H&W Investigations Books in Order

H&W Investigations starts with a private eye who wants nothing to do with vampire politics. Shiarra Waynest runs a struggling investigations business in an alternate, present-day New York, and in this version of the world the supernatural community stepped into public view in the years after 9/11. She would much rather handle ordinary human messes. Instead, one job after another keeps pulling her toward vampires, werewolves, magi, and the people who hunt them.

Shiarra is human.

That matters because this series does not build itself around effortless power. Shiarra is not secretly immortal or waiting to unlock some hidden gift. She gets scared, she makes bad calls, and she survives mostly through nerve, stubbornness, and whatever investigator tricks she can improvise on the spot. Even when she gets unusual help, like an enchanted hunter's belt with a very loud opinion of her skills, the books never let you forget how vulnerable she is.

A lot of the ongoing tension comes from the people around her. Alec Royce, Chaz, rival packs, magi, and anti-supernatural hunters all want something different from Shiarra, and very few of them play fair. Some alliances turn romantic. Some turn dangerous. Most turn into both at once. One of the pleasures of the series is watching Shiarra sort through shifting loyalties in a world where every faction has its own rules, grudges, and blind spots.

The setting does real work here. New York gives the books their street-level energy, with backroom deals, uneasy truces, old territory fights, and the feeling that magic is always lurking one bad decision away. Later books widen the map with trips to the Catskills and Los Angeles, but the vibe stays the same. This is urban fantasy with mystery bones, paranormal romance tension, and a lot of moral grayness about who counts as monster.

Across Taken by the Others, Deceived by the Others, Stalking the Others, Forsaken by the Others, and Enslaved By the Others, the stakes keep climbing. What begins as a survival problem becomes a larger fight over freedom, loyalty, and the cost of staying human in a world that keeps trying to claim Shiarra for one side or another. There is action, banter, and attraction, but there is also a steady sense that every choice leaves a mark.

If you like claws, fangs, and supernatural politics, this series has plenty of that. What gives it its staying power is that the center of the story is still one very mortal woman trying not to get swallowed by a world much bigger than she is.