Roxy Abruzzo Books in Order

The Roxy Abruzzo books are Nancy Martin's rougher, louder answer to the polished world of the Blackbird sisters. Roxy lives in Pittsburgh, not Philadelphia, and the difference shows on almost every page. She is the niece of a Mafia boss, a single mother, and the owner of Bada Bling Architectural Salvage, a business that sends her into half-demolished mansions, abandoned industrial sites, and old neighborhoods where the past is always half-buried and still useful.

That salvage business is a smart foundation for the series. It gives Roxy a reason to move between worlds, steel-money families, working neighborhoods, lawyers, cops, shady middlemen, and relatives who would rather she did a few favors and stopped asking questions. In Our Lady of Immaculate Deception / Foxy Roxy, a missing classical statue and a murdered heir pull her into trouble from several directions at once. In Sticky Fingers, money pressure and family obligation drag her even closer to the kind of work she says she does not want.

Roxy herself is what holds it all together. She is fast-talking, impulsive, sensual, and often a little too sure she can manage one more bad idea. But she is also funny, loyal, and easier to root for than she first appears. Martin gives her real weight by making her a mother to Sage, a teenage daughter who is smart enough to see through excuses and important enough to raise the stakes of every choice.

The Abruzzo name brings heat.

Around Roxy is a strong supporting cast. Nooch Santonucci is her big-hearted, not always quick-thinking sidekick. Rooney, her dog, adds chaos and loyalty in equal measure. Aunt Loretta brings brains and backup, and Patrick Flynn, Sage's father, ties Roxy to a more stable life she is never fully sure she wants. Then there is Uncle Carmine, whose influence hangs over the series whether Roxy invites it in or not.

Pittsburgh matters just as much as the people do. Martin uses the city's old wealth, rivers, worn industrial edges, and neighborhood loyalties to give the books texture. These are not drawing-room mysteries. Even when Roxy is dealing with the rich, the stories have grit on them. Buildings are stripped, money is tight, and family history feels less like heritage and more like something you may have to outrun.

If the Blackbird books are high heels on old carpet, Roxy Abruzzo is work boots on cracked concrete. The tone is edgier and more openly physical, but it still has Martin's gift for humor, tangled loyalties, and women who keep moving even when their options are bad. Expect crime, family pressure, sharp banter, and a heroine who knows that going straight is sometimes harder than going crooked.