Deadly Décor Mystery Books in Order

Deadly Decor Mystery is Ginny Aiken's cozy mystery line, and it has a good, simple engine: interior designer Haley Farrell keeps taking jobs that somehow come with dead bodies attached. The setup gives the books a lively mix of home design, amateur sleuthing, awkward timing, and slow-building romance.

The series opens with Design on a Crime, where Haley launches her decorating business and immediately becomes the prime suspect when her friend and mentor Marge Norwalk is murdered. In Decorating Schemes, Haley finds another body at the start of a design project, and this time contractor Dutch Merrill lands under suspicion. Interior Motives moves Haley and Dutch into yet another renovation, this one involving a grand old house, a dead client, and a long list of people who may have wanted her gone.

What keeps the books together is Haley herself. She is curious, a little impulsive, and not especially good at staying out of investigations once she sees a pattern no one else is following. Dutch, meanwhile, gives the series its steady push-pull energy. He helps, argues, worries, and keeps turning up beside her whether the situation is safe or not.

Paint chips and murder are a strange fit, but that is the charm.

Aiken also builds a dependable supporting cast around the main pair, especially detective Lila Tsu and the various neighbors, clients, and friends who make Haley's world feel busy and lived in. The settings matter, too. Auctions, houses in need of work, high-end design jobs, and old properties all create natural places for secrets to hide.

The tone stays on the cozy side, but not weightless. Haley carries personal pain from her past, and the books make room for grief, faith, and recovery alongside the jokes and banter. If you want a mystery series that feels approachable, a little quirky, and easy to read in order, this is one of Aiken's best-known story worlds.