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Series · thriller

Win Garano

by Patricia Cornwell

The Win Garano series by Patricia Cornwell has 2 books and is best read in publication order, starting with At Risk (2006).

Books
2 books
First published
2006
Status
completed
Last checked

Start here: At Risk (2006) — then read straight through in publication order.

Cover of At Risk, the first book in Win Garano

Reading order

The order the books were released — the default way to read the series.

  1. At Risk

    Novel

    View book

  2. The Front

    Novel

    View book

About the Win Garano series

Win Garano is a young, mixed-race Massachusetts state investigator whose ambitious, image-conscious boss, District Attorney Monique Lamont, keeps assigning him cases designed to advance her own political career as much as to solve crimes. In At Risk (2006), Lamont pulls Garano off his forensics training to front a splashy cold-case initiative, using new DNA technology to reopen a twenty-year-old Tennessee murder — a case that turns out to be far more dangerous, and far more personally entangling, than the publicity stunt Lamont intended. The Front (2008) sends Garano into a declining Watertown, Massachusetts neighborhood as the public face of another of Lamont's crime-fighting initiatives, where the case again outgrows the political theater built around it.

A shorter, punchier pair of novels than Cornwell's Scarpetta books, the Win Garano series trades autopsy-room forensic density for a sharper focus on institutional politics, media spin and the friction between doing real police work and being used as a PR prop. Both novels were adapted into television movies in 2010. Cornwell has not continued the series since The Front, leaving it a complete two-book run.

How to read this series

Read in publication order: At Risk (2006), then The Front (2008). Garano's uneasy working relationship with District Attorney Monique Lamont and the professional stakes she keeps raising for him carry over directly from the first book to the second. The series is short, complete, and separate from Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta and Andy Brazil series, though it shares her interest in forensic detail and institutional dysfunction.

Frequently asked questions

How many Win Garano books are there?

Two: At Risk (2006) and The Front (2008). No further installments have followed.

What order should I read the Win Garano books in?

Publication order: At Risk, then The Front. Garano's relationship with District Attorney Monique Lamont develops directly from the first book into the second.

Is Win Garano connected to Kay Scarpetta or Andy Brazil?

No — it's a separate Patricia Cornwell series with its own characters and no crossover continuity with either of her other series.

Is the Win Garano series finished?

Effectively yes. Cornwell has not published a third Win Garano novel since The Front (2008), and none is currently announced.

Were the Win Garano books adapted for screen?

Yes — both At Risk and The Front were made into television movies in 2010.

Reading order last verified .