The Marnie Baranuik Files Books in Order
Part ofAJ Aalto Books in OrderSee The Marnie Baranuik Files by AJ Aalto in order, with short summaries, series background, and tips on where to start with Marnie's cases.
Last updated: 7 new books added
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The Marnie Baranuik Files books in publication order
13 books
Touched
by AJ Aalto
2011
Retired forensic psychic Marnie Baranuik is dragged back into FBI orbit when a case at a remote mountain lodge turns ugly. Ghouls, vampires, and the fallout from an earlier investigation make retirement look impossible.
Cold Company
by AJ Aalto
2013
Psychic Marnie Baranuik investigates Rachel Houseton's disappearance with help from her undead brother and revenant partner. To find Rachel before time runs out, Marnie must confront the terrifying presence that has quietly dominated the missing woman's life.
Death Rejoices
by AJ Aalto
2013
Marnie is back on the job, juggling a nosy new assistant, vampire hunters, and trouble circling her undead companion, Harry. As bodies pile up and old secrets surface, her uneasy partnership with Agent Mark Batten gets even messier.
Dirt Nap
by AJ Aalto
2013
A rampaging stone creature draws Marnie Baranuik into a quarry owner's troubles. With her unusual expertise suddenly indispensable, she must find a way to handle a supernatural problem whose sheer size threatens to overwhelm her.
Last Impressions
by AJ Aalto
2014
With the Preternatural Crimes Unit under investigation, Marnie heads back to Canada to help a stubborn cop with a string of strange deaths. Ghosts, family baggage, and a few unwelcome truths make this case far from a quiet getaway.
Wrath and Bones
by AJ Aalto
2015
Just as Marnie launches her own psychic detective agency, she's pulled into revenant court politics and a high-stakes hunt in the far north. Ancient power struggles, prophecy, and monster trouble push her into her biggest fight yet.
Deadhead
by AJ Aalto
2016
Marnie's break from paranormal police work ends when Mark Batten needs help with a garden intruder. A woodland sprite proves harder to remove than expected, forcing her undead allies to help before the unwanted visitor settles in permanently.
Blightmare
by AJ Aalto
2017
Trying to rebuild after heavy losses, Marnie takes on a client who claims his ex is Pestilence, the first Horseman of the Apocalypse. It sounds absurd, until plagues start rolling in and her worst fears begin taking shape.
Stiff Competition
by AJ Aalto
2017
Marnie hopes a contest among Ruby Valli's former coven will finally remove a sinister grimoire from her life. But judging rival witches, with her brother's dubious assistance, brings dangers that make surrendering the book anything but simple.
Kindred Spirits
by AJ Aalto
2021
Marnie returns to Canada for Thanksgiving and walks straight into a tangle of vampire politics, smugglers, and family loyalties. With Mark Batten in danger and old blood feuds flaring, she has to move carefully or lose more than one ally.
Grave Dealings
by AJ Aalto
2022
Returning to public life leaves Marnie overwhelmed by psychic impressions and unexpected distractions. When a cold case interrupts her hoped-for break, new acquaintances and fresh bodies force her to summon enough power to survive another dangerous investigation.
Grave Mistakes
by AJ Aalto
2022
Sheriff Hood asks Marnie to contact the spirit of a man killed twice on her property. Helping him investigate means confronting her own past mistakes, while an angry ghost threatens to make an already awkward assignment much worse.
Dear Departed
by AJ Aalto
2024
Marnie travels to a remote tropical island to help Declan face a dangerous revenant and reanimated guards. Accepting help from her former lover complicates a mission already shadowed by an enemy's warning that she will not survive.
The Marnie Baranuik Files books in chronological order
Series background & context
The Marnie Baranuik Files is an urban fantasy series with one foot in paranormal crime fiction and the other in horror-comedy. The central character, Marnie Baranuik, is a forensic psychic with a doctorate in preternatural biology, a gift for reading emotional traces, and a real talent for sounding unimpressed even when the world is coming apart. She is smart, cranky, and rarely eager to play hero.
She would honestly rather stay home.
That never lasts. The books keep pulling Marnie back toward strange deaths, haunted objects, revenants, ghouls, demons, and the FBI's preternatural crimes work. One of the biggest ongoing relationships in the series is with Lord Harry Dreppenstedt, an undead aristocrat who depends on her during the day and complicates nearly everything. Another is Special Agent Mark Batten, whose history with Marnie adds a steady layer of friction, attraction, and bad timing. Her brother Wesley, her colleagues, and a growing circle of allies keep the series feeling lived-in instead of locked to a single case.
The setting shifts around North America, and that matters more than it might sound. Some books lean into city investigations and official cases. Others head back into Canada, where family history, local politics, and colder landscapes give the series a different texture. Aalto likes old buildings, lonely roads, graveyard atmospherics, and places that feel just ordinary enough for the supernatural to hit harder when it shows up.
The monsters are never the only problem.
As the series goes on, the scope widens from one bad case at a time to bigger supernatural politics, including revenant houses, ancient grudges, demonic power plays, and trouble brewing far beyond Marnie's doorstep. Still, each novel gives her a central mess to solve, so the books remain readable as mysteries even while the personal story keeps building. Read in order if you can. Marnie's emotional life, her alliances, and the consequences of earlier books really do matter later on.
The tone is a big part of the charm. These are snarky, fast, messy books. They can be scary, gross, sexy, sad, and very funny, sometimes within a few pages. Marnie herself is not polished or saintly, which is exactly why the series works. She stumbles, panics, snaps at people, makes questionable choices, and still keeps showing up when things get ugly. If you like paranormal series that mix humor with real stakes and let the lead character stay rough around the edges, this is where Aalto delivers.
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