Hopedale Mystery Books in Order

Tom Deady's Hopedale Mystery series follows Hannah Green and her best friend Ashley as they investigate the unsettling secrets of Hopedale, New Hampshire. These are mysteries with a supernatural edge, aimed at younger readers but willing to be genuinely creepy. The girls are curious, stubborn, and often in over their heads, which gives the books both a friendship story and a steady sense of danger.

Start with The Witch of Hopedale. During a walk in the woods, Hannah's dog finds a sneaker with a decomposing foot still inside it. Hannah and Ashley begin asking questions about a reclusive woman named Mama Bayole, the town's history, and the strange things happening in the woods behind Hannah's home. Their search turns a grim discovery into a wider mystery involving local adults, buried history, and a threat that is much closer than it first appears.

Hopedale keeps its secrets close.

The second book, The Ghost of Black Hill Road, moves the action toward Halloween and an old local legend. When their friend Dawn sees Lonesome Amie, the ghost said to haunt Black Hill Road, Hannah and Ashley want to learn who the girl was and why the story has survived for so long. Their investigation overlaps with Hopedale's Burning Wagon celebration and brings them into conflict with a bully who is more dangerous than he seems.

The small-town setting matters as much as the scares. Hopedale is full of old stories that adults dismiss, repeat, or quietly protect. Hannah and Ashley discover that folklore can be a clue, but it can also be a warning. Their cases involve woods, old houses, local events, and people with reasons to keep the past hidden, giving the series a cozy-mystery structure with darker consequences.

At the center is the friendship between the two girls. Hannah has family worries of her own, while Ashley brings nerve and momentum to their investigations. They do not solve everything by themselves, but they are the ones who keep looking when the adults around them would rather move on. That balance makes the books feel like an adventure without making the danger weightless.

These mysteries are spooky, not hopeless.

Read the series in order. The Witch of Hopedale introduces Hannah, Ashley, and the town's first big secret, while The Ghost of Black Hill Road builds on what Hannah has learned about the truth inside old local stories. It is a good fit for readers who like brave young investigators, Halloween atmosphere, supernatural rumors, and mysteries where the woods are never just the woods.