Haunted Dead and Breakfast Books in Order

The Haunted Dead and Breakfast books open with a setup that tells you exactly what kind of cozy series you are in for: a woman whose life has fallen apart heads back to a coastal California town to help her eccentric aunts run a newly inherited bed-and-breakfast in a house with a spooky past. From there, Penny Warner adds murder, local suspicion, a poison garden, and just enough maybe-paranormal energy to keep everyone guessing.

The lead here is Carissa Blackwood, a ghostwriter who arrives in Pelican Point after leaving her cheating husband. She plans to help her aunts for a while and get her footing back. Instead, she walks into a family property loaded with history and odd habits. Aunt Runa is drawn to crystals and séances. Aunt Hazel keeps herbs and remedies, plus a garden that includes dangerous plants. Their late father, Bram Blackwood, had his own occult interests, and the house carries that atmosphere into every room.

That is the mood of the series.

Pelican Point, which lines up with the Bodega Bay area, gives the books a windswept Northern California backdrop that suits the inn perfectly. It is a place where local gossip travels fast, visitors arrive with their own baggage, and an old family house can become the center of town speculation almost overnight. Once a murder points back toward the inn and Carissa's aunts, the family tension becomes the main engine of the mystery.

What makes the series inviting is the balance between cozy structure and Gothic playfulness. There are hints of ghosts, old secrets, and strange signs, but the story still moves like a classic amateur-sleuth puzzle. Carissa needs to sort out family history, protect the people she cares about, and decide which odd details are harmless and which point to something deadly.

There is also room for recurring relationships, including a helpful handyman, a local newspaperman, and the question of how much Carissa really wants to rebuild her life in this town.

If you enjoy haunted-house atmosphere without full horror, this series looks like a good fit. The inn is the draw, the aunts bring the charm and chaos, and Carissa gives the story a grounded center as she tries to solve murders in a place where almost every creak in the floorboards feels like it might mean something.