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Josie Brown Books in Order

Browse Josie Brown books in order, with short summaries, series guides, and where to start across Housewife Assassin, Totlandia, and more.

Last updated: June 10, 2026

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47 books

Marriage Confidential

by Josie Brown

2003

Written with Martin Brown, this relationship guide answers blunt questions about marriage from both sides. It aims to be practical, candid, and useful rather than dreamy or polite.

Hollywood Hunk

by Josie Brown

2005

After her actor father's death leaves her broke and angry, Hannah takes a job as assistant to movie star Louis Trollope. He is vain, irresistible, and exactly the sort of Hollywood problem she should know better than to love.

Last Night I Dreamt of Cosmopolitans

by Josie Brown

2005

Part dream dictionary and part pop-culture companion, this nonfiction book decodes the symbols that show up after lights out. Brown gives modern relationships, work worries, and everyday anxieties a playful spin.

True Hollywood Lies

by Josie Brown

2005

Hannah knows Hollywood men lie for a living, but grief and money trouble pull her straight back into that world. Working for a famous leading man means surviving ego, scandal, and the risky pull between them.

Impossibly Tongue-Tied

by Josie Brown

2006

Nina and Nathan come to Hollywood chasing stardom and wind up in a mess of ambition, infidelity, and tabloid warfare. When Nina takes a secret phone-sex job to pay the bills, the scandal gets even more personal.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Finding Mr. Right

by Josie Brown

2009

This nonfiction guide tackles dating and partner-hunting with practical advice, humor, and a clear-eyed view of relationships. It is designed for readers who want straight talk more than fairy tales.

Secret Lives of Husbands and Wives

by Josie Brown

2010

A divorce shakes an upscale planned community and exposes the lies hiding inside other marriages. Brown turns neighborhood gossip and domestic strain into a sharp, emotional page-turner.

The Baby Planner

by Josie Brown

2011

Alex Harkness is San Francisco's go-to baby planner, expertly managing nervous clients while quietly wanting a child of her own. Behind the polished nurseries and showers, love, ambition, and family longing get complicated.

The Housewife Assassin's Handbook

by Josie Brown

2011

Donna Stone looks like a Southern California widow with three children, but after her husband's death she is recruited into black ops. Soon she is juggling carpool, suburban gossip, and a deadly hunt tied to his secret life.

The Housewife Assassin's Guide to Gracious Killing

by Josie Brown

2012

Donna and Jack land in the middle of a nuclear arms summit where someone wants the Russian president dead. Saving a target she does not trust gets messy fast, especially with Carl's betrayal still burning.

The Housewife Assassin's Killer Christmas Tips

by Josie Brown

2012

Christmas cheer is in short supply when Donna and Jack chase a missing cache of heat-seeking missiles. Holiday chaos, family obligations, and a terrorist plot make this a very dangerous season in Hilldale.

The Onesies: Fall

by Josie Brown

2012

Four San Francisco mothers with messy private lives compete for the last spots in the elite Pacific Heights Moms & Tots Club. In this glossy opener, friendship starts to grow even as secrets threaten to blow everything up.

The Onesies: Winter

by Josie Brown

2012

With only a few club spots left, the holiday season turns ruthless. Bettina's challenges push Jade, Jillian, Ally, and Lorna to their limits as money troubles, old secrets, and family strain spill into public.

The Candidate

by Josie Brown

2013

Political consultant Ben Brinker thinks he has seen everything until a presidential campaign pulls him into a plot involving terrorism on U.S. soil. It is a fast, cynical look at power, image, and loyalty on the trail.

The Housewife Assassin's Recipes for Disaster

by Josie Brown

2013

Donna must stop assassination attempts on both parties' top presidential candidates, even though she has every reason to hate one of them. Politics, old grudges, and danger at close range put her bond with Jack to the test.

The Housewife Assassin's Relationship Survival Guide

by Josie Brown

2013

Donna's new mission sends her across London, Paris, and Guantanamo as she dates dangerous men tied to the Quorum. The job might save lives, but it also puts her heart and her future with Jack under pressure.

The Housewife Assassin's Vacation to Die for

by Josie Brown

2013

What should be a getaway turns into a nightmare when Donna and Jack hunt a missing scientist carrying a deadly plague virus. Fantasy island resorts, strange murders, and feral kids make survival anything but relaxing.

The Onesies: Spring

by Josie Brown

2013

New members should mean calm, but spring only stirs up old rivalries and fresh trouble. Bettina is reeling from betrayal, Lorna faces hard family conversations, and Jillian fights to steady her life.

The Onesies: Summer

by Josie Brown

2013

Summer heat brings the first year of club life to a boil. As loyalties shift and long-buried truths surface, the mothers of Totlandia must decide what matters more, status, marriage, or the friendships they have built.

