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AW Hartoin Books in Order

Explore AW Hartoin books in order, with quick summaries, series guides, and easy advice on where to start with Mercy Watts, Stella Bled, and more.

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AW Hartoin books in publication order

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46 books

Matilda Whipplethorn is tiny, hearing-impaired, and desperate to prove she is capable of more than babysitting. When humans tear her home from the manor wall, she has to protect her charges in a world that suddenly feels huge.

Coke with a Twist

by AW Hartoin

2012

Mercy's PI father pulls her into a fast, ugly case involving a young woman's attack. Chasing answers from a dive bar to sorority row, Mercy learns she needs to solve it quickly or become the next victim.

It Started with a Whisper

by AW Hartoin

2012

Puppy MacClarity thinks the family stories about dead ancestor Ernest are just stories until one angry wish comes true. A summer of magic, fear, and family secrets shows him his clan is much stranger than he knew.

Touch and Go

by AW Hartoin

2012

To avoid paperwork for her father, Mercy takes a case for an old rival and instantly regrets it. A missing man and an unruly dog turn a simple job into another scramble to stay ahead of trouble.

A Good Man Gone

by AW Hartoin

2013

Mercy thinks she is finally free from her parents' investigations until a family friend's sudden death pulls her back in. Then a bride is murdered, and Mercy has to figure out whether the two deaths are connected.

A Monster's Paradise

by AW Hartoin

2013

Matilda reaches Paris hunting a cure, but the city is full of warring fairies and shifting loyalties. With Miss Penrose fading and the Vermillion clan in hiding, every question Matilda asks creates a new enemy.

Diver Down

by AW Hartoin

2013

Mercy escapes to Roatan for sun and scuba, only to find that her problems have followed her there. The deeper she gets into island trouble, the clearer it becomes that someone wants her dead.

Fierce Creatures

by AW Hartoin

2013

Life in a human house feels dull after kidnapping and spriggan battles, until Matilda's tutor falls desperately ill. To save Miss Penrose, Matilda must return to the antique mall and face enemies she barely escaped before.

Flare-up

by AW Hartoin

2013

This short prequel catches Matilda Whipplethorn as a child, right when her quiet day turns wild. An adventure inside a dog's snout gives an early glimpse of the trouble that seems to find her.

Nowhere Fast

by AW Hartoin

2013

Guilt-tripped by family, Mercy goes looking for a missing girl the police cannot find. What starts as a favor quickly turns dangerous when it becomes clear someone is determined to keep the runaway hidden.

A Wicked Chill

by AW Hartoin

2014

Stranded in Vienna with her parents missing, Matilda hides in St. Stephen's Cathedral and tries to stay ahead of trolls, politics, and panic. The widening revolution may force her to use the dangerous power she has been hiding.

Double Black Diamond

by AW Hartoin

2014

A Colorado ski trip goes off the rails when Mercy agrees to a desperate favor and ends up a suspect in a brutal crime. To save a child, she may have to break the law before she can solve the case.

Dry Spell

by AW Hartoin

2014

When Mercy's friend turns up terrified in the middle of a brutal Missouri drought, the explanation could be grief, madness, or something long buried. Mercy follows the trail into a mystery that feels almost supernatural.

Drop Dead Red

by AW Hartoin

2015

A mass killing at a St. Louis restaurant should have nothing to do with Mercy, but favors and family say otherwise. Her search for the truth leads from home to New Orleans and a case with a nasty scientific twist.

In the Worst Way

by AW Hartoin

2015

Sent to a remote castle to hide from a vengeful gang, Mercy expects trouble, but not murder. Surrounded by bickering cousins, baseball campers, and old ghosts, she has to solve the crime before the killers find her.

A Sin and a Shame

by AW Hartoin

2016

While recovering from injury, Mercy gets pushed into defending a retired librarian who has taken a life. The case is stranger than it first appears, and solving it forces Mercy toward a choice with real cost.

The Wife of Riley

by AW Hartoin

2016

Mercy owes the Fibonacci family a favor, and it sends her to Paris to identify a woman who may not be dead after all. Mafia pressure, family secrets, and the Klinefeld Group make this search far riskier than it looks.

To the Eternal

by AW Hartoin

2016

Matilda's hidden power is no longer hidden, and now everyone wants something from her. As her parents remain in danger and the unrest in France spreads, she heads to Rome in search of help only a powerful ally can give.

