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AJ Rivers Books in Order

Explore AJ Rivers books in order, with reading guides to Emma Griffin, Ava James and Dean Steele, plus summaries, series background and where to start.

Last updated: June 7, 2026

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29 books

The Girl in Cabin 13

by AJ Rivers

2019

Sent undercover to the town of Feathered Nest to investigate a string of disappearances, Emma finds a dead man on her cabin porch with her name in his hand. As she digs into the town’s secrets, every clue drags her closer to her own unsolved past.

Dangerous Waters

by AJ Rivers

2020

Hoping a luxury island resort will help her recover from her ex boyfriend’s mysterious death, Emma accepts a surprise getaway with friends. When a body is found in the water and young women start disappearing, she uncovers the resort’s darker side and risks becoming the next target.

Gone Woman

by AJ Rivers

2020

Mary Whitman seems to have a perfect holiday life with her adoring husband and custom built home, yet remembers none of it after a devastating accident. Haunted by nightmares and an empty nursery, she starts to suspect the truth about the woman who vanished and the man she married.

The Girl and the Black Christmas

by AJ Rivers

2020

Emma’s quiet holiday plans shatter when a package containing a severed hand is left on her doorstep. Forced to revisit the darkest corners of her past, she races between Sherwood and Feathered Nest to stop a vengeful enemy from turning Christmas into a brutal reckoning.

The Girl and the Deadly End

by AJ Rivers

2020

Guarding a recovering Greg while the figure known as Catch Me escalates his threats, Emma digs into new leads that point back to Dean and her uncle. Small town secrets, hidden files, and personal betrayals converge, forcing her to face the true cost of getting every answer.

The Girl and the Deadly Express

by AJ Rivers

2020

A cryptic letter lures Emma onto an overnight train cutting through a fierce storm. After she finds a corpse and a warning not to stop the train, she is drawn into a deadly game where every car hides secrets connected to her family’s past.

The Girl and the Field of Bones

by AJ Rivers

2020

Still reeling from what she witnessed inside the Order’s hidden temple, Emma is drawn to a remote field where bodies are buried beneath the soil. As new deaths strike close to home, she must expose the group’s leaders before the maze of lies closes over everyone.

The Girl and the Hunt

by AJ Rivers

2020

Still haunted by the blood on the train, Emma returns to Feathered Nest to chase the taunting killer who challenges her to catch him. Revisiting Cabin 13 and old evidence, she pulls on threads that unravel what she thought she knew about her parents, Greg, and herself.

The Girl and the Secret Society

by AJ Rivers

2020

Emma agrees to help her cousin Dean with the high profile disappearance of internet star Lakyn Monroe. Their search reveals a string of murders and missing persons tied to a powerful secret society and a condemned man who may know far more than anyone believes.

The Girl in the Manor

by AJ Rivers

2020

When Everly Zara is found dead inside an old manor, Emma quickly links the case to a child’s earlier death connected to the house. As she uncovers Everly’s hidden history and the estate’s darkest stories, Emma begins to question her own grip on reality.

The Girl Next Door

by AJ Rivers

2020

In sleepy Sherwood, Emma befriends a troubled young neighbor, then wakes one night to see a strangling silhouette behind the girl’s curtains. When no one else remembers the tenant, Emma must prove a murder happened while wondering whether she is being carefully gaslit.

The Girl That Vanished

by AJ Rivers

2020

Planning a much needed break after the horrors of Feathered Nest, Emma is called home by Sheriff Sam when a ten year old camper disappears and another girl soon follows. As mysterious packages arrive on her birthday, she realizes someone in Sherwood is watching her every move.

Ava James and the Ivy Grove

by AJ Rivers

2021

FBI agent Ava James travels to Ivy Island for a masked gala honoring her aunt’s charity, hoping for a calm weekend. When a guest’s apparent suicide feels wrong, Ava digs into the foundation’s secrets and realizes she may be more than just an invited guest.

