Grace Designs Mysteries Books in Order

Grace Designs Mysteries trades magical Regency England for 1920 Wellington, New Zealand, but it keeps Wallace's love of warmth, mystery, and capable women. The series follows Grace Devine, a dress designer trying to build her business just as the decade begins to open up. Then murder arrives, and her workroom turns out to be a surprisingly good place from which to investigate a crime.

Grace makes a strong center for a cozy series because her job puts her right in the path of people's secrets. She deals with wealthy clients, fittings, deadlines, gossip, and the delicate business of keeping people happy while seeing far more than they think she does. In Seams like Murder, a fashionable client is killed and Grace becomes the obvious suspect. In Backstitched and Stabbed, a body on the beach leads her into the tangled life of a cheerful baker. In Gather the Anarchists, the visit of Edward, the Prince of Wales, pulls her toward a conspiracy with much bigger stakes.

The Wellington setting matters a lot. These are not generic historical cozies with the labels swapped out. The city, the harbor, the beaches, the social world, and the local texture give the books their own shape. Wallace has said Wellington was a place she had once lived, and that sense of familiarity comes through. The series feels fond of its setting without sanding it down into something too neat.

There is also a light paranormal edge running through the mysteries. It never overwhelms the whodunit side, but it adds a small extra shiver to the way Grace follows clues and senses what people have left behind. Mostly, though, the books are about observation, kindness, nerve, and the slow work of putting fragments together.

It is cozy, but not sleepy.

The tone is warm and readable, with fashion, friendship, and found family sitting right beside the crimes. Grace is not a detective by trade, which helps. She solves things because she must, because she cares, and because standing still would let other people decide her future. That gives the series its steady pulse.

If you want a historical mystery series with a strong sense of place and a heroine who has to fight for both her business and her peace of mind, start with Seams like Murder. Read in order if you can. The relationships and Grace's confidence grow nicely from book to book.