Shawn McGuire Books in Order
Browse Shawn McGuire books in order, with quick summaries, series guides, reading paths, and help choosing where to start across her mysteries and fantasy.
Last updated: June 8, 2026
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Publication Order
35 books
Break My Bones
by Shawn McGuire
2014
Crissy is trapped in an abusive relationship and makes one desperate wish for a better life. Desiree is not supposed to interfere, but when things turn worse instead of better, she breaks the rules to help.
Sticks and Stones
by Shawn McGuire
2014
After a disastrous past choice, Desiree becomes an unwilling genie with decades of service ahead of her. When teen perfectionist Mandy wishes for happiness, magic answers, but wishes come with rules and painful consequences.
Had a Great Fall
by Shawn McGuire
2015
Now leading the Wish Makers, Desiree has more responsibility than freedom. When bullied new student Robin makes a desperate wish and an inexperienced genie bungles it, Desiree has to clean up a magical disaster fast.
Never Hurt Me
by Shawn McGuire
2015
Desiree is finally close to the life she has wanted for years, but getting it means choosing between her future and a chance to save the people she lost in 1969. As usual, wishes make everything messier.
Back Together Again
by Shawn McGuire
2016
Ainsley finally thinks she has a normal life, friends, a boyfriend, and one town long enough to matter, until her mother starts packing again. Desiree answers her wish for a real home, but the truth behind it is far from easy.
Family Secrets
by Shawn McGuire
2017
Former detective Jayne O'Shea returns to Whispering Pines to ready her grandparents' house for sale and finds a body in the backyard instead. When the local sheriff shrugs it off, Jayne starts asking questions the villagers would rather avoid.
Kept Secrets
by Shawn McGuire
2017
A shocking death among the carnival crowd rattles Whispering Pines just as Jayne starts settling into village life. When another death is brushed off as an accident, she steps in before the killer gets another chance.
The Door
by Shawn McGuire
2017
Chelsea Raven's cheap first apartment seems perfect, except for the second bedroom door that will not open. The sounds and shadows coming from inside suggest the room is not nearly as empty as it should be.
Hidden Secrets
by Shawn McGuire
2018
Jayne and Tripp's bed-and-breakfast is finally ready to open, until someone turns up dead near the road. With whispers that the murders began when she arrived, Jayne has to solve the case and clear her own name.
Original Secrets
by Shawn McGuire
2018
While opening the bed-and-breakfast and reading her grandmother's journals, Jayne uncovers clues buried deep in Whispering Pines history. What starts as family research may lead her to a killer who has gone unnoticed for decades.
Rival Secrets
by Shawn McGuire
2018
The autumn equinox festival should be good for business and village pride, until a famous chef is found dead in the woods. When suspicion lands on one of the locals, Jayne digs past appearances to protect one of her own.
Merciful Secrets
by Shawn McGuire
2019
The Yuletide festival brings gossip, a suspected blackmailer, and then a murder. When eerie packages appear around Whispering Pines predicting more deaths, Jayne has to decide whether to solve the killing or stop the next one.
Silent Secrets
by Shawn McGuire
2019
Jayne expects a little quiet after months of chaos, but a Thanksgiving brawl at the village pub leaves one man gravely injured. With vigilantes, critics, and angry locals in the mix, the suspect list is anything but short.
Veiled Secrets
by Shawn McGuire
2019
Jayne is bracing for a tense visit from her sister when a boy vanishes during trick-or-treating. With a storm closing in and whispers of kidnapping, the search drags old family pain into the open.
Burning Secrets
by Shawn McGuire
2020
Beltane should be a bright, busy celebration, but someone is setting small fires all over Whispering Pines during a dangerous dry spell. Jayne has to stop an arsonist before the whole village goes up in smoke.
Escaping The Veil
by Shawn McGuire
2020
In The Here, an old man wants to reunite with Sadie and Olympia is desperate to move on to The Next. Then a little girl arrives, and their stalled afterlife takes an unexpected turn.
Justified Secrets
by Shawn McGuire
2020
A blizzard traps Whispering Pines just as a bruised stranger stumbles into town and an elderly villager goes missing. Jayne can handle the storm, but the ghost from her own past may be the harder thing to face.
Protected Secrets
by Shawn McGuire
2020
Spring brings warmth, a visiting coven, and Jayne's mother to Whispering Pines, which is enough stress already. When one of the coven members disappears, Jayne fears she is not searching for a missing person but for another body.
Secret of Her Own
by Shawn McGuire
2020
Jayne heads to Maui dreaming of hikes, beaches, and a break from crime. Then Gemi Kittredge, a fierce local MMA fighter, asks for help, and Jayne's quiet vacation disappears fast.
Secret of the Season
by Shawn McGuire
2020
Two friends take their children into the woods to find the perfect Yule tree. Then they realize someone is stalking them, and help is much too far away.
Blind Secrets
by Shawn McGuire
2021
A blanket of fog, feuding wedding planners, and arguments with Tripp already have Jayne on edge. Then a villager falls gravely ill, rumors of a curse spread, and Jayne races to prove there is a very human culprit.
One of Her Own
by Shawn McGuire
2021
Gemi Kittredge's morning run on Maui turns brutal when she finds a young woman she knows beaten to death on the beach. Unable to trust the police, she starts hunting for the killer herself and risks stirring up old fears.
Out of Her League
by Shawn McGuire
2021
When Ashlyn vanishes after a business trip, Gemi tears through her sister's secrets looking for a clue. The trail leads into Maui's criminal underworld, where going rogue may be the worst decision she has ever made.
Secret of the Yuletide Crafter
by Shawn McGuire
2021
Teen kitchen witch Reeva Long keeps finding crocheted Christmas ornaments tucked around Whispering Pines. Tracking down the mystery giver turns into a gentle holiday puzzle with more going on beneath the surface.
