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crime fiction
Series · crime
Carmine Delmonico
The Carmine Delmonico series by Colleen McCullough has 5 known books (5 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with On, Off (2006).
- Books
- 5 known books (5 novels)
- Published
- 5
- First published
- 2006
- Status
- completed
- Shelved under
- Mystery & Crime
- Last checked
Start here: On, Off (2006) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
On, Off
Colleen McCullough opened the Carmine Delmonico series in May 2006 with On, Off, introducing the Holloman, Connecticut police captain investigating a serial killer targeting young women connected to Chubb University -- McCullough's fictional Yale stand-in -- and dismembering their bodies with apparent medical expertise. It runs 392 pages.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of On, Off - Book 2:
Too Many Murders
Too Many Murders, the second book, followed in 2009 at 416 pages -- the longest entry in the series -- escalating into a Cold War-era espionage plot with multiple murders across a single day.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Too Many Murders - Book 3:
Naked Cruelty
Naked Cruelty came out in 2010 at 393 pages, just a year after Too Many Murders, circling back to Holloman's tangled web of Chubb professors, socialites and old-money families that runs through the series.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Naked Cruelty - Book 4:
The Prodigal Son
The Prodigal Son, the fourth novel, was published in 2012 at 305 pages -- the shortest book in the series so far -- continuing McCullough's late-career return to police-procedural crime writing after Masters of Rome.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Prodigal Son - Book 5:
Sins of the Flesh
Sins of the Flesh closes the series in 2013 at 315 pages, a year after The Prodigal Son, drawing Carmine's own extended family further into Holloman's institutional power and old-money dysfunction as the series' final case.
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.
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.
If you like the Carmine Delmonico series
Reading order last verified .