Holly Barker
thriller
Series · thriller
Kovac and Liska
The Kovac and Liska series by Tami Hoag has 7 books and is best read in publication order, starting with Ashes to Ashes (1999).
- Books
- 6 novels + 1 novella
- First published
- 1999
- Status
- hiatus
- Last checked
Start here: Ashes to Ashes (1999) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The order the books were released — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
Ashes to Ashes
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Ashes to Ashes - Book 2:
Dust to Dust
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Dust to Dust - Book 3:
Prior Bad Acts
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Prior Bad Acts - Book 4:
The 1st Victim
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The 1st Victim - Book 5:
The 9th Girl
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The 9th Girl - Book 6:
Cold Cold Heart
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Cold Cold Heart - Book 7:
The Bitter Season
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Bitter Season
About the Kovac and Liska series
Minneapolis homicide detectives Sam Kovac -- an old-school, cynical veteran -- and Nikki Liska -- a sharper-tongued single mother balancing the job with custody battles -- work as a partnership across Tami Hoag's longest-running suspense series. Ashes to Ashes (1999) and Dust to Dust (2000) launch the pair against a serial killer targeting Minneapolis women; after a six-year gap, Prior Bad Acts (2006) returns them to a case built around a legal technicality that frees a suspect, and the series then accelerates through the 2010s with The 9th Girl (2013) -- bridged by the shorter novella The 1st Victim, which introduces the same case from New Year's Day -- Cold Cold Heart (2015), and The Bitter Season (2016), in which Liska's own son becomes entangled in a cold case Kovac is investigating.
The series is known for its unusually grounded, procedural feel and the prickly, lived-in professional partnership between its two leads, sustained across nearly two decades of publication.
Frequently asked questions
How many Kovac and Liska books are there?
Seven entries: six novels (Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust, Prior Bad Acts, The 9th Girl, Cold Cold Heart, The Bitter Season) plus the bridging novella The 1st Victim.
Do I need to read The 1st Victim before The 9th Girl?
It's not required, but it introduces the same serial-killer case from an earlier point and is generally read first by series completists.
Is the series ongoing?
No new Kovac and Liska novel has been published since The Bitter Season (2016); Hoag's more recent work has gone into the Broussard and Fourcade series instead.
If you like the Kovac and Liska series
Reading order last verified .