Nicole James Books in Order (Updated March 12, 2026)

Nicole James is easiest to read in clusters, not as one uninterrupted master list. Her official site still frames Outlaw and the Evil Dead MC books as the foundation of the catalog, and that matters because several later series either spin out of that world directly or read more smoothly once you already know its families, clubs, and loyalties.

So the practical answer is simple. If you want the signature Nicole James experience, start with Outlaw and stay in the Evil Dead MC lane first. If you want the next generation, move from Evil Dead MC into Sins of the Father. If you want something more self-contained, step sideways into Tri Star Security, Brothers Ink, or Soul Sisters instead.

The core path: Evil Dead MC first

This is the part of Nicole James’s catalog where order matters most. Her homepage explicitly says this is “the series that started it all” and tells new readers to begin with Outlaw, which is unusually direct guidance and worth following.

1. Outlaw (2013): Cole Austin intervenes when he sees a woman being dragged across a rival clubhouse yard, kicking off the series with rescue, danger, and the darker moral line the MC world keeps testing.
2. Crash (2014): The second book stays inside the same club world and is best treated as a direct continuation of the outlaw-club atmosphere established in Outlaw.
3. Shades (2014): Another early-club installment that deepens the internal history readers later need for family and chapter conflicts in the spin-offs.
4. Wolf (2015): One of the key legacy-building entries, especially because later Sins of the Father books draw on Wolf’s family line.
5. Ghost (2015): Ghost’s rule of never getting tied down collapses when a woman from his past reenters his life, keeping the series centered on club duty colliding with personal vulnerability.
6. Red Dog (2016, novella): A shorter entry about Red Dog trying to rein in his runaway ol’ lady, so it reads like an in-world side stop rather than a fresh jumping-on point.
7. Blood (2017): This is where the long-running series shifts deeper into established-club territory, rewarding readers who already know the house rules and recurring faces.
8. Undertaker (2018): By this stage the series is leaning on accumulated club history, so it lands better in sequence than as a standalone sample.
9. Joker (2018, novella): Joker becomes reluctant bodyguard to Holly, an off-limits younger woman trying to move forward after trauma, making this another protective-biker entry with more emotional carryover than a casual reader might expect.
10. Hammer (2019): Hammer pursues Tink, the one woman in the club orbit who seems immune to him, keeping the series rooted in possessive club-romance dynamics.
11. Wicked (2021): This book pushes the series toward suspicion and buried truth, with a heroine uncovering evidence that her husband’s death may not have been the accident it seemed.
12. Shane (2021, novella): An enemies-to-lovers, next-door-neighbor story that still sits inside the MC world rather than outside it, so it works best once you already know the series tone.
13. Green (2021): Another later-era club installment that belongs near the end of the main California run.
14. Jake (2022, novella): A secret-baby story with a past one-night mistake coming back years later, and one of the clearer bridges into the series’ later period.
15. Trick (2022): Trick, VP of the Las Vegas chapter, ends up protecting a murder witness from the Santorini crime family, and the author’s note explicitly ties it to Soul Sisters, so it is best after both the main MC setup and that duet.

Recommended use: read these in publication order. This is the continuity spine that later Nicole James books most often assume you already understand.

Then comes the family follow-up: Sins of the Father

The official site calls this a spin-off from Evil Dead MC, and Goodreads labels it Evil Dead MC – Second Generation. That means it is not the place to start cold unless you do not mind missing some family weight.

1. Marcus (2023): Brandy falls for Marcus, a prospect from the wrong side of the tracks, launching the next-generation line with class tension and patch-earning pressure.
2. Billy (2023): Billy wants the president’s daughter while still trying to earn his patch, so the series quickly doubles down on off-limits club romance.
3. TJ (2023): A one-night stand turns into an abusive-danger and secret-pregnancy setup, making TJ’s book one of the more openly high-stakes entries in the spin-off.
4. Reckless (2023): Harley Jean wakes up married in Vegas, turning the second-generation series toward a messier accidental-marriage energy while still staying inside the club-family framework.
5. Brayden (2024): Brayden, son of the California chapter president, collides with Rebel, the Alabama chapter’s protected club princess, and their relationship triggers an inter-chapter family feud.
6. Kyle (2024): Kyle is in love with his brother’s girl, which makes this one a straight forbidden-romance installment built on sibling guilt and long family history.
7. Rafe (2024): The “bad boy and good girl” pairing pulls the series away from direct clubhouses for a bit, but it still depends on the Wolf-family context established earlier.
8. Shine (announced): The official coming-soon page lists Shine as Sins of the Father Book 8, but the page I checked did not show a confirmed release date, so it is safer to treat it as announced rather than fully scheduled.

Recommended use: finish at least the main Evil Dead MC run before starting this sequence. It is the same world, just inherited by the children.

Side roads that are easier to read separately

These series are much easier to approach on their own. They may still feel like Nicole James books in tone, but they do not demand the same continuity homework.

Tri Star Security

1. Deadly Pursuit (2022): Chris Draper, an ex-Navy SEAL running Tri Star Security, goes after a cartel when his office manager disappears, opening the series with rescue-thriller energy rather than club politics.
2. High Value Target (2023): An oil heiress and her bodyguard carry the second book into billionaire-protection territory, with attraction fighting professionalism the whole way.
3. Hostile Extraction (2023): A supposed fiancé turns out to be a trafficking threat, and a brother’s-best-friend rescuer drags the heroine into a safe house, making this the most overtly “rescue extraction” book of the trilogy.

