Danielle Girard Books in Order
Explore Danielle Girard’s thrillers in order, with book summaries, series background, and clear starting points for the Rookie Club, Schwartzman, and Badlands books.
Last updated: July 20, 2026
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Danielle Girard books in publication order
18 books
Savage Art
by Danielle Girard
2000
FBI profiler Casey McKinley escaped serial killer Leonardo a year ago and rebuilt her life in San Francisco. When women begin dying in chillingly familiar ways, Casey must face the man who scarred her before his new game ends in another murder.
Ruthless Game
by Danielle Girard
2001
Rookie cop Alex Kincaid wakes in her car outside a stranger’s home with no memory of the night before. Hours later, a murder at that address makes her the prime suspect, forcing her to uncover a buried crime before the real killer finds her.
Chasing Darkness
by Danielle Girard
2002
Justice Department agent Samantha Chase is raising her orphaned nephews when two women from her past are found strangled. The killings bear the signature of an executed serial murderer, sending Sam back toward a crime she has spent years trying to bury.
Cold Silence
by Danielle Girard
2002
Former FBI agent Cody O’Brien has built a quiet life for herself and her young son under a new identity. When Ryan is kidnapped, Cody must run from the people who killed her husband and confront the dangerous past she thought she had escaped.
Dead Center
by Danielle Girard
2006
San Francisco sex-crimes inspector Jamie Vail hunts a predator targeting female police officers. When her ex-husband’s lover is murdered in a disturbingly similar way, Jamie must connect the crimes before she becomes the killer’s next target.
One Clean Shot
by Danielle Girard
2012
Homicide inspector Hailey Wyatt investigates the killings of two powerful San Francisco residents under intense public scrutiny. As the evidence points toward people close to her, Hailey must decide how much she can sacrifice without betraying the truth.
Dark Passage
by Danielle Girard
2013
After her undercover lover is killed, Special Ops officer Cameron Cruz struggles to move forward with their infant son. Then she witnesses a shooting and sees the impossible, Diego is alive, and she must prove his innocence before the danger reaches her department.
Everything to Lose
by Danielle Girard
2014
Jamie Vail investigates the assault of a San Francisco socialite’s daughter, but the case becomes frighteningly personal. Her son knows the victim, and suspicion falls on his biological father, leaving Jamie to protect her child while pursuing the attacker.
Interference
by Danielle Girard
2014
When guns stolen from police storage turn up in a string of shootings, computer-forensics chief Mei Ling spots evidence of a hacking device. An attack on her home proves she is close to the truth, and puts her in the hacker’s sights.
Exhume
by Danielle Girard
2016
San Francisco medical examiner Annabelle Schwartzman has escaped an abusive husband and found purpose in her work. A murder victim who looks like Annabelle, and wears a matching necklace, forces her to ask whether her past has finally caught up with her.
Excise
by Danielle Girard
2017
Recovering from a double mastectomy and chemotherapy, medical examiner Annabelle Schwartzman returns to work determined to regain her footing. Then her surgical oncologist is murdered, drawing Annabelle and inspector Hal Harris into a case with deeply personal stakes.
Expose
by Danielle Girard
2018
Medical examiner Annabelle Schwartzman recognizes a murder victim in Golden Gate Park, a woman she saw alive hours earlier with a small boy. When another killing follows, Annabelle and Hal Harris must find the missing child and uncover an old crime.
Expire
by Danielle Girard
2019
Annabelle Schwartzman has spent years fearing the return of her vengeful ex-husband. Abducted and held in an isolated Idaho cabin, she must rely on her medical knowledge and will to survive while Hal Harris races to trace her disappearance.
White Out
by Danielle Girard
2020
After an icy North Dakota crash, Lily Baker wakes with no memory of who she is. As Detective Kylie Milliard investigates a woman’s murder, both discover the crime is tied to a traumatic past that Lily may not survive remembering.
Far Gone
by Danielle Girard
2021
A North Dakota couple is shot in their home, and a frightened witness flees with their baby instead of calling police. Detective Kylie Milliard follows a blood trail connected to Lily Baker’s past, uncovering secrets that put both women in danger.