The Girl and the Cursed Lake

by AJ Rivers

2021

Emma joins Dean at an abandoned mountain campground infamous for disappearances and ghost stories. As they investigate new evidence from his darkest night there, they sift through superstition and staged scares to find the very human threat turning the lake into a place of terror.

The Girl and the Dragon's Island

by AJ Rivers

2021

Emma returns to storm swept Dragon’s Island to finally learn what happened to her ex boyfriend Greg during his missing years. Following new bodies and old clues along the shore, she discovers how his secrets are tied to the wider web of cases surrounding her.

The Girl and the Midnight Murder

by AJ Rivers

2021

When a young woman collapses and dies after what looks like an ordinary late night dinner, Emma suspects a carefully planned murder. Digging into a tight circle of sorority sisters, she uncovers grudges, jealousies, and a method of killing that hides in plain sight.

The Girl and the Silent Night

by AJ Rivers

2021

Asked to consult on a TV show based on one of her old cases, Emma finds the death of Lakyn Monroe back in the spotlight just as the holidays begin. Balancing a missing cousin and a shadowy enemy, she fights to keep this Christmas from ending in silence and bloodshed.

The Girl and the Unlucky 13

by AJ Rivers

2021

After the Arrow Lake case, Emma and Dean take on the five year old disappearance of Ashley Stevenson. When the girl suddenly reappears and human remains are found nearby, colliding stories and lies force Emma to rethink everything she believed about lucky and unlucky survivors.

The Girl in the Woods

by AJ Rivers

2021

A honeymoon interrupted by a disturbing phone call drags Emma into a case involving a woman found frozen in the snow. To stop further killings, she must consider clearing the name of a man she loathes and decide how much justice is worth.

Ava James and the Forgotten Bones

by AJ Rivers

2022

Pulled off active duty after her mother vanishes overseas, Ava James is reassigned to work cold cases and becomes fixated on the murders tied to a house in Hidden Cove. Sent to a wary Kentucky town, she uncovers chilling parallels between old killings and a fresh crime at the same address.

The Couple Next Door

by AJ Rivers

2022

Grieving widow Kara Davis lives alone in a big house until a charming couple moves in next door and strange events begin to warp her sense of reality. Called to investigate, Ava James must decide whether Kara is being targeted or slowly losing her grip on the truth.

The Girl and the 7 Deadly Sins

by AJ Rivers

2022

Emma is called to a shocking crime scene where victims are tagged with the seven deadly sins, yet their lives do not match the labels. As more bodies appear, she must decode strange symbols and motives before the killer turns the game on her.

The Girl and the Christmas Past

by AJ Rivers

2022

Trinity Pointe Amusement Park sparkles with holiday cheer, but an unsolved Christmas tragedy still haunts three families and the town of Sherwood. After new break ins and eerie messages, Emma must uncover what really happened years ago before the season’s joy turns into another massacre.

The Girl and the Last Sleepover

by AJ Rivers

2022

Years after a sleepover fire supposedly killed three girls and their parents, Emma Griffin and her cousin Dean reopen the case while searching for an undercover FBI agent who vanished, uncovering chilling links between the burned house and a trail of new bodies.

The Girl and the Twisted End

by AJ Rivers

2022

Old investigations collide as Emma races to solve the murder of Marie and the disappearance of a girl named Miley. Corruption, buried motives, and long running grudges close in, pushing her toward a final, twisting confrontation that could shatter the life she has built.

The Girl in Apartment 9

by AJ Rivers

2022

When a college student and mental health advocate vanishes from her off campus apartment, Emma agrees to help the worried neighbor who comes to her door. Digging into Sydney Parker’s polished image, she uncovers hidden pressures, secrets, and a string of deaths around the campus.

The Girl in the Mist

by AJ Rivers

2022

Assigned to strange disturbances near a newly reopened summer camp outside Sherwood, Emma confronts decades old stories about a stormy night when many people died. As fog thickens over Camp Hollow, she must separate local legend from the very real danger returning to the woods.

