Apart from the Crowd Books in Order

The title Apart from the Crowd tells you a lot about this series before the first scene even starts. These are books about women who are not quite centered in the glittering world around them. Some are wallflowers, some are working companions, and some are simply easier for society to overlook than to understand. Jen Turano takes that idea and turns it into a run of witty Gilded Age romances full of gossip, misunderstandings, and small acts of rebellion.

The reading order starts with the novella At Your Request and then continues with Behind the Scenes, Out of the Ordinary, and Caught by Surprise. The novella works nicely as a doorway, since it introduces Wilhelmina Radcliff, whose family has fallen on hard times, and brings old feelings to the surface when former suitor Edgar Wanamaker reappears. The later books expand that same social world and keep focusing on women who live near the edges of fashionable life rather than at its bright center.

Permilia Griswold, the heroine of Behind the Scenes, may be the clearest example of the series idea. She has spent years in wallflower territory and quietly uses the position to write a gossip column under a secret name. Gertrude Cadwalader, in Out of the Ordinary, is a paid companion trying to manage an employer with sticky fingers. Temperance Flowerdew, in Caught by Surprise, is finally building a life of her own when an abduction throws everything into chaos. These are not passive heroines. They just start from places society tends to underestimate.

That is where Turano has the most fun.

The men who meet them are tied to the larger social and business world, but the series never turns into a parade of perfect gentlemen. Asher Rutherford runs a department store and does not immediately believe Permilia's warning. Harrison Sinclair has to undo a bad first impression with Gertrude. Gilbert Cavendish wants to help Temperance, but he also has to learn that rescuing a woman is not the same thing as managing her life. The romances work because both sides have something to unlearn.

This series is especially good if you like books where reputation and public appearances matter, but not more than character. The setting moves through ballrooms, shops, trains, and summer retreats, and the humor often comes from watching polished social rituals collide with very messy reality. There is also a steady mystery thread running underneath the courtships, whether that means a threat overheard in a ballroom, a thief on the loose, or someone with darker plans.

Read these in order if you want the fullest experience, because the returning faces and shifting friendships help the world feel lived in. If your favorite Turano heroines are the ones who are clever, capable, and a little out of step with what society expects, this series is built for you.