Brain Trust

by AW Hartoin

2017

Racing home from Sturgis, Mercy finds danger waiting and gets pulled into one of her darkest cases yet. With her father missing and violent predators closing in, she and her oddball crew have to keep digging.

My Bad Grandad

by AW Hartoin

2017

Mercy heads to the Sturgis motorcycle rally with her grandad, hoping for a break from trouble. Instead she gets a dead Vietnam veteran, a string of suspicious deaths, and an old secret still stalking the Watts family.

Down and Dirty

by AW Hartoin

2018

Back at the clinic and hoping for normal, Mercy instead lands in a lawsuit and a messy case full of jealousy and affairs. With Chuck absent and danger rising, she has to sort out who is lying before the situation turns deadly.

The Paris Package

by AW Hartoin

2018

On a 1938 honeymoon, Stella Bled and her husband are pulled into danger when a Jewish friend entrusts them with a secret package. Fleeing Vienna after Kristallnacht, they must outrun the Reich and decide what they are willing to risk.

Small Time Crime

by AW Hartoin

2019

A cold case from 1965 drags Mercy back into family history when the FBI uncovers a new clue. What should be a vacation turns into a hunt for answers some relatives would rather leave buried.

Strangers in Venice

by AW Hartoin

2019

After the terror of Vienna, Stella and Nicky chase Abel's missing cousins to a flooded Venice. Injuries, suspicion, and Nazis on their trail force Stella to decide how far she will go to keep a promise.

Bottle Blonde

by AW Hartoin

2020

Nurse Mercy Watts returns to St. Sebastian after a kidnapping involving a German stranger. With family secrets and a suspect close to home, she tries to untangle a decades-old mystery while those around her struggle to keep her safe.

One Child in Berlin

by AW Hartoin

2020

In 1939, Stella’s intelligence training ends early when her mentor sends her on a courier assignment. A personal favor takes her to Berlin, where Nazi persecution and doubts about women agents test her courage and usefulness.

Working undercover in occupied Paris, Stella must serve both British intelligence and her Nazi handler. An assignment to loot Jewish homes turns her artistic knowledge into a dangerous opportunity to protect people who have nowhere to turn.

Dark Victory

by AW Hartoin

2021

Stella longs to leave undercover work in Amsterdam, but a new assignment forces her to assess two Dutchmen’s loyalties. With invasion approaching and someone recognizing her cover, a precarious bargain draws her toward the bombing of Rotterdam.

Mean Evergreen

by AW Hartoin

2021

Mercy knows who attacked her, but the blackmailer remains elusive. A Christmas trip to Germany with her grandmother brings festive markets, an FBI request, and old family tensions that complicate her efforts to uncover the truth.

Her London Season

by AW Hartoin

2022

Recovering from an injury in 1940, Stella faces a struggle within British intelligence while her husband joins the air war. New duties in London expose her to the Blitz, competing loyalties, and threats beyond the battlefield.

A blizzard traps Mercy at a Swiss mountain hotel where guests fall ill in a troubling pattern. Without medical equipment or an escape route, she must investigate hidden connections while a violent attack raises the stakes.

A young girl’s friendship with an invisible woman turns frightening when the ghost becomes distressed and the child cannot explain why. Jess and Libby investigate the family’s secrets while juggling their own children and responsibilities.

Dead Companions

by AW Hartoin

2023

Widowed Jess and struggling mother Libby buy a haunted house in St. Sebastian. When its resident ghost offers Libby employment on the condition that they solve his decades-old murder, the friends embark on an unusual investigation.

Old Friends and Fedoras

by AW Hartoin

2023

The ghost of a 1940s detective hires Jess and Libby to solve the one case that defeated him. A missing car and an unexplained death lead the friends through buried secrets and a growing trail of danger.

So Long Gone

by AW Hartoin

2023

Mercy’s engagement and new home should mark a happy beginning, but the discovery of missing teenagers’ bodies reopens old wounds. Despite her father’s warnings, secrets involving her family and fiancé force her to investigate her own past.

The Trouble with Tinsel

by AW Hartoin

2023

A beloved handyman’s mysterious inheritance changes his life before he dies during a Christmas pageant. Jess and Libby answer his niece’s plea for help, tracing the fortune to an old crime and secrets that refuse to stay buried.

