Haunting Desire Books in Order

Haunting Desire is Julie Mulhern’s darker historical romance line, set in turn-of-the-century New Orleans. It has mystery, danger, ghosts, voodoo, and romance, but it does not move like the Country Club Murders. These books lean into shadowy streets, old crimes, haunted people, and the heat of a city where the past never seems fully past.

The first book, Bayou Moon, was also published under the title A Haunting Desire. It opens in 1902, when a killer is stalking New Orleans and leaving mutilated bodies behind. Trula Boudreaux runs an exclusive brothel, which gives her money and power, but not much safety. The murders threaten the haven she has built for herself and the women under her protection.

Then Zeke Barnes arrives.

Zeke is investigating the killings, and he brings his own history with violence, loss, and things that do not fit neatly inside ordinary police work. His connection with Trula is not simple. She understands desire, but she keeps love at arm’s length. He has a duty to solve the case, but he is drawn to the woman at the center of a dangerous, haunted world.

Bayou Nights shifts focus to Christine Lambert in 1903. Christine’s father won a piece of eight in a poker game before he died, and the coin turns out to be part of a puzzle tied to the treasure of Jean Laffite. That would be enough trouble on its own. Add a ghostly father in need of rescue, a killer chasing the same prize, and Matthias Blake, a serious outsider who cannot quite resist Christine, and the story becomes part treasure hunt, part ghost story, part romance.

The two books share a New Orleans mood more than a single long mystery arc. The city matters. Its cemeteries, parlors, alleys, brothels, legends, and spiritual traditions shape the danger and the romance. Mulhern is interested in people who live on the edge of respectable society, people who understand what it costs to survive.

This series is best for readers who want Mulhern’s mystery instincts in a more sensual, paranormal, historical setting. Expect murder investigations, restless spirits, strong women in difficult positions, and love stories that have to fight through fear, danger, and unfinished business before they can breathe.