Desert Justice Books in Order
Part ofDana Mentink Books in OrderSee Dana Mentink’s Desert Justice books in order, with short summaries, Death Valley background, reading order notes, and easy where-to-start help.
Last updated: July 13, 2026
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Desert Justice books in publication order
6 books
Framed in Death Valley
by Dana Mentink
2021
Firefighter Beckett Duke has already lost his name and his marriage after being framed for murder. When his estranged wife Laney is threatened, protecting her and their unborn child becomes his one clear mission.
Missing in the Desert
by Dana Mentink
2021
A one-word text from her missing sister throws Mara Castillo back into a nightmare she never escaped. With rancher Levi Duke as her only protection, she chases answers that could save her life or end it.
Christmas Crime Cover-Up
by Dana Mentink
2022
Animal rescuer Nora Duke returns to Death Valley and is nearly run down before Christmas even starts. Trapped on Seth Castillo’s ranch with a pregnant donkey and a killer nearby, she has nowhere safe to turn.
Death Valley Double Cross
by Dana Mentink
2022
Pilar Jefferson learns her supposedly dead father is alive, and his old partner wants revenge. With her mother held for ransom and her ex-fiancé back at her side, escape may be their only chance.
Death Valley Hideout
by Dana Mentink
2022
Placed in witness protection while his brother testifies, Tony Ortega is guarding two children from a hit man. Hiding out with Willow Duke in Death Valley may save them, if bullets do not find them first.
Targeted in the Desert
by Dana Mentink
2023
Felicia Tennison discovers she has a little sister she never knew, and both of them instantly become targets. Sheriff Jude Duke, the ex she never wanted to see again, is now their best hope of survival.
Desert Justice books in chronological order

Framed in Death Valley
by Dana Mentink
2021Desert Justice, Book 1
Missing in the Desert
by Dana Mentink
2021Desert Justice, Book 2
Death Valley Double Cross
by Dana Mentink
2022Desert Justice, Book 3
Death Valley Hideout
by Dana Mentink
2022Desert Justice, Book 4
Christmas Crime Cover-Up
by Dana Mentink
2022Desert Justice, Book 5
Targeted in the Desert
by Dana Mentink
2023Desert Justice, Book 6
Series background & context
These books take Dana Mentink’s fast-moving romantic suspense and plant it in and around Death Valley. The desert matters here. Wide-open spaces, isolated ranches, punishing heat, and long empty roads make every chase feel riskier and every safe house feel temporary.
Across the series, connected families and neighbors keep getting pulled into fresh danger. Framed in Death Valley opens with a firefighter trying to clear his name while protecting his estranged wife. Missing in the Desert turns a long-vanished sister into a present-day threat. Later books bring in witness protection, kidnappings, Christmas trouble, and children caught in the crossfire.
The emotional center is just as important as the action. Exes, siblings, secret children, and old betrayals all shape the choices people make. These are stand-alone novels, but reading them in order lets the Death Valley community build around you. If you like clean suspense with ranchers, sheriffs, rescuers, and a setting that can be beautiful one minute and deadly the next, this is one of Mentink’s most dependable series.
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