Use this series when: you want Nicole James without motorcycles as the main frame.

Brothers Ink

1. Jameson (2016): The tattoo-shop series begins here, making it the correct entry point for readers who want inked contemporary romance instead of biker-club hierarchy.
2. Maxwell (2017): Maxwell continues the shop-centered sequence, with Goodreads summaries pointing to family pressure and tradition as the main romantic obstacle.
3. Liam (2019): The third Brothers Ink novel stays in the same family-and-shop setup and belongs in order with the rest of the O’Rourke books.
4. Rory (2019): Rory closes the currently listed Brothers Ink quartet and is best saved until you know the shop and the family around it.

Soul Sisters

1. Charlotte (2021): Estranged twins switch places, and Charlotte steps into her sister’s biker-bar life while dealing with stalking, debt pressure, and the president of the Evil Dead MC’s Las Vegas chapter. The official page notes this one ends on a cliffhanger.
2. Scarlett (2021): The duet’s second half follows the other twin into the rock-star side of the switch, turning the premise into both a romance finish and a relationship repair story between sisters.

Important note: because Trick explicitly says readers may recognize Soul Sisters characters, this duet fits very naturally before or around that later Las Vegas–chapter material.

The MC branches outside Evil Dead

These are separate enough to read independently, but still best read in their own internal order.

Devil Kings MC

1. Dirty Deeds (2020): Reno gets pulled into using a judge’s daughter as leverage, and the first book sets the series’ coercion-versus-loyalty tone immediately.
2. Dirty Deals (2020): The second book continues the Devil Kings lane and is best taken as a direct follow-on inside the same club.
3. Dirty Desires (2020): Gypsy reconnects with a one-night stand who turns out to be an off-limits MC princess, closing the trilogy on a forbidden-romance angle.

Royal Bastards MC: Durango, CO

1. Club Princess (2021): Lola’s secret mission collides with Memphis, a nomad biker who refuses to be charmed into helping, opening the Durango chapter with club-loyalty tension.
2. Climbing the Ranks (2021): Trez is trying to prove himself inside the chapter when a woman offers betrayal intel in exchange for escape, pushing the series into recovery and power-balance territory.
3. Keeping the Throne (2022): Rock, the chapter president, faces a late-in-life love story while trying to keep everything he built from going under.
4. Enforcing the Rules (2023): Utah, the chapter enforcer, crashes into a bounty hunter chasing the same target, making this the most openly enemies-to-lovers book in the series.
5. Taking What’s Ours (2024): A runaway bride finds protection and a better man in her groom’s biker brother, giving the series a strong rescue-and-rebuild installment.
6. Paying the Price (2025): A grieving widow goes to work for Darko, VP of the Royal Bastards MC, in a slow-burn age-gap romance.
7. Crossing the Line (announced): The official coming-soon page lists this as Book 7, centered on Keno and his best friend’s sister, but the page I saw did not provide a firm release date.

Saint’s Outlaws MC: Las Cruces NM Chapter

1. Rio’s Release (2025): Goodreads lists this as the first book in the Saint’s Outlaws Las Cruces chapter sequence.
2. Blue’s Downfall (announced/coming soon): The official coming-soon page presents this as Saint’s Outlaws MC Book 2, centered on Luisa and Blue, but again I did not see a clean official release date on the page I checked.

One title with a continuity warning

Sly (2020) is Nicole James’s entry in the multi-author Kings of Carnage MC collaboration, and Saint (2021) is her contribution to the related Kings of Carnage – Prospects spin-off. Both are better treated as collaboration entries, not as part of her own standalone internal Nicole James continuity. They can be read in their respective shared-series orders or as near-standalones, depending on how strict you want to be with collaborative universes.

The simplest recommended reading order

For a new reader who wants the most stable route through Nicole James without getting lost, this is the order I’d use:

1. Outlaw
2. Continue through the main Evil Dead MC books in publication order
3. Soul Sisters duet if you plan to read Las Vegas–chapter material
4. Trick
5. Sins of the Father
6. Then choose any separate branch: Tri Star Security, Brothers Ink, Devil Kings MC, Royal Bastards MC, or Saint’s Outlaws MC

That route does the least damage to reveals, recurring families, and crossover recognition. It also respects the author’s own very clear instruction to begin with Outlaw if you are new to her work.

Latest release status

From the official site and current surfaced listings, Paying the Price appears to be one of the newest fully available major Nicole James releases in her own named series, while Crossing the Line, Blue’s Downfall, and Shine are all shown as upcoming or coming-soon material rather than firmly dated backlist titles on the pages I checked. Goodreads and Romance.io also surface Rio’s Release and a 2025 holiday title, but I would still treat the official site as the safer guide for what is fully live versus merely announced.

Final recommendation

Start with Outlaw.

That is the cleanest answer, the author’s own recommendation for new readers, and the book that gives the later Nicole James catalog the most context. After that, stay with Evil Dead MC until you are ready to branch into Sins of the Father or one of the more self-contained side series.