Darynda Jones Books in Order
This page gathers every Darynda Jones book in order, with quick summaries, series background, reading order tips, and friendly guidance on where new and returning readers might want to start.
Last updated: June 7, 2026
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Publication Order
31 books
First Grave on the Right
by Darynda Jones
2011
Smart mouthed private investigator Charley Davidson also happens to be the grim reaper, a walking portal for the dead. When three murdered lawyers beg her to find their killer, she juggles the case, family secrets, and sensual dreams of a mysterious stranger.
For I Have Sinned
by Darynda Jones
2011
A newly dead bride wakes up with no memory of how she died. Seen through the ghost’s eyes, this short Charley Davidson story follows Charley as she unravels the truth and gives the woman the closure she needs to move on.
Second Grave on the Left
by Darynda Jones
2011
When Charley’s best friend drags her out before dawn to search for a missing coworker, they uncover a trail of old school secrets and fresh murders. Meanwhile Reyes Farrow abandons his body to keep demons from using Charley as a gateway to heaven.
Death and the Girl Next Door
by Darynda Jones
2012
Ten years after her parents vanished without a trace, Lorelei McAlister is trying to survive high school with her two best friends. Everything tilts when a brooding loner starts stalking her, a dangerously attractive new boy enrolls, and both insist she is at the center of something supernatural.
Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet
by Darynda Jones
2012
Still traumatized by her last case, Charley is hiding out with late night shopping channels when a fragile client insists someone is trying to kill her. As everyone else labels the woman crazy, Charley follows the clues, tracks an arsonist, and struggles to stay away from Reyes.
Third Grave Dead Ahead
by Darynda Jones
2012
Running on caffeine and zero sleep to avoid the furious son of Satan who haunts her dreams, Charley takes a case involving a husband who smells guilty of murder. Between a missing wife, a prison break, and motorcycle gangs, her life gets even messier.
Death, and the Girl He Loves
by Darynda Jones
2013
Sent away from her hometown to a mysterious boarding school, Lorelei McAlister hopes distance will keep her friends safe. Instead she finds herself watched from all sides, plagued by visions of worldwide destruction, and forced to embrace the power inside her or lose everyone she loves.
Death, Doom and Detention
by Darynda Jones
2013
Now that Lorelei knows angels, demons, and prophecies are real, the normal part of her life is gone for good. As strange powers surface and Satan’s lieutenant takes up residence inside her, she has to decide which allies to trust before her frightening visions come true.
Fifth Grave Past the Light
by Darynda Jones
2013
Charley is investigating a series of arsons when dozens of terrified female ghosts begin crowding her apartment. Suspecting a serial killer connected to Reyes’s new nightclub, she races to identify the victims and protect her sister Gemma before the murderer strikes again.
Seventh Grave and No Body
by Darynda Jones
2014
Twelve hellhounds have escaped onto the mortal plane and marked Charley for death, turning every shadow into a threat. While searching for her missing father and probing a rash of suspicious suicides, she starts to suspect that destiny has even bigger plans for her.
Sixth Grave on the Edge
by Darynda Jones
2014
Engaged to the son of Satan and busy learning what that really means, Charley is also being blackmailed by criminals who want a protected witness found. A lost soul, a haunted Deaf boy, and a mother searching for her child force her to stretch every power she has.
Brighter Than the Sun
by Darynda Jones
2015
In this prequel novella told from Reyes Farrow’s point of view, a boy raised in brutal captivity clings to the memory of a girl made of light. His history with Charley unfolds from their first supernatural encounter to the moment he decides she might be his salvation or his ruin.
Eighth Grave After Dark
by Darynda Jones
2015
Hiding on the grounds of an abandoned convent to stay ahead of the hellhounds stalking her, a very pregnant Charley is bored, restless, and furious. A murdered nun, her father’s unsolved death, and Reyes’s increasingly strange behavior prove that danger can still reach sacred soil.
The Curse of Tenth Grave
by Darynda Jones
2016
Back in Albuquerque with her memory restored, Charley returns to PI work just as three malevolent gods arrive on earth with their sights set on her young daughter. To keep the little girl safe, Charley must track and trap the deities while pretending life is almost normal.
The Dirt on Ninth Grave
by Darynda Jones
2016
In a small New York town, an amnesiac waitress called Jane slowly realizes she can see ghosts. Strangers in the diner clearly know more about her than they admit, and a dark force hunting her makes her question whether the charming fry cook is friend or enemy.
