Matchmaker Marriage Mystery Books in Order

The Matchmaker Marriage Mystery series picks up after the original Matchmaker Mysteries, with Gladie Burger still at the center of the mayhem. She has grown from a reluctant helper in her grandmother Zelda’s matchmaking business into someone with stronger roots in Cannes, California, a close circle of friends, and a habit of finding trouble wherever she goes.

Gladie is also working in weddings, which should mean flowers, cakes, guest lists, and happy endings. Instead, weddings have a way of putting her near suspicious deaths, strange local disputes, and people who would rather their secrets stayed secret.

Cannes is a small town, so every case is personal.

The books continue Gladie’s relationship with Spencer Bolton, the town’s chief of police, while keeping Grandma Zelda and the familiar characters from the earlier series in the picture. Gladie and Spencer have history, affection, and plenty of reasons to worry when her curiosity pulls her into an investigation. Zelda remains a lively source of matchmaking wisdom and psychic hunches, whether Gladie wants either one or not.

The opening book, Gored of the Rings, returns readers to Gladie’s world after the events of the first series. Slay Misty For Me brings a wedding and a townwide knot of conspiracies into the mix. Later books, including Scar Wars, Die Charred, and Spawn with the Wind, keep the focus on Gladie’s life after marriage while giving her new puzzles to untangle.

These are humorous romantic mysteries, not grim procedural novels. The crimes matter, but the tone leaves room for romantic chaos, oddball side characters, domestic mishaps, and the kind of escalating situation where one bad discovery quickly becomes several. Gladie is not a polished detective. She is nosy, determined, and usually willing to ask the question everyone else avoids.

That is often enough to put her in danger.

The series works best after the original Matchmaker Mysteries, since Gladie’s relationships and the town’s larger history carry forward. Still, each mystery gives readers a new central problem and enough context to follow the immediate case. Start with Gored of the Rings for the clearest introduction to this next stage of Gladie’s life.

Expect wedding plans, small-town gossip, romantic stakes, and murder investigations with a playful edge. In Cannes, a happy ending may be possible, but it is rarely simple.