead Reckoning (2005). During this period she was a RITA nominee and won the Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence and the Holt Medallion.
With Sworn to Silence in 2009, she changed to writing crime fiction with the debut of the Kate Burkholder series, which found an immediate audience and became one of the most consistent police procedural franchises in American crime fiction, appearing regularly on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. The books have sold over four million copies worldwide and been translated into fourteen languages.
At the 2024 Edgar Awards, Linda Castillo won both Best Short Story for Hallowed Ground and the Sue Grafton Memorial Award for An Evil Heart. She lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, whom she met in 1985. In her spare time, she loves riding horses on her property.
Linda Castillo Adaptations
- Sworn to Silence – adapted into the Lifetime television movie An Amish Murder (2013), starring Neve Campbell as Kate Burkholder
Linda Castillo Awards and Honors
Awards
- Hallowed Ground – Edgar Award for Best Short Story (2024)
- An Evil Heart – The G.P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award (2024)
- Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence and the Holt Medallion
Nominations and Shortlists
- Her Last Breath – ITW / International Thriller Writers Award for Best Hardcover Novel (2014)
- Shamed – Edgar Award (Sue Grafton Memorial Award) (2020)
- Rage – Sue Grafton Memorial Award (2026)







@Carol, yes, it’s better to read the series in order. The Linda Castillo books are better enjoyed this way.
Should I read the Kate Burkholder books in order? I’ve already read #6 before I found out it’s part of a series.
Yes the characters lives are changing and building from the book before
Just recently introduced to the series and I love them !
I’ve listened to as audio books through my local library. So well narrated you fall right into the stories, which of course are are amazing
I have read every one of Linda’s Kate series. I need to read one more, which is only ebook. I look forward to her next Kate series. I just can’t put the book down once I start reading. Excellent. She is the best author ever. I have read many books in my life but nobody as great as Mrs. Castillo.
So far I have read 6 of Castillo’s Kate B. series. Love them all! Please write more of them. I am running out.
More, More More Kate Burkholder series, I am enthralled by Linda’s books, I have everyone and can’t wait for the next one to come out. Thank you
Can I get A Hidden Secret in book form? I do not own a kindle.
Unfortunately no, because it is a short eBook, not a full novel. These short stories are always only published in eBook format, unless the author decides to bundle one together with the next book as part of a bonus.
would like to see more of the Amish series with Kate Burkholder. One of my favorite!
Would like to see more of the Kate Burkholter series. One of my favorite!