Liz Danger Books in Order

The Liz Danger series drops a big-city ghostwriter back into the small Ohio town she fled as a teenager and asks what happens when she has to stay. Across three books, Liz grapples with old wounds, new crimes, and a relationship with a cop who keeps turning into more than a fling.

In Lavender's Blue Liz returns to Burney for what should be a quick errand and a birthday visit to her mother. Within a day she has been stopped by a very competent local officer, Vince Cooper, learned that her first love is marrying the town beauty, and discovered that her eccentric boss has rented a house in town for the summer. A disastrous wedding, a dachshund with issues, and a body or two make it clear that Burney is not the quiet place she remembers.

Rest In Pink picks up with Liz reluctantly committed to a season in her hometown. She is juggling a demanding ghostwriting job, her increasingly serious connection with Vince, and the political mess around a new housing development that is bringing armed strangers and shady money into Burney. A widowed ex who will not take no for an answer, a volatile blog, and a string of suspicious fires keep pushing Liz deeper into the town’s fault lines.

By One In Vermillion the stakes have gone up for everyone. Liz’s boss has settled in, Vince’s police department is being kneecapped by local and state politics, and the biker gang on the edge of town is no longer content to lurk in the background. As arson, vandalism, and murder pile up, Liz and Vince have to decide not only how to save Burney but what kind of life they want together once the summer is over.

Throughout the trilogy Crusie and Mayer lean into the pleasures of a tightly drawn ensemble cast. Liz’s mother, her childhood friends, her boss, and even the seven-year-old she keeps pseudo-parenting all have their own arcs. The humor comes from character clashes and running gags about teddy bears, casseroles, and small-town grudges, while the suspense grows out of real danger and corruption.

Read in order, the Liz Danger books feel like one long story about coming home, falling in love when you are old enough to know better, and deciding which parts of your past you are willing to keep. If you like contemporary romance with a strong mystery thread and a lot of banter, this is an easy place to start with Crusie and Mayer’s newer work.