Bethany Blake Books in Order

If you want the main series from the beginning: Death by Chocolate Lab → Dial Meow for Murder → Pawprints & Predicaments
If you like festive small-town cozies: Dial Meow for Murder → A Midwinter's Tail → Something Borrowed, Something Mewed
If you want a paranormal spinoff with art and magic: A Brushstroke with Death

Bethany Blake is the mystery-writing name of Beth Fantaskey, a Pennsylvania author whose books mix small-town secrets, offbeat humor, and a real affection for animals. She grew up in Montoursville, Pennsylvania, and that sense of close community has stayed with her. You can feel it in her fiction, where neighbors know too much, family history never stays buried for long, and even the pets seem to have strong opinions.

Small towns clearly stuck.

She did not start out thinking she would be a novelist. In a 2024 interview, she said a college writing class first nudged her toward fiction. She went on to earn an English degree from Shippensburg University and later completed a Ph.D. in media history at Penn State. Before novels took over, she worked as a political speechwriter and then as a journalist, which helps explain why her books often move with a reporter's eye for detail and a good ear for how people actually talk.

She came to fiction a little later than some writers, but she came ready.

Her early novels, published as Beth Fantaskey, introduced her to teen readers. Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side gave the vampire craze a funny, skeptical heroine and a smart romantic streak. Jekel Loves Hyde played with classic horror in a more contemporary, character-driven way. Later books like Buzz Kill and Isabel Feeney, Star Reporter leaned even harder into mystery. Isabel Feeney grew out of her doctoral research on women crime reporters in Prohibition-era Chicago, which is a nice example of how her academic background can quietly feed the stories without making them feel homework-heavy.

Then came the Bethany Blake books. She has said that while she was writing young adult fiction, a conversation with another author about their shared love of cozy mysteries pushed her to try one herself. The result was Death by Chocolate Lab, which introduced pet sitter Daphne Templeton, her basset hound Socrates, and the pet-friendly Pennsylvania town of Sylvan Creek. From there came Dial Meow for Murder, Pawprints & Predicaments, and A Midwinter's Tail, books that readers tend to like for their animal chaos, warm community feel, and mysteries that stay grounded even when the titles are playful.

The pets are never just background.

She later opened a second Bethany Blake lane with A Brushstroke with Death, a spinoff that follows artist and art teacher Willow Bellamy. That series adds a light paranormal thread to the cozy setup, but it still feels connected to the rest of her work. She likes curious women, complicated local ties, and settings where ordinary places, a farm, a barn studio, a town square, can suddenly become the center of a murder case.

Across both names, a few things repeat. Pennsylvania matters. So do women who are capable, restless, and willing to poke at the wrong question until something gives. She has also said she grew up reading Nancy Drew, which makes a lot of sense once you meet her sleuths.

These days, she lives in rural Pennsylvania with her husband, three daughters, and a lively collection of pets. Like Daphne Templeton, she has a Ph.D., and she has also run a pet sitting business called Barkley's. She continues to write for adults as Bethany Blake and for younger readers as Beth Fantaskey, including the 2024 graphic novel Wires Crossed. However the name appears on the cover, her books tend to carry the same promise: smart heroines, a touch of mischief, and trouble waiting just down the road.