JC Eaton Books in Order
Browse all J.C. Eaton books in order, with series overviews, quick summaries, and simple advice on where to start with Sophie Kimball, Marcie Rayner, and more.
Last updated: June 10, 2026
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Publication Order
18 books
Booked 4 Murder
by JC Eaton
2017
Phee heads to Sun City West after Harriet insists their book club's latest selection is cursed and members keep dying. The idea sounds ridiculous, until Phee starts uncovering secrets hidden beneath the cheerful retirement-community surface.
Ditched 4 Murder
by JC Eaton
2017
While helping with Aunt Ina's wedding, Phee gets pulled into the murder of a wealthy restaurateur found near Harriet's home. Between bridal chaos, family pressure, and a nervous mother, she has to solve the case before the celebration collapses.
A Riesling to Die
by JC Eaton
2018
Manhattan screenwriter Norrie Ellington expects a quiet stretch running her family's winery in Penn Yan. Instead, an anti-winery innkeeper is found dead on her property, and Norrie has to trade script pages for sleuthing.
Botched 4 Murder
by JC Eaton
2018
A bocce practice turns disastrous when Myrna thinks one of her wild throws killed a woman. Then police find an arrow in the victim's neck, and Phee teams up with Marshall to sort out retirement-community politics and a very real murderer.
Chardonnayed to Rest
by JC Eaton
2018
Two Witches Winery is hosting a major wine event when a landowner is found stabbed on neighboring Rosalee's property. Norrie starts digging to clear her friend, only to find a killer willing to protect local grudges at any cost.
Murder in the Crooked Eye Brewery
by JC Eaton
2018
Fresh off a bad divorce, Marcie Rayner takes a temporary job in New Ulm and stumbles into a brewery-owner murder. Her first real case leads through small-town grudges, unhelpful locals, and the discovery that the victim was far from harmless.
Staged 4 Murder
by JC Eaton
2018
A community production of The Mousetrap becomes the scene of a real killing when a disliked cast member dies on a theater catwalk. Between backstage feuds and Harriet's dramatic updates, Phee has to figure out who wanted the victim gone.
Molded 4 Murder
by JC Eaton
2019
When a sculpting-club member is found dead clutching Harriet's name, Phee gets dragged into another Sun City West case. What looks like one more odd retirement-community feud soon opens into a much stranger and more dangerous plot.
Murder at the Mystery Castle
by JC Eaton
2019
Marcie investigates the suspicious death of Helena Heatherbrae at a Gothic mansion full of secret passageways, uneasy staff, and buried history. The deeper she digs, the more the house and its people seem determined to keep the truth hidden.
Pinot Red or Dead?
by JC Eaton
2019
Shortages, sabotage, and a winter wine event put Two Witches Winery under pressure before a distributor turns up dead. Norrie has to figure out who wanted the rare pinot ruined, and why so many locals had reason to hate the victim.
Sauvigone for Good
by JC Eaton
2019
The Chocolate and Wine Extravaganza should be great publicity for Two Witches Winery, until one of the featured chocolatiers winds up dead. With rival egos exploding and the winery's name on the line, Norrie races to uncork the truth.
Broadcast 4 Murder
by JC Eaton
2020
Harriet's big radio debut ends in panic when she finds the station director dead on air. A jealous ex looks guilty, but old fingerprints point backward, and Phee has to untangle a present-day murder with roots in the past.
Death, Dismay and Rosé
by JC Eaton
2020
A summer-solstice death revives local talk of an old curse when a historian is found smothered. Norrie refuses to buy the legend, and her hunt for the truth leads through old grudges, shady dealings, and danger near Watkins Glen.
Divide and Concord
by JC Eaton
2020
Norrie agrees to let a film crew shoot at Two Witches Winery, then watches the demanding director turn up dead and the suspicion swing her way. To clear herself, she has to sort through feuds, publicity, and a crowd of bitter suspects.
Dressed Up 4 Murder
by JC Eaton
2020
Streetman the chiweenie uncovers a corpse during a long-running dog costume competition, and suddenly Phee is chasing a poisoner. With Harriet convinced she and Streetman are targets, the case turns from silly to genuinely risky.
