Donis Casey Books in Order

Where to Start Reading Donis Casey

For anyone looking to dive into Donis Casey's rich historical mystery catalog, the absolute best place to start is the very beginning: The Old Buzzard Had It Coming (2005). This novel introduces readers to Alafair Tucker, a farming matriarch in Muskogee County, Oklahoma, and sets the tone for the entire ten-book series. Because the family dynamics, the growth of Alafair's ten children, and the historical events of the era unfold in sequence, reading the series chronologically provides the most satisfying character arcs and developmental depth.

The Alafair Tucker Mysteries in Order

The Alafair Tucker series is set in Oklahoma during the 1910s. A key appeal of the series is how the progression of time matches the real-world historical timeline. Handily, the publication order matches the chronological order perfectly. Readers can follow Alafair, her husband Shaw, and their children through the decade as they face everything from local land feuds to World War I and the Spanish Flu epidemic.

1. The Old Buzzard Had It Coming (2005): Set in January 1912. Alafair Tucker is drawn into investigating a neighbor's suspicious death to protect her family, marking her first foray into amateur sleuthing.
2. Hornswoggled (2006): Set in late 1912. Alafair's daughter Alice is being courted by a charming newcomer, but a murder at the local social scene forces Alafair to investigate.
3. The Drop Edge of Yonder (2007): Set in 1914. The mystery strikes even closer to home when Alafair's brother-in-law Bill is murdered, sending her on a hunt for a cold-blooded killer.
4. The Sky Took Him (2008): Set in 1915. A devastating tornado rips through the county, but the discovery of a body in the aftermath reveals that the storm wasn't the only destructive force at play.
5. Crying Blood (2011): Set in late 1915. Alafair's son finds a skeleton in a remote cave, unearthing long-buried secrets that date back to the land rush days.
6. The Wrong Hill to Die On (2012): Set in 1916. Alafair travels out of Oklahoma to Arizona to visit her cousin, proving her detective skills travel just as well as she does when a murder occurs on the frontier.
7. Hell with the Lid Blown Off (2014): Set in late 1916. Another vicious Oklahoma storm leaves behind a dead body, but Alafair notices clues that point to murder rather than the elements.
8. All Men Fear Me (2015): Set in 1917. As the United States enters World War I, local tensions rise, and Alafair is forced to investigate a murder amidst the brewing patriotic fervor.
9. The Return of the Raven Mocker (2017): Set in 1918. Set against the backdrop of the devastating Spanish Influenza epidemic, Alafair must protect her family from a killer who uses the chaos of the plague to mask their crimes.
10. Forty Dead Men (2018): Set in 1919. The final book in the main Alafair series sees Alafair's son, Gee Dub, return from World War I suffering from shell shock (PTSD), only to become a prime suspect in a neighbor's murder.

The Spin-Off: The Adventures of Bianca Dangereuse

In 2019, Donis Casey pivoted the family saga into the 1920s with a spin-off series focusing on Alafair's daughter, Blanche Tucker. Leaving Oklahoma behind, Blanche heads to California to pursue a career in the blossoming silent film industry. Renaming herself Bianca LaBelle, she stars as the daring heroine "Bianca Dangereuse" in popular serial films, only to find that the real-world Hollywood film industry is just as dangerous as the movies.

This spin-off is best read after finishing Forty Dead Men, as it carries forward characters and family threads from the main series while adopting a more glamorous, fast-paced tone.

1. The Wrong Girl (2019): Set in 1926. Blanche (now Bianca LaBelle) is a rising silent film star in Hollywood who gets dragged into a murder mystery when a young girl from her past vanishes.
2. Valentino Will Die / The Death of Valentino (2021): Set in the summer of 1926. Amidst the real-life media circus surrounding the failing health and eventual death of screen icon Rudolph Valentino, Bianca finds herself trying to prevent a murder plot targeting the star.

Short Stories and Anthologies

For completists, Donis Casey has also contributed short stories to local and anniversary anthologies. While not required to understand the plot of either main series, they offer fun extra reading for fans:

• "Baby, It's Cold Outside": Published in the 2009 Sisters in Crime Desert Sleuths anthology How NOT to Survive the Holidays.
• "Be My Friend": Published in the 2017 collection Bound by Mystery, celebrating the 20th anniversary of Poisoned Pen Press.

Practical Reader Advice

Are these books standalone?

Every book in the Alafair Tucker and Bianca Dangereuse series features a self-contained mystery that is fully resolved by the end of the novel. However, the overarching family narrative, the aging of the children, and the emotional impact of previous books build on one another. To fully enjoy the character development and the historical atmosphere of Muskogee County, it is highly recommended to read them in chronological order.

Why the historical accuracy matters

Donis Casey's background as an academic librarian shines through in her meticulous historical details. Rather than acting as generic background fluff, the real-world history of early 20th-century Oklahoma—including the cultural shifts, agricultural challenges, natural disasters, and the onset of WWI—directly influences the plots and characters. This makes reading the books in sequence feel like walking through a living history of the era.