Julia Buckley Books in Order
Browse Julia Buckley books in order, with short summaries, series guides, and simple where-to-start tips for her cozy mysteries, thrillers, and novellas.
Last updated: July 8, 2026
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Publication Order
24 books
The Dark Backward
by Julia Buckley
2006
After surviving a shooting that killed her partner, officer Lily Caldwell becomes convinced a powerful governor pulled the trigger. No one believes her, so she has to chase corruption and cold-case links on her own.
Madeline Mann
by Julia Buckley
2007
Small-town reporter Madeline Mann starts asking questions when an old friend disappears, then turns up dead. Her search pulls her into political intrigue, bad relationships, and more suspects than she expected.
Lovely, Dark, and Deep
by Julia Buckley
2008
Only months after her first case, Madeline Mann is asked to investigate the long-ago death of a young nun. A cold case, troubling dreams, and buried school secrets make this mystery darker and more personal.
The Ghosts of Lovely Women
by Julia Buckley
2011
English teacher Teddy Thurber cannot let the murder of former student Jessica Halliday go unanswered. Following clues hidden in a book Jessica once gave her, Teddy uncovers ugly secrets in a world that once looked familiar.
Counterplay
by Julia Buckley
2012
This early standalone suspense story leans into strategy, deception, and reversal. Every answer sparks a new countermove, turning the search for the truth into a dangerous game of timing and nerve.
Ginevra Bond
by Julia Buckley
2012
Ever since a storm changed her as a child, Ginevra Bond has known things she should not know. At sixteen, her gift draws FBI attention, and she must decide whom to trust before others decide how to use her.
One Fool At Least
by Julia Buckley
2012
Madeline Mann heads to Montana with her new husband, Jack, expecting a happy honeymoon. Instead, the trip tangles them up in kidnapping, local lies, and a murder that turns the getaway into another investigation.
The Big Chili
by Julia Buckley
2015
Lilah Drake secretly cooks meals for clients who want to pass them off as homemade. When chili she prepared is linked to a church Bingo poisoning, her business and her future suddenly look very shaky.
A Dark and Stormy Murder
by Julia Buckley
2016
Lena London lands her dream job assisting suspense novelist Camilla Graham in a grand old Indiana house. Then she finds a body on the property and realizes real life is much messier than fiction.
Cheddar Off Dead
by Julia Buckley
2016
A simple delivery to a school Christmas party turns ugly when the man dressed as Santa is shot in the parking lot. Lilah Drake gets pulled into the case and into fresh danger before the holidays even begin.
Death in Dark Blue
by Julia Buckley
2017
Lena London thinks life in Blue Lake is finally settling down, until a blogger turns up dead behind Sam West's house. Dodging gossip and reporters, she has to work out who wanted the woman silenced.
Pudding Up With Murder
by Julia Buckley
2017
Lilah Drake's discreet cooking service keeps her clients happy, until a millionaire's sudden death puts her food and her reputation under suspicion. To stay in business, she has to sort through a mess of secrets and motives.
A Dark and Twisting Path
by Julia Buckley
2018
When Lena's best friend finds a dead mail carrier, suspicion quickly circles back to Sam West. Lena and Camilla race through break-ins, threats, and planted evidence to prove someone is trying very hard to frame him.
Death in a Budapest Butterfly
by Julia Buckley
2019
Hana Keller's family tea house is thrown into chaos when a guest is poisoned during a tea event. With her grandmother's ominous tea-leaf readings hanging over everything, Hana has to save the business and find a killer.
Death Waits in the Dark
by Julia Buckley
2019
A murder in Blue Lake sends Lena London and Camilla Graham digging through old letters, photos, and half-buried memories. The deeper they go, the clearer it becomes that the town's past is far from finished with them.
A Dark and Silent Night
by Julia Buckley
2020
On a snowy December night, Lena London and Camilla Graham learn that a local Blue Lake girl has gone missing. This short holiday mystery follows them as they pull friends and clues together before the trail goes cold.
Death of a Wandering Wolf
by Julia Buckley
2020
A rare porcelain wolf from a yard sale seems like a lucky find for Hana Keller, until she discovers a tracking device hidden underneath it. When the seller winds up dead, the trinket becomes a dangerous clue.
Death with a Dark Red Rose
by Julia Buckley
2020
Lena London is newly engaged and settling into life in Blue Lake when a woman's threat to expose an old family secret ends in murder. To clear Camilla Graham's name, Lena has to untangle what the victim really knew.
