Forgotten Coast Books in Order
Part ofDawn Lee McKenna Books in OrderThis page lists the Forgotten Coast books by Dawn Lee McKenna in order, with short summaries, series background, and clear where-to-start tips.
Last updated: June 7, 2026
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Publication Order
12 books
Dead Wake
by Dawn Lee McKenna
2015
After two florists uncover a long-hidden body inside a shop wall, Maggie Redmond is pulled into a decades-old mystery. The cold case brings dark history into the middle of Apalachicola’s everyday bustle.
Landfall
by Dawn Lee McKenna
2015
As a hurricane bears down on Apalachicola, Maggie and her children are held prisoner by a man seeking revenge. With no one coming to help, they must survive the danger inside and outside.
Low Tide
by Dawn Lee McKenna
2015
Lt. Maggie Redmond investigates an apparent suicide on St. George Island, but she has a hidden connection to the dead man. His powerful uncle, Bennett Boudreaux, soon pulls Maggie into dangerous emotional waters.
Riptide
by Dawn Lee McKenna
2015
A fisherman hauls up a severed foot, reopening questions about Gregory Boudreaux’s death. Maggie must balance the investigation, her secrets, Wyatt’s trust, and her growing fascination with Bennett Boudreaux.
What Washes Up
by Dawn Lee McKenna
2015
When bodies wash onto St. George Island and a man is found tied to a burning boat, Maggie faces a grim case. Her suspicions about Bennett Boudreaux force hard questions about justice and revenge.
Awash
by Dawn Lee McKenna
2016
When a young girl is attacked, Maggie Redmond draws on her own trauma to help her. The case shakes her faith in the law, her judgment, and her strange bond with Bennett Boudreaux.
Apparent Wind
by Dawn Lee McKenna
2017
A dead woman is found in an alligator’s jaws, and Maggie discovers her old friend Axel in the victim’s hotel room. To clear him, she must trace Marisol Corzo’s secrets and a dangerous drug connection.
Lake Morality
by Dawn Lee McKenna
2018
After Kristen Morgan leaves her baby locked in a car, Maggie Redmond expects anger, not murder. When Kristen’s body is found near Lake Morality, Maggie and Wyatt must untangle depression, lies, and homicide.
Overboard
by Dawn Lee McKenna
2018
Drug dealers dump Maggie Hamilton into the Gulf, forcing her to face a lifelong fear of sharks. As she fights to survive, Wyatt Hamilton and Bennett Boudreaux join a desperate search against time.
Squall Line
by Dawn Lee McKenna
2018
When a beloved officer is shot by a terrified bullied teenager, the whole Panhandle community reels. As videos spread online and two boys go missing, Maggie confronts a case shaped by fear, cruelty, and social media.
Back of the Bayou
by Dawn Lee McKenna
2019
This Forgotten Coast prequel follows Miss Evangeline, a Creole woman who cares for a Cajun boy after his mother is killed. Across the 1950s and 1960s, their bond becomes a lifelong anchor.
Ebb Tide
by Dawn Lee McKenna
2019
Set four years before Low Tide, Maggie Seward takes her first Franklin County investigator case after elderly Robert French is shot during a possible home robbery. The case tests her instincts while her marriage begins revealing secrets.
Series background & context
The Forgotten Coast series is Dawn Lee McKenna’s Florida Panhandle suspense saga, centered on Apalachicola and the people who live with one foot in beauty and the other in trouble. The town matters. It has shrimp boats, oyster bars, old houses, humid streets, family history, and the kind of gossip network that can solve a crime or make one worse.
At the heart of the series is Lt. Maggie Redmond, an investigator with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office. Maggie is a single mom, a local, and a woman with a painful past she would rather keep locked away. She works beside Sheriff Wyatt Hamilton, her boss and best friend, while raising her kids and trying to keep her private life from spilling into her cases.
That does not always work.
The first book, Low Tide, begins with an apparent suicide on St. George Island and a dead man Maggie knows far better than anyone realizes. It also introduces Bennett Boudreaux, a wealthy, dangerous, oddly courteous man whose presence changes the whole shape of the series. Bennett is not a simple villain, and Maggie’s pull toward him gives the books much of their uneasy charge.
The first four novels, Low Tide, Riptide, What Washes Up, and Landfall, are best read in order because they build one larger arc around Maggie’s secrets, Wyatt’s trust, Bennett’s influence, and the consequences of old violence. After that, the books become more case-driven, with Dead Wake, Awash, Apparent Wind, Lake Morality, Squall Line, and Overboard each bringing a new crime while continuing the relationships readers are already invested in.
McKenna also wrote shorter prequel stories. Ebb Tide looks back at Maggie’s early days as an investigator, before the main series begins. Back of the Bayou reaches further into the past, focusing on Miss Evangeline and a Cajun boy whose bond with her becomes one of the emotional roots of the series.
The tone is suspenseful but not grim all the time. McKenna gives readers murders, drug dealers, storms, missing bodies, and moral gray areas, but she also gives them porch talk, dry jokes, stubborn pets, old friendships, and meals that make the town feel real. The series is a good fit for readers who like crime fiction with a strong setting and characters who feel like neighbors, even when they are making terrible decisions.
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