Serenity's Plain Secrets Books in Order
Part ofKaren Ann Hopkins Books in OrderThis page lists the Serenity's Plain Secrets books by Karen Ann Hopkins in order, with short summaries, series background, and where to start.
Last updated: July 2, 2026
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Serenity's Plain Secrets books in publication order
24 books
Lamb to the Slaughter
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2014
A teenage Amish girl is found shot in a cornfield, and new sheriff Serenity Adams refuses to accept the easy answer. With help from ex-Amish outsider Daniel Bachman, she digs into a community determined to keep quiet.
Secrets in the Grave
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2015
A pregnant Amish woman's death unsettles Blood Rock and pulls Serenity Adams into a case tangled with folk healing, secrets, and faith. At the same time, her relationship with Daniel is put under real strain.
Whispers from the Dead
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2015
Barn fires and a burned body draw Serenity Adams and Daniel Bachman to the Amish settlement of Poplar Springs. What begins as an arson case opens into something much larger and far more dangerous.
Hidden in Plain Sight
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2016
A brutal fifteen-year-old murder sends Serenity Adams to Lancaster County with the U.S. Marshals. Digging into the past could solve the case, but it may also destroy her trust in Daniel.
Paper Roses
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2017
An archaeological dig stirs up Blood Rock's buried history just as a killer begins targeting Amish women. Serenity Adams races to stop the violence before the past claims more victims.
Evil in My Town
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2019
After a mass shooting rocks Blood Rock, Serenity Adams uncovers links to the local Amish settlement and a missing woman. The case turns personal when her teenage niece barely survives the carnage.
Bloody Ties
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2020
Dead mobsters, cartel trouble, and local secrets hit Blood Rock all at once. Serenity Adams has to sort allies from liars before the violence reaches the Amish community and the people she loves.
The Widow
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2020
When a young Amish widow turns up dead, Serenity Adams has to decide whether she is looking at suicide or murder. In Blood Rock, grief and guilt make poor witnesses.
Unholy Ground
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2020
Girls are disappearing from the Amish community of Poplar Springs, and Serenity Adams fears they have been trafficked. The deeper she goes into the case, the more dangerous the underworld becomes.
Blood Rock
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2021
Years before she became sheriff, Serenity Adams helped put a child killer behind bars in Indianapolis. Now he is free, and Serenity is the woman he wants most.
The Offering
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2021
A murder in a neighboring town looks solved, but Serenity Adams is not convinced the accused man is guilty. Her investigation exposes corrupt officials, a troubled family, and a pretty town hiding something rotten.
Wicked Legacy
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2021
When young women vanish from a nearby Amish community every four years, Serenity Adams suspects something far worse than rumor. Her search with Toby Bryant leads from Indiana to a Nevada brothel with dangerous secrets.
Serenity
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2022
A battered woman in the Amish community pulls Serenity Adams into a case that echoes her first investigation. As past and present collide, she has to decide whether old mistakes can help save a life now.
Devil's Eye
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2023
Serenity Adams follows the trail of the Peachy family to a Florida Amish settlement with an ancient evil at its center. As a young girl's life hangs in the balance, even a storm becomes part of the threat.
Lost Soul
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2023
A respected doctor looks guilty when his family is murdered, but Serenity Adams is not ready to close the case. The truth leads into a picture-perfect world of lies, fear, and Amish connections.
Night Song
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2023
When Martha Mast asks for help, Serenity Adams heads to Kentucky and joins Sheriff Sadie Mills to find a missing Amish boy. The search uncovers old secrets, a cult, and danger spreading through the hills.
Perfect Death
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2024
A dead mafia madame and a missing Amish teen pull Serenity Adams back to Mt. Carmel. What starts as a link to an old trafficking case grows into a fight against something even darker.
Sinful Alliance
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2024
When a man from Blood Rock is murdered in Possum Gap, Serenity Adams and Sadie Mills join forces again. Their investigation sparks panic in the Amish community and exposes a sickness deeper than one violent death.
Blood Clan
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2025
An expanding Amish community and whispers of sex trafficking push Serenity Adams into one of her bleakest cases. As she and Daniel follow clues across state lines, the danger turns personal fast.
