Tupelo Grove (Rick Acker) Books in Order

Tupelo Grove is Rick Acker's collaboration with Colleen Coble, and it brings together legal suspense, family conflict, and a marriage under real strain. The series centers on Savannah Webster and her estranged husband, Hezekiah, known as Hez. Savannah teaches history at Tupelo Grove University, an institution her family helped found, while Hez is the attorney she knows she can call when things go badly wrong.

They have plenty of history before the first mystery even begins. A tragedy split them apart, and Hez's drinking deepened the damage. That means their relationship is not a side plot added between action scenes. Whether they can trust each other again is part of the central question in every case.

In What We Hide, Savannah is suspected of murder just a day after Hez asks for another chance. Reluctantly, she turns to him for legal help. Their investigation leads toward pre-Columbian artifacts being taken from the university, but the crime is also tied to old family secrets and long-buried wrongs.

The university is more than a backdrop.

In Where Secrets Lie, Savannah's role at Tupelo Grove University becomes even more complicated when she is offered the presidency after being passed over for tenure. Taking the job puts her in conflict with her father, while Hez and the Justice Chamber continue investigating artifact smuggling, fraud, and corruption connected to the school's future. Attacks on the group make it clear that the first book's danger has not simply gone away.

The series has a close, ongoing feel. Savannah and Hez are not starting fresh with a new partner or a new town in every volume. They are working through grief, doubt, sobriety, family loyalties, and the practical question of how to build a life together after betrayal. Meanwhile, the mysteries keep returning to the university's money, history, artifacts, and people in power.

Expect romantic suspense with a legal edge. Acker's experience with legal conflict shows up in Hez's role and in the attention paid to evidence, institutional pressure, and consequences. Coble's influence is visible in the emotional stakes and family secrets. Neither side overwhelms the other.

Start with What We Hide. It establishes Savannah and Hez's separation, introduces Tupelo Grove University, and begins the larger threat surrounding the artifacts. Then continue with Where Secrets Lie, where their personal and professional problems become harder to keep apart.