The Housewife Assassin's Hollywood Scream Play

by Josie Brown

2014

When Hollywood wants to turn Donna's life into a movie, she and Jack use the production as cover for a mission against the Quorum. Fame, stunts, and dangerous co-stars turn the set into another war zone.

The Housewife Assassin's Hostage Hosting Tips

by Josie Brown

2014

A hotel full of international dignitaries becomes a trap when terrorists take hostages and make demands that hit Donna personally. She has to save the room, the mission, and the people she loves.

The Housewife Assassin's Killer App

by Josie Brown

2014

Donna goes undercover in the tech world to expose a hacker tearing through top-secret intelligence files. Smart devices, greedy CEOs, and a deadly game avatar make this mission feel uncomfortably close to home.

Hollywood Whore

by Josie Brown

2015

A film director's obsession with a phone-sex operator threatens both his movie and his marriage. When a talent agent tries to buy the woman off and falls for her instead, Hollywood becomes a tangle of lust, lies, and damage control.

The Housewife Assassin's Tips for Weddings, Weapons, and Warfare

by Josie Brown

2015

Donna and Jack are trying to get married while tracking a terrorist inside the White House. Exchanging vows is hard enough without gunfire, sabotage, and the Quorum crashing the party.

The Twosies: Fall

by Josie Brown

2015

The second year begins with weddings, babies, funerals, and more upheaval than anyone expected. As the children grow, the women of Totlandia find that club politics are still the easy part.

The Housewife Assassin's Deadly Dossier

by Josie Brown

2016

This prequel shifts the spotlight to Jack Craig as he investigates Carl Stone's death and starts falling for Donna. It fills in how Donna was pulled into Acme, and how her life changed forever.

The Housewife Assassin's Garden of Deadly Delights

by Josie Brown

2016

A genetically altered corn crop carrying a brain-eating virus has slipped into the American food chain. Donna's latest case mixes bio-terror, suburban satire, and a race to stop mass panic.

The Housewife Assassin's Ghost Protocol

by Josie Brown

2016

Evidence makes it look as if Donna's own black-ops group is tied to a string of planned attacks, and the president shuts Acme down. Donna and Jack disappear underground to find the real traitors before the country pays the price.

The Housewife Assassin's Husband Hunting Hints

by Josie Brown

2016

To save Jack from torture and execution, Donna agrees to pose as a traitor and work as a double agent for the Quorum. The gamble could save her husband, but it may destroy everything else.

The Housewife Assassin's Terrorist TV Guide

by Josie Brown

2016

Donna and Jack join a reality show in Hilldale to hunt a sleeper threat hiding in plain sight. Being filmed around the clock would be bad enough without murder, family stress, and terrorism in the mix.

The Twosies: Winter

by Josie Brown

2016

Winter brings fresh stress to the Pacific Heights circle as marriage problems, money worries, and old resentments pile up. The women know each other better now, which only makes the betrayals sting more.

The Housewife Assassin's Greatest Hits

by Josie Brown

2017

Donna's life hangs by a thread, and in a coma she faces the ghosts of people she loved, lost, and killed. The result is part reckoning, part dark adventure, and deeply personal for the whole series.

The Twosies: Spring

by Josie Brown

2017

Spring offers a shot at renewal, but nothing in Totlandia comes easily. Bettina's strange disappearances unsettle the club, and Lorna is trying to keep things steady while preparing for twins.

The Twosies: Summer

by Josie Brown

2017

By summer, the women of Totlandia are forced into hard choices about love, family, and the club's future. The season closes this stretch of the saga with more honesty, more fallout, and hard-won loyalty.

The Housewife Assassin Gets Lucky

by Josie Brown

2018

A dead young woman in a London club throws Lucky O'Toole and Donna Stone Craig into the same investigation. To solve the murder and decode missing intel, the two sharp operators have to learn to trust each other fast.

The Housewife Assassin's Fourth Estate Sale

by Josie Brown

2018

Donna and Jack infiltrate a giant media company to stop a foreign effort to sabotage the American president and manipulate U.S. politics. Newsrooms, broadcasts, and propaganda become weapons.

The Housewife Assassin's Horrorscope

by Josie Brown

2018

Twelve suspects, twelve zodiac signs, and a doomsday plot point Donna and Jack toward a possible world war. To stop it, the Acme team must decode a trail of clues before treason reaches the highest levels.

Extracurricular - Book 1

by Josie Brown

2019

Senior year at Ashbury Academy is already tense when SAT pressure, moneyed parents, and a no-curve math teacher push everyone toward panic. Audrey Thorpe's buried secret threatens her family and the school's reputation.

Extracurricular - Book 2

by Josie Brown

2019

Audrey's mother, Lavinia, is gravely ill but refuses to loosen her hold on Ashbury Academy. As an old face returns and a shady admissions scheme grows, Audrey's past and the school's mission both start to crack.

