Carolyn Haines Books in Order

Where to Start Reading Carolyn Haines

With a bibliography spanning over eighty books and multiple pen names, Carolyn Haines has built a rich library of Southern mysteries, romantic suspense, and supernatural thrillers. For the absolute best experience, readers should start with one of three primary entry points depending on their favorite subgenre:

• For Cozy Southern Gothic Mysteries: Start with Them Bones (1999), the first book in the iconic Sarah Booth Delaney series. This is Haines's signature series and the perfect introduction to her trademark blend of Delta charm, humor, and mystery.
• For Romantic Suspense with Feline Flair: Start with Fear Familiar (1989), written under her pseudonym Caroline Burnes. This introduces Familiar, the brilliant black cat who plays matchmaker and detective.
• For 1920s Paranormal Mysteries: Start with The Book of Beloved (2016), the first of the Pluto's Snitch historical series featuring a medium protagonist.

The Sarah Booth Delaney Mysteries

Set in the fictional, quirky town of Zinnia, Mississippi, this long-running series follows Sarah Booth Delaney, a former Broadway hopeful who returns home to save her family's ancestral plantation, Dahlia House. To pay the bills, she becomes a private investigator. She is joined by her best friend and partner, Tinkie Bellcase Richmond, and is continuously supervised by Jitty—a sassy, fashion-obsessed 19th-century ghost who haunts Dahlia House and desperately wants Sarah Booth to marry and preserve the family line.

We highly recommend reading this series in publication order. While each book presents a self-contained mystery, the overarching character development, romantic tension with Sheriff Coleman Peters, and evolution of the Delaney Detective Agency rely heavily on the chronological order of the books.

Sarah Booth Delaney Series in Publication Order:

1. Them Bones (1999)
2. Buried Bones (2000)
3. Splintered Bones (2002)
4. Crossed Bones (2003)
5. Hallowed Bones (2004)
6. Bones To Pick (2005)
7. Ham Bones (2007)
8. Wishbones (2008)
9. Greedy Bones (2009)
10. Bone Appétit (2010)
11. Bones of a Feather (2011)
12. Bonefire of the Vanities (2012)
13. Smarty Bones (2013)
14. Shorty Bones (2014)
15. Booty Bones (2014)
16. Bones on the Bayou (2015)
17. Bone to Be Wild (2015)
18. Jingle Bones (2015)
19. Guru Bones (2015)
20. Rock-a-Bye Bones (2016)
21. Sticks and Bones (2017)
22. Bones and Arrows (2017)
23. Charmed Bones (2018)
24. A Gift of Bones (2018)
25. Clacking Bones (2018)
26. Game of Bones (2019)
27. Enchanted Bones (2020)
28. The Devil's Bones (2020)
29. A Garland of Bones (2020)
30. Independent Bones (2021)
31. Lady of Bones (2022)
32. Bones of Holly (2022)
33. Tell-Tale Bones (2023)
34. Lights, Camera, Bones (2024)
35. Blue Christmas Bones (2024)

The Feline Detectives: Fear Familiar & Trouble Cat Mysteries

Before Sarah Booth Delaney took the cozy mystery world by storm, Carolyn Haines wrote romantic suspense under the pen name Caroline Burnes. Her most beloved creations from this era are the feline-led mysteries featuring Familiar and his son, Trouble.

The Fear Familiar Series

Familiar is a highly intelligent, lock-picking, chocolate-loving black cat who acts as an undercover agent, therapist, and matchmaker. Haines wrote these stories for Harlequin Intrigue. They are romantic suspense novels where Familiar helps a new human couple fall in love and solve a crime in each installment. You can read these books in any order, but starting at the beginning helps you appreciate Familiar's legendary reputation.

1. Fear Familiar (1989)
2. Too Familiar (1993)
3. Shades Of Familiar (1994)
4. Familiar Remedy (1994)
5. Familiar Tale (1995)
6. Bewitching Familiar (1995)
7. Familiar Heart (1997)
8. Familiar Fire (1998)
9. Familiar Christmas (1999)
10. Familiar Obsession (2000)
11. Familiar Lullaby (2001)
12. Familiar Mirage (2002)
13. Familiar Oasis (2002)
14. Familiar Double (2003)
15. Familiar Texas (2005)
16. Familiar Escape (2006)
17. Familiar Vows (2008)
18. Familiar Showdown (2009)
19. Thrice Familiar (2017)

The Trouble Cat Mysteries

The Trouble Cat Mysteries are a legacy series following Familiar's son, Trouble, who inherits his father's sleuthing abilities. Note that this is a multi-author collaborative project. Carolyn Haines kicked off the series with the first book, Familiar Trouble, and has contributed other entries like Trouble Restored, while other cozy mystery writers penned the rest of the volumes.

1. Familiar Trouble (2017)
2. Trouble in Dixie (2017)
3. Trouble in Tallahassee (2017)
4. Trouble in Summer Valley (2017)
5. Trouble Under the Mistletoe (2017)
6. Small Town Trouble (2017)
7. Trouble in Paradise (2018)
8. Turning for Trouble (2018)
9. Trouble's Wedding Caper (2019)
10. Trouble in Action (2019)
11. Trouble Most Faire (2019)
12. A Whisper of Trouble (2020)
13. Trouble Restored (2021)

Pluto's Snitch: 1920s Supernatural Mysteries

For readers who enjoy historical settings and ghosts, the Pluto's Snitch series is a must-read. Set in the post-WWI era, the books follow Raissa James, a young widow who can see and speak with the dead. Alongside her partner, Reginald Proctor (a medium of questionable authenticity but genuine loyalty), she establishes a private investigation agency to resolve hauntings and murder mysteries. Reading these in order is essential for following Raissa's journey through grief and her growing supernatural capabilities.

1. The Book of Beloved (2016)
2. The House of Memory (2017)
3. The Specter of Seduction (2017)
4. A Visitation of Angels (2019)

Standalone Novels & Multi-Author Romance Lines

Beyond her major series, Haines has written outstanding standalones. Some of these are dark, psychological coming-of-age stories set in Mississippi (collectively referred to as the Jexville Chronicles, which includes Summer of the Redeemers and Judas Burning). She has also written historical mysteries like Penumbra and atmospheric thrillers like Fever Moon.

Additionally, early in her career under her Caroline Burnes pseudonym, Haines contributed to several multi-author category romance collections (such as Harlequin's Safe Haven, Men In Uniform, and Greatest Texas Love Stories of All Time). While these are grouped as series in database lists, she only wrote single standalone titles within those shared worlds, meaning you do not need to read the other books in those series to enjoy her contributions.