Cutler, Sutter & Salinas Books In Order

Publication Order of Cutler, Sutter & Salinas Books

“Cutler, Sutter & Salinas” is a series of romance thriller by New York Times bestselling author Jayne Ann Krentz. As a writer in three slightly different sub-genres, she writes using different pen names. She uses her birth given name for her paranormal/futuristic romantic suspense, with historical romantic suspense she uses Amanda Quick and when writing contemporary romance she writes as Jayne Ann Krentz. She uses a variety of pen names to make it easier for her readers to differentiate between the three subgenres. As such, people who love one genre will know what to expect when they pick any title under a given name. In addition to writing fiction, Jayne is also a contributor and editor of “Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women,” a non-fiction essay collection that is a University of Pennsylvania Press published work. Krentz says that she writes romance since it remains the genre that guarantees a heroine as a lead character in the novel. In this regard, she has been writing in the genre ever since she started out as she wants to celebrate the values and heroic virtues of courage, determination, honor and belief in the redemptive qualities of love.

Jayne Ann Krentz went to the University of California Santa Cruz from where she got her degree in History. Afterward, she went back to college and attended San Jose State University for a Masters in Library Science. Prior to becoming an author, she spent several years working as a librarian in corporate and academic libraries. She currently lives in Seattle Washington with her husband Frank.

“Cutler, Sutter & Salinas” series by Jayne Ann Krentz tells stories of lead characters that are scarred by similar traumas. Sherif Anson Salinas had saved Cabot Sutter, Max Cutler, and Jack Lancaster from a fire set by cult leader Quinton Zane approximately two decades ago. The three have grown up to become involved in law enforcement in one form or another and are now looking to right the wrongs done to them by the cult leader. Given their similar experiences, there are aspects of life that only people that have undergone the experience can understand. Since they are so traumatized they cannot afford to get close to anyone as they have a fear of loss having lost all whom they loved in the fire. As such, they hardly ever get close to other people that might be the right fit since they always hold something back. Moreover, other people might not understand their experience having never gone through it or any other similar experience. While each of the three novels in the series has its own romance and a different conclusion, there is an overall arc that ties all the brothers together. With each book, more information on the trauma is revealed and the quest for justice brought even closer.

“When All the Girls Have Gone” which is the first novel of the “Cutler, Sutter, & Salinas” series tells the story of a struggling private investigator named Max Cutler and Charlotte Sawyer his client. At the beginning of the novel, Charlotte cannot locate Jocelyn her sister. She wanted to inform her of the death of one of her best friends but it seems her sister vanished with no trace. It is not the first time for the reckless, brilliant and beautiful Jocelyn to go off the grid but this time it is different. Desperate to find her sibling, she contacts Max Cutler a struggling PI to help with trying to find Jocelyn. He is eager to take the job as he needs the money since he lost his job as a criminal profiler a few months past. His money issues are further complicated by a messy divorce and hence a challenging job and the prospect of some money would help take his mind off his troubles. After they survive a near-fatal attack, the two turn to the missing girl’s closest friends for some answers only to get some chilling revelations. But what had started as an uneasy alliance soon becomes a romantic thing as Charlotte now trusts Max with her life. She had found it difficult to love having had a traumatic experience as a child but everything seems so different with Cutler who had also lived with trauma.

“Promise Not to Tell” the second novel of the series opens to the death of Hannah, an artist who just prior to her death was seeing nightmare visions. Most of these visions were from her past and believing them to be some kind of warning, she warns her friend Virginia Troy before she takes her own life by jumping off the cliffs on some remote island. Troy knows about her friend’s past and hence she takes the warnings seriously and goes to find Anson who had known Virginia for much longer and had been present for much of her childhood and early adulthood. Sheriff Anson had once rescued several children from a burning barn, among them Virginia. They had been left there by cult leader and founder Quinton Zane who had decided that the only way to leave everything behind was to burn all the evidence. At the meet up with Anson, she gets to meet Cabot Sutter who was one of the three boys that Anson had taken out of the fire on that fateful night. As the investigation heats up, Cabot and Troy find themselves sharing not only physical attraction but also methods of coping, and nightmares that have made them highly averse to relationships. But as they work together, they discover that they may just be falling in love.

“Untouchable” the third novel of the “Cutler, Sutter, & Salinas” Series continues with the story of three brothers that had undergone trauma and been brought up by their rescuer. They are held together by their shared trauma, love and loyalty to each other and a determination to stop a villain. Quinton Zane the man that had left them in a barn to die while killing their parents has never been apprehended. Word had reached Zane that the brothers were looking for him and he was now coming for them and in doing so had turned them from predators to prey. This final story focuses on the FBI analyst Jack who is a specialist in arson. Jack also has a knack for getting into the mind of any criminal, which has made him one of the best at cracking some of the most difficult cases. But his investigation leads him into dark and eerie spaces that he gets depressed and has to find a therapist named Winter to help keep him on an even keel. Meanwhile, Zane is targeting Jack as he is the most effective yet most vulnerable of the boys that could take him down. His therapist Winter is also dealing with her own problems having been attacked by an unknown person who is now stalking her. But in the mid of all the chaos and confusion, there is a growing attraction between the two of them.