Goldy Schulz Books in Order (Diane Mott Davidson)

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Few cozy heroines make you as hungry as Goldy Schulz. Diane Mott Davidson’s caterer runs Goldilocks’ Catering, “Where Everything Is Just Right!”, out of her kitchen in Aspen Meadow, a small mountain town outside Denver. She juggles party menus, a growing son and a famously difficult ex-husband, and somehow a body keeps turning up between the appetizers and dessert.

The series started in 1990 and helped kick off the culinary cozy boom that gave us Hannah Swensen, the Coffeehouse Mysteries and so many more. The books are also full of real recipes, so plenty of readers keep a copy in the kitchen as well as on the nightstand. Here is every Goldy book in order, with a short, spoiler-free note on each, plus where to start and what to read next.

Goldy Schulz Books in Order

1. Catering to Nobody (1990). Goldy caters a funeral reception, a guest is poisoned, and the authorities close her business while they investigate. Davidson’s debut was nominated for both the Agatha and Anthony awards for best first novel.
2. Dying for Chocolate (1992). Goldy has taken a live-in cooking job at a wealthy household, and a man she has been dating dies in a car crash she cannot accept as an accident. Expect plenty of chocolate, as the title promises.
3. The Cereal Murders (1993). A dinner for seniors at an elite prep school ends with a student found dead, and Goldy is far too close to the scene. A sharp look at college-admissions pressure that still feels current.
4. The Last Suppers (1994). Goldy’s wedding day to homicide investigator Tom Schulz begins with a murder at the church and a missing groom. One of the most emotional entries, and an important one for the series’ relationships.
5. Killer Pancake (1995). A cosmetics company hires Goldy to cater a banquet, and a makeup demonstrator ends up dead. Light, funny and a little satirical about the beauty business.
6. The Main Corpse (1996). A catering contract with a financial firm looks like a lifeline for Goldy’s business until one of the partners vanishes. A good look at money and ambition in a small mountain town.
7. The Grilling Season (1997). Goldy’s ex-husband, known to everyone simply as “the Jerk,” becomes a murder suspect, and Goldy has to decide how far she will go to find the truth. A good one for readers who like family drama with their mystery.
8. Prime Cut (1998). Goldy takes on a fashion photo shoot in the mountains, and a body turns up nearby. Lots of behind-the-scenes kitchen stress that any home cook will recognize.
9. Tough Cookie (2000). Goldy is filming a TV cooking segment at a ski resort when a fatal “accident” happens on the slopes. A wintry, snowy read for a cold weekend.
10. Sticks & Scones (2001). A castle that was shipped stone by stone to Aspen Meadow hosts a run of Goldy’s events. The setting alone makes this one a fan favorite.
11. Chopping Spree (2002). Goldy books a party for an upscale shopping club at a local mall, and an old friend is found dead. A fun pick for anyone who has ever been dragged through a holiday sale.
12. Double Shot (2004). This time the Jerk is the victim, and Goldy is the prime suspect. A turning point for the series, so it is worth reading the earlier books first.
13. Dark Tort (2006). Goldy has a steady contract cooking breakfasts and meetings for a local law firm, and one night she finds one of its paralegals dead. Office politics meets cozy kitchen.
14. Sweet Revenge (2007). Goldy caters the Aspen Meadow library’s holiday breakfast and thinks she spots someone who should be long gone. Our pick for a December read, with a library setting book lovers will enjoy.
15. Fatally Flaky (2009). Goldy is planning a reception for a very demanding bride at a mountain spa when a local doctor dies in a suspicious crash, and she goes undercover to find out more. Goldy’s godfather Jack is a lively addition to the cast.
16. Crunch Time (2011). Goldy opens her home to her chef friend Yolanda, who is hiding from a dangerous ex, and a private investigator connected to Yolanda is killed. A tense entry with a warm story of friendship at its center.
17. The Whole Enchilada (2013). A friend dies soon after a birthday party Goldy catered, and Goldy refuses to believe it was just an accident with medication. The most recent Goldy novel to date.

