Kathryn Dance

About the Kathryn Dance series

Kathryn Dance is a California Bureau of Investigation agent and kinesics expert — a specialist in reading body language and interrogation who solves cases less through forensic science than through watching how people lie. Jeffery Deaver introduced her as a supporting character in the Lincoln Rhyme novel The Cold Moon before spinning her into her own series with The Sleeping Doll in 2007, giving him a protagonist whose investigative method is the deliberate inverse of Rhyme's: Dance works through human psychology and live interviews rather than physical evidence and a lab.

Set against the Monterey, California coastline rather than Rhyme's New York, the series follows Dance through cases involving cult leaders, and a killer who orchestrates crimes through viral internet content in XO, which also features a substantial Lincoln Rhyme crossover appearance. Deaver's trademark late-book twist endings and meticulous procedural research carry over from the Rhyme books, filtered through Dance's behavioral-analysis lens. Fans of the Lincoln Rhyme series who want the same puzzle-box plotting from a different investigative angle are the natural audience.

How to read this series

Publication order, starting with The Sleeping Doll (2007). Dance first appears as a supporting character in the Lincoln Rhyme novel The Cold Moon (2006), so reading that first adds context but isn't required. XO (2012) is a direct crossover with Lincoln Rhyme, who plays a significant supporting role — it's catalogued on this site under both series.