The Ex
by Danielle Girard
2022
Seven years after escaping an abusive marriage, medical examiner Annabelle Schwartzman questions the apparent suicide of a pregnant woman. The case echoes Annabelle’s own past, driving her beyond the morgue to learn whether the victim was truly free to choose.
Up Close
by Danielle Girard
2023
Two Hagen high school seniors have died under suspicious circumstances, and a third student is left in a coma after a crash. Detective Kylie Milliard sees a pattern the town wants ignored, and must expose it before another teenager is lost.
Pinky Swear
by Danielle Girard
2026
Lexi’s best friend Mara agrees to carry the baby Lexi has long wanted, then disappears four days before the due date. Lexi’s search takes her across the country and back to the tragedy that first fractured their friendship.
Where to start with Danielle Girard
For forensic crime thrillers: Exhume → Excise → Expose → Expire
For San Francisco police procedurals: Dead Center → One Clean Shot → Dark Passage → Interference → Everything to Lose
For small-town mysteries: White Out → Far Gone → Up Close
For standalone suspense: Savage Art → Ruthless Game → Chasing Darkness → Cold Silence
For a newer domestic thriller: Pinky Swear
Danielle Girard sub-series and character series
Badlands Thriller books in order
Explore this seriesDr. Schwartzman books in order
Explore this seriesThe Rookie Club books in order
Explore this series
Dead Center
by Danielle Girard
2006The Rookie Club, Book 1
One Clean Shot
by Danielle Girard
2012The Rookie Club, Book 2
Dark Passage
by Danielle Girard
2013The Rookie Club, Book 3
Everything to Lose
by Danielle Girard
2014The Rookie Club, Book 5
Interference
by Danielle Girard
2014The Rookie Club, Book 4
The Rookie Club books in chronological order
Standalone Danielle Girard books
Author bio
Danielle Girard grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area as the oldest of four children. In her family, stories were a way to get heard, and reunions could be loud, busy, and full of people trying to top one another’s latest tale. That early love of a good story stayed with her.
Her route to fiction wasn’t a straight line. Girard attended Cornell University, studying pre-med before moving into finance, where she worked for about ten years while writing her first books. It was a practical day job, but suspense was clearly where her imagination kept returning.
A few manuscripts later, she made the leap into publishing with Savage Art, a thriller about an FBI profiler targeted by the serial killer who once terrorized her. Ruthless Game, Chasing Darkness, and Cold Silence followed, each built around women facing danger that reaches into their pasts.
The pressure is personal in Girard’s books.
Her stories often begin with people who are good at their jobs, investigators, medical examiners, agents, and police officers, then put those skills under painful strain. San Francisco is a frequent setting, especially in the Rookie Club novels and the Dr. Annabelle Schwartzman series. The city’s streets, parks, offices, and morgue become places where professional cases collide with family history, old fear, and divided loyalties.
In the Rookie Club books, Girard follows a close group of women who began their careers as new officers in the San Francisco Police Department. Each novel gives a different member room to lead, from sex-crimes inspector Jamie Vail to homicide inspector Hailey Wyatt and computer-forensics chief Mei Ling. Friendship matters here, but so do difficult cases and the cost of keeping a secret.
Her Annabelle Schwartzman novels shift the focus to a San Francisco medical examiner who finds purpose in speaking for victims who can no longer speak for themselves. Beginning with Exhume, the series mixes forensic work with Annabelle’s long effort to build a safe life after an abusive marriage. Later, Girard moved to the small North Dakota town of Hagen for the Badlands thrillers, beginning with White Out, where detective Kylie Milliard investigates crimes in a place where nearly everyone knows one another.
Girard has also written the standalone thriller Pinky Swear, about a woman whose surrogate, and unborn baby, disappear days before the due date. Across the books, readers can expect mysteries with emotional stakes, women under pressure, and clues that force characters to reconsider the people closest to them.
Her work has received the Barry Award and an RT Reviewers’ Choice Award, and two of her novels have been optioned for the screen. She earned an MFA in creative writing from Queens University of Charlotte and created the Killer Women Podcast, where she talks with women writing crime fiction.
These days, Girard lives in the mountains of Montana when she isn’t traveling.
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