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Killer Fashion / Style & Error Mysteries / Samantha Kidd Mystery Books in Order

Part ofDiane Vallere Books in Order

See the Killer Fashion, or Samantha Kidd, books by Diane Vallere in order, with quick summaries, reading order, series notes, and where to start.

Last updated: July 13, 2026

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Killer Fashion / Style & Error Mysteries / Samantha Kidd Mystery books in publication order

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16 books

1

Designer Dirty Laundry

by Diane Vallere

2012

Former fashion buyer Samantha Kidd finds her boss dead and quickly realizes the evidence points her way. To clear her name, she has to dig through rivalries, ambition, and sharp-edged secrets in the designer world.

2

Buyer, Beware

by Diane Vallere

2013

A new job as a handbag buyer looks like Samantha Kidd's path back into fashion, until she learns the last buyer was killed. Another death at the store tells her this is no accident, and she may be next.

3

The Brim Reaper

by Diane Vallere

2013

Samantha tries to stay out of trouble while helping with a vintage Hollywood costume exhibit, but a dead man changes that plan. When danger shifts toward her friend Eddie, solving the case becomes personal.

4

Some Like It Haute

by Diane Vallere

2015

Samantha agrees to help her ex-boyfriend's former girlfriend with a runway show and promptly gets attacked outside the venue. Then a suspicious fire destroys the collection, and she starts asking who is desperate enough to escalate.

5

Grand Theft Retro

by Diane Vallere

2016

A magazine assignment on seventies fashion becomes personal when a valuable cache of vintage samples is stolen. As threats creep toward Samantha Kidd's friends and family, she has to protect them and unmask the thief.

6

Pearls Gone Wild

by Diane Vallere

2016

When Samantha's friend Cat is abandoned late in pregnancy, Samantha steps in to help at her boutique just before Christmas. Then Cat's estranged husband is found strangled with pearls, and the holiday turns grim.

7

Cement Stilettos

by Diane Vallere

2017

Samantha Kidd finds a mafia princess dead in her fiancé Nick Taylor's shoe showroom, and silence quickly becomes its own warning. To protect both Nick and herself, she has to navigate mob ties, old promises, and murder.

8

Panty Raid

by Diane Vallere

2018

A Vegas trip to cover lingerie shows should be all sparkle and fun for Samantha Kidd. Then a model is found dead outside her hotel room, and the assignment turns into a high-stakes investigation.

9

Slay Ride

by Diane Vallere

2019

A temporary job as a social media influencer sounds silly until one of Samantha Kidd's colleagues vanishes. Following a trail of curated posts and staged perfection, she uncovers a darker truth hiding behind the holiday gloss.

10

Union Jacked

by Diane Vallere

2019

Samantha Kidd is caught between management and union workers when a British firm buys her retail employer. After a shooting injures the union leader and Detective Loncar, she digs into loyalties, rumors, and a case that hits close to home.

11

Fahrenheit 501

by Diane Vallere

2021

A secret society devoted to preserving famous fashion patterns sounds perfect for Samantha Kidd until its denim expert dies. Soon jean jackings, hidden grudges, and buried history turn her dream invitation into a dangerous case.

12

Tough Luxe

by Diane Vallere

2021

Samantha's new style-columnist job takes a strange turn when a convicted heiress asks for help from prison. New evidence suggests the woman may not have killed her media-mogul husband, and asking questions puts Samantha in real danger.

13

Stark Raving Mod

by Diane Vallere

2022

Samantha Kidd wins a trunk from the estate of a sixties pop star and expects vintage treasures, not classified papers. When the trunk's new owner turns up dead, she is pulled into a mod-flavored mystery of collectors, secrets, and espionage.

14

Gilt Trip

by Diane Vallere

2023

Nick Taylor's big awards banquet should be a celebration, but old tensions are already simmering at Samantha Kidd's table. When the toastmaster is stabbed and a storm traps everyone inside, she has only hours to find the killer.

15

Ranch Dressing

by Diane Vallere

2024

A week at a dude ranch sounds like a welcome break for Samantha Kidd until the owner is found dead in the stable. With a business deal on the line and suspects all around, she has to solve the case in unfamiliar territory.

16

Murder Italian Style

by Diane Vallere

2025

Samantha heads to Italy expecting a real vacation and gets pulled into a decades-old murder instead. A quiet cobbler may have been wrongly convicted, and reopening the case stirs up people who prefer the past buried.

