Masters of Rome
historical fiction
Series · crime
Carmine Delmonico
The Carmine Delmonico series by Colleen McCullough has 5 books and is best read in publication order, starting with On, Off (2006).
- Books
- 5 books
- First published
- 2006
- Status
- completed
- Last checked
Start here: On, Off (2006) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The order the books were released — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
On, Off
Alternative text for cover: Cover of On, Off - Book 2:
Too Many Murders
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Too Many Murders - Book 3:
Naked Cruelty
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Naked Cruelty - Book 4:
The Prodigal Son
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Prodigal Son - Book 5:
Sins of the Flesh
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Sins of the Flesh
About the Carmine Delmonico series
Carmine Delmonico is a police captain in Holloman, Connecticut — a fictional Yale-adjacent university town McCullough built specifically for this series — investigating cases that repeatedly implicate the town's wealthy, insular academic and scientific elite. On, Off opens with a serial killer targeting young women connected to Chubb University (McCullough's stand-in for Yale) and dismembering their bodies in a way that points toward someone with genuine medical or research expertise, setting the template for a series that treats institutional privilege and scientific ambition as breeding grounds for murder as often as any conventional motive.
Written after McCullough completed Masters of Rome and largely concurrent with several of her later standalones, the five Delmonico novels are a late-career return to contemporary crime writing from an author who'd otherwise become known for historical and multigenerational fiction. Too Many Murders escalates into a Cold War-era espionage plot with multiple murders across a single day, while Naked Cruelty, The Prodigal Son and Sins of the Flesh keep circling back to Holloman's tangled web of Chubb professors, socialites and old-money families, with Carmine's own extended family increasingly drawn into the investigations as the series progresses. It's a tighter, more plot-driven read than Masters of Rome, closer in spirit to a classic police procedural, though McCullough's interest in institutional power and old-money dysfunction carries over from her historical fiction.
How to read this series
Publication order, starting with On, Off (2006). Carmine's investigative team, his relationships and his extended family all develop across the five books, and Too Many Murders in particular sets up character and institutional threads that continue through the remaining three, so this is a series better read start to finish than sampled individually. It's a complete, five-book run published between 2006 and 2013, with no additional entries after McCullough's death in 2015.
Frequently asked questions
How many Carmine Delmonico books are there?
Five, published between 2006 and 2013, starting with On, Off.
What order should I read the Carmine Delmonico books in?
Publication order. Carmine's team and family relationships develop across the series, particularly from Too Many Murders onward.
Is the Carmine Delmonico series connected to Masters of Rome?
No shared characters or setting — Delmonico is a contemporary Connecticut police procedural, while Masters of Rome is historical fiction set in the ancient Roman Republic. Both are by Colleen McCullough.
Where is the Carmine Delmonico series set?
The fictional town of Holloman, Connecticut, home to Chubb University, McCullough's fictionalized version of Yale.
Is there a sixth Carmine Delmonico book?
No. The series ended with Sins of the Flesh in 2013, two years before Colleen McCullough's death in 2015.
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Reading order last verified .