Darcie Wilde Books in Order
Explore Darcie Wilde books in order, with quick summaries, series guides, and where to start with her Regency mysteries, romances, and royal sleuthing.
Last updated: June 7, 2026
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Publication Order
15 books
Lord of the Rakes
by Darcie Wilde
2014
Notorious seducer Phillip Montcalm expects another brief affair when heiress Lady Caroline Delamarre catches his eye. Instead, their instant passion runs straight into family baggage, past wounds, and the risky possibility that desire might become something deeper.
The Accidental Abduction
by Darcie Wilde
2014
Leannah Wakefield races across London to stop her sister's elopement and accidentally sweeps Harold Rayburn into the chaos. One impulsive marriage later, passion is easy, but trust is much harder when both bride and groom are keeping secrets.
A Useful Woman
by Darcie Wilde
2016
Nearly ruined by her father's flight, Rosalind Thorne earns her living helping society women handle delicate problems. When a man is murdered at Almack's, she must use her connections to navigate scandal, class, and an increasingly dangerous investigation.
An Exquisite Marriage
by Darcie Wilde
2016
Sharp-tongued bluestocking Helene Fitzgerald seems the least likely of the wallflowers to make a match, yet Duke Marcus Endicott keeps returning to her side. Their growing attraction has to survive old secrets, family pressure, and serious money troubles.
The Bride Behind the Curtain
by Darcie Wilde
2016
Adele Endicott has talent, taste, and no place in fashionable society, until a daring makeover lets her test both. As her gowns draw attention and James Beauclaire draws closer, love and ambition become harder to separate.
The Stepsister's Triumph
by Darcie Wilde
2016
Shy heiress Madelene Valmeyer has spent years hiding from a cruel stepfamily and from society. The Wallflower Pact offers a chance to step into the light, but opening her heart to Benedict Pelham may cost more than confidence.
A Purely Private Matter
by Darcie Wilde
2017
Rosalind agrees to trace the author of vicious letters aimed at a pregnant society wife, only to find an actor murdered and a sensational trial underway. With Adam Harkness beside her, she has to expose the truth before more lives are wrecked.
And Dangerous to Know
by Darcie Wilde
2019
Posing as Lady Melbourne's secretary, Rosalind hunts for stolen letters tied to Byron and Lady Caroline Lamb. Then a poisoned woman turns the assignment into a murder case tangled with blackmail, scandal, and serious political risk.
A Lady Compromised
by Darcie Wilde
2020
At a country house wedding party, Rosalind hopes to help a friend and perhaps reconnect with Devon Winterbourne. Instead, a suspicious death and a second tragedy force her to untangle secrets that could ruin both the celebration and her future.
A Counterfeit Suitor
by Darcie Wilde
2021
While discreetly checking out a possible fortune hunter, Rosalind is pulled into a far more personal case when her disgraced father is murdered. Blackmail, espionage, and old family damage collide in one of her most tangled investigations.
The Secret of the Lost Pearls
by Darcie Wilde
2022
A missing pearl necklace seems like a family embarrassment, until Rosalind Thorne uncovers fraud, blackmail, and murder beneath a respectable Regency household. What begins as a theft inquiry becomes a sharp, dangerous look at who the family is protecting.
The Secret of the Lady's Maid
by Darcie Wilde
2023
When a former lover of Rosalind's maid turns up gravely ill, the case lands inside Rosalind's own home. Suspected poisoning, threatened reputations, and growing feelings for Adam Harkness make this one of her most personal investigations.
The Matter of the Secret Bride
by Darcie Wilde
2024
A theft from Maria Fitzherbert's house sends Rosalind after a missing marriage paper that could shake the crown. Then a shady attorney is murdered, and the search becomes a race through royal scandal, family secrets, and mounting danger.
The Heir
by Darcie Wilde
2025
Fifteen-year-old Princess Victoria slips free of Kensington Palace for one ride and finds a dead man on royal grounds. Trapped between family control and her own curiosity, she launches her first investigation with only reluctant Jane Conroy at her side.
The Abduction of Rosalind Thorne
by Darcie Wilde
2026
Engaged and uneasy, Rosalind heads to Bath to investigate whether a charming widow is preying on a baronet. Two sudden deaths turn the assignment into a knot of gambling, fraud, forbidden love, and real peril for Rosalind and Adam.
Where should I start?
If you want the core Rosalind Thorne story: A Useful Woman → A Purely Private Matter → And Dangerous to Know
If you want Rosalind at her most established: The Secret of the Lost Pearls → The Secret of the Lady's Maid → The Matter of the Secret Bride
If you want Regency romance first: Lord of the Rakes → The Accidental Abduction
If you want a wallflower makeover trilogy: The Bride Behind the Curtain → The Stepsister's Triumph → An Exquisite Marriage
If you want royal intrigue: The Heir
Author bio
Darcie Wilde is the name Sarah Zettel uses for her Regency mysteries and romances, but the writing life behind that name stretches across science fiction, fantasy, suspense, and young adult fiction too. Born in California, she grew up in a house full of books and learned to read from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
By eighth grade, she was already plotting a seven-book series.
At fifteen she got her first typewriter. A year later came her first professional rejection, from a magazine for girls, and she kept going. She sold her first short story in 1986, sold her first novel in 1994, and has said she never seriously wanted to be anything but a writer.
Before Darcie Wilde showed up on Regency shelves, readers knew her as Sarah Zettel. Her debut novel, Reclamation, won the Locus Award for Best First Novel. Her second, Fool's War, won the Philip K. Dick Award and was named a New York Times notable book. That range matters, because it helps explain why her historical fiction feels so comfortable mixing character, setting, and plot.
She doesn't seem to enjoy staying in one lane.
As Darcie Wilde, she first published Regency romance, including Lord of the Rakes and The Accidental Abduction. Those books are more romance-forward, but you can already see the things she likes to work with: strict social rules, family pressure, money trouble, and women trying to carve out room for themselves inside a world that prefers neat answers. Jane Austen is an obvious touchstone, and Wilde has said as much, but her books are never simple imitation.
Then came A Useful Woman, the novel that introduced Rosalind Thorne. Rosalind is clever, observant, and awkwardly placed between gentility and working life, which gives Wilde a lot of room to write about class, gossip, power, and survival in Regency London. Readers who stay with A Purely Private Matter, And Dangerous to Know, A Counterfeit Suitor, and The Secret of the Lost Pearls tend to come back for that mix of murder, manners, and a slow-building emotional life.
Her newer work, The Heir, turns to a young Princess Victoria and shows the same love of history from a different angle. Instead of ballrooms and assemblies, the stage is Kensington Palace, full of family control, court politics, and a girl who wants answers more than she wants to behave. It feels like a natural next step for a writer who has spent years finding the pressure points inside old social systems.
Now she lives in Michigan with her husband and son, and by her own account she is still a history buff and an unabashed nerd girl. When she is not writing, she reads, stitches, and watches far too many competitive cooking shows. There is also, famously, a cat named Buffy the Vermin Slayer, which feels exactly right for a writer who has spent so many years happily crossing genres.
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