Victoria Hamilton Books in Order
Find Victoria Hamilton books in order, with quick summaries, cozy and historical series guides, and simple suggestions on where to start reading.
Last updated: July 6, 2026
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Publication Order
31 books
Lady Anne and the Howl in the Dark
by Victoria Hamilton
2009
Lady Anne rushes to Yorkshire after a friend's alarming letter and finds rumors of a werewolf waiting for her, along with a corpse. To solve the case, she must work with the maddeningly attractive Lord Darkefell.
A Deadly Grind
by Victoria Hamilton
2012
Jaymie Leighton falls hard for a vintage Hoosier cabinet at an estate auction and brings it home in triumph. That night a stranger is murdered on her porch with part of the cabinet, and the old piece suddenly holds dangerous secrets.
Bowled Over
by Victoria Hamilton
2013
Jaymie's estranged former best friend is found dead after a Fourth of July picnic, with Jaymie's own broken glass bowl nearby. Framed by history and fingerprints, she has to uncover the truth behind a friendship that ended badly.
Bran New Death
by Victoria Hamilton
2013
Baker Merry Wynter inherits a rundown mansion in Autumn Vale and hopes to turn its big kitchen into a new business. But when a local man turns up dead in a hole on her property, her fresh start is suddenly in danger.
Freezer I'll Shoot
by Victoria Hamilton
2013
Escaping family pressure, Jaymie heads to Heartbreak Island to write about a local restaurant decorated with antique ice tools. When she finds a man murdered with an ice pick, her friends become prime suspects and she starts sleuthing.
Muffin But Murder
by Victoria Hamilton
2014
Trying to sell pricey Wynter Castle, Merry throws a spooky party for potential buyers and local friends. When one guest ends the night dead, she has to sort through costumes, grudges, and gossip before the killer strikes again.
No Mallets Intended
by Victoria Hamilton
2014
Jaymie is busy restoring the kitchen at a historic manor when she is struck with an antique mallet. Soon the same tool is tied to murder, and the manor's controversies become far more dangerous than a renovation project should be.
Tempest in a Teapot
by Victoria Hamilton
2014
After her Manhattan restaurant collapses, Sophie Taylor retreats to her grandmother's Victorian teahouse in Gracious Grove. A bridal shower, a long-simmering feud, and a sudden death quickly prove small-town tea can be deadly.
Death of an English Muffin
by Victoria Hamilton
2015
Merry takes in a handful of renters at Wynter Castle, hoping for extra income and a little peace. Instead, an abrasive wealthy guest dies behind a locked door, and Merry has to crack a maddeningly tidy murder.
Shadow of a Spout
by Victoria Hamilton
2015
Rose Freemont heads to a teapot collectors' convention with a prized pot she hopes is something special. When an appraiser calls it fake and then turns up dead beside it, Sophie has to rush in and clear her grandmother.
White Colander Crime
by Victoria Hamilton
2015
During Queensville's Dickens Day celebrations, Jaymie finds a local woman beaten to death after the victim had seemingly predicted her own murder. The obvious suspect looks too easy, and family secrets keep muddying the case.
Much Ado About Muffin
by Victoria Hamilton
2016
An opera singer staying at Wynter Castle becomes the obvious suspect when Merry's bitter local enemy is found murdered at the post office. Merry is not buying the easy answer and starts digging for the real story.
The Grim Steeper
by Victoria Hamilton
2016
At Gracious Grove's Fall Fling tea party, Sophie Taylor is already worried about trouble surrounding her sort-of boyfriend. Then a college dean turns up murdered under her Japanese maple, and Sophie and Nana Rose start asking questions.
Leave It to Cleaver
by Victoria Hamilton
2017
Helping her sister clear out a dead neighbor's house, Jaymie uncovers the remains of a teenage girl hidden in an old trunk. When a second body appears, a buried hometown tragedy comes roaring back to life.
Muffin to Fear
by Victoria Hamilton
2017
Just as Merry settles into married life, a ghost-hunting TV crew descends on Wynter Castle. Feuds, fake psychics, and two sudden deaths turn their visit into a case she and Virgil cannot ignore.
Breaking the Mould
by Victoria Hamilton
2018
Queensville's Dickens Days should be festive, but Jaymie finds the town bully dead in her holiday display, his skull crushed by a vintage pudding mould. With half the town holding a grudge, Christmas turns chilly fast.
No Grater Danger
by Victoria Hamilton
2018
Jaymie is delighted to meet an elderly woman with a fine collection of antique spice graters, until she discovers someone may be trying to kill her. Developers, shifting stories, and old resentments make the case anything but simple.
A Gentlewoman's Guide to Murder
by Victoria Hamilton
2019
Emmeline St. Germaine rescues a young maid from a predatory knight, only to learn he has been murdered hours later. With scandal closing in, she must solve the crime before her secret life ruins her.
Curse of the Gypsy
by Victoria Hamilton
2019
Back in Kent, Lady Anne is shocked to spot Darkefell near local gypsy camps and quickly finds herself caught up in fresh trouble. Illness, old fears, and a supposed curse force them to confront a threat with deep roots.
Muffin But Trouble
by Victoria Hamilton
2019
While planning a new performing arts center, Merry becomes alarmed by a fringe religious group near town. A young woman's death and more disappearances push her into a dangerous investigation with lives close to home at stake.
Revenge of the Barbary Ghost
by Victoria Hamilton
2019
Seeking rest in Cornwall, Lady Anne finds local talk of the Barbary Ghost impossible to ignore. Smuggling, murder, and the unwelcome return of Lord Darkefell turn a seaside retreat into another dangerous puzzle.