Eleventh Grave in Moonlight
by Darynda Jones
2017
Charley takes on a deeply personal case when she investigates the couple who stole Reyes as an infant. At the same time she is learning to live as a newly awakened goddess, guarding her distant daughter while forces from hell try to erase her from this world.
The Trouble with Twelfth Grave
by Darynda Jones
2017
Reyes returns from a hell dimension changed, volatile, and possibly possessed by something ancient. As bodies of supernaturally sensitive humans begin to fall, Charley must uncover who is killing them, tame the feral version of her husband, and keep two teen PIs from getting in over their heads.
Summoned to Thirteenth Grave
by Darynda Jones
2019
After a century long exile from Earth, Charley is suddenly allowed to come home and finds everything in chaos. Determined to fix what she broke, she hunts for answers about her mother’s death, confronts an old enemy, and fights for a future with Reyes and their daughter.
A Bad Day for Sunshine
by Darynda Jones
2020
After being elected sheriff of Del Sol without her knowledge, Sunshine Vicram moves home with her teenage daughter expecting minor headaches and quirky neighbors. Her first big case, a missing fifteen year old girl, drags up her own kidnapping and throws her straight into the town’s darkest secrets.
A Lovely Drop
by Darynda Jones
2020
Andrea Grace can “drop” into the previous twenty four hours at any location, walking through the past as if it were real and watching crimes unfold. Years of anonymously helping police end when she is caught and pressed into service by an FBI agent racing to stop a terrorist attack.
Betwixt
by Darynda Jones
2020
Freshly divorced, broke, and desperate, Defiance Dayne learns she has inherited a crumbling mansion from a stranger in Salem. The locals seem convinced she is a witch, her new house is anything but ordinary, and the inked handyman in the basement is far too interesting for her peace of mind.
Bewitched
by Darynda Jones
2020
Deph has barely unpacked when she discovers she is a charmling, one of three rare witches whose power others would kill to steal. Learning to cast spells, dodge magical assassins, and share a roof with the sexiest man she has ever met makes midlife far more dangerous than she expected.
The Graveyard Shift
by Darynda Jones
2020
Veteran tracker Garrett Swopes is stuck guarding a precocious little girl who is half human, half divine, and destined to save the world. When she disappears, he is forced to seek help from Marika Dubois, the witch who tricked him into fathering the child he swore to avoid.
A Good Day for Chardonnay
by Darynda Jones
2021
Sunshine juggles a stabbing that leaves Levi Ravinder badly injured, political pressure in her tiny department, and Auri’s reckless hunt for a woman she suspects is a serial killer. Old cases collide with new crimes, forcing Sunshine to confront memories she has tried hard to forget.
Beguiled
by Darynda Jones
2021
Newly initiated as a witch, Deph tries to rebuild her life while three different neighbors either seduce her, scheme against her, or want her gone entirely. With a new witch in town, a lacuna wolf on the loose, and her grandmother’s death still unsolved, staying alive will take every trick she knows.
Moonlight and Magic
by Darynda Jones
2021
Annette Osmund always believed she was just the comic relief best friend until latent magic explodes and brands her a healer, an alchemist, and a charmling too. Guided by the tantalizing spirit haunting their house, she must master dangerous powers before they hurt the people she loves.
The Gravedigger’s Son
by Darynda Jones
2021
Quentin Rutherford’s simple job assessing a haunted New Mexico town gets complicated when he runs into Amber Kowalski, the girl he once loved and left. Together they face a vicious supernatural predator, and the investigation becomes a second chance neither of them expected.
A Hard Day for a Hangover
by Darynda Jones
2022
Multiple women have gone missing near Del Sol, and Sheriff Sunshine Vicram feels every failure personally. While she tracks a kidnapper, her daughter Auri conducts risky investigations of her own and Levi’s dangerous family closes ranks, pushing mother and daughter toward a final, hard won resolution.
The Graveside Bar and Grill
by Darynda Jones
2022
Donovan St. James agrees to quietly watch over Sia, the doctor who keeps his rough crew patched up, after a sharp tongued teen insists Sia’s life is in danger. When an ancient entity comes hunting, their uneasy partnership turns into a fight for survival and an unlikely romance.
