Elaine Viets

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Elaine Viets's Latest Book

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  • Bibliography:
    44 Books (4 Series)
  • First Book:
    October 1997
  • Latest Book:
    April 2024
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Full Series List in Order

A Dead-End Job Mystery

1 - Shop Till You Drop (May-2003)
2 - Murder Between the Covers (Dec-2003)
3 - Dying to Call You (Oct-2004)
3.5 - Killer Blonde (Feb-2005)
4 - Just Murdered (May-2005)
5 - Murder Unleashed (May-2006)
6 - Murder With Reservations (May-2007)
7 - Clubbed to Death (May-2008)
8 - Killer Cuts (May-2009)
9 - Half-price Homicide (May-2010)
10 - Pumped for Murder (May-2011)
11 - Final Sail (May-2012)
12 - Board Stiff (May-2013)
13 - Catnapped! (May-2014)
14 - Checked Out (May-2015)
15 - The Art of Murder (May-2016)

Death Investigator Angela Richman

1 - Brain Storm (Aug-2016)
2 - Fire and Ashes (Jul-2017)
3 - Ice Blonde (Jun-2018)
4 - A Star is Dead (Apr-2020)
5 - Death Grip (Mar-2021)
6 - Life Without Parole (Nov-2021)
7 - Late for His Own Funeral (Jul-2022)
8 - Dead Of Night (Apr-2023)
9 - A Scarlet Death (Apr-2024)

A Francesca Vierling Mystery

1 - Backstab (Oct-1997)
2 - Rubout (May-1998)
3 - The Pink Flamingo Murders (Jul-1999)
4 - Doc in the Box (Jul-2000)

Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper

1 - Dying In Style (Oct-2005)
2 - High Heels are Murder (Nov-2006)
3 - An Accessory to Murder (Nov-2007)
4 - Murder With All the Trimmings (Nov-2008)
5 - The Fashion Hound Murders (Nov-2009)
6 - An Uplifting Murder (Nov-2010)
7 - Death on a Platter (Nov-2011)
8 - Murder Is a Piece of Cake (Nov-2012)
9 - Fixing to Die (Nov-2013)
10 - A Dog Gone Murder (Nov-2014)

Book List in Order: 44 titles

  • Backstab

    A Francesca Vierling Mystery - 1

    Six feet tall in flats, sleek, sexy Francesca Vierling is a brash columnist for a big-time St. Louis newspaper who makes her living by knowing the story behind the scenes--the secrets the other papers miss. But every secret has its price, and when he...

  • Rubout

    A Francesca Vierling Mystery - 2

    Riding in on her Harley-Davidson, St. Louis journalist-cum-sleuth Francesca Vierling rides into her second mystery, following Backstab, to find out who ruined a bikers' ball by killing a leather-clad but blue-blooded divorcee....

  • The Pink Flamingo Murders

    A Francesca Vierling Mystery - 3

    PEST CONTROL The rehabilitation of North Dakota Place is a feel-good story--the kind St. Louis City Gazette columnist Francesca Vierling likes to write. Grand houses restored to former glory. Pride in a neighborhood--and, like all good stories, th...

  • Doc in the Box

    A Francesca Vierling Mystery - 4

    DEADLY DEDUCTIBLE It takes a truly sneaky person to keep a secret in a newsroom. St. Louis City Gazette columnist Francesca Vierling is just the woman to do it--especially to help hide her editor's bout with breast cancer. Now she's surreptitiousl...

  • Shop Till You Drop

    A Dead-End Job Mystery - 1

    Once on the fast track to success, Helen Hawthorne is going nowhere faster. Forced to trade in her chic life for a shabby one, she's now on the run, jumping from city to city and dead-end job to dead-end job, trying to stay one step ahead of her past...

  • Murder Between the Covers

    A Dead-End Job Mystery - 2

    Once on the fast track to success, Helen Hawthorne is going nowhere faster. Forced to trade in her chic life for a shabby one, she's now on the run, jumping from city to city and dead-end job to dead-end job, trying to stay one step ahead of her past...

  • Dying to Call You

    A Dead-End Job Mystery - 3

    Once on the fast track to success, Helen Hawthorne is going nowhere faster. Forced to trade in her chic life for a shabby one, she's now on the run, jumping from city to city and dead-end job to dead-end job, trying to stay one step ahead of her past...

  • Killer Blonde

    in Drop Dead Blonde
    A Dead-End Job Mystery - 3.5

    ONLY THE CORONER KNOWS FOR SURE.... They're beautiful blondes with style, money, and men falling at their feet. But now these perfect women are becoming perfect victims. In Drop-Dead Blonde, four of today's top mystery authors spin all-new tales of ...

  • Just Murdered

    A Dead-End Job Mystery - 4

    Helen Hawthorne is on the run, trying to stay one step ahead of her past--and one paycheck ahead of disaster. To make it, she jumps from one dead-end job to another. Luckily, she's got a lot of talents--including one for detection... When Helen ...



