Penn Cage is a former prosecutor and Mayor of Natchez, Mississippi. The Penn Cage series “involves all the quintessentially Southern themes—family, racial violence, ‘miscegenation,’ honor, hypocrisy, and the quest for justice in an unfair society…”--

A chronological order is not necessary, but certain books are linked by common characters or themes, and they do have a sequence in time.

Of my “Natchez” or “Mississippi” novels, the “Penn Cage” novels are a subcategory. I’ve tried not to write a series character, for reasons I’ll discuss elsewhere, but Penn has cropped up as a minor character in other Natchez books, and seems to be developing a life of his own. Of the rest, Mortal Fear, Dead Sleep, 24 Hours, and Sleep No More — while all set in Mississippi (or New Orleans)--- stand completely alone and can be read at any point.

If you have just read Turning Angel, you should next read The Quiet Game, the novel in which Penn Cage first appeared, and which many readers believe is my best book. Blood Memory was written before Turning Angel, and Penn’s father Tom Cage appears there in a supporting role, but I would read “Blood Memory” after “The Quiet Game,” not before. You will appreciate Tom much more then.