Karin Tanabe Books in Order (Updated February 22, 2026)

Karin Tanabe writes primarily standalone novels (not an interconnected series). That means you can read her fiction in almost any order without missing continuity.

The one place “order” helps is tone: her earlier work leans contemporary/DC and high-society intrigue, while later novels lean more historical, globe-spanning, and high-stakes.

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Pick your entry point (a “start here” menu)

If you want political media satire + scandal: start with The List (2013).
If you want Gilded Age identity tension based on a real figure: start with The Gilded Years (2016).
If you want WWII-era sweep across continents: start with The Diplomat’s Daughter (2017).
If you want moody colonial-era drama + psychological pressure: start with A Hundred Suns (2020).
If you want Cold War New York + domestic life turned espionage-adjacent: start with A Woman of Intelligence (2021).
If you want 1970s Hollywood glamour with sharp edges: start with The Sunset Crowd (2023).

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Karin Tanabe novels in publication order

Because these are standalones, this list is mainly for collectors and readers who prefer reading by release date.

1. The List (2013): A Beltway newsroom pressure-cooker where ambition, speed, and scandal collide, and a young reporter has to decide what “the scoop” costs her.
2. The Price of Inheritance (2014): A high-society and art-world suspense story that turns a too-good-to-be-true find into a chain of risky choices and buried backstory.
3. The Gilded Years (2016): A historically grounded identity novel about passing, privilege, and the tightrope of belonging in elite spaces when exposure could undo everything.
4. The Diplomat’s Daughter (2017): A WWII-era, multi-perspective story shaped by displacement and war, where love and survival keep rearranging who can trust whom.
5. A Hundred Suns (2020): Colonial-era Indochina rendered as a glittering trap, wealth and romance on the surface, with politics, secrets, and instability tightening underneath.
6. A Woman of Intelligence (2021): 1950s New York domestic expectations become a kind of training ground for deception, as a woman tries to reclaim agency in a world built to contain her.
7. The Sunset Crowd (2023): A glamour-forward 1970s Hollywood tale about reinvention and social climbing, where friendship and image management turn into high-stakes leverage.

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Recommended reading orders (depending on what you’re chasing)

The “Tanabe in three books” sampler

1. The Gilded Years (historical identity tension)
2. A Hundred Suns (lush setting + suspense)
3. The Sunset Crowd (glamour, ambition, and fallout)

The “DC to the world” progression

1. The List → 2) The Price of Inheritance → 3) The Diplomat’s Daughter
   Why: it moves from contemporary career pressure to bigger canvases and higher historical stakes.

The “spy-adjacent + secrets” track

1. A Woman of Intelligence → 2) The Price of Inheritance → 3) A Hundred Suns
   Why: all three keep tightening the screw around secrecy, performance, and consequence, just in very different arenas.

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Series and continuity notes (so you don’t overthink it)

• No ongoing series: these novels do not require a fixed reading order for plot continuity.
• Recurrent themes, not recurring characters: you’ll see overlaps in ambition, social constraint, secrets, and identity, but each book stands alone.

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Latest release status

• Most recent novel currently listed: The Sunset Crowd (July 4, 2023).
• At the time of writing, no later Karin Tanabe novel release was confirmed in the publisher/author listings checked.

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FAQs

Do I need to read Karin Tanabe’s books in order?
No. Publication order is optional because the novels are standalones.

Which book is best if I like historical fiction most?
Try The Gilded Years, then The Diplomat’s Daughter, then A Hundred Suns.

Which book is best if I want something more contemporary?
Start with The List, then The Price of Inheritance.

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Bottom line

If you want the safest first pick with no continuity worries and a clear sense of what she does best, start with The Gilded Years. Then move by mood: politics (The List), wartime sweep (The Diplomat’s Daughter), colonial-era intrigue (A Hundred Suns), Cold War domestic tension (A Woman of Intelligence), or Hollywood glamour (The Sunset Crowd).