A Fatal Fettuccine
by Julia Buckley
2021
Lilah Drake's quiet summer is shattered when an Italian historian starts chasing clues about a notorious serial killer who may be hiding in Pine Haven. Vandalism, attempted murder, and old secrets turn the hunt personal fast.
Death on the Night of Lost Lizards
by Julia Buckley
2021
Hana Keller, her mother, and her grandmother are busy serving tea and cakes when a local professor is killed. Suddenly Hana is facing a crowded suspect list and another mystery that hits close to home.
Death and the Shakespeare Shop
by Julia Buckley
2024
Quinn and Eric run a Shakespeare-themed shop when an impossible helper arrives, the ghost of Shakespeare himself. Convinced a murder has been committed in his name, he joins them to track down the killer.
Death Both Fair and Foul
by Julia Buckley
2024
As Quinn and Eric prepare a Halloween party at their Shakespeare shop, a collector claims to own a manuscript in Shakespeare's hand. Then the collector is murdered, and the Bard's ghost returns to help sort out the plot.
Death Through a Dark Green Glass
by Julia Buckley
2024
A winter visit to Green Glass Manor turns deadly, and Lena London finds herself inside a classic country-house mystery. Snow, suspicion, and too many secrets make every guest look dangerous.
Death of a Forest Fairy
by Julia Buckley
2025
At an outdoor performance inspired by Hungarian folklore, a performer playing a forest fairy never makes her cue. As Erik Wolf takes the case, Hana and her family are left with a strong sense that something is very wrong.
Where should I start?
If you want bookish cozy mysteries: A Dark and Stormy Murder → Death in Dark Blue → A Dark and Twisting Path
If you want food-forward small-town mysteries: The Big Chili → Cheddar Off Dead → Pudding Up With Murder
If you want family, tea, and folklore: Death in a Budapest Butterfly → Death of a Wandering Wolf → Death on the Night of Lost Lizards
If you want an earlier reporter sleuth: Madeline Mann → Lovely, Dark, and Deep → One Fool At Least
If you want a darker standalone thriller: The Dark Backward
Author bio
Julia Buckley grew up in a suburb of Chicago near the Indiana border, and she fell for mysteries early.
As a teenager, she was the kind of reader who left the library with a stack of books and came back for more a week or two later. Agatha Christie, Mary Stewart, Dorothy Gilman, Elizabeth Peters, Daphne du Maurier, and plenty of other suspense and mystery writers helped shape her taste. That love of stories, especially twisty ones, stayed with her.
She went on to study English, earned a master's degree in English studies, and spent thirty four years teaching high school English. That part of her life matters when you read her fiction. Her books are full of people who notice words, ideas, motives, and the stories other people tell about themselves.
Her first published mystery was The Dark Backward, a darker standalone that mixes a police investigation with political corruption, personal loss, and a touch of Shakespearean shadow. Soon after came the Madeline Mann books, built around a small-town reporter whose curiosity keeps dragging her into danger. Even in those early novels, Buckley was already writing the kind of protagonist she clearly enjoys most, smart women who keep asking questions long after everyone else wants the subject dropped.
Then came the cozy mysteries that introduced her to a much wider group of readers. The Big Chili launched her food-centered Undercover Dish books. A Dark and Stormy Murder opened the Writer's Apprentice series, with aspiring writer Lena London solving crimes alongside her idol, suspense novelist Camilla Graham. Death in a Budapest Butterfly brought in a new setting and a new mood, with Hana Keller, a family tea house, Hungarian heritage, and a light brush of folklore. Readers who like Buckley tend to like that blend of comfort and unease. Her worlds are welcoming, but something is always off.
Books matter in her fiction.
She likes literary echoes, and she often uses epigraphs and borrowed phrases in her titles. You can see that in The Ghosts of Lovely Women, Lovely, Dark, and Deep, and later in the Shakespeare-centered bookshop stories. Across her work, certain threads keep returning: women trying to do the right thing, close communities with long memories, family ties that can comfort or complicate, and everyday places that suddenly feel dangerous.
Buckley has also stayed connected to the mystery world outside her novels. She has long been active in Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and the Chicago Writers Association. Her short story "Evening Call" won first place in the Sisters in Crime Chicago chapter contest in 2017. She has also spent years blogging about mysteries and interviewing other crime writers, building the kind of generous reader-writer conversation that many mystery fans love.
These days, she writes, listens to audiobooks, talks books with three book clubs, and tutors students in English literature and grammar. She lives with her husband, Jeff, and although their two sons are grown, the house is still busy, with daughters-in-law, four cats, and a big black Lab very much part of the picture.
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