Lena Diaz Books in Order
Browse Lena Diaz books in order, with series lists, short summaries, and simple advice on where to start with her romantic suspense thrillers.
Last updated: July 5, 2026
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Publication Order
38 books
He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not
by Lena Diaz
2011
Scarred survivor Amanda Stockton must help Chief Logan Richards stop a killer who once used her in a deadly game. As another rose-marked victim appears, hiding is no longer an option.
Simon Says Die
by Lena Diaz
2012
Madison McKinley knows someone is watching her, but the police dismiss her fears until murders begin to fit the Simon Says killer pattern. FBI agent Pierce Buchanan may be her best hope, and her biggest complication.
Ashes, Ashes, They All Fall Dead
by Lena Diaz
2013
FBI agent Tessa James hunts a serial arsonist after eerie letters name murder victims one by one. When the clues point back to her forgotten past, she may be the killer's next target.
Explosive Attraction
by Lena Diaz
2013
Detective and bomb tech Rafe Morgan races to protect psychologist Darby Steele when a serial killer starts sending countdown clues. The clock is ticking, and Darby has become part of the game.
The Marshal's Witness
by Lena Diaz
2013
U.S. Marshal Ryan Jackson breaks protocol when he runs with protected witness Jessica Delaney to find the mole leaking her identity. Trust is hard when killers are always a step behind.
Undercover Twin
by Lena Diaz
2013
DEA agent Nick Morgan reunites with ex-love Heather Bannon after her twin is kidnapped. To bring down a drug lord, Heather must pose as her sister, and one mistake could turn the rescue fatal.
Take the Key and Lock Her Up
by Lena Diaz
2014
Detective Emily O'Malley finds a killer's hidden prison and suspects Devlin Buchanan knows far too much. When she becomes a target, the dangerous man who may be her answer is also the one she cannot fully trust.
Tennessee Takedown
by Lena Diaz
2014
After multiple attacks and an FBI accusation, accountant Ashley Parrish has nowhere safe to turn except SWAT leader Dillon Gray. He believes she is being framed, but proving it could cost them both.
The Bodyguard
by Lena Diaz
2014
Caroline Ashton hires Luke Dawson to help her escape a sham marriage and the man who hurt her. Then a body turns up, and Luke becomes the one person she can trust to keep her alive.
Arresting Developments
by Lena Diaz
2015
After a plane crash in the Everglades, ex-Navy pilot Dex Lassiter survives with help from Amber Callahan, a woman hiding in remote Mystic Glades. As floodwaters rise, so does the threat circling them.
Exit Strategy
by Lena Diaz
2015
Mason Hunt kidnaps Sabrina Hightower to save her after learning his employer, EXIT Inc., lied about her. On the run together, they uncover a conspiracy bigger than either expected.
Missing in the Glades
by Lena Diaz
2015
PI Jake Young heads into the Everglades on a missing-person case and winds up relying on free-spirited guide Faye Star. Someone in the swamps wants them both silenced before they find the truth.
Deep Cover Detective
by Lena Diaz
2016
Detective Colton Graham suspects innkeeper Silver Westbrook may be tied to the criminals he is tracking through the Everglades. Working close together reveals hidden motives and a dangerous attraction.
Hostage Negotiation
by Lena Diaz
2016
Escaping months of captivity, Kaylee Brighton turns to new police chief Zack Scott for help. Returning to the swamp to stop her captor means facing the darkness she barely survived.
No Exit
by Lena Diaz
2016
Equalizer agent Jace Atwell gets close to Melissa Cardenas to infiltrate EXIT Inc., only to learn she has been investigating her own father's company. Attraction flares as they chase the truth together.
Final Exit
by Lena Diaz
2017
FBI agent Kade Quinn is sent after Bailey Stark, a fugitive linked to EXIT Inc. But the supposed assassin may be one of the few people telling him the truth, and teaming up could get them both killed.