Killer Fashion / Style & Error Mysteries / Samantha Kidd Mystery books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "Designer Dirty Laundry"

    Designer Dirty Laundry

    by Diane Vallere

    2012Killer Fashion / Style & Error Mysteries / Samantha Kidd Mystery, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "Buyer, Beware"

    Buyer, Beware

    by Diane Vallere

    2013Killer Fashion / Style & Error Mysteries / Samantha Kidd Mystery, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "The Brim Reaper"

    The Brim Reaper

    by Diane Vallere

    2013Killer Fashion / Style & Error Mysteries / Samantha Kidd Mystery, Book 3
  4. Book cover for "Some Like It Haute"

    Some Like It Haute

    by Diane Vallere

    2015Killer Fashion / Style & Error Mysteries / Samantha Kidd Mystery, Book 4
  5. Book cover for "Grand Theft Retro"

    Grand Theft Retro

    by Diane Vallere

    2016Killer Fashion / Style & Error Mysteries / Samantha Kidd Mystery, Book 5
  6. Book cover for "Pearls Gone Wild"

    Pearls Gone Wild

    by Diane Vallere

    2016Killer Fashion / Style & Error Mysteries / Samantha Kidd Mystery, Book 6
  7. Book cover for "Cement Stilettos"

    Cement Stilettos

    by Diane Vallere

    2017Killer Fashion / Style & Error Mysteries / Samantha Kidd Mystery, Book 7
  8. Book cover for "Panty Raid"

    Panty Raid

    by Diane Vallere

    2018Killer Fashion / Style & Error Mysteries / Samantha Kidd Mystery, Book 8
  9. Book cover for "Union Jacked"

    Union Jacked

    by Diane Vallere

    2019Killer Fashion / Style & Error Mysteries / Samantha Kidd Mystery, Book 9
  10. Book cover for "Slay Ride"

    Slay Ride

    by Diane Vallere

    2019Killer Fashion / Style & Error Mysteries / Samantha Kidd Mystery, Book 10
  11. Book cover for "Tough Luxe"

    Tough Luxe

    by Diane Vallere

    2021Killer Fashion / Style & Error Mysteries / Samantha Kidd Mystery, Book 11
  12. Book cover for "Fahrenheit 501"

    Fahrenheit 501

    by Diane Vallere

    2021Killer Fashion / Style & Error Mysteries / Samantha Kidd Mystery, Book 12
  13. Book cover for "Stark Raving Mod"

    Stark Raving Mod

    by Diane Vallere

    2022Killer Fashion / Style & Error Mysteries / Samantha Kidd Mystery, Book 13
  14. Book cover for "Gilt Trip"

    Gilt Trip

    by Diane Vallere

    2023Killer Fashion / Style & Error Mysteries / Samantha Kidd Mystery, Book 14
  15. Book cover for "Ranch Dressing"

    Ranch Dressing

    by Diane Vallere

    2024Killer Fashion / Style & Error Mysteries / Samantha Kidd Mystery, Book 15
  16. Book cover for "Murder Italian Style"

    Murder Italian Style

    by Diane Vallere

    2025Killer Fashion / Style & Error Mysteries / Samantha Kidd Mystery, Book 16

Series background & context

These books start with Samantha Kidd at a point where a lot of people would rather look away: her career has stalled, her life does not look polished anymore, and going home to Ribbon, Pennsylvania is not quite the reset she imagined. Samantha used to work as a fashion buyer, so she knows the business, the egos, and the difference between real style and expensive nonsense. That insider knowledge becomes unexpectedly useful once people around her start dying.

That fashion background is the engine of the series. Cases grow out of department stores, showrooms, vintage collections, handbag lines, shoe design, magazine jobs, runway events, and the kind of industry politics that can look silly from a distance and brutal up close. The books never treat the fashion world as fluff. For Samantha, it is work, history, identity, and sometimes the exact place where a clue is hiding.

The setting helps a lot too. Ribbon has a suburban, hometown feel, which lets Vallere play the glamour of fashion against everyday life. Samantha can be dealing with designer chaos one minute and family, friendships, or local drama the next. That mix keeps the tone light on its feet even when the stakes rise.

There is also an ongoing personal arc that makes the series more than a string of standalones. Samantha is trying to rebuild her confidence, sort out who she can trust, and figure out what kind of life she actually wants. Her relationship with shoe designer Nick Taylor matters. So do her friendships, especially when cases stop being abstract and start landing close to home.

The tone is funny, quick, and clue-driven, with a little rom-com energy running underneath. These are cozy mysteries, but they are not sleepy. Samantha asks nosy questions, gets herself into trouble, and keeps learning that being observant can be both a gift and a hazard.

If you want the cleanest entry point, start with Designer Dirty Laundry. It introduces Samantha, the fashion angle, and the series promise right away: sharp clothes, messy motives, and murders that look simple until she starts tugging at the seams.

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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