Cast Iron Alibi
by Victoria Hamilton
2020
Jaymie's girls-only college reunion starts with beach trips and old memories, then turns sour when grudges and unwanted guests surface. After a flirtatious handyman is murdered, she begins to wonder whether one of her classmates knows more than she admits.
Lady Anne and the Menacing Mystic
by Victoria Hamilton
2020
In Bath before her wedding, Lady Anne investigates a mystic whose predictions seem unnervingly accurate. When the seer's influence leads to real harm, Anne starts pulling at a fraud that may be aimed straight at her own future.
A Calculated Whisk
by Victoria Hamilton
2021
A troubled woman asks Jaymie Leighton for help, then is found murdered in the woods near her home. As Jaymie digs into the victim's past, she realizes the danger is still close, and her own family may be next.
Double or Muffin
by Victoria Hamilton
2021
A reality show for aspiring opera singers brings egos, scandal, and endless demands to Wynter Castle. When a reporter covering the competition is brutally attacked, Merry has to sort through a cast full of secrets and suspect motives.
Some Touch of Madness
by Victoria Hamilton
2022
Emmeline St. Germaine enters a women's institution to learn how her sister died there years earlier. Harsh rules, hidden cruelty, and a death dismissed as suicide leave her chasing the truth from inside the walls.
Sieve and Let Die
by Victoria Hamilton
2023
When an angry woman publicly accuses Jaymie's friend Val of tampering with prescriptions, the claim seems absurd. After the same woman turns up dead on the pharmacy steps, Jaymie digs into a grudge that may be hiding something worse.
Lady Anne and the Haunted Schoolgirl
by Victoria Hamilton
2024
Lady Anne is called to a girls' school to calm a student terrified by ghostly apparitions. When the young woman apparently takes her own life, Anne becomes convinced a cruel prank was really the start of murder.
Cat Got Your Tongs
by Victoria Hamilton
2025
Looking after a cat colony on a bluff above the St. Clair River, Jaymie brushes off a neighbor's fears until she discovers a body nearby. Smuggling rumors, winter danger, and another killing pull her into a colder, darker mystery.
Thanks for Muffin
by Victoria Hamilton
2025
Merry's long-planned gala for the Wynter Woods Center for the Performing Arts is nearly a triumph, until a vicious journalist tears it apart. Days later he is found dead on the castle grounds, and the guest list starts looking lethal.
Masher of Ceremonies
by Victoria Hamilton
2026
Jaymie is running Queensville's Tea With the Queen fundraiser when the event's master of ceremonies confesses he is being blackmailed. Before she can make sense of it, a body turns up at the tea and the weekend turns deadly.
Where should I start?
If you want cozy baking mysteries: Bran New Death → Muffin But Murder → Death of an English Muffin
If you like antiques and small-town sleuthing: A Deadly Grind → Bowled Over → Freezer I'll Shoot
If you want darker Regency mystery: A Gentlewoman's Guide to Murder → Some Touch of Madness
If you want gothic historical suspense: Lady Anne and the Howl in the Dark → Revenge of the Barbary Ghost → Curse of the Gypsy
If you want tea-shop cozies: Tempest in a Teapot → Shadow of a Spout → The Grim Steeper
Author bio
Victoria Hamilton is the mystery-writing name Donna Lea Simpson uses for some of her best-known books, and that range matters when you sit down to read her. Before she became closely associated with cozy sleuths, vintage cookware, and dangerous country houses, she had already spent years writing romance and historical fiction. She is Canadian, she has published widely across genres, and she writes like someone who genuinely enjoys the mechanics of a good story.
At twelve, her mother handed her an Agatha Christie novel, and that early nudge toward mystery never really let go.
Even so, Hamilton did not begin her career with traditional mysteries. She started publishing as Donna Lea Simpson, writing Regency romances, then paranormal historical romances, and later historical mysteries. She has said that romance was a useful training ground because it pushed her to pay close attention to character, motivation, and emotional stakes, and you can feel that in the mysteries too.
That shift paid off. When A Deadly Grind, the first Vintage Kitchen Mystery, arrived in 2012, it gave her a way to bring together classic puzzle plotting with things she clearly loves: old objects, local history, food, family tangles, and women who are smarter than the people around them first assume. Jaymie Leighton, the series lead, is not hard-boiled or flashy. She is observant, stubborn, and deeply tied to her community, which is a big part of why the books work.
Objects matter in these novels.
In the Merry Muffin books, beginning with Bran New Death, Hamilton shifts into a lighter, more openly playful cozy mode. Merry Wynter is a baker with a castle, a changing love life, and a knack for stumbling into trouble. The books have a warm small-town feel, but they also make good use of grudges, gossip, oddball guests, and the simple fact that a beautiful old building can attract all sorts of chaos.
Her historical mysteries show another side of her writing. A Gentlewoman's Guide to Murder and Some Touch of Madness follow Emmeline St. Germaine through the rigid, unfair social rules of Regency England, where danger often comes dressed up as respectability. The Lady Anne Addison books, starting with Lady Anne and the Howl in the Dark, lean more gothic, with rumors of werewolves, ghosts, curses, and mystics circling around very human crimes.
She has also written the Teapot Collector mysteries under the name Amanda Cooper, beginning with Tempest in a Teapot. Across all these series, the constants are easy to spot: curious women at the center, strong settings, hobbies and collections that feel lived-in rather than decorative, and mysteries that grow out of old secrets, social pressure, and everyday loyalties.
Off the page, the person behind the books sounds a lot like someone who could happily step into one of her own cozy worlds. She collects vintage bowls, especially Pyrex, along with kitchen utensils and teacups. She enjoys cooking, baking muffins, crochet, cross-stitch, beading, tea, and sweet things, especially brownies. She lives in Canada, still loves hearing from readers, and still talks about writing as the thing that comes first.
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