Mountain Witness
by Lena Diaz
2017
Reclusive Julie Webb's hidden past explodes when detective Chris Downing saves her from an attacker in Destiny, Tennessee. The closer he gets to her secrets, the deadlier their situation becomes.
Secret Stalker
by Lena Diaz
2017
Max Remington never forgot Bexley Kane, the woman who fled town under suspicion years earlier. When she returns to Destiny and someone starts shooting, Max must protect her while digging up the past.
Stranded with the Detective
by Lena Diaz
2018
SWAT officer Colby Vale and rancher Piper Caraway are left for dead in the Blue Ridge wilderness. Surviving the elements is hard enough, but a relentless killer is still hunting them.
SWAT Standoff
by Lena Diaz
2018
Blake Sullivan and Donna Waters barely have time to argue before the rest of their SWAT team is kidnapped. To save their friends, they must work together under intense pressure.
Smokies Special Agent
by Lena Diaz
2019
FBI agent Remi Jordan has spent years hunting her twin sister's kidnapper. Teaming up with Duncan McKenzie to stop another abduction revives old pain and dangerous new feelings.
Smoky Mountains Ranger
by Lena Diaz
2019
Ranger Adam McKenzie rescues Jody Ingram, then finds himself fleeing armed men through dangerous mountain terrain with her. Forced closeness turns survival into something far more personal.
Agent Under Siege
by Lena Diaz
2020
Teagan Ray is certain the wrong man took her, and former profiler Bryson Anton is willing to look deeper. Their search for the real abductor turns into a race against a cunning killer.
Conflicting Evidence
by Lena Diaz
2020
Peyton Sterling is desperate to prove her escaped brother is innocent, and U.S. Marshal Colin McKenzie may be the only man who can help. Their troubled history makes every clue more complicated and every secret more dangerous.
Cowboy Under Fire
by Lena Diaz
2020
Former cop Dalton Lynch joins the Justice Seekers and takes on a case tied to the death of Hayley Nash's friend. Their uneasy history matters less than the killer now aiming at them.
Undercover Rebel
by Lena Diaz
2020
Shannon Murphy does not know her neighbor Ian McKenzie is a Homeland Security agent working undercover. When a rescue mission collapses, Ian's secrets put Shannon directly in a trafficker's sights.
Deadly Double-Cross
by Lena Diaz
2021
Former police chief Mason Ford is being systematically targeted, and crime scene analyst Hannah Cantrell refuses to stand back. Their hunt for the truth becomes personal fast.
Killer Conspiracy
by Lena Diaz
2021
Harper Manning returns to Gage Bishop with shocking news, their child survived and is being held hostage. To find the boy, they must reopen old wounds and unravel a brutal conspiracy.
Murder on Prescott Mountain
by Lena Diaz
2022
Former soldier Grayson Prescott built a cold case firm to catch the killer who ruined his life. When detective Willow McCray's live investigation overlaps with his obsession, they join forces against a serial predator.
Police Dog Procedural
by Lena Diaz
2022
When a baby is left at Daniels Canine Academy, police lieutenant Macon Ridley and his K-9, Bogie, join Emma Daniels to solve the mystery. The case quickly puts Emma herself in danger.
Serial Slayer Cold Case
by Lena Diaz
2022
Detective Bree Clark gets a second chance at the serial killer she failed to catch when PI Ryland Beck brings new leads. But if they are right, the hunter may be stalking them now.
Shrouded in the Smokies
by Lena Diaz
2023
Everyone thinks Skylar Montgomery died five years ago, until Adam Trent discovers she is alive and hiding. Helping her reclaim her life means facing the killer still hunting her.
The Secret She Keeps
by Lena Diaz
2023
Raine Quintero is desperate enough to kidnap PI Callum Wright if it will save her brother from execution. She has information he needs, but revealing her full secret could destroy everything.
Smoky Mountains Graveyard
by Lena Diaz
2024
Investigators Faith Lancaster and Asher Whitfield uncover a secret burial ground while working a cold case. When the same killer strikes again, Faith becomes the next likely target.
