You’ve probably seen the Hallmark movies. Candace Cameron Bure (and more recently Skyler Samuels) running around a picturesque town solving crimes that should, frankly, have the local police force looking for new jobs. But here is the thing: the book version of Aurora "Roe" Teagarden is a whole different animal. Charlaine Harris, the same brain that gave us the Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood) universe, wrote a protagonist who is way more opinionated, a little more cynical, and arguably more human than the TV version.
Getting the order of Aurora Teagarden books right isn't just about following the calendar. It’s about watching a woman go from a 28-year-old librarian who thinks true crime is a fun hobby to a woman navigating marriage, motherhood, and the actual grief of losing people she loves. If you jump in at the wrong spot, you’re gonna be deeply confused about why she’s suddenly living in a different house or why her relationship status keeps flipping like a pancake.
The Essential Reading List
Look, most people just want the list. I get it. If you want to follow Roe’s life as Harris intended, you have to follow the publication dates. There aren't really "prequels" in the traditional sense, though there was a massive thirteen-year gap where fans thought the series was dead and buried.
- Real Murders (1990) – This is where it starts. The Real Murders Club—a group of hobbyists who study old crimes—starts seeing copycat killings in their own town.
- A Bone to Pick (1992) – Roe inherits a house and a whole lot of money from an acquaintance. She also finds a skull. Kinda a weird inheritance, honestly.
- Three Bedrooms, One Corpse (1994) – Roe tries her hand at real estate. It goes about as well as you’d expect (people die).
- The Julius House (1995) – She gets married! And then she gets obsessed with the family that used to live in her house and disappeared years ago.
- Dead Over Heels (1996) – A body falls from a plane into her backyard. This is where the books get a bit more "out there."
- A Fool and His Honey (1999) – Roe’s husband’s niece shows up with a baby and a lot of baggage. Literally.
- Last Scene Alive (2002) – A film crew comes to town to make a movie about the events of the first book. Meta, right?
- Poppy Done to Death (2003) – This was supposed to be the end. Roe’s sister-in-law dies, and the fallout is messy.
- All the Little Liars (2016) – The "revival" book. Harris came back to the series after over a decade away. Roe is pregnant and dealing with a missing brother.
- Sleep Like a Baby (2017) – The most recent full novel. Roe has a newborn and, naturally, finds a body in her backyard. Again.
The Short Story You Might Miss
There is a sneaky little story called "Deeply Dead" that appeared in an anthology titled Murder, They Wrote back in 1997. If you’re a completionist, you’ll want to hunt that down. It fits roughly between books five and six. It’s not strictly necessary for the main plot, but it’s a nice little snack for fans.
Why the Order Actually Matters
You might hear some people say you can read cozy mysteries in any order. Respectfully, those people are wrong. Harris is a "world-builder." Even in a small town like Lawrenceton, Georgia, the characters age and change.
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If you skip to book nine, All the Little Liars, you’re missing the entire evolution of Roe’s romantic life. In the early books, she’s dating around, dealing with the fallout of a breakup, and feeling sort of stuck in her career. By the later books, she’s a wealthy widow (spoiler, sorry) who has remarried and is starting a family in her 40s.
The tone shifts too. The 90s books feel very "of their time." There are no smartphones. People use landlines. The "revival" books in 2016 and 2017 have to bridge that gap, and Harris does it by acknowledging the passage of time without making it feel like a reboot. It’s a continuation, not a restart.
Books vs. Movies: The Great Confusion
This is where the order of Aurora Teagarden books gets really messy for casual fans. The Hallmark movies do not follow the book order. At all.
For example, the first movie Hallmark made was A Bone to Pick (the second book). They then did Real Murders (the first book) second. They also changed the location from Georgia to Washington State and made Roe significantly more "cheery."
In the books, Roe is a bit of a "plain Jane" by her own description. She’s short, she wears thick glasses for a while, and she’s quite cynical about her neighbors. The movie version is... well, she’s a Hallmark protagonist. If you go into the books expecting the movie vibe, you might be surprised by how "not cozy" some of the murders are. They can get pretty dark.
Is More Coming in 2026?
As of right now, Charlaine Harris has been pretty quiet about an eleventh book. She’s gone on record saying Sleep Like a Baby was the last one she was contracted for. However, she’s also said "never say never."
On the screen side, things are different. There have been rumors and teasers about new movie installments for 2026, including more of the "Prequel" series (the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Something New era). But if you’re waiting for a new novel, don’t hold your breath just yet. Harris has been busy with other projects, including her Gunnie Rose series.
Pro Tips for Your Reading Journey
- Don't ignore the side characters. Characters like Bubba Sewell and Arthur Smith have arcs that span decades.
- Check the copyright dates. If you find a "Book 1" that looks modern, check if it's a reprint. The originals have that classic 90s mystery cover art that is honestly kind of nostalgic.
- Listen to the audiobooks. Therese Plummer does a great job with the narration, capturing Roe's specific Southern "edge" that the movies sometimes smooth over.
Basically, start at the beginning. Real Murders is a tight, clever mystery that sets the stage perfectly. You’ll appreciate the growth of the town—and Roe herself—much more if you see where she started: a lonely librarian just looking for something interesting to happen.
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To get started, track down a copy of Real Murders and pay attention to how Roe describes the members of the club; it tells you everything you need to know about her character. Once you finish the first three, you’ll know if you’re in for the long haul.