My Process of Figuring Out Linda Castillo’s Book Order
So I’ve been binge-reading Linda Castillo’s Kate Burkholder thrillers lately – you know, those Amish country murder mysteries? Last night I hit a wall when I realized I’d accidentally skipped book #4 because her titles don’t have numbers on the covers. Pulled out my messy stack of paperbacks thinking “man, I need to sort this crap out once and for all.”
Started with the simplest thing first: flipped every book over to check publication years. Felt like a detective examining evidence – squinting at those tiny copyright pages till my eyes crossed. Bad news though – turns out later editions don’t always show original publish dates, so my copy of Sworn to Silence just said “reprinted 2020.” Useless.
Then I tried searching online from my phone while eating cold pizza. Every dang book listing site showed different results! Some mixed up standalones with the series, others listed later releases before earlier ones. Kept getting distracted by spoilers in synopses too – nearly threw my phone when I accidentally read who dies in A Gathering of Secrets.
Finally had a lightbulb moment: the dedication pages! Grabbed all 14 books and spread them across the living room floor. Started opening each one to where authors thank people. Bingo! Castillo always mentions “my editor for seeing this story through” followed by the previous book title. Took me two hours cross-referencing these like some literary CSI agent.
Made my ultimate checklist after comparing publication years against those dedications:
- Sworn to Silence (found dedication calling it “the first Kate & Painters Mill story”)
- Pray for Silence (“continuing Kate’s journey”)
- Breaking Silence (“third time with these characters”)
- Gone Missing (dedication said “after three books…”)
- Her Last Breath (refers back to Gone Missing)
- The Dead Will Tell (calls itself “Kate’s sixth investigation”)
Kept going like this all the way through the 2024 release. My back hurt from crouching on the floor, but finally had the complete sequence nailed. Ended up typing it into my Notes app for next time. Moral of the story? Never trust bookstore websites – your physical copies usually hide the answers if you look close enough.