Deadly Design
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2025
A missing filly seems like a simple favor until Serenity Adams uncovers another disappearance inside a troubled Amish family. Soon she is facing a long-rooted evil hidden beneath the calm Indiana countryside.
Sinister Summer
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2025
Serenity's first case as an FBI special agent takes her to West Virginia and an Old Order Amish community full of strange patterns. With Mallory Miller beside her, she follows decades of violence across several states.
Buying Peril
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2026
An old case pulls Serenity Adams to Washington, D.C., when her friend Elayne Weaver is taken by men tied to a powerful cover-up. To save her, Serenity has to challenge a criminal network with Amish roots.
Dead Quiet
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2026
What looks like a kidnapping of a teen babysitter leads Serenity Adams to the set of a show built around surviving Amish life. There she uncovers evidence of a far worse crime, with danger closing in on her too.
Hunting Butterflies
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2026
A young Amish woman is shot in Oklahoma, and FBI agent Serenity Adams is forced to work with Toby Bryant. As bodies pile up across state lines, the case begins to look like a serial killer's work.
Serenity's Plain Secrets books in chronological order

Lamb to the Slaughter
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2014Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 1
Whispers from the Dead
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2015Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 2
Secrets in the Grave
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2015Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 3
Hidden in Plain Sight
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2016Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 4
Paper Roses
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2017Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 5
Evil in My Town
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2019Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 6
Unholy Ground
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2020Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 7
Bloody Ties
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2020Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 8
The Widow
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2020Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 9
Wicked Legacy
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2021Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 10
Blood Rock
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2021Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 11
The Offering
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2021Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 12
Serenity
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2022Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 13
Night Song
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2023Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 14
Devil's Eye
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2023Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 15
Lost Soul
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2023Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 16
Sinful Alliance
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2024Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 17
Perfect Death
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2024Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 18
Blood Clan
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2025Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 19
Deadly Design
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2025Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 20
Sinister Summer
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2025Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 21
Hunting Butterflies
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2026Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 22
Buying Peril
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2026Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 23
Dead Quiet
by Karen Ann Hopkins
2026Serenity's Plain Secrets, Book 24
Series background & context
Serenity Adams is the center of this long-running crime series, and she is not a cozy sleuth. She is the sheriff of Blood Rock, Indiana, a small town that sits close to Amish communities and all the secrets that come with living side by side while obeying very different rules. In the first books, she is still proving herself on the job. Very quickly, murder cases pull her into places where family loyalty, church discipline, and the law do not line up neatly.
That clash is what gives the series its shape.
The Amish setting matters here, but these are not gentle village mysteries. A shooting in a cornfield, barn fires, cold cases, trafficking investigations, organized crime, and disappearances all run through the books. Hopkins keeps returning to the idea that plain surfaces can hide very messy lives. Blood Rock looks rural and quiet from the outside, yet Serenity is constantly dealing with violence, buried histories, and people who think silence is the same thing as justice.
One of the key figures across the series is Daniel Bachman, an ex-Amish man with his own complicated ties to the communities Serenity investigates. Sometimes he is her guide, sometimes her emotional complication, and often he is both at once. Their relationship gives the books an ongoing personal thread, but it never overwhelms the cases. The central question is usually the same: how do you get at the truth when everyone involved has a reason to keep it buried?
The series also gets bigger as it goes. What begins with local murder cases in and around Blood Rock gradually widens into investigations that reach other Amish settlements, other states, and, later on, much larger criminal networks. Even when the stakes rise, the books stay rooted in character. Serenity is stubborn, practical, and deeply protective. She keeps going back into dangerous places because she cannot let the dead be dismissed and the vulnerable be forgotten.
Tone matters here too. These books are fast-moving crime thrillers with a strong small-town feel, a streak of romance, and a darker edge than the word Amish might make some readers expect. They are more about tension, secrets, and moral pressure than puzzle-box detective games. The setting gives the series its identity, but the real engine is Serenity herself and the cost of chasing justice in places where everyone knows one another.
If you are starting fresh, begin with Lamb to the Slaughter and then keep going in order. The cases stand on their own, but the relationships, grudges, and emotional fallout build from book to book. That slow accumulation is part of the appeal. Blood Rock changes, Serenity changes, and the world around her only gets more complicated.
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