The Grave Robber
by Darynda Jones
2023
Eric Vause is done with anything supernatural after spending years possessed by a demon, until a favor for a friend sends him to a house plagued by a violent ghost. The woman who lives there, Halle, is just as haunted as her home, and helping her may cost Eric his hard won peace.
Graveyard Dog
by Darynda Jones
2024
Michael Cavalcante expects a quick middle of the night repair call, not to be tased and knocked out by a terrified single mom who thinks he is part of the motorcycle club hunting her. As her enemies close in, he becomes the unlikely shield between Izzy, her daughter, and a deadly past.
Where should I start?
If you want snarky urban fantasy with a grim reaper PI: First Grave on the Right → Second Grave on the Left → Third Grave Dead Ahead
If you prefer small-town mystery with a mother-daughter duo: A Bad Day for Sunshine → A Good Day for Chardonnay → A Hard Day for a Hangover
If you like paranormal women’s fiction about starting over at forty: Betwixt → Bewitched → Beguiled → Moonlight and Magic
For a YA take on angels, demons, and destiny: Death and the Girl Next Door → Death, Doom and Detention → Death and the Girl He Loves
If you just want a quick taste of her worlds: For I Have Sinned → Brighter Than the Sun → The Graveyard Shift → A Lovely Drop
Author bio
Darynda Jones was born in Friona, Texas, and grew up spinning stories for anyone who would listen. As a kid she covered notebooks in looping “words” and begged her mother to read them aloud, staged plays with neighborhood friends, and made up elaborate adventures for her brother’s toy cars. Daydreaming got her in trouble at school, but it also nudged her toward the idea that she might be a writer.
In high school she and a best friend camped out for hours at a local fast-food place while she drafted a post-apocalyptic novel about teens living in underground tunnels after World War III. Then real life intervened. Jones married, started a family, and focused on practical work instead of chasing publication, even though stories kept tugging at the edges of her days.
Still, the dream of telling stories for a living never really went away.
When her eldest son was born Deaf, that practical streak led to a different path. She moved with her boys to Albuquerque so he could attend a Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing program, then enrolled at the University of New Mexico herself. She graduated summa cum laude with a degree in sign language interpreting and spent years teaching at a local college and interpreting in courts, classrooms, and community settings, often juggling several jobs at once.
Eventually the pull back to fiction was too strong to ignore. In 2002 Jones set herself a single concrete goal, to write toward a publishing contract. The early manuscripts, she has joked, were not great, but practice paid off. Her third full book, First Grave on the Right, won a major award for unpublished romance, then went on to earn a RITA and launch her career with a multi-book deal.
That novel introduced Charley Davidson, a smart-mouthed Albuquerque private investigator who is also the grim reaper, a living portal for the dead. The Charley Davidson series grew into thirteen books and multiple novellas, following Charley as she juggles murder cases, her complicated romance with Reyes Farrow, and a slowly unfolding war between heaven and hell. The stories balance grief and genuine danger with coffee-fueled banter, family drama, and a cast of recurring friends both living and dead.
Jones has since expanded her worlds in several directions. The young adult Darklight trilogy, beginning with Death and the Girl Next Door, drops a small-town teenager into an angel-and-demons prophecy. The Sunshine Vicram mysteries, starting with A Bad Day for Sunshine, follow a reluctant sheriff and single mom in eccentric Del Sol, New Mexico, as she investigates serious crimes and slowly unpacks her own long-ago abduction.
On the paranormal women’s fiction side, the Betwixt & Between series opens with Betwixt, where forty-something Defiance Dayne inherits a haunted Salem mansion and discovers she is a rare kind of witch called a charmling. Jones also plays in The NeverNeath, a shared universe of serialized stories and novellas set in a hidden realm that brushes up against our own, including A Lovely Drop, about a woman who can step back into the previous day and an agent determined to use that gift for good.
Readers tend to come for the laughs and stay for the way her characters love one another through all the chaos.
Across all of these projects, her work circles the same touchstones, sharp humor, resilient heroines, found family, and ordinary jobs smashed up against extraordinary powers. Whether her characters are interpreting in a classroom, running a diner, or solving crimes in a dusty plaza, there is usually a ghost, god, or demon waiting in the wings. Jones still lives in New Mexico with her husband and their two sons, happily daydreaming up the next impossible mess to drop her characters into.
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