Shannon Baker Books in Order

Shannon Baker is an American crime mystery author best known for the Kate Fox series, a long-running small-town police procedural series following a sheriff in the Nebraska Sandhills. She has twice been named Writer of the Year by the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers (2014 and 2017), and her standalone thriller The Desert Behind Me won the 2019 New Mexico-Arizona Book Award.

This page lists all Shannon Baker books in order, including the Kate Fox, Nora Abbott, and Michaela Sanchez series, her standalone novels, and short stories.

Latest Shannon Baker Books

Scorched Line
Scorched Line (Kate Fox #12), March 2026
South Forty
South Forty (Kate Fox #13), January 2027

Nora Abbott Series (Books in Order)

The Nora Abbott series follows environmental activist and ski resort owner Nora Abbott who is pulled into murders related to the landscapes and communities of the American Southwest. Each book is set in another place including Flagstaff, Boulder, and Moab, and it incorporates elements of Native American culture in the stories. Each book in this series has two published titles, the original Midnight Ink editions and later reissued versions. Both titles are listed below.

Reading Order

  1. Height of Deception, 2013 (also titled Tainted Mountain)
  2. Skies of Fire, 2014 (also titled Broken Trust)
  3. Canyon of Lies, 2015 (also titled Tattered Legacy)

Kate Fox Series (Books in Order)

The Kate Fox series follows Grand County, Nebraska sheriff Kate Fox as she solves crimes in the rural Sandhills cattle country where she grew up. The series opens with Kate as a rancher’s wife, after which she divorces, runs for sheriff against her ex-husband, wins the position, and continues working as the county’s chief law enforcement officer. The Sandhills setting is remote, tightly knit, with strong ranch and Indigenous community involved in the cases.

Reading Order

  1. Stripped Bare, 2016
  2. Close Enough, 2017
  3. Dark Signal, 2017
  4. Bitter Rain, 2018
  5. Easy Mark, 2021
  6. Broken Ties, 2022
  7. Exit Wounds, 2022
  8. Double Back, 2023
  9. Bull’s Eye, 2024
  10. Close Range, 2024
  11. Taking Stock, 2025
  12. Killer Flock, 2025
  13. Scorched Line, 2026
  14. South Forty, 2027

Michaela Sanchez Series (Books in Order)

The Michaela Sanchez series follows Arizona Rangers officer Michaela Sanchez, a rookie FBI agent who investigates crimes around the Arizona border that often are related to her own family’s painful history.

Reading Order

  1. Echoes in the Sand, 2019
  2. The Desert’s Share, 2020

Standalone Novels

Anthologies

Shannon Baker Biography

Shannon Baker is an American mystery and thriller author whose work includes the Kate Fox series, the Nora Abbott series, the Michaela Sanchez series, and standalone psychological thrillers. She has published more than twenty books since her debut in 2010.
Official website: shannonbakerbooks.com

Shannon Baker was born in Garden Grove, California and studied business in college before an English professor pushed her to start writing. At 21, she married a rancher and moved to the Nebraska Sandhills, where she lived for nearly two decades. This is the very setting and location that the Kate Fox novels also have. She began writing during those years, starting with short stories and a humor column for a regional newspaper before moving into fiction. Her first book, Ashes of the Red Heifer, was published by a small press in 2010.

The Nora Abbott series, published by Midnight Ink, launched in 2013 and it was inspired by Shannon Baker’s time living in Flagstaff, where she worked for the Grand Canyon Trust. The Kate Fox series followed in 2016, published by Tor/Forge and later Severn River Publishing, and so far it’s her longest series. The author has also served on the boards of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, and Western Writers of America. Additionally, she has been a featured keynote speaker for Friends of CU Libraries.

Currently, Shannon Baker lives in Tucson Arizona, but she often travels to Boulder, which she considers a second home.

Shannon Baker Awards and Honors

Awards

  • Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Writer of the Year (2014)
  • Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Writer of the Year (2017–18)
  • The Desert Behind Me – New Mexico-Arizona Book Award, Best Fiction: Thriller/Suspense (2019)

Nominations and Shortlists

  • Height of Deception (aka Tainted Mountain) — New Mexico-Arizona Book Award, Best Fiction: Mystery/Suspense (2013)

Edited by

Marika

Founder of Mystery Sequels, a reference site focused on listing mystery and thriller books in the correct reading order. I maintain and update the site’s bibliographies as new titles are released, ensuring accuracy and consistency across author and series pages.

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One Comment

  1. I love your books especially the Kate Fox series. I look forward to the next book. Please keep on writing. I find myself finding reasons to travel so I can listen to them on in my vehicle.
    I feel as if I am right there with Kate everytime.

    Thank you for the adventure.

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