Angels and Insects

by AW Hartoin

2024

Puppy MacClarity’s hopes for an ordinary summer end when her family is attacked. With her grandfather barely surviving and her mother’s defenses weakening, a mysterious map and someone seeking information about a cauldron deepen the danger.

Black Bandana

by AW Hartoin

2024

A house sale draws Mercy into suspicions surrounding a woman’s apparently natural death. With little evidence and an old enemy offering a clue, she searches for a sinister pattern before more vulnerable people are harmed.

Double Duet

by AW Hartoin

2024

Disappearing agents in Lyon point to a traitor feeding intelligence to the Nazis. Stella travels undercover as an American journalist with her sister, but rival German intelligence services and Gestapo interest make their mission increasingly dangerous.

Fun Ivy

by AW Hartoin

2024

A family spring break trip to Cornell draws Jess and Libby into a dead professor’s decades-old mystery. As they question an apparent suicide, a hostile podcaster and disturbing new evidence complicate their search for the truth.

Jess and Libby’s visit to Gettysburg takes a strange turn when the ghosts at their historic inn fall unusually silent. Communication problems, old grudges, and family complications draw them into a mystery rooted in the town’s past.

Operation Knickknack

by AW Hartoin

2025

Stella travels to Nuremberg with a double agent carrying intelligence that could change the war. When he vanishes from Hitler’s favored hotel, she must evade dangerous attention and find a way to bring the information home.

Origin Story

by AW Hartoin

2025

A mysterious disappearance and a clue hidden in Stella’s liquor cabinet send Mercy and her godmothers to Austria. Following connections between the Watts and Bled families, she confronts an old enemy and secrets spanning generations.

New

Jess and Libby tackle an estate deadline complicated by an uncooperative ghost while investigating a decades-old murder. Their client believes the imprisoned man is innocent, forcing the friends to untangle overlapping secrets among the living and dead.

New

Loved and Lost

by AW Hartoin

2026

Small thefts from locked houses on a seemingly perfect street bring Mercy a puzzling case. The missing keepsakes lead toward an old crime, a runaway woman, and a stalker whose intended target may be someone else.

New

Survive and Thrive

by AW Hartoin

2026

Stella and her mentor enter Prague in 1942 to stop an assassination, only to discover their contacts are dead. Her determination to help endangered friends strains their partnership as Heydrich’s terror makes every choice potentially fatal.

Where to start with AW Hartoin

If you want twisty crime with family chaos: A Good Man Gone → Diver Down → Double Black Diamond
If you want WWII suspense: The Paris Package → Strangers in Venice
If you want fantasy for younger readers: A Fairy's Guide to Disaster → Fierce Creatures → A Monster's Paradise
If you want a one-book taste of the magical side: It Started with a Whisper

Afterlife Issues books in order

Explore this series
  1. Book cover for "A Trunk, a Canoe, and all the Barbecue"
  2. Book cover for "Dead Companions"

    Dead Companions

    by AW Hartoin

    2023
  3. Book cover for "Old Friends and Fedoras"

    Old Friends and Fedoras

    by AW Hartoin

    2023
  4. Book cover for "The Trouble with Tinsel"

    The Trouble with Tinsel

    by AW Hartoin

    2023
  5. Book cover for "Fun Ivy"

    Fun Ivy

    by AW Hartoin

    2024
  6. Book cover for "Bullets Over Baltimore Street"
  7. Book cover for "Bitter Bobby and the Devil Woman"

Away From Whipplethorn books in order

Explore this series
  1. Book cover for "A Fairy's Guide to Disaster"

    A Fairy's Guide to Disaster

    by AW Hartoin

    2012Away From Whipplethorn, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "A Monster's Paradise"

    A Monster's Paradise

    by AW Hartoin

    2013Away From Whipplethorn, Book 4
  3. Book cover for "Fierce Creatures"

    Fierce Creatures

    by AW Hartoin

    2013Away From Whipplethorn, Book 3
  4. Book cover for "Flare-up"

    Flare-up

    by AW Hartoin

    2013Away From Whipplethorn, Book 2
  5. Book cover for "A Wicked Chill"

    A Wicked Chill

    by AW Hartoin

    2014Away From Whipplethorn, Book 5
  6. Book cover for "To the Eternal"

    To the Eternal

    by AW Hartoin

    2016Away From Whipplethorn, Book 6

Away From Whipplethorn books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "A Fairy's Guide to Disaster"