Bonus: Goldy’s Kitchen Cookbook: Cooking, Writing, Family, Life (2015) gathers recipes from the series along with Davidson’s own stories about writing the books. It is not a mystery, but fans love it.

Publication years are first US editions, checked against the publisher’s series page, FantasticFiction and library catalogs. Some sites (including Wikipedia) list books 2–14 one year later, which match the paperback dates. The reading order is the same everywhere.

Meet Goldy and Her Circle

Goldy starts the series as a divorced single mother trying to keep her catering business afloat in a town where everyone knows everyone. She is warm, stubborn and a little reckless when someone she cares about is in trouble. Early books call her Goldy Bear; she becomes Goldy Schulz after marrying Tom Schulz, the patient homicide investigator who becomes her partner in more ways than one.

Her son Arch is about eleven when the series begins, and readers get to watch him grow up. Goldy’s best friend Marla is wealthy, funny and generous, and she also happens to be another ex-wife of Goldy’s former husband, Dr. John Richard Korman. The two women bond over their shared low opinion of him, and their friendship is one of the best things in the books. A young helper named Julian, who joins Goldy’s life in The Cereal Murders, becomes her trusted kitchen assistant.

Do the Books Really Include Recipes?

Yes. Recipes appear right in the novels, usually tied to whatever Goldy is cooking at that point in the story, so you can make the dishes you have just read about. If you would rather have them all in one place, pick up Goldy’s Kitchen Cookbook. For more mysteries with recipes, see our Hannah Swensen mysteries in order.

Do You Need to Read Them in Order?

Each mystery is solved by the end of its book, so you can enjoy any single title. But Goldy’s family life changes a lot over the series. Her relationship with Tom, Arch growing from a boy into a young man and the long saga of the Jerk all build from book to book, and Double Shot in particular lands much harder if you know the history. We recommend reading in order, at least through book 12.

Where Should I Start?

Catering to Nobody (1990) is the natural first stop. It introduces Goldy, Arch, Marla and Tom, and it shows exactly what the series does best: small-town secrets, a busy kitchen and a heroine who will not give up. If you want a holiday read instead, Sweet Revenge works well in December, and Tough Cookie is perfect for a snowy weekend.

If You Like the Goldy Schulz Mysteries

Goldy’s kitchen is a great gateway to the whole culinary cozy shelf. Try the Hannah Swensen mysteries for small-town baking, the Coffeehouse Mysteries for a New York coffee bar with recipes, the Tea Shop Mysteries for Charleston tea and scones, and the Cupcake Bakery Mysteries for something sweet and lighthearted.

FAQ

How many Goldy Schulz books are there?
There are 17 novels, from Catering to Nobody (1990) to The Whole Enchilada (2013), plus the 2015 companion Goldy’s Kitchen Cookbook.

Is there a new Goldy Schulz book coming?
Not that we know of. The Whole Enchilada (2013) is the most recent novel, and no new title has been announced as of October 2026. We will update this page if that changes.

Why is it sometimes called the Goldy Bear series?
Goldy’s last name is Bear in the early books. The series is now usually sold as the Goldy Schulz culinary mysteries, after the name she takes when she marries Tom, so you will see both names on covers and in libraries.

Where are the Goldy mysteries set?
In Aspen Meadow, a fictional mountain town in Colorado west of Denver. It is often compared to Evergreen, Colorado, the author’s longtime home.

Which Goldy recipe have you actually tried at home? Follow The Teacup Sleuth on Facebook for new series guides, reading lists and cozy mystery chat, and tell us your favorite Goldy book!

Sources

For reading order and publication years on this page our source of record is Penguin Random House’s Goldy Bear Culinary Mystery series page. We checked the newest entries on this page against it on 27 October 2026. Books that are announced but have no confirmed release date are marked as such rather than given a year. If anything here is out of date, tell us in the comments and we will fix it.

Keep reading: bakery cozy mysteries · cozy mysteries with recipes · Hannah Swensen in order · every cozy series in order (full index)