From Port to Rigor Morte
by JC Eaton
2021
When two boys report a body near Two Witches Winery, Norrie Ellington gets pulled into the murder of a labor manager tied to vineyard workers and local wineries. A second death makes the case more dangerous, and the suspect list keeps growing.
Murder at Classy Kitchens
by JC Eaton
2021
Marcie Rayner's ex-husband shows up needing help after his new wife, kitchen designer Tawn Hamlin, is found murdered in a luxury showroom. To clear him, Marcie has to sort through angry coworkers, wealthy clients, and plenty of old baggage.
Railroaded 4 Murder
by JC Eaton
2021
A model train exhibit turns deadly when railroad club president Wilbur Maines is found murdered, and Harriet's friend Roxanne becomes the top suspect. Phee digs into club grudges and tap-dance drama before an innocent woman gets railroaded.
Where should I start?
If you want the signature retirement-community mysteries: Booked 4 Murder → Ditched 4 Murder → Staged 4 Murder
If you want dog, radio, and model-train chaos: Dressed Up 4 Murder → Broadcast 4 Murder → Railroaded 4 Murder
If you want Finger Lakes wine-country mysteries: A Riesling to Die → Chardonnayed to Rest → Pinot Red or Dead?
If you prefer a more traditional private-eye feel: Murder in the Crooked Eye Brewery → Murder at the Mystery Castle → Murder at Classy Kitchens
Author bio
J.C. Eaton is the shared pen name of Ann I. Goldfarb and James E. Clapp, a husband and wife team who turned two very different work lives into a lively mystery career. Their books mix small communities, sharp comic timing, and murders that break out in places that ought to feel safe.
Goldfarb is a New York native who spent more than three decades in education, first as a teacher and later as a middle school principal and professional staff developer. She had been writing long before the cozy mysteries took off, and published a run of young adult time travel mysteries under her own name.
Clapp came to fiction from a different direction. He served in the U.S. Navy, worked in construction, taught at a vocational school, and later became a tasting room manager for a large winery in upstate New York. Most of his writing at first was practical, brochures and workshop material for the wine business, not murder plots.
Then Arizona gave them a setting.
After the move to Sun City West, they started looking at the retirement community around them with a mystery writer's eye. The clubs, the gossip, the daily routines, the dog park conversations, all of it suggested stories. That became the spark for the Sophie Kimball books, beginning with Booked 4 Murder, which introduced divorced bookkeeper Sophie Phee Kimball, her unstoppable mother Harriet Plunkett, and a version of Arizona retirement life that is funny, busy, and just a little dangerous.
Their teamwork seems to mirror the books. In interviews, they have said Clapp tends to focus on plot and twists, while Goldfarb leans into description and texture, and then they revise together. You can feel that balance in the series. Staged 4 Murder, Dressed Up 4 Murder, and Broadcast 4 Murder all juggle comic crowd scenes with solid clue trails and a heroine who would really prefer one quiet week.
They did not stop with Arizona. A Riesling to Die launched the Wine Trail Mysteries, set around the Finger Lakes and the Ellington family winery. Those books use Clapp's winery background well, but they never read like homework. Readers tend to come for the tasting rooms, festivals, and local feuds, then stay for Norrie Ellington, a screenwriter suddenly stuck managing vines and finding bodies. Later, From Port to Rigor Morte kept that mix of regional detail, humor, and real suspense going.
They also created Marcie Rayner, a younger former crime statistician who becomes a private investigator in Minnesota. In Murder in the Crooked Eye Brewery and Murder at the Mystery Castle, the tone is a little more detective-driven, but the things Eaton readers usually like are still there: smart heroines, messy families, chatty side characters, and secrets tucked inside ordinary places.
Place matters a lot in these books.
Whether they are writing about Sun City West, New Ulm, or the Finger Lakes, Goldfarb and Clapp build mysteries out of communities that feel lived in. They now live in Sun City West, Arizona, with their four-legged friends, and their fiction still draws on both halves of their shared life, the desert world around them and the New York roots that shaped so much of their work.
Edited by
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