Witch City Mysteries Books in Order
Part ofCarol J Perry Books in OrderBrowse the Witch City Mysteries by Carol J Perry in order, with Salem-set summaries, series background, and an easy guide to where to start.
Last updated: June 7, 2026
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Publication Order
15 books
Caught Dead Handed
by Carol J Perry
2014
Back in Salem for a job interview, Lee Barrett expects to become a reporter and winds up playing a TV psychic instead. When her prop crystal ball starts showing real events after the previous host's murder, Lee has a killer to catch fast.
Look Both Ways
by Carol J Perry
2015
An antique bureau with secret compartments and a blackened mirror draws Lee Barrett into trouble almost at once. When the shop owner who sold it to her is murdered, Lee suspects the furniture's dark history is tied to the crime.
Tails, You Lose
by Carol J Perry
2015
Teaching at an arts school in an old department store, Lee Barrett stumbles into murder when the handyman dies under bizarre circumstances. Family secrets, hidden tunnels, and unsettling visions turn Salem's past into a present threat.
Grave Errors
by Carol J Perry
2017
After Halloween, Lee Barrett's students propose a Day of the Dead project that stirs up Salem's restless past. Graveyard visits, psychic visions, and an unsolved missing-person case push Lee toward answers someone clearly wants buried.
Murder Go Round
by Carol J Perry
2017
A storage auction leaves Lee Barrett with an antique carousel horse and a troubling psychic vision. When a man turns up dead outside a repair shop, Lee has to uncover the object's hidden past before she becomes part of it.
Bells, Spells, and Murders
by Carol J Perry
2018
As a new field reporter at WICH-TV, Lee Barrett is covering Salem's holiday season when a popular walking-tour leader is found murdered. Snow, psychic flashes, and a second death make this Christmas case especially dangerous.
It Takes a Coven
by Carol J Perry
2018
What should be simple wedding planning turns dark when deaths start rippling through Salem's Wiccan community. With her friend River fearing a curse, Lee Barrett follows eerie clues, a talking crow, and a growing sense that something human may be worse.
Final Exam
by Carol J Perry
2019
A vintage sports car dredged from the water brings human remains and an old cold case back into Salem's spotlight. Lee Barrett follows the story for WICH-TV, then realizes Aunt Ibby's emotional reaction may be the key to buried secrets.
Late Checkout
by Carol J Perry
2019
While volunteering at the library, Lee Barrett finds a former ballplayer dead in the spooky upper stacks, surrounded by torn pages and scattered books. Psychic clues, old grudges, and Salem secrets turn a strange death into a full investigation.
Murder, Take Two
by Carol J Perry
2020
When a Salem professor is murdered in a way that echoes an infamous old crime, Lee Barrett is drawn into a case steeped in local history. To clear the prime suspect, she has to dig into Salem's past before the killer strikes again.
See Something
by Carol J Perry
2021
Promoted at WICH-TV, Lee Barrett takes in an amnesiac woman she finds alone on Salem Common. When a body turns up in the harbor, Lee starts to wonder whether her vulnerable new guest is connected to something deadly.
'Til Death
by Carol J Perry
2022
Lee Barrett and Pete Mondello finally marry, but the honeymoon is anything but quiet. On a Maine island near the site of her parents' fatal crash, Lee finds herself pulled into crimes from both the past and the present.
Now You See It
by Carol J Perry
2023
Newly married and newly promoted, Lee Mondello is assigned to document Salem's new international museum. But when a truck driver delivering antiquities turns up dead and a ship model seems haunted, her latest project becomes a dangerous investigation.
Death Scene
by Carol J Perry
2024
A witchcraft-themed movie shooting in Salem should be great television for Lee Barrett, until its glamorous star turns up dead on set. Between Hollywood egos and Salem secrets, Lee has to sort out a very public murder.
Sugar and Spite
by Carol J Perry
2025
Pregnant and newly free of her old visions, Lee Mondello profiles a Salem chocolate shop and finds the owner's estranged husband dead in the kitchen. As suspicion falls on the chocolatier, Lee's troubling psychic flashes come roaring back.
Series background & context
In the Witch City Mysteries, Salem is busy, layered, and just a little uncanny. The series follows Lee Barrett, a Salem native who comes home in Caught Dead Handed and quickly finds herself pulled into a new life at WICH-TV, back under the same roof as Aunt Ibby, and surrounded by mysteries that seem to stir up psychic abilities she would rather ignore.
What makes the books work is their balance. Lee is not an all-knowing paranormal sleuth. She gets flashes, uneasy feelings, and visions that point her in the right direction, but she still has to ask questions, follow leads, and do the real legwork of an amateur investigator. That keeps the supernatural side flavorful without taking over the mystery.
And yes, the cat matters.
O'Ryan, along with Ibby, Pete Mondello, and Lee's friend River North, gives the series its steady emotional center. As the books move from Tails, You Lose and Look Both Ways to Final Exam, Late Checkout, Now You See It, and beyond, a lot of the pleasure comes from watching familiar people tackle new corners of Salem. One book may send Lee into an old department store, another into library stacks, a museum exhibit, or a movie set, but the cast keeps the world connected.
Perry also gets a lot of mileage out of Salem itself. She draws on the city's witch-trial reputation and haunted history, but she also pays attention to how people live and work there now. Tourism, local businesses, neighborhoods, seasonal festivals, and everyday routines all shape the stories. That makes the city feel lived in instead of staged.
There is a gentle long-running personal arc as well. Lee's role at the station changes, her confidence grows, and her relationship with Pete develops from romance into something more settled. Aunt Ibby becomes more essential with every book, and River and O'Ryan remain key pieces of the series' charm. Reading in order gives that development more weight, even though each mystery has its own clean setup and payoff.
Overall, expect traditional cozy mysteries with a paranormal shimmer. These are stories about hidden compartments, antique clues, cold cases, old Salem grudges, and present-day trouble, all told with warmth and a genuine fondness for place. If you like your mysteries with local history, smart supporting characters, and only a light chill in the air, this series is easy to sink into.
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