Joanne Pence Books In Order

Publication Order of Angie Amalfi Books

Publication Order of Angie Amalfi Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Inspector Rebecca Mayfield Mystery Books

Publication Order of Ancient Secrets Books

Publication Order of Angie & Friends Food & Spirits Mysteries Books

Publication Order of The Cabin of Love and Magic Books

Publication Order of The Cook and Inspector Mysteries Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Anthologies

Joanne Pence who also goes by the pseudonym JoMarie Lodge is a bestselling an award-winning novelist who has written the “Angie Amalfi” and the “Rebecca Mayfield” mystery series. Between 1993 and 2006, she published fourteen titles in the Angie Amalfi series of novels. In addition to her mystery series of novels, she has also written suspense, fantasy, romantic suspense, contemporary romance, and historical fiction novels. Joanne was born in San Francisco, California, amidst the culinary excellence and cultural diversity of the city, which greatly influenced her future career. She went to the University of California Berkeley, where she was a Phi Beta Kappa key that graduated with a journalism degree. She has worked in operations analysis management in social security administration, and as magazine writer, and teacher in Japan. The series has won many awards over the years including Best Amateur Sleuth by Reviewers Choice Award, Romantic Suspense Golden Quill Award, and Romance Writers of America RITA Award among several others. She is an active member of the Romance Writers of America, Novelists Inc, and Sisters in Crime. She currently lives with her husband and children in Boise, Idaho, and spends much of her time writing her award-winning novels.

Joanne Pence had always been interested in writing and was writing from a very young age. She was the founder and writer of a gossip column in her high school paper, and quickly learned that it was the easiest way to become unpopular. Nonetheless, she thought that she was destined for a career in journalism and hence would go on to get her U.C. Berkeley masters in journalism. However, destiny thought otherwise and with marriage and taking care of kids confining her to the house, she took up fiction to write stories whose endings she could control. By 1993, she had published her first novel “Something Cooking” that featured a murder, a gorgeous homicide inspector, and a gourmet cook as the lead. Her debut was meant to be a standalone title but when the novel became so popular, her editor called her up and asked her to consider making it into a series. Over the four years to 2007, she wrote thirteen novels before taking a pause to write the standalone “The Da Vinci Cook”. Between 2007 and 2013, she took a break and came back with “Ancient Echoes” in 2013. Meanwhile, she was inundated with many fans of the Angie Amalfi series clamoring for an eccentric, loving character in the mold of Angie Amalfi. She decided to write a novel about “Inspector Rebecca Mayfield” that would become the Inspector Rebecca Mayfield mysteries. However, unlike Angie, Rebecca is a professional woman that has been toughing it out with men to become a high-ranking homicide detective of the San Francisco Police Department. To achieve what she has achieved, she has given up a lot in her life including a fiancé who never could bear having her out there in danger. Nonetheless, Angie while a more serious and darker character as compared to Amalfi, still has a good heart even if she has a tough exterior.

The Angie Amalfi mystery series of novels feature Angie Amalfi, an amateur sleuth, gourmet chef, and underemployed food writer. She is involved with Paavo Smith a homicide inspector of the San Francisco Police Division. The novels are a buffet of murder mystery amid Spanish and Italian desserts and entrees, courtesy of Angie Amalfi’s mixed Spanish and Italian heritage. As such, even as the novels follow Angie’s investigations of murder mysteries in her hometown, they come with an array of mouthwatering recipes that include French macarons, linzer torte, biscotti, cannoli, and tiramisu among many others. In some of the most delightful of cozy mysteries, Angie finds herself in the middle of several bizarre murder mysteries involving her business, her boyfriend, family, and friends. Most of the time her loved ones find themselves in jeopardy when they are saddled with a dead body. The killer often goes to great lengths to ensure that all evidence points to them as the killer, thus forcing Angie Amalfi into amateur sleuthing to save them. Angie usually works alongside several of her friends and her love interest and later lover, homicide inspector Paavo Smith. The novels are a mix of romance and mystery crime with some of the most delightful of recipes that could make also make them culinary mysteries.

“Something’s Cooking” is the excellent first novel of the Angie Amalfi series of novels by Joanne Pence. Angie Amalfi is food writer and gourmet cook with enough verve for two. However, things start going haywire for Amalfi when her biggest supplier of recipes for her weekly column is found dead. Angie is in danger as she thinks she has a stalker that may have been responsible for the first murder. However, there is one positive in the entire episode – the homicide police officer charged with investigating the case is one delectable dish named Paavo Smith. But with people falling like flies all around her, she knows that she may have to act fast before her goose gets cooked. The stakes are too high with even the detective bewildered by the cunning and brutality of the killer. Together they are taking on a lethal food fanatic, who has teamed up with some of the most vicious of drug smugglers who will do anything for money.

“Too Many Cooks” the second novel in the series opens to Angie getting herself a radio show job with a pompous third-rate chef. The job is the big break she has been waiting for and now she thinks she can grow her culinary career fast while dating her handsome new love Pavo Smith the homicide detective. However, things get complicated when a much envied and successful restaurateur turns up dead shocking the world and the culinary community. Investigations soon found that the man had been poisoned, even as the killers tried as much as possible to make it look like suicide. Someone wanted the man dead but as the investigations begin to bear fruit, another chef is killed throwing Angie and her detective boyfriend into a tailspin. The downside of the case is that it tends to interrupt the momentum of the romance between Detective Paavo Smith and Angie. While many cooks would never dream of taking up the sizzling case, Angie is never one to get out of the kitchen when it gets hot. Danger or no danger, she will pursue the killer to the bitter end and while at it get back her man.

2 Responses to “Joanne Pence”

1. Gloria E Chan: 2 years ago

   I just finished the first of the Amalfi series. I read it as e-book. The characters are believable and their emotional baggage are compelling.

   Reply
   • Kathy West: 2 years ago

     Love the Amalfi series. I have been waiting for years for another book in the series. Hopefully you will publish one soon? They are so enjoyable!

     Reply