    A Fairy's Guide to Disaster

    by AW Hartoin

    2012Away From Whipplethorn, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "Flare-up"

    Flare-up

    by AW Hartoin

    2013Away From Whipplethorn, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "Fierce Creatures"

    Fierce Creatures

    by AW Hartoin

    2013Away From Whipplethorn, Book 3
  4. Book cover for "A Monster's Paradise"

    A Monster's Paradise

    by AW Hartoin

    2013Away From Whipplethorn, Book 4
  5. Book cover for "A Wicked Chill"

    A Wicked Chill

    by AW Hartoin

    2014Away From Whipplethorn, Book 5
  6. Book cover for "To the Eternal"

    To the Eternal

    by AW Hartoin

    2016Away From Whipplethorn, Book 6

Mercy Watts Mysteries books in order

Explore this series
  1. Book cover for "Coke with a Twist"

    Coke with a Twist

    by AW Hartoin

    2012Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "Touch and Go"

    Touch and Go

    by AW Hartoin

    2012Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "A Good Man Gone"

    A Good Man Gone

    by AW Hartoin

    2013Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 3
  4. Book cover for "Diver Down"

    Diver Down

    by AW Hartoin

    2013Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 4
  5. Book cover for "Nowhere Fast"

    Nowhere Fast

    by AW Hartoin

    2013Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 5
  6. Book cover for "Double Black Diamond"

    Double Black Diamond

    by AW Hartoin

    2014Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 6
  7. Book cover for "Dry Spell"

    Dry Spell

    by AW Hartoin

    2014Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 7
  8. Book cover for "Drop Dead Red"

    Drop Dead Red

    by AW Hartoin

    2015Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 8
  9. Book cover for "In the Worst Way"

    In the Worst Way

    by AW Hartoin

    2015Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 9
  10. Book cover for "A Sin and a Shame"

    A Sin and a Shame

    by AW Hartoin

    2016Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 11
  11. Book cover for "The Wife of Riley"

    The Wife of Riley

    by AW Hartoin

    2016Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 10
  12. Book cover for "Brain Trust"

    Brain Trust

    by AW Hartoin

    2017Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 13
  13. Book cover for "My Bad Grandad"

    My Bad Grandad

    by AW Hartoin

    2017Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 12
  14. Book cover for "Down and Dirty"

    Down and Dirty

    by AW Hartoin

    2018Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 14
  15. Book cover for "Small Time Crime"

    Small Time Crime

    by AW Hartoin

    2019Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 15
  16. Book cover for "Bottle Blonde"

    Bottle Blonde

    by AW Hartoin

    2020
  17. Book cover for "Mean Evergreen"

    Mean Evergreen

    by AW Hartoin

    2021
  18. Book cover for "Silver Bells at Hotel Hell"
  19. Book cover for "So Long Gone"

    So Long Gone

    by AW Hartoin

    2023
  20. Book cover for "Black Bandana"

    Black Bandana

    by AW Hartoin

    2024
  21. Book cover for "Origin Story"

    Origin Story

    by AW Hartoin

    2025
  22. Book cover for "Loved and Lost"

    Loved and Lost

    by AW Hartoin

    2026

Mercy Watts Mysteries books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "Coke with a Twist"

    Coke with a Twist

    by AW Hartoin

    2012Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "Touch and Go"

    Touch and Go

    by AW Hartoin

    2012Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "A Good Man Gone"

    A Good Man Gone

    by AW Hartoin

    2013Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 3
  4. Book cover for "Diver Down"

    Diver Down

    by AW Hartoin

    2013Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 4
  5. Book cover for "Nowhere Fast"

    Nowhere Fast

    by AW Hartoin

    2013Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 5
  6. Book cover for "Double Black Diamond"

    Double Black Diamond

    by AW Hartoin

    2014Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 6
  7. Book cover for "Dry Spell"

    Dry Spell

    by AW Hartoin

    2014Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 7
  8. Book cover for "Drop Dead Red"

    Drop Dead Red

    by AW Hartoin

    2015Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 8
  9. Book cover for "In the Worst Way"

    In the Worst Way

    by AW Hartoin

    2015Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 9
  10. Book cover for "The Wife of Riley"

    The Wife of Riley

    by AW Hartoin

    2016Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 10
  11. Book cover for "A Sin and a Shame"

    A Sin and a Shame

    by AW Hartoin

    2016Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 11
  12. Book cover for "My Bad Grandad"