The Girl on Hallow's Eve

by AJ Rivers

2022

A splashy promotion invites contest winners to spend the night locked inside a brand new mall before it opens. When a masked killer turns the party into a slaughter, Emma and Sam race through darkened corridors and shuttered stores to find survivors and stop the Halloween nightmare.

The Woman in the Woods

by AJ Rivers

2022

Private investigator Dean Steele wakes from a blackout in the woods beside a dead woman he does not recognize. When her body disappears, he becomes both suspect and target, forced to reconstruct his missing hours and face the secrets that have stalked him since childhood.

Where should I start?

If you want to start with Emma Griffin: The Girl in Cabin 13The Girl That VanishedThe Girl in the Manor
If you like small town horror vibes: The Girl in the MistThe Girl on Hallow's EveThe Girl and the Christmas Past
If you prefer a new FBI lead: Ava James and the Ivy GroveAva James and the Forgotten BonesThe Couple Next Door
If you enjoy darker PI thrillers: The Woman in the WoodsGone Woman
If you want holiday themed mysteries: The Girl and the Black ChristmasThe Girl and the Silent NightThe Girl and the Christmas Past

Author bio

A.J. Rivers writes fast moving mystery and suspense novels about investigators who cannot stop digging once they sense something is wrong. Her stories blend crime solving with small town secrets, complicated families, and the quiet ways trauma lingers.

She grew up in a sleepy town where the most exciting things often happened in books or on late night crime shows. As a kid she devoured detective stories and thrillers, especially anything involving Sherlock Holmes. When she was not reading, she was scribbling her own case files into notebooks and imagining herself as the one following the clues.

For a long time she thought she might chase that feeling in real life. Law enforcement and forensic work sounded like the perfect way to marry problem solving with justice. College and early adulthood changed that plan. The reality of crime scene work felt far more brutal and exhausting than she wanted her day to day life to be, so she turned back to the page and decided to hunt killers through fiction instead.

Her breakthrough came when she read a short news item about a young woman who vanished from a small town and was never found. The questions that story raised became the seed of The Girl in Cabin 13, the first Emma Griffin FBI Mystery. In it, FBI agent Emma goes undercover in Feathered Nest, a town where disappearances and Emma’s own past are tangled together, setting the tone for a long running series about memory, identity, and the cost of knowing too much.

Across the Emma Griffin books, including titles like The Girl That Vanished, The Girl and the Hunt, and The Girl and the Cursed Lake, Rivers lets the character age, grieve, fall in love, and build a found family while chasing new cases. Each book stands on its own as a mystery, but a larger arc follows Emma’s search for the truth about her parents, her missing boyfriend, and the shadowy forces that keep resurfacing around her. Readers come for the twists, then stay to see how Emma and the people around her change from one book to the next.

Rivers has since expanded her world with the Ava James FBI Mystery books, which follow a younger agent stepping out from Emma’s shadow, and the Dean Steele mysteries, centered on a private investigator with a troubled military past and dangerous gaps in his memory. A standalone novel, Gone Woman, shows her interest in unreliable memory and domestic tension, trapping a heroine inside a perfect life that no longer feels like her own. Together, these series share a universe of overlapping characters, recurring villains, and small communities where everyone seems to be hiding something.

True crime research and real life cases often spark her ideas, but she keeps the focus on how ordinary people react when something unthinkable happens close to home. Her books mix psychological tension, investigative detail, and a thread of romance, without losing sight of the victims at the center of each case. The settings range from rural Virginia towns to isolated islands and lakes, yet they all feel like places where you could imagine living, right up until the bodies start turning up.

When she is not plotting her next twist, Rivers likes to get outside and clear her head on long hikes with her husky, then come home and unwind with her family and a stack of books. That balance between dark stories and a grounded daily life helps her return to the keyboard with fresh energy.

Pick up one of her novels and you can expect a tight mystery, a few emotional punches, and at least one revelation that makes you rethink everything you thought you understood a few chapters earlier.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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All 29 AJ Rivers Books in Order (Complete List 2026)