Gunn Zoo Mystery Books in Order

The Gunn Zoo mysteries follow Theodora Bentley, usually called Teddy, a California zookeeper who would rather deal with difficult animals than difficult people. She works at Gunn Zoo in Gunn Landing Harbor, a Monterey Bay town full of houseboats, tourists, local money, and more than its share of secrets. Teddy loves her job, knows her animals, and has a bad habit of being near dead bodies.

That is a very useful habit in a mystery series.

Teddy is an appealing guide because she sits between several worlds at once. She is practical and observant, but she is also tied to a messy family life that keeps pulling her into trouble. Her glamorous mother Caro is social, dramatic, and often impossible to ignore. Her father is a source of chaos in the early books. And as the series goes on, Sheriff Joe Rejas becomes one of the people Teddy trusts most, even when he wishes she would stop investigating and leave murder to the police.

The setting matters a lot here. Gunn Landing Harbor is not just a pretty coastal backdrop. It gives the books their mix of zoo life, marina life, and small-town politics. Teddy lives on a houseboat called the Merilee, so she is always close to the harbor's liveaboards, wealthy locals, and drifters. At the zoo, she moves among keepers, vets, donors, visitors, and animals that can be charming one minute and dangerous the next. Each book uses that world in a slightly different way, whether the trouble starts in an anteater enclosure, around a dead koala keeper, at a Renaissance Faire, during an otter count, or after the arrival of a red panda.

The animals matter here, but the murders are always human problems.

What links the books is Teddy's loyalty. A friend is accused. A zoo animal is blamed. A family member is dragged into scandal. Teddy cannot let it go. She starts asking questions, usually against good advice, and the cases widen from one suspicious death into a nest of grudges, lies, greed, jealousy, and old resentments. Because she knows both the zoo's daily routines and the personalities around it, she notices things other people miss.

These books are lighter in tone than Betty Webb's Lena Jones novels, but they are not weightless. The humor is dry, the animal detail is real, and the stakes stay personal. There is plenty of cozy pleasure here, especially if you like eccentric side characters and a strong sense of place, but the series also makes room for class tension, family strain, and the practical realities of caring for wild creatures in captivity. If you want a mystery series with a smart amateur sleuth, a memorable California setting, and plenty of animal lore, start with The Anteater of Death and read forward.