Susannah Hardy Books in Order

If you want the true starting point: Feta Attraction
If you want the full series in order: Feta Attraction → Olive and Let Die → A Killer Kebab
If you like family drama with your mystery: Olive and Let Die → A Killer Kebab
If you want a colder, off-season case: A Killer Kebab

Susannah Hardy is one of the pen names used by Jane Haertel, an American cozy mystery writer who likes to build her stories around work, family, food, and small-town pressure. She grew up near the Canadian border in northern New York, where long winters and snowy days fed her love of mystery fiction and needlework. That northern setting stayed with her, and it still shows up in the close communities and cold-weather atmosphere of her books.

Place matters a lot in her fiction.

Haertel studied history at St. Lawrence University, then spent years working a string of practical jobs before writing full time. Publisher and author bios list a mix that includes waitress, handbag designer and manufacturer, paralegal, copy editor, and freelance or fiction editor. It is not the usual straight line into publishing, but it helps explain why her books feel grounded in everyday labor. Her characters are often running shops, restaurants, or inherited businesses while trying to keep the lights on.

She writes under more than one name, but the sensibility is consistent. On her own site, she describes Sadie Hartwell as the name behind the Tangled Web mysteries and Susannah Hardy as the name behind the Greek to Me books. For readers, that means two different cozy setups, one centered on yarn and one centered on Greek food, both tied together by capable women, local gossip, and murder dropping into busy ordinary lives.

As Susannah Hardy, she launched the Greek to Me series with Feta Attraction in 2015. The books follow Georgie Nikolopatos, manager of the Bonaparte House, a Greek restaurant and historic landmark in upstate New York. In Olive and Let Die and A Killer Kebab, Georgie has to solve murders while dealing with a shaky marriage, family secrets, renovations, and the pull of a town where everybody seems to know a little too much. The series also leans into recipes, local legend, and a strong northern New York mood.

Food matters in these books, but so does stress.

Under the Sadie Hartwell name, Haertel shifts to Dorset Falls, Connecticut, and the Tangled Web mysteries. Yarned and Dangerous introduces Josie Blair, who returns home and gets pulled into the orbit of a struggling yarn shop and a not-so-sleepy downtown. A Knit before Dying continues that world with knitting pals, shop talk, and another murder that hits close to home. The yarn-shop backdrop changes the texture, but not the basic appeal: community, humor, and a smart amateur sleuth with real responsibilities.

There is a clear pattern across her work. She likes lived-in settings, recurring side characters, and mysteries tied to money problems, old grudges, family tension, or the survival of a beloved local place. The extras tell you something too. The Greek to Me books include recipes, and the Tangled Web books include knitting patterns. These are not just decorative add-ons. They help make the world feel busy, useful, and inhabited.

Her professional life has also overlapped with writing communities. Publisher bios note that she has been involved with Romance Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, and she has served in editorial roles as well. That background fits the steady, organized feel of her plotting. Even when the stories get twisty, they stay readable and anchored in character.

Publisher and author bios have long placed her in Connecticut with her husband, son, and a cat named Elvira the Wonder Cat. It is a small detail, but a memorable one. So is the broader picture of her work. Whether she is writing as Susannah Hardy or Sadie Hartwell, she tends to bring readers into places that feel warm and familiar at first glance, then lets the trouble seep in through the kitchen door, the shop counter, or the family room.