Matchmaker Mysteries Books in Order
Part ofElise Sax Books in OrderExplore the Matchmaker Mysteries by Elise Sax in order, with summaries, series background, and where to start Gladie Burger’s romantic small-town cases.
Last updated: July 15, 2026
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Matchmaker Mysteries books in publication order
12 books
An Affair to Dismember
by Elise Sax
2013
Restless Gladie Burger joins her psychic grandmother’s matchmaking business in Cannes, California. When a neighbor dies under suspicious circumstances, Gladie ignores the handsome police chief’s warnings and starts hunting for a murderer.
Matchpoint / Citizen Pain
by Elise Sax
2013
This volume collects two early Gladie Burger mysteries. Between matchmaking, romantic complications, and a fresh murder case, Gladie’s life in Cannes proves that finding love and finding a killer can be equally hazardous.
Love Game / The Wizard of Saws
by Elise Sax
2014
This collection pairs two Matchmaker Mysteries featuring Gladie Burger. In Cannes, her work with Grandma Zelda’s matchmaking business repeatedly collides with dangerous crimes, complicated attraction, and the town’s most unreliable secrets.
Playing the Field / Field of Screams
by Elise Sax
2015
This volume brings together two Gladie Burger stories from the Matchmaker Mysteries. Romance, small-town chaos, and murder collide as Gladie keeps getting pulled from matchmaking work into investigations nobody asked her to solve.
From Fear to Eternity
by Elise Sax
2017
Gladie Burger is still trying to make sense of romance, matchmaking, and life in Cannes. Another murder forces her into danger, where every clue could bring her closer to the killer or put her directly in harm’s way.
It Happened One Fright
by Elise Sax
2017
Gladie Burger faces a new murder in Cannes while her relationships and future keep getting more complicated. Her refusal to leave the investigating alone once again makes her a target as the stakes rise.
Road to Matchmaker
by Elise Sax
2017
Before Gladie Burger joins Grandma Zelda in Cannes, she is already restless and unsure where she belongs. This prequel follows the road that leads her toward matchmaking, murder mysteries, and a very different life.
Scareplane
by Elise Sax
2017
Gladie Burger’s latest mystery takes her away from the safety of Cannes and into another escalating crisis. With danger in close quarters and no shortage of suspects, she must keep her nerve long enough to find the truth.
West Side Gory
by Elise Sax
2017
Gladie lands in West Side Hospital for surgery and befriends the woman in the next bed. When the woman vanishes and staff insist she never existed, Gladie suspects something far more sinister than a hospital mix-up.
It's a Wonderful Knife
by Elise Sax
2018
It is wedding time for Gladie Burger and Chief Spencer Bolton, but murder refuses to respect the schedule. With family, friends, and dangerous secrets crowding Cannes, Gladie must solve one more case before saying I do.
Ship of Ghouls
by Elise Sax
2018
Gladie and Spencer finally have their honeymoon, aboard a cruise ship in rough weather. Then Gladie finds a dead body, turning a romantic getaway into another frantic investigation far from the familiar streets of Cannes.
The Big Kill
by Elise Sax
2018
As Gladie prepares for her wedding, she uncovers evidence that her father’s old motorcycle accident may have been murder. Her investigation leads into his past, where the people closest to him could be killers.
Matchmaker Mysteries books in chronological order

An Affair to Dismember
by Elise Sax
2013Matchmaker Mysteries, Book 1
Matchpoint / Citizen Pain
by Elise Sax
2013Matchmaker Mysteries, Book 2
Love Game / The Wizard of Saws
by Elise Sax
2014Matchmaker Mysteries, Book 3
Playing the Field / Field of Screams
by Elise Sax
2015Matchmaker Mysteries, Book 4
From Fear to Eternity
by Elise Sax
2017Matchmaker Mysteries, Book 5
West Side Gory
by Elise Sax
2017Matchmaker Mysteries, Book 6
Scareplane
by Elise Sax
2017Matchmaker Mysteries, Book 7
Road to Matchmaker
by Elise Sax
2017Matchmaker Mysteries, Book 8
It Happened One Fright
by Elise Sax
2017Matchmaker Mysteries, Book 9
The Big Kill
by Elise Sax
2018Matchmaker Mysteries, Book 10
It's a Wonderful Knife
by Elise Sax
2018Matchmaker Mysteries, Book 11
Ship of Ghouls
by Elise Sax
2018Matchmaker Mysteries, Book 12
Series background & context
The Matchmaker Mysteries introduce Gladie Burger, a woman with a short attention span for jobs, relationships, and staying in one place. Her grandmother Zelda thinks Gladie has a gift for matchmaking. Gladie is much less convinced, especially because her own romantic history is a mess.
Then a neighbor dies, and Gladie finds a different kind of calling.
The series begins in Cannes, California, where Gladie has come to help Zelda run the family matchmaking business. Zelda is psychic, confident, and never shy about sharing advice. Gladie is skeptical, restless, and soon deeply involved in a death that looks far less accidental than the local police would like.
In An Affair to Dismember, Gladie’s questions bring her into conflict with Chief of Police Spencer Bolton, who is both frustrating and hard to ignore. She also meets Holden, a mysterious neighbor, while friends Bridget and Lucy add support, opinions, and complications. That blend of romance, friendship, and amateur sleuthing carries through the whole series.
Cannes is small enough that every murder disrupts someone Gladie knows. It is also strange enough that she can find herself dealing with a dead dentist, baseball-related body parts, a hospital disappearance, an investigation into her own family history, and trouble that follows her all the way to her honeymoon. The titles play on familiar films and musicals, which fits the books’ broad, comic tone.
Gladie is not a conventional detective. She is emotional, impulsive, funny, and often the last person the police want near an active case. But she notices people, cares about the victims, and keeps asking questions after other people have moved on. Her work as a matchmaker also means she understands how much people hide about their private lives.
Love and murder keep sharing the same address.
The core reading order starts with An Affair to Dismember, followed by Matchpoint, Love Game, Field of Screams, and the later cases. Road to Matchmaker is a prequel that shows Gladie just before she joins Zelda in Cannes, while Matchmaking Advice from Your Grandma Zelda is a companion collection. The main novels build Gladie’s relationship with Spencer and develop the wider group around them, so reading in publication order is the best choice.
These are romantic small-town mysteries with adult humor, chaotic situations, and a heroine who repeatedly proves that being a matchmaker does not stop her from becoming a murder magnet. Start at the beginning and let Cannes get stranger one case at a time.
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