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Samantha Sweet Books in Order

Part ofConnie Shelton Books in Order

See the Samantha Sweet magical bakery mysteries by Connie Shelton in order, with plot summaries, series background, reading-order help, and tips on the best book to start your visit to Sweet's Sweets.

Last updated: January 17, 2026

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Publication Order

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22 books

1

Garden Sweets

by Connie Shelton

2025

As a new season unfolds in Taos, Samantha juggles bakery demands, shifts in her family, and a fresh investigation that starts close to home. What seems like a simple favor soon reveals tangled motives and reminds her that danger can bloom in the most ordinary places.

2

Thankful Sweets

by Connie Shelton

2024

Thanksgiving week has Sam baking pies for a community feast while Beau steps back into his old sheriff’s job. When a celebrity chef is poisoned during a high profile holiday cook off, the pair must solve the crime quietly so the town’s celebration can go on.

3

Secret Sweets

by Connie Shelton

2024

A frantic call from Beau’s cousin sends Sam and Beau to Oklahoma, where local police have written off a man’s murder as a random shooting. As they dig into his mysterious work and a fortune in hidden money, they discover someone is willing to kill again to keep the secret.

4

Haunted Sweets

by Connie Shelton

2023

When librarian Emily Plankhurst is visited by the ghost of Gabriel Graystone, a man murdered a century ago, she turns to Samantha Sweet for help. Together they explore hidden corners of Taos and long buried scandals, trying to uncover the truth before old secrets claim new victims.

5

Tricky Sweet

by Connie Shelton

2022

Three California college students head to the snowy mountains of New Mexico for spring break and promptly vanish after checking into the wrong cabin. When one boy’s sister calls Kelly Sweet, Sam and Kelly follow a scant trail of clues, racing the clock and a skeptical sheriff to find the missing trio.

6

The Ghost of Christmas Sweet

by Connie Shelton

2021

During the busy holiday rush at Sweet's Sweets, new librarian Emily Plankhurst tells Samantha Sweet about a vision of a hidden niche in the Taos library. Inside they find a painting long believed destroyed in a mansion fire, and their search for the truth reopens an old arson case.

7

Deadly Sweet Dreams

by Connie Shelton

2020

Back at Sweet's Sweets while Beau runs his ranch, Sam meets Danny, a new hand with a manipulative ex girlfriend who tracks him to Taos. When the woman is murdered and a clue points squarely at Danny, Sam must untangle jealousy, magic, and her own experimental potion to save him.

8

Sweet Magic

by Connie Shelton

2019

As Samantha Sweet juggles her daughter’s wedding and a huge new chocolate contract, someone takes a shot at her and an old enemy returns to town. While the sheriff’s office chases alibis, Sam’s family trip to England reveals startling clues about the carved box that changed her life.

9

Sticky Sweet

by Connie Shelton

2018

A luxury travel firm hires Samantha to create $200 a box chocolates for a jet set tour just as a friend begs her to take on one last house breaking job. When a fatal crash proves to be murder, Sam must connect a nosy customer, a bag of cash, and a trail of sticky lies.

10

Spellbound Sweets

by Connie Shelton

2017

Halloween at Sweet's Sweets means pumpkin cookies, ghostly cupcakes, and a costume party at the neighborhood bookshop. When a guest is murdered and a rare volume vanishes almost before anyone can blink, Samantha must rely on her instincts and a touch of magic to find the culprit.

11

Spooky Sweet

by Connie Shelton

2016

Samantha Sweet lands a lucrative chocolate contract just as she outgrows her little shop. A sprawling Victorian house seems like the perfect solution, until eerie sounds, a mysterious duffel full of cash, and Beau’s new case collide to suggest the building has secrets of its own.

12

The Woodcarver's Secret

by Connie Shelton

2015

In thirteenth century Europe, woodcarver John Carver crafts three boxes from a lightning struck tree and discovers they hold uncanny powers of healing and harm. As the boxes pass from owner to owner across centuries, rival factions compete to control them, setting up Samantha Sweet’s modern adventures.

13

Sweets Forgotten

by Connie Shelton

2015

A woman who claims to have amnesia walks into Sweet's Sweets, oddly knowledgeable about Sam’s special chocolate order. While Beau copes with a flu stricken department and a distant murder case, Sam realizes their Jane Doe’s missing memories may be the key to everything.

14

Sweet Somethings

by Connie Shelton

2014

Samantha is organizing a chocolate festival in Taos, wrangling feuding committee members, big prize money, and competitors with sharp elbows. When someone ends up dead, she has to keep the event from collapsing while learning just how powerful her magical box may truly be.

15

Sweet Payback

by Connie Shelton

2014

In the tiny town of Sembramos, tensions explode when two men convicted of murdering a local girl are released after serving only a few years. As Easter crowds descend on Sweet's Sweets, Sam and Sheriff Beau struggle to keep order while they search for the truth behind the old crime.