    My Bad Grandad

    by AW Hartoin

    2017Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 12
  13. Book cover for "Brain Trust"

    Brain Trust

    by AW Hartoin

    2017Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 13
  14. Book cover for "Down and Dirty"

    Down and Dirty

    by AW Hartoin

    2018Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 14
  15. Book cover for "Small Time Crime"

    Small Time Crime

    by AW Hartoin

    2019Mercy Watts Mysteries, Book 15

Son of a Witch books in order

Explore this series
  1. Book cover for "It Started with a Whisper"

    It Started with a Whisper

    by AW Hartoin

    2012

Stella Bled books in order

Explore this series
  1. Book cover for "The Paris Package"

    The Paris Package

    by AW Hartoin

    2018Stella Bled, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "Strangers in Venice"

    Strangers in Venice

    by AW Hartoin

    2019Stella Bled, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "One Child in Berlin"

    One Child in Berlin

    by AW Hartoin

    2020
  4. Book cover for "A Quiet Little Place on Rue de Lille"
  5. Book cover for "Dark Victory"

    Dark Victory

    by AW Hartoin

    2021
  6. Book cover for "Her London Season"

    Her London Season

    by AW Hartoin

    2022
  7. Book cover for "Double Duet"

    Double Duet

    by AW Hartoin

    2024
  8. Book cover for "Operation Knickknack"

    Operation Knickknack

    by AW Hartoin

    2025
  9. Book cover for "Survive and Thrive"

    Survive and Thrive

    by AW Hartoin

    2026

Stella Bled books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "The Paris Package"

    The Paris Package

    by AW Hartoin

    2018Stella Bled, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "Strangers in Venice"

    Strangers in Venice

    by AW Hartoin

    2019Stella Bled, Book 2

Standalone AW Hartoin books

  1. Book cover for "Angels and Insects"

    Angels and Insects

    by AW Hartoin

    2024

Author bio

AW Hartoin grew up in rural Missouri, but one place seems to have stayed with her in a big way, her grandmother's home in the Central West End of St. Louis. Those visits gave her a feel for old houses, hidden rooms, and the idea that every door might be holding a story.

That image, big rooms and bigger secrets, shows up all over her fiction.

Hartoin has said she can't remember a time when she didn't love reading. She read Harry and the Lady Next Door again and again, and Anne of Green Gables was the first book that made her want to step inside a fictional world and stay there.

As an adult, she decided she needed more life experience if she was going to write believable characters, so she joined the Air Force. That choice changed the shape of her writing life. It brought travel, a wider view of the world, and the chance to live in places including Alaska, Italy, and Germany. She also met her husband along the way.

Her first published series was Away From Whipplethorn, a fantasy adventure built around Matilda Whipplethorn, a tiny hearing-impaired fairy who keeps landing in very large trouble. The books have the pleasure of classic middle grade adventure, odd creatures, hidden worlds, and a heroine who has to rely on nerve as much as power.

A lot of readers first meet Hartoin through Mercy Watts. Beginning with A Good Man Gone and continuing through books like Diver Down and The Wife of Riley, the Mercy novels mix murder, travel, family chaos, and a heroine who would really prefer a quiet life but never gets one. Mercy is a nurse, the daughter of a private investigator, and a magnet for bad situations. Hartoin uses that setup to write mysteries that are funny without going soft on the danger.

Then there is The Paris Package, the opening book in the Stella Bled series. That line moves Hartoin into WWII suspense, with Stella starting out as a young bride in Europe in 1938 and getting pulled into a much larger fight. In Strangers in Venice and the books that follow, Hartoin keeps one eye on history and the other on the human cost of living through it. The result is tense, fast-moving fiction that still makes room for loyalty, fear, and stubborn hope.

She likes big casts, old secrets, and people who get dragged into trouble because they can't quite walk away.

Across her work, you can see a few steady interests. Family matters, sometimes in helpful ways and sometimes in deeply inconvenient ones. Place matters too, whether that means St. Louis streets, wartime Europe, or a fairy world hiding in plain sight. Her books tend to ask what ordinary people do when loyalty and danger arrive at the same time.

She has also lived in Waldenbuch, Germany, with her family and two spoiled cats. She has said she reads almost everything except horror because she likes to sleep, which feels like exactly the kind of practical detail a mystery and fantasy writer would keep.

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 shape MRB and its growth.

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