Jackdaw Hammond Books in Order

The Jackdaw Hammond books are Rebecca Alexander's darker, stranger side. At the center is Jackdaw Hammond, a woman whose life has been unnaturally extended by magic, and Professor Felix Guichard, the academic drawn into her dangerous orbit. Their story begins with occult symbols on a murdered girl's body and quickly opens into something much bigger, older, and more unsettling than a single crime.

From the start, the series works on two levels at once. In the present day, Jack and Felix are dealing with pursuit, hidden identities, and magic that always seems to come with a terrible cost. In the sixteenth-century strand, John Dee and Edward Kelley move through courts, laboratories, and shadowy bargains, trying to understand powers that reach far beyond ordinary science or religion. The past is never just backstory here. It is the key that keeps unlocking the danger in front of them.

History is not decoration in these books. It is fuel.

The Secrets of Life and Death sets the pattern by linking a modern investigation to Elizabeth Báthory and the occult work of Dee and Kelley. The Secrets of Blood and Bone widens the world, sending Jack into hiding in an isolated house while Felix follows blood magic into New Orleans. By The Secrets of Time and Fate, Jack is stripped down to survival, living rough in London, losing time, and trying not to be swallowed by the same dark force that has already reshaped her life.

What ties the books together is the question of what magic does to a person. Jack is not a breezy supernatural heroine who shrugs off danger. She is carrying the physical and moral cost of staying alive in an unnatural way. Felix gives the books a different angle. He is thoughtful, curious, and often more grounded than the world around him, which makes him a useful guide when the history gets dense and the stakes turn brutal.

The tone sits somewhere between urban fantasy, historical thriller, and occult mystery. There are chases, rituals, blood-soaked secrets, and old diaries, but the books also spend real time on guilt, hunger, trust, and the fear of becoming something you no longer recognize. The sixteenth-century chapters give the series a rich historical backbone, while the present-day sections keep the pressure high and immediate.

Magic always comes with a bill.

That is really the heart of the Jackdaw Hammond novels. They are about power, but also about consequence. They ask what people will risk for life, love, knowledge, or redemption, and then they make those choices hurt. If you like supernatural thrillers that mix real history with occult danger, dual timelines, and a heroine who is as vulnerable as she is formidable, this series is where Rebecca Alexander gets wonderfully dark.