Smoky Mountains Mystery
by Lena Diaz
2024
Officer Keira Sloane brings Lance Cabrera a murder case tied to secrets he has buried for years. Solving it may be the only way to keep a killer from coming after her next.
Hunting the Crossbow Killer
by Lena Diaz
2025
FBI agent Grace Malone suspects Aidan O'Brien in a serial murder case, then reluctantly takes his help. Their attraction grows even as Grace wonders what secret he is hiding.
Vanished in the Mist
by Lena Diaz
2025
PI Shanna Hudson teams up with boater Kaden Rafferty to find a missing teen near Mystic Lake. When their search turns up an unreported body, a small-town mystery grows much darker.
The Lawman's Deadly Bargain
by Lena Diaz
2026
Sierra Covington wants former police chief Beau Dawson to help find her brother's killer, even though her family ties make her hard to trust. Once someone tries to kill them both, walking away is no longer possible.
Where should I start?
If you want dark serial-killer suspense: He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not → Simon Says Die → Ashes, Ashes, They All Fall Dead
If you like bigger conspiracy thrillers: Exit Strategy → No Exit → Final Exit
If you want mountain-town police suspense: Tennessee Takedown → Mountain Witness → Secret Stalker
If you prefer cold cases and newer mysteries: Murder on Prescott Mountain → Serial Slayer Cold Case → Shrouded in the Smokies
If you want a fresh small-town mystery series: Hunting the Crossbow Killer → Vanished in the Mist → The Lawman's Deadly Bargain
Author bio
Lena Diaz was born in Kentucky, but her childhood did not happen in one neat place. She grew up in a Navy family and moved often, living in states that included California, Louisiana, and Florida before eventually making Florida home again. That mix of roots and restlessness makes sense once you pick up her fiction. Her books are full of people on the move, people reinventing themselves, and people trying to stay one step ahead of trouble.
Before she wrote novels, she worked as a computer programmer.
That detail matters. Her stories may be emotional, but they are also tightly built, with clues, false turns, ticking clocks, and bad decisions that snap into place at exactly the wrong moment. Somewhere along the way, writing stopped being just an interest and became the work she kept coming back to. By the time her career took off, she had found the lane that fit her best, romantic suspense.
Her first novel, He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not, arrived in 2011 and immediately showed what she liked to do. The setup is personal, the danger is sharp, and the romance grows under pressure instead of floating above the plot. She followed it with Simon Says Die, Ashes, Ashes, They All Fall Dead, and Take the Key and Lock Her Up, a run of books that leans hard into serial killers, survivors, and investigators who can never quite leave the case at the office.
She likes the dark stuff, but she never forgets the human part.
That balance carries into her later series too. Exit Strategy, No Exit, and Final Exit bring in rogue operatives and a larger conspiracy. The Marshland Justice books, including Missing in the Glades and Hostage Negotiation, use the Florida Everglades as more than scenery, the swamps feel dangerous, isolated, and alive. In the mountain-set books, from Smoky Mountains Ranger to Smoky Mountains Mystery, the terrain presses on the story almost as hard as the villain does.
Readers who come to Diaz usually know what they are here for: pace, peril, and capable people under strain. Her heroes are often marshals, agents, detectives, rangers, or protectors of one kind or another. Her heroines are just as likely to be witnesses, survivors, private investigators, analysts, or women carrying secrets of their own. Cold cases, kidnappings, stalking, and serial crimes show up again and again, but so do second chances, family loyalty, and the stubborn decision to trust someone when it would be easier not to.
The awards tell part of the story. Diaz is a former Romance Writers of America Golden Heart finalist, a four-time winner of the Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence in Mystery and Suspense, and a Publishers Weekly bestseller. She has also published close to forty novels, which is a lot of chances to learn exactly how much pressure to put on a scene before it breaks.
These days she lives in northeast Florida with her husband and two children. When she is not writing about killers, kidnappers, and people on the run, she has said you are more likely to find her near the ocean, working in her flower beds, or planning her next DIY project.
Edited by
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