The first of her novels to be published, "China Blues" (1989) and "Chasing Women" (1993) are mysteries and thrillers. In April 2013, the first of her "Sam Russo Mysteries" was published, part of a noir series set in and around New York City in the late 1940s. The fourth in the "Sam Russo Mysteries" was published in 2015. "Walks Away Woman," about a neglected Arizona housewife walking out into the Sonoran Desert to die, was published in December 2013. On January 26, 2018, Ki's memoir of her husband,"The Illustrated Vivian Stanshall, a Fairytale of Grimm Art", illustrated by Ben Wickey, was released.