Tess Gerritsen Books in Order: Every Series & Standalone

Looking for Tess Gerritsen books in order? Gerritsen’s bibliography can get tricky because she’s written several different kinds of books: Rizzoli & Isles crime thrillers, Martini Club spy thrillers, older romantic suspense novels, medical thrillers, short stories, anthologies, and reprint collections that can make her bibliography look bigger than her original book list really is.

The simplest place to start is The Surgeon, the first Rizzoli & Isles book. That’s Gerritsen’s best-known series and the one most readers are usually looking for. For a newer spy-thriller series, start with The Spy Coast. For her older medical thrillers and standalones, I’ve separated those below so you can jump straight to the kind of book you want.

Jump to:

• Where to Start with Tess Gerritsen Books
• Rizzoli & Isles Books in Order
• Martini Club Books in Order
• Tess Gerritsen Standalone Novels
• Tavistock Family Books
• Short Stories, Anthologies, and Reprint Collections
• Rizzoli & Isles TV Show
• Who is Tess Gerritsen?

Where to Start with Tess Gerritsen Books

Most readers should start with The Surgeon. It introduces Jane Rizzoli and launches Gerritsen’s most popular series, even though Maura Isles becomes more central starting with The Apprentice.

The Rizzoli & Isles books do have individual cases, so you can technically read some of them out of order. I still recommend publication order because the character relationships, personal history, and long-running arcs work better that way.

For a newer starting point, use The Spy Coast. That begins Gerritsen’s Martini Club series, which follows retired CIA operative Maggie Bird and has a very different feel from Rizzoli & Isles.

For Gerritsen’s standalones, I’d choose based on the type of book you want. Harvest, Life Support, Bloodstream, and Gravity are the cleanest path into her medical-thriller era, while the earlier books lean more toward romantic suspense.

Rizzoli & Isles Books in Order

The Rizzoli & Isles series follows Boston detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles through a long run of crime thrillers. Read these in publication order for the smoothest experience.

1. The Surgeon (2001)
2. The Apprentice (2002)
3. The Sinner (2003)
4. Body Double (2004)
5. Vanish (2005)
6. The Mephisto Club (2006)
7. The Keepsake (2008)
8. Ice Cold (2010)
9. Freaks (2011) (Short Story)
10. The Silent Girl (2011)
11. John Doe (2012) (Short Story)
12. Last to Die (2012)
13. Die Again (2014)
14. I Know a Secret (2017)
15. Listen to Me (2022)

Martini Club Books in Order

The Martini Club is Gerritsen’s newer thriller series. It follows Maggie Bird, a retired CIA operative living in Maine, and the former spies who gather with her as the Martini Club.

1. The Spy Coast (2023)
2. The Summer Guests (2025)
3. The Shadow Friends (2026)

The Martini Club books are separate from Rizzoli & Isles, so you can start this series without reading Gerritsen’s earlier crime novels first.

Tess Gerritsen Standalone Novels

Gerritsen’s standalone books move across romantic suspense, medical thrillers, historical mystery, and psychological suspense. They do not need to be read in connection with Rizzoli & Isles or Martini Club.

1. Adventure’s Mistress (1985) (Out of Print)
2. Love’s Masquerade (1986) (Out of Print)
3. Call After Midnight (1987)
4. Under the Knife (1990)
5. Never Say Die (1992)
6. Whistleblower (1992)
7. Presumed Guilty (1993)
8. Girl Missing (1994)
9. Keeper of the Bride (1996)
10. Harvest (1996)
11. Life Support (1997)
12. Bloodstream (1998)
13. Gravity (1999)
14. The Bone Garden (2007)
15. Playing with Fire (2015)
16. The Shape of Night (2019)
17. Choose Me (with Gary Braver) (2021)

Tavistock Family Books

The Tavistock Family books are connected romantic suspense novels from Gerritsen’s earlier career.

1. In Their Footsteps (1994)
2. Thief of Hearts (1995)

Short Stories, Anthologies, and Reprint Collections

Gerritsen has also contributed to anthologies, collaborative collections, and reprint editions. These are useful for completionists, but they are not where I’d start with her books.

Anthologies and Collections with Tess Gerritsen Contributions

1. In the Shadow of the Master (2009) (Essay Contribution)
2. Killer Year: Stories to Die For… (2008)
3. No Rest for the Dead (2011)
4. Fourteen Days (2024)
5. Birds of Prey: The Harlan Coben Challenge (2022 audio; 2026 hardcover) (“The Coffin Bearer”)

2-in-1 and Omnibus Reprint Collections

These editions collect earlier Gerritsen titles, sometimes paired with books by other authors. They belong here as reprints, not as new standalone Gerritsen novels.

1. Perfect Timing (2001) (Includes Presumed Guilty by Tess Gerritsen)
2. Murder and Mayhem (2006) (Includes In Their Footsteps, Under the Knife, and Call After Midnight)
3. On the Edge (2021) (Includes Keeper of the Bride by Tess Gerritsen and Undercover Avenger by Rita Herron)
4. No Reason to Trust (2021) (Includes Never Say Die by Tess Gerritsen and Witness Protection by Barb Han)

Rizzoli & Isles TV Show

The Rizzoli & Isles books were adapted into a TNT television series starring Angie Harmon as Jane Rizzoli and Sasha Alexander as Maura Isles. The show premiered on July 12, 2010, and ran for seven seasons.

The TV version follows the same basic pairing as the books: Rizzoli is the Boston homicide detective, and Isles is the medical examiner. However, the show has its own tone and continuity, so I’d treat it as a companion to the books rather than a replacement for them.

The series aired 105 episodes, which gives readers plenty to watch after working through the books.

Who is Tess Gerritsen?

Tess Gerritsen is an American mystery and suspense author, a retired physician, and the creator of the Rizzoli & Isles series. Her medical background is one reason her thrillers often feel so grounded, especially when her stories move into autopsies, hospitals, anatomy, or forensic detail.

Gerritsen was born in San Diego and earned an anthropology degree from Stanford before going on to medical school at the University of California, San Francisco. She later practiced medicine in Honolulu before becoming a full-time writer.

Her early books leaned toward romantic suspense, but Harvest helped move her into medical-thriller territory. Then The Surgeon launched Jane Rizzoli and opened the door to the crime series that became her best-known work.

That range is what makes Gerritsen’s reading order a little more complicated than it first looks. She’s more than a Rizzoli & Isles author. Her bibliography also includes medical thrillers, spy thrillers, romantic suspense, standalone novels, and anthology work.

Looking for similar books in order?

If you want more thriller authors and reading-order guides like this one, start with my Thriller Books in Order index.

• Books in Order (Full Index)
• Karin Slaughter Books in Order
• Kathy Reichs Books in Order
• Louise Penny Books in Order