16

Sweets, Begorra

by Connie Shelton

2013

An unexpected inheritance from an Irish great uncle sends Samantha and Beau to the Emerald Isle for their honeymoon. Between rocky coastlines, a missing charter boat, and wary locals, Sam must decide whether the promised blessing is truly a gift or a dangerous trap.

17

Sweets Galore

by Connie Shelton

2013

With her September wedding days away, Sam is buried under bakery orders and visiting relatives when old flame Jake Calendar strolls into the shop with a Hollywood scheme. His demand for money threatens to wreck both her business and her big day unless she stops him.

18

Sweet Hearts

by Connie Shelton

2012

Valentine’s week brings a flood of wedding cakes and romantic orders to Sweet's Sweets, plus pressure over Sam and Beau’s own plans. When a dying woman begs Sam to find her missing son before it is too late, Sam has to balance matters of the heart with a desperate search.

19

Bitter Sweet

by Connie Shelton

2012

At the height of wedding season, Sam’s pastry shop is slammed and her side job breaking into houses offers no break. After two elderly women she has met die suddenly, she suspects a predator is targeting trusting seniors and that Beau’s late mother might have been an earlier victim.

20

Sweet's Sweets

by Connie Shelton

2011

Still working as a caretaker for abandoned properties, Samantha is on the verge of opening her own pastry shop. When she finds a blood soaked coat at one of her houses and a friend makes a shocking confession, Sam must rely on her unusual wooden box and her wits to sort it out.

21

Sweet Holidays

by Connie Shelton

2011

As Christmas approaches, a charming chocolatier offers to create a special line of hand dipped chocolates for Sweet's Sweets. When Sam learns of his disturbing connection to her magical box and to ruthless people who want its power, a festive season turns into a fight to protect her family.

22

Sweet Masterpiece

by Connie Shelton

2010

Samantha Sweet breaks into houses for a living, cleaning up abandoned properties for the government while baking cakes from her tiny kitchen. When a dying woman gives her a carved wooden box and Sam discovers an unmarked grave and a forged will, her careful routine turns into a paranormal mystery.

Series background & context

The Samantha Sweet series blends cozy mystery, baking, and a gentle strand of magic in the mountain town of Taos, New Mexico. Samantha starts the series in midlife, working an unusual job for a government contractor: she legally breaks into foreclosed houses to clean them and secure the property.

It is solitary, sometimes grim work, and she dreams about doing something very different. In Sweet Masterpiece, that “something” is baking. Sam already takes on special‑order cakes and pastries from her tiny home kitchen, hoping one day to open a real shop called Sweet's Sweets. Her life changes when a dying woman presses a carved wooden box into her hands. The box seems ordinary at first, but it soon becomes clear that it carries a strange kind of power.

The early books follow Sam as she juggles caretaker jobs, growing baking orders, and the mysteries that swirl around the abandoned houses she enters. She discovers an unmarked grave, stumbles on a bogus will tied to valuable art, and repeatedly crosses paths with deputy Beau Cardwell, who is as intrigued by Sam as he is by the crimes she helps uncover.

As the series goes on, Sam opens Sweet's Sweets and the focus shifts to the shop. Holiday titles like Sweet Holidays, Sweet Hearts, and The Ghost of Christmas Sweet wrap murders and puzzles around Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and other celebrations. There are festival weeks packed with chocolate competitions in Sweet Somethings, wedding‑season pressure in Bitter Sweet, and a honeymoon trip to Ireland in Sweets, Begorra that combines family inheritance with danger off the Irish coast.

The carved box and its companions grow more important over time. Books such as Sweets Forgotten, Spooky Sweet, Sweet Magic, and Deadly Sweet Dreams dig into the history of the artifacts and the rune‑filled book that explains them. Sam learns that her “touch of magic” is part of a much larger story, and that using it wisely matters just as much as solving the crime of the moment.

Family stays at the center. Sam’s relationship with Beau deepens, her grown daughter Kelly becomes more involved, and eventually a granddaughter adds another layer of warmth. Friends, co‑workers, and even the regular customers at Sweet's Sweets reappear, giving the series a lived‑in feel.

Later crossovers bring in Emily Plankhurst from the Ghost in the Library books. The Ghost of Christmas Sweet and Haunted Sweets team up the baker and the librarian on cases that span libraries, old paintings, and long‑ago deaths, all while Sam tries to keep pies baked and shelves full.

If you like mysteries with recipes, a strong sense of place, and a light paranormal thread that grows richer as the series continues, Samantha Sweet is an inviting place to start. Beginning with Sweet Masterpiece and reading forward lets you watch her business, her magic, and her family life evolve together.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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All 22 Samantha Sweet Books in Order (Complete List 2026)