Where to Start Reading Dee Davis
For readers new to Dee Davis's works, the best entry point depends heavily on your preferred genre. If you love high-stakes espionage, romantic suspense, and elite operations, the best place to start is with the A-Tac Series, starting with Dark Deceptions. This series delivers fast-paced action and features a unique premise: CIA operatives posing as Ivy League college faculty members.
If you prefer time-travel romance with historic depth, start with her award-winning debut novel, Everything in Its Time, which kicks off the Time After Time series. For readers looking for a lighter, contemporary romantic comedy vibe, the two-book Matchmaker Chronicles, starting with A Match Made on Madison, provides a fun, breezy alternative to her suspense novels.
Time After Time Series: Two Ways to Read
Dee Davis's popular Time After Time series blends romance with historical time travel, moving between 15th-century Scotland and 19th-century Colorado. Because these books are linked primarily by ancestry and a shared world rather than a single continuous storyline, they can be read in two different ways: publication order or chronological order.
Option 1: Publication Order
This is the order in which the books were written and released. It is the recommended path for readers who want to experience the evolution of Davis's time-travel writing:
- Everything in Its Time (2000)
- The Promise (2002)
- Wild Highland Rose (2003)
- Cottage in the Mist (2016)
- Winter's Kiss (2023)
Option 2: Chronological Order
If you prefer to follow the historical timeline of the settings, follow the chronological order. Note that Cottage in the Mist acts as a direct sequel to the events of Everything in Its Time, while The Promise shifts the setting entirely to 1880s Colorado during the silver rush:
- Everything in Its Time (2000) – Set in 15th-century Scotland
- Winter's Kiss (2023) – Set in 15th-century Scotland
- Cottage in the Mist (2016) – Set in 15th-century Scotland (direct sequel to Everything in Its Time)
- Wild Highland Rose (2003) – Set in 15th-century Scotland
- The Promise (2002) – Set in 1880s Colorado
The Romantic Suspense Series
Dee Davis is highly celebrated for her military and espionage romantic suspense series, which feature elite teams, secret agencies, and intense romances.
A-Tac Books
The A-Tac series follows an elite, off-the-books CIA black-ops unit whose members pose as college professors. The books should be read in publication order to appreciate the developing dynamics of the agency:
- Dark Deceptions (2010)
- Dangerous Desires (2010)
- Desperate Deeds (2010)
- Daring (2011)
- Deep Disclosure (2011)
- Deadly Dance (2012)
- Double Danger (2012)
- Dire Distraction (2013)
Last Chance Books
This series centers on Last Chance, Inc., a private team of elite covert specialists resolving high-stakes global crises. Follow this order:
- Endgame (2005)
- Enigma (2005)
- Exposure (2005)
- Escape (2013) – A companion novella
Liar's Game Books
The Liar's Game series is a suspenseful thriller sequence that begins with a prequel novella detailing a group of college friends whose lives change after a classmate goes missing:
- Lethal Intent (Prequel Novella, Book 0.5)
- Eye of the Storm (2006)
- Chain Reaction (2007)
- Still of the Night (2011)
Random Heroes Collection
Originally marketed and published as standalone romantic suspense novels, these books are connected under the umbrella of the Random Heroes Collection on the author's official site. They can be read as standalones or in publication order:
- After Twilight (2001)
- Just Breathe (2001)
- Dark of the Night (2002)
- Midnight Rain (2002)
- Dancing in the Dark (2003)
Triad Books
The Triad series currently contains a single published entry, which tells the story of a woman who wakes up next to a murdered senator and must turn to a man from her past to clear her name:
- Fade to Gray (2017)
Collaborative Series and Multi-Author Projects
Dee Davis has participated in several high-profile collaborative romance projects, working alongside other prominent authors to construct shared worlds.
Rising Storm Series
Conceived by Dee Davis and Julie Kenner, Rising Storm is a soap-opera-style contemporary romance series set in the fictional town of Storm, Texas. Written like a television series, various authors wrote individual episodes. While there are 18 books total, Dee Davis specifically wrote the following entries:
- Thunder Rolls (2015) – Book 8
- Blue Skies (2016) – Book 18
Devil May Care Series
This paranormal romance series follows the illegitimate children of Satan competing for their father's throne. It was co-authored by Dee Davis, Julie Kenner, and Kathleen O'Reilly. Davis contributed the following standalones and anthologies:
- Hell with the Ladies (2006) – Anthology containing Davis's "Lucia's Story"
- Hell On Heels (2007) – Anthology contribution
- Hell Fire (2014) – Novella
- Hell's Fury (2014) – Novella
- Seducing Sin (2017) – Collaborative collection
- Tempting Fate (2017) – Collaborative collection
What to Know Before You Start
Most of Dee Davis's books feature strong, self-reliant heroines paired with protective, complex heroes. While her romantic suspense series like A-Tac and Last Chance feature recurring teams, each book focuses on a single couple and resolves their primary romantic arc, meaning they can theoretically be read as standalones. However, reading them in order is highly recommended to avoid spoilers regarding the overarching political conspiracies and team dynamics. Her collaborative works, particularly Rising Storm, follow a continuous, serialized plot, so readers should follow the complete multi-author order for those series.