Sept Savoie & Keegan Blanchard Books in Order

The Sept Savoie and Keegan Blanchard books sit at the crime and romance end of Ali Vali's catalog. These are dark, tense stories, but they are not cold. The series begins in a New Orleans still reeling from Hurricane Katrina, and that setting shapes everything, the mood, the cases, the pace of recovery, and the emotional damage the characters carry.

Sept Savoie is a detective, practical and driven, the kind of person who would rather solve a murder than talk about her feelings. Keegan Blanchard is a restaurant owner whose life intersects with Sept's case in the worst possible way. In Calling the Dead, a brutalized body turns up behind Keegan's restaurant, and the clues start pointing toward her. That makes the attraction between them complicated from the start.

The city itself feels wounded.

That is part of what makes these books work. The crimes are ugly, and the killers take advantage of the empty, damaged spaces Katrina left behind. Vali uses that backdrop well. New Orleans is not just atmospheric. It is a place trying to come back to life while Sept is trying to do her job and figure out whether Keegan is a suspect, an ally, or something much more personal.

In Answering the Call, the relationship is established, but that does not make life easier. Sept returns to work after being shot and gets pulled into a ritualistic killing that widens into serial murder. At the same time, an ambitious crime writer starts circling both the case and Keegan, which adds jealousy, distraction, and fresh pressure to an already strained partnership.

These books are a good fit for readers who want genuine mystery plotting with their romance. The cases matter. The danger feels real. But the series also makes room for intimacy, food, family ties, and the stubborn way people keep building lives even after disaster. Read Calling the Dead first and then Answering the Call for the full arc.