Adrienne Giordano Books in Order

Recommended Reading Paths: Where to Start

Adrienne Giordano is a prolific writer who comfortable straddles two distinct styles of mystery: lighthearted, laugh-out-loud cozy capers and intense, high-stakes romantic suspense. Because her series target different moods, your ideal starting point depends entirely on what you like to read:

• For Cozy Mystery, Humor, and Quirky Characters: Start with Dog Collar Crime, the first book in the Lucie Rizzo Mystery series. This series is perfect for fans of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books, featuring a heroine who is a mob princess turned dog-walking entrepreneur.
• For High-Stakes Romantic Suspense & Private Security: Start with Risking Trust, the opener of the Private Protectors series. This series focuses on Taylor Security and features classic bodyguard-protectee dynamics, second-chance romances, and intense investigation plots.
• For Small-Town Romance & Interconnected Webs: Start with The Beginning and Going Hard, launching you into the massive, collaborative Steele Ridge universe.

The Collaborative Steele Ridge Universe

One of the most unique aspects of Giordano's career is her partnership with fellow authors Kelsey Browning and Tracey Devlyn to create Steele Ridge, a fictional North Carolina small town filled with adventure, mystery, and close-knit family bonds. Because the three authors take turns writing books in this universe, the series is highly integrated. It is divided into several distinct subseries:

1. Steele Ridge Main Series

This series introduces the Steele brothers. The recommended reading order combines full-length novels and transitional novellas:

1. The Beginning (2016) - Prequel novella
2. Going Hard (2016)
3. Living Fast (2016)
4. Loving Deep (2016)
5. Breaking Free (2017)
6. Roaming Wild (2017)
7. Stripping Bare (2017)
8. Enduring Love (2018) - Novella
9. Vowing Love (2019) - Novella

2. Steele Ridge: The Kingstons

Focusing on the Kingston family, this spin-off series overlaps chronologically with the main series' later entries, but is best read as a block after finishing the main Steele family books:

1. Craving Heat (2018) - Written by Adrienne Giordano
2. Tasting Fire (2018) - Written by Kelsey Browning
3. Searing Need (2018) - Written by Tracey Devlyn
4. Striking Edge (2019) - Written by Kelsey Browning
5. Burning Ache (2019) - Written by Adrienne Giordano

3. Steele Ridge: The Blackwells

The Blackwells subseries continues the town's adventures with a new family, introducing more military and law-enforcement themes:

1. Flash Point (2022)
2. Smoke Screen (2022)
3. Cross Roads (2023)
4. Crash Course (2023)

4. Steele Ridge Christmas Capers

Published in 2020, this 12-novella holiday project features alternating stories from the three authors. Adrienne Giordano wrote four of the entries:

• Book 3: His Holiday Miracle
• Book 6: All She Wants for Christmas
• Book 9: A Rogue Santa
• Book 11: For the Love of Santa

The Lucie Rizzo Cozy Mysteries

If you prefer humor, crime-solving, and a touch of romance without heavy violence, the Lucie Rizzo Mystery series is your best bet. Lucie Rizzo is the daughter of a notorious Chicago mob boss, but she is determined to make an honest living running a dog-walking and grooming business. However, mystery and trouble have a way of finding her, usually involving stolen pets, dead bodies, and her handsome, exasperated detective love interest.

While the romantic subplot develops over the course of the series, the individual mysteries are solved in each book. The books should be read in publication order:

1. Dog Collar Crime (2013)
2. Dog Collar Knockoff (also published as Knocked Off) (2018)
3. Limbo (2018)
4. Dog Collar Couture (also published as Boosted) (2018)
5. Dog Collar Chaos (also published as Whacked) (2018)
6. Dog Collar Cuisine (also published as Cooked) (2018)
7. Incognito (2019)

Romantic Suspense & Law Enforcement Series

Giordano has co-authored and solo-authored several series focusing on elite investigators, federal agents, and private protection firms.

The Justice Team (Co-authored with Misty Evans)

This series features an elite group of operatives tackling high-stakes security threats, espionage, and criminal conspiracies. It is best read in order as the team dynamic builds over time:

1. Stealing Justice (2014)
2. Cheating Justice (2014)
3. Holiday Justice (2014) - Novella
4. Exposing Justice (2015)
5. Undercover Justice (2015) - Novella
6. Protecting Justice (2016)
7. Missing Justice (2017)
8. Defending Justice (2018)

Private Protectors Series

Focusing on the elite operatives of Taylor Security, this series features standalone romantic suspense novels where different couples find love in the middle of dangerous investigations. While they can technically be read out of order, the team's dynamics are best experienced sequentially:

1. Risking Trust (2011)
2. Man Law (2011)
3. A Just Deception (2011)
4. Negotiating Point (2020)
5. Relentless Pursuit (2020)
6. Opposing Forces (2020)

Schock Sisters Mysteries (Co-authored with Misty Evans)

Meg and Charlie Schock are sisters who run a private investigation firm specializing in cold cases and missing persons. This series combines family drama with procedural suspense:

1. 1st Shock (2019)
2. 2nd Strike (2019)
3. 3rd Tango (2019)
4. 4th Silence (2025)

Justifiable Cause Series

This trilogy follows NYPD Sergeant Gabe Townsend and attorney Jo Pomeroy as they work together on an anti-counterfeiting task force. Because their romance spans all three books, they must be read in order:

1. The Chase (2013)
2. The Evasion (2013)
3. The Capture (2015)

Standalones and Other Series

Beyond her major series, Adrienne Giordano has written several standalone suspense novels and launched smaller series:

• Deep Cover Series: Launching with Crossing Lines (2021), this series follows compromised covert agents forced into hiding.
• Rose Trudeau Mysteries: Co-authored with Mary Jo Briscione, the first book, Into the Fire (2020), features a Hollywood socialite and a reporter investigating a cold-case hotel fire.
• Standalone Novels: Giordano has written several standalone thrillers, including The Prosecutor (2014), The Defender (2014), The Marshal (2014), The Detective (2015), The Rebel (2015), and Deadly Odds (2016). Many of these were originally published under Harlequin's Intrigue line and deliver fast, satisfying, self-contained suspense plots.