Saundra Mitchell Books in Order
Browse Saundra Mitchell books in order, with quick summaries, series guides, and where-to-start advice across her spooky, historical, and mystery novels.
Last updated: July 8, 2026
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Publication Order
14 books
Shadowed Summer
by Saundra Mitchell
2009
Fourteen-year-old Iris Rhame sees the ghost of Elijah Landry, a boy who vanished long before she was born. In the small Louisiana town of Ondine, her search for the truth stirs up buried secrets that hit close to home.
Breathkept
by Saundra Mitchell
2011
Parker Nixon arrives at Stone Well Ranch and gets tangled in a murder almost at once. As suspicion spreads and her reclusive father’s secrets surface, Parker is drawn to Brandon Beauchamp, who may know more than he says.
The Vespertine
by Saundra Mitchell
2011
Sent from rural Maine to Baltimore in 1889, Amelia van den Broek is supposed to find a respectable husband. Instead she begins seeing the future at sunset, and her visions pull her toward forbidden love and mounting disaster.
The Springsweet
by Saundra Mitchell
2012
After a shattering summer in Baltimore, Zora Stewart heads to Oklahoma Territory to help her widowed aunt. On the harsh frontier she discovers she can sense water underground, a gift that brings new power, danger, and complicated romance.
The Elementals
by Saundra Mitchell
2013
In 1917, Kate Witherspoon and Julian Birch head for Los Angeles, each chasing a life beyond family expectations. Their strange inheritance links them to old losses, and they must decide what their powers are worth.
Mistwalker
by Saundra Mitchell
2014
After her brother dies at sea, Willa is banned from the family fishing boat even though her family still needs her. Desperate to help, she seeks the Grey Man in the lighthouse and finds a far stranger bargain waiting.
50 Impressive Kids and Their AmazingStories
by Saundra Mitchell
2016
This companion nonfiction book spotlights fifty young people who changed the world early, from artists and athletes to inventors and leaders. The short profiles keep history moving and show kids just how much young lives can matter.
50 Unbelievable Women and Their FascinatingStories
by Saundra Mitchell
2016
This nonfiction collection introduces fifty women from across history, from entertainers to activists to world leaders. Short, lively profiles, facts, and extras make it easy for young readers to dip in and discover one remarkable life after another.
All Out
by Saundra Mitchell
2018
This anthology gathers queer teen stories set across centuries and cultures, from convents to discos to wartime landscapes. Edited by Mitchell, it brings together many voices to show how queer kids have always been part of history.
All the Things We Do in the Dark
by Saundra Mitchell
2019
Ava wants to keep her own trauma buried and start over with her best friend, her tattoos, and a new crush. Then she finds evidence of someone else’s secret in the woods, and the past opens again.
The Prom
by Saundra Mitchell
2019
Emma Nolan just wants to take her girlfriend, Alyssa, to prom in their Indiana town. When the PTA tries to shut that down, a public fight erupts, and two Broadway stars drop in to help, with mixed results.
Camp Murderface
by Saundra Mitchell
2020
It’s 1983, and Camp Sweetwater is reopening after a mysterious thirty-year shutdown. Corryn Quinn and Tez Jones expect a fresh start, but the camp’s old secrets wake up fast, and summer turns into a fight to survive.
Doom in the Deep
by Saundra Mitchell
2021
Back at Camp Sweetwater, Tez and Corryn know the real danger is under the lake. When counselors vanish and adults brush it off, the kids have to face the awakened Vampire Devils before the whole camp goes under.
This Side of Gone
by Saundra Mitchell
2026
Former detective Vinnie Taylor thought she had escaped policing for good after exposing corruption in her own unit. But when a Maryland teenager disappears and no one seems to care, she is pulled into a dangerous search that hits close to home.
Where should I start?
If you want historical fantasy first: The Vespertine → The Springsweet → The Elementals
If you want a ghostly Southern mystery: Shadowed Summer
If you want funny middle grade horror: Camp Murderface → Doom in the Deep
If you want contemporary queer stories: The Prom → All the Things We Do in the Dark
If you want her adult mystery side: This Side of Gone
Author bio
Saundra Mitchell grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana, and writing seems to have been part of the plan early. She has said she was turning out short stories in kindergarten, a play in fourth grade, and pieces for her high school's literary magazine.
Writing stayed with her.
After being kicked out of the Army in the early 1990s for being queer, she started writing scripts for Dreaming Tree. That work turned into a long run in film education. For twenty years she served as head screenwriter and an executive producer on teen filmmaking programs, including Fresh Films, and hundreds of projects were produced from her scripts.
Her fiction career reached shelves with Shadowed Summer, a ghost story set in Ondine, Louisiana. It follows Iris Rhame as she investigates the disappearance of Elijah Landry, and it set the tone for a lot of Mitchell's work: young people in tight communities, old secrets that refuse to stay buried, and emotional stakes that matter as much as the mystery. The book went on to earn an Edgar nomination and a Society of Midland Authors award.
History keeps showing up in her books.
In the novels linked to The Vespertine, she mixes historical settings with uncanny gifts and big feelings. The Vespertine drops readers into 1889 Baltimore, where Amelia van den Broek discovers she can glimpse the future at sunset. The Springsweet heads west to Oklahoma Territory with Zora Stewart, and The Elementals carries that larger family story into 1917 Los Angeles. Readers who like romance, atmosphere, and a touch of the strange usually find a lot to dig into there.
She can switch gears fast. Camp Murderface, written with Josh Berk, is funny, creepy middle grade horror. The Prom turns the Broadway musical into a teen novel about first love and public backlash. All the Things We Do in the Dark is sharper and darker, following a teen survivor who stumbles into another buried secret while trying to hold herself together.
She writes nonfiction, too. Her They Did What? books, including 50 Unbelievable Women and Their Fascinating Stories and 50 Impressive Kids and Their Amazing Stories, package history in short, lively portraits for younger readers. She has also edited anthologies, including All Out, that open more space for queer stories on the shelf.
That part of her career is not separate from the rest.
Mitchell has spoken openly about writing queer characters the way she means to write them, even when that has made publishing harder. In recent years she has also become a public voice against book bans and censorship, and she has talked about how those fights affect working authors, school libraries, and young readers looking for themselves in books.
After a lifetime in the Midwest, she now lives in Maryland. She has said that when she is not writing, she likes studying history, playing tabletop roleplaying games and video games, and spending time with her wife and daughters.
Edited by
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