Hearth & Cauldron
by Shawn McGuire
2022
Reeva Long finally opens the cozy shop she has dreamed about for years, then theft, strange energy, and a sudden illness wreck the celebration. To protect her home and her village, she has to find out what is really going on.
Wayward Secrets
by Shawn McGuire
2022
Tourist season is about to reopen, and Jayne wants Whispering Pines to have a better year than the last one. Instead, villagers begin disappearing, and stopping the person behind it could cost her everything she loves.
Hearth & Hedge
by Shawn McGuire
2023
The annual garden tour should be a cheerful village event, until someone starts vandalizing the displays and a witch is attacked. Reeva and Ruby dig in before the trouble grows into something far more dangerous.
Hearth Baked
by Shawn McGuire
2023
When kitchen witches Sugar and Honey Graham suddenly cannot bake or churn anything worth eating, they are sure someone cursed them. Then a tourist dies, a villager is blamed, and Reeva and Ruby have a real case on their hands.
Hearth Fire
by Shawn McGuire
2023
A break-in and a small fire near Hearth & Cauldron rattle the village, and a melted candle stub is the only clue. When more fires follow, Jayne, Reeva, and Ruby have to catch the firestarter before someone dies.
Secret of the Winter Woodsman
by Shawn McGuire
2023
A teenage witch goes looking for a little holiday cheer and uncovers a secret that has been buried for decades. What starts as a seasonal search could shake the peace of Whispering Pines.
Secret of the Season's Fortune
by Shawn McGuire
2024
Effie Crane and her best friend flee their home with the kids and no real plan except to keep moving. Lost in the snowy Northwoods, they find shelter with Lucy O'Shea and begin to wonder if this strange place might heal them.
The Caretaker
by Shawn McGuire
2024
Dusty Hotte loses her job and her house, then learns someone is threatening her granddaughter. At her family's enchanted farm in Blackwood Grove, a murder and a false accusation force her to face the magic she swore off.
The Crones
by Shawn McGuire
2024
Dusty is still trying to figure out the family farm, her unruly relatives, and the magic she left behind. Then she is accused of murder despite a solid alibi, and proving her innocence may cost her more than she expects.
Returning Secrets
by Shawn McGuire
2025
A chaotic tourist season, prankish crows, and a lakeside wedding already have Jayne busy. Then the feuding wedding guests arrive, one of them turns up dead in the lake, and Whispering Pines proves it still keeps dark secrets.
Secret of the Hopeful Holiday
by Shawn McGuire
2025
Jayne and Morgan head to Blackwood Grove for a festive getaway and a chance to recapture some holiday spirit. Strange magic and a pink-haired stranger soon turn the trip into something much more meaningful.
Where should I start?
For the main witchy mystery world: Family Secrets → Kept Secrets → Original Secrets
If you want Reeva Long's cozier village cases: Hearth & Cauldron → Hearth & Hedge → Hearth Baked
For a darker island mystery: One of Her Own → Out of Her League → Over Her Head
If you want fantasy with wishes and consequences: Sticks and Stones → Break My Bones → Never Hurt Me
For a newer midlife witch mystery: The Caretaker → The Crones
Author bio
Shawn McGuire was born in San Antonio, Texas, and grew up in Winona, Minnesota, a Mississippi River town that still feels close to the bone in the way she writes about place. After college, she spent more than twenty years in the Milwaukee area, then ten years in Colorado, and now lives in Wisconsin again with her husband, back near the river.
Writing was always there, even when she did not yet think of it as a career.
Before books became her full-time work, McGuire had a long stretch of very regular jobs and family life. Her first job, at thirteen, was cleaning her dad's offices. Later she worked in a pizza parlor, a department store, as a receptionist, a fast food manager, a fabric store manager, and a payroll manager. She has also said that one of the best jobs she ever had was being a stay-at-home mom to her two sons for eighteen years.
That lived-in path shows up in her fiction. Her characters are rarely shiny or larger than life. They are women trying to make things work, families carrying old hurts, and communities that look welcoming on the surface but still keep secrets tucked away in the corners.
McGuire graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, with degrees in English and Business. She published her first book in 2014, and from there built a bibliography that moves comfortably between cozy mystery, fantasy, and stories with a little more edge. She has said she loves creating places readers want to return to, and that feels exactly right for her work.
You can see it in Family Secrets, the opening Whispering Pines novel, where former detective Jayne O'Shea returns to a Northwoods village that is charming, a little odd, and very bad at staying murder-free. You can see it again in Hearth & Cauldron, which shifts attention to Reeva Long and the quieter, home-and-hearth side of that same world. In One of Her Own, McGuire moves to Maui and writes a tougher mystery centered on Gemi Kittredge. Then there is Sticks and Stones, which brings in wishes, genies, and the kind of fantasy that still feels grounded in real teen problems. And in The Caretaker, she leans into midlife witchy mystery with family chaos, ghosts, and an enchanted farm.
A strong sense of place is one of the big reasons readers stick with her.
Her books often come back to outsiders, second chances, found family, and women figuring out how to protect the people they love. Even when there is magic in the story, it usually sits beside ordinary things like baking, running a shop, renovating a house, or making it through a rough season. She also chooses mystery subjects she is curious about, which gives the books a natural feeling of discovery instead of a lecture.
These days, McGuire sounds very much like someone who enjoys both adventure and home comforts. She likes long motorcycle rides with her husband and traveling, but she is also a self-described homebody. Reading, hiking, yoga, baking, British television mysteries, and really dark chocolate all make the list. That mix fits her fiction nicely, cozy at heart, curious about the world, and always ready to wander into the woods if something interesting is hiding there.
Edited by
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