Emma Lord Mystery Books in Order

Emma Lord needs a big story for her small-town weekly, and she gets one when Mark Doukas is murdered in Alpine. Chasing answers through a tight-lipped family quickly turns her first major scoop into a fight for survival.

When hometown girl Dani Marsh returns to Alpine as a movie star, old feelings reignite across town. After her former husband dies, Emma Lord digs into the gossip and finds a case far murkier than anyone admits.

Christmas brings brutal murder to Alpine, and Emma's search for the truth puts her directly in danger. Holiday cheer quickly gives way to suspicion, gossip, and the possibility that Emma herself could wind up in the obituary pages.

A young man is shot, and blame falls on a Black nurse already dealing with Alpine's prejudice. Emma and Vida dig past rumor and bias to see who really wants the case solved their way.

Needing time away, Emma lands in Port Angeles instead of peace when a skeleton turns up in a friend's basement. The century-old death pulls her into a dark family story that refuses to stay buried.

A Seattle banker's arrival rattles Alpine's financial world, then a bookkeeper is murdered. Emma follows the nerves, secrets, and money trail to see why respectable people are suddenly so afraid.

A proposed luxury spa divides Alpine between jobs and progress on one side, glitz and ruin on the other. When murder cuts through the debate, Emma has to report the story and solve it.

A body in the local salon sends Emma after a case full of rumor, missing persons, and danger. What looks like mere town talk soon becomes the biggest story Alpine has seen in months.

Glamorous Ursula O'Toole Randall returns to Alpine to marry for the third time, then dies before the wedding. Emma has to look past old histories and fresh drama to find the killer.

Emma is on vacation on the Oregon coast when a woman is killed after her nightly nude swim and the husband vanishes. The couple's strangely calm children make the case even harder to read.

A new disturbance in Alpine forces Emma back into the messy territory of family ties, old loyalties, and fresh suspicion. As gossip spreads, she has to work out which connection is merely personal and which one is deadly.

A radical new local paper attacks Emma personally, then its editor Crystal Bird is murdered and Emma becomes the top suspect. Clearing her name means stepping into one of Alpine's ugliest media wars.

When Alpine native Carol Stokes is strangled in Seattle, Emma's cousin Ronnie is accused and has almost no defense. Emma and Vida hunt for another suspect before the killer edits them out of the story too.

A long-running family feud explodes after three bodies are found in a meat freezer, with a fourth corpse making the case even stranger. As Emma chases the biggest story of her career, she uncovers a conspiracy that will change her life.

An old man's funeral turns upside down when his widow insists he was murdered. Emma juggles that claim, threats against a local judge, and wildfire on the mountainside in a case with murder, blackmail, and arson.

Emma expects boredom at a community college play until a dean dies onstage from a prop gun loaded with real bullets. With Vida's help, she investigates a campus murder wrapped in backstage grudges.

Alpine's quilting circle plans a grand welcome home for Genevieve Bayard, but she dies at dinner instead. Burglaries, old scandals, and Vida's unusual reluctance make the case more personal than Emma expects.

A house fire kills Tim Rafferty and leaves Alpine buzzing about arson, money trouble, and a mysterious recluse called Old Nick. Emma and Vida push past rumor to uncover what really burned.

An obituary arrives for Elmer Nystrom before he is even dead, and Emma soon finds him murdered in a henhouse. With Milo sidelined, she and Vida chase the prophecy, the family tension, and the hand that mailed it.

Emma's newspaper is hit with a takeover bid from the heirs of her late lover, and the fight turns deadly when the buyer's front man is killed. Suddenly Emma is both reporter and suspect in a battle for the Advocate.

Another round of Alpine gossip turns explosive when a new death sends Emma back into the town's feuds and secrets. She has to separate noise from fact before a public uproar hides the real killer.

Just as Alpine seems ready for calmer days, a grim highway accident leaves two people dead and another clinging to life. Emma follows the aftermath into a case where grief, blame, and buried motives keep shifting.

Children find old bones on the mountain, reviving questions about a woman who vanished years earlier. Then a jail escape and a second corpse turn a cold Alpine winter into one of Emma's most tangled cases.

While the paper covers a new rehab and mental health center and Emma's engagement to Milo stirs town talk, a suspicious death rocks Alpine. When Vida disappears, Emma and Milo face more loose ends than ever.

Trouble blows through Alpine when Deputy Sam Heppner suddenly goes missing. Emma and Milo have to work through rumor, loyalty, and local nerves before the disappearance grows into something worse.

Emma would love a quieter season, but Alpine rarely cooperates when gossip and death arrive together. Balancing the Advocate, Milo, and a fresh case, she has to find the truth beneath the town's latest swirl of rumors.

Death returns to Alpine just as old rivalries flare, including Milo's long-running conflict with Black Jack. Emma is back at the Advocate, trying to untangle the case before personal history clouds the facts.

In a snowbound Alpine, the apparent murder of a woman at a motel on the edge of town sets everyone talking. Emma has to work through red herrings, harsh weather, and the town's usual tangle of loyalties.