Extracurricular - Book 3

by Josie Brown

2019

The admissions scandal breaks open as the FBI closes in and a battle for Ashbury Academy's board begins. Audrey must decide what she will protect first, the school, her marriage, or the truth.

The Housewife Assassin's Assassination Vacation Planner

by Josie Brown

2020

Donna and Jack race across the globe to prevent the murders of seven world leaders. It is a fast-moving international mission with almost no time, and plenty of ways for everything to go very wrong.

The Housewife Assassin's White House Keeping Seal of Approval

by Josie Brown

2020

Now serving as a senior White House security adviser, Donna hunts a foreign saboteur embedded close to power. Clearing Jack's name means stopping election interference before it reshapes the country.

The Housewife Assassin's Antisocial Media Tips

by Josie Brown

2022

Donna and Jack go undercover as instant internet celebrities at a live-streamed influencer junket. Their job is to expose who is leaking U.S. secrets before the whole spectacle turns into a terrorist target.

The Housewife Assassin's Manners, Missiles, and Mayhem

by Josie Brown

2022

Donna, Jack, and the Acme team crisscross the country to stop embedded Russian operatives from sabotaging the U.S. missile grid. It is a road-trip thriller with spy games, rising tension, and very little room for error.

The Housewife Assassin's Deep State Deep Fake Bake-Off

by Josie Brown

2024

Thanksgiving turns chaotic when a terrorist attack weaponizes cell phones and turns air travel into a disaster zone. Donna and Jack's crowded holiday gathering becomes the center of an international emergency.

The Housewife Assassin's Underwater Assets

by Josie Brown

2024

Donna and Jack finally get a vacation, then promptly find a corpse and a plot to concentrate the world's wealth under one powerful consortium. Sun, surf, and murder make a bad combination.

The Housewife Assassin's Doomsday Diary

by Josie Brown

2025

Donna goes deep undercover to stop Russian operatives embedded in Congress and the White House from killing presidential candidates and crashing the global economy. Even success may trigger something worse.

Where should I start?

If you want funny spy capers: The Housewife Assassin's HandbookThe Housewife Assassin's Guide to Gracious KillingThe Housewife Assassin's Killer Christmas Tips
If you want competitive parenting drama: The Onesies: FallThe Onesies: WinterThe Onesies: SpringThe Onesies: Summer
If you want a ripped-from-the-headlines school scandal: Extracurricular - Book 1Extracurricular - Book 2Extracurricular - Book 3
If you want Hollywood satire and relationship chaos: True Hollywood LiesHollywood Whore

Author bio

Josie Brown grew up in and around Atlanta, Georgia, in a Puerto Rican family with roots in Ponce and Humacao. Before novels took over her life, she worked in advertising and radio, which gave her a close look at how people sell ideas, shape stories, and hide what they really mean.

That ear for human behavior never left her.

She moved into journalism and relationship writing, interviewing celebrities and writing features for magazines, websites, and newspaper syndication. She also edited John Gray's Mars Venus advice column, work that kept her close to the everyday negotiations of dating, marriage, sex, and family life. You can feel that background in her fiction, where people are often funny, guarded, needy, ambitious, and a little messier than they first appear.

Brown wanted to write fiction early. She has said she started her first novel the day she brought her first child home from the hospital, then spent years trying to balance that dream with motherhood and work before she could give it the time it needed.

Her first books were nonfiction, including The Complete Idiot's Guide to Finding Mr. Right, Last Night I Dreamt of Cosmopolitans, and Marriage Confidential, which she wrote with her husband, Martin. That stretch mattered. It helped her find an agent and gave her a way into publishing, but it also confirmed that what she really wanted was to tell stories.

Then Hollywood gave her material.

Because Brown had written celebrity profiles and entertainment pieces, she knew the machinery of fame from the inside. That experience fed directly into her early fiction, including True Hollywood Lies, Hollywood Hunk, and Impossibly Tongue-Tied. These books are sharp about ego, gossip, and tabloid culture, but they are just as interested in the assistants, spouses, and strivers trying to keep hold of themselves while everyone around them is performing.

She later widened her canvas with novels such as The Baby Planner and Secret Lives of Husbands and Wives, both set in polished California worlds where status, marriage, friendship, and ambition rub uncomfortably close together. Secret Lives of Husbands and Wives was optioned for television, and her long-running The Housewife Assassin's Handbook series became her biggest calling card, mixing suburban comedy, espionage, romance, and family drama through the adventures of Donna Stone.

Brown also created the Totlandia books, about competitive San Francisco mothers, and the Extracurricular novels, which take on private-school politics and the college admissions scandal. Across all of these stories, she keeps coming back to social masks, female friendships, family pressure, money, class, and the strange things otherwise sensible people will do when status is on the line.

These days she lives in San Francisco with her husband and two children. She has also spent time interviewing other writers for her podcast, which feels fitting, because curiosity has always been one of the clearest threads running through her work.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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All 47 Josie Brown Books in Order (Complete List 2026)