  • Blonde Moment

    in Show Business Is Murder

    Lights...Camera...Murder! Behind the velvet ropes and closed curtains, buried in the back lots, you'll find the darker side of the spotlight. It's where stars are created overnight, and burn out just cis quickly. Where deals are made to be broken,...

  • Dying In Style

    Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper - 1

    Women would kill for Josie Marcus's job as mystery shopper, which takes her in and out of boutiques, supermarkets, even fast-food joints to report on quality and service. But it's hard work. Besides being a single mom to a nine-year-old, Josie is the...

  • Murder Unleashed

    A Dead-End Job Mystery - 5

    With a resume that includes attempted assault and alimony evasion, Helen Hawthorne has no choice but to take on a series of dead-end jobs to make ends meet. Unfortunately, they're exposing her to a lot of people who end up dead. At the Barker Brot...

  • High Heels are Murder

    Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper - 2

    Mystery shopper--and solver--Josie Marcus made her debut in Dying in Style. Now Elaine Viets brings back the undercover retail spy and single mom, who's out to change the world one boutique at a time.... There are some major benefits to Josie's jo...

  • Murder With Reservations

    A Dead-End Job Mystery - 6

    Living life on the lam and working wherever she can find a paycheck, Helen Hawthorne has a knack for keeping a low profile. But when her two-timing ex-husband tracks her down in South Florida, it's going to get a lot harder to fly under the radar.......

  • Vampire Hours

    in Many Bloody Returns

    Includes an original Sookie Stackhouse story

    "Clever...entertaining... excellent"(Library Journal) original vampire stories by Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher, Kelley Armstrong, and more.

    From cakes to stakes, a celebration of everyone's ...

  • An Accessory to Murder

    Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper - 3

    Josie Marcus, the mall moll, is back -- and, with the murder of a scarf designer to solve, Josie's fit to be tied.... Retail spy and single mom Josie Marcus knows that mystery shopping isn't always glamorous -- like when she has to sample greasy f...

  • Clubbed to Death

    A Dead-End Job Mystery - 7

    Living life on the lam and working wherever she can find a paycheck, Helen Hawthorne has a knack for keeping a low profile. Her latest career cul-de-sac is in the complaint department of a snooty country club where people were once dying to get in. B...

  • Murder With All the Trimmings

    Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper - 4

    Josie must investigate year-round Christmas shops...and expose a humbug. For Josie, the appeal of the year-round Christmas shop is an enigma wrapped in tinsel. But when three such holiday houses pop up within two blocks of one another, she's assig...

  • Killer Cuts

    A Dead-End Job Mystery - 8

    Living life on the lam -- and working wherever she can find a paycheck -- Helen Hawthorne has a knack for keeping a low profile. Currently she's mixing pay cuts with haircuts, working at a chic salon as gofer for a famous stylist who's a passionate b...



  • The Fashion Hound Murders

    Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper - 5

    Mystery shopper and mom Josie Marcus knows how to keep a low profile -- in style. On her latest assignment she finds that some people in the adorable world of canine couture are really bad to the bone. Josie had no idea that the business of fashion-...

  • The Bedroom Door

    in Crimes by Moonlight

    An all-new mystery anthology edited and featuring a new story by #1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris Nighttime is the perfect time for the perfect crime. #1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris edits and contributes...

  • Half-price Homicide

    A Dead-End Job Mystery - 9

    At Snapdragon, a high-end designer consignment shop, Helen is at the beck and call of snobby- yet frugal-customers. That alone is a deadly combination, especially with Chrissy, a drool-worthy fashionista who walks in with a purse to sell, and ends u...

  • An Uplifting Murder

    Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper - 6

    Mystery shopper and mom Josie Marcus knows how to keep a low profile in style. On her newest assignment, her former teacher -- now working in a lingerie shop -- is in need of some serious support... When Josie is assigned to mystery-shop a chain of ...

  • Pumped for Murder

    A Dead-End Job Mystery - 10

    Helen Hawthorne and her new hubby Phil have opened their own P.I. agency and their very first client is Shelby, who thinks her husband is developing a killer body for another woman. To keep track of the suspected cheater, Helen gets a dead-end job...

  • Death on a Platter

    Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper - 7

    Josie Marcus plans to savor sampling the local St. Louis cuisine for a City Eats food tour. But her appetite is ruined at Tillie's Off the Hill Italian Restaurant when another customer is poisoned. Was the victim the real target-or is someone trying ...

  • Final Sail

    A Dead-End Job Mystery - 11

    To catch a jewel smuggler on a luxury yacht, Helen needs to pose as the ship’s new stewardess -- but between serving drinks to the snobs, scrubbing floors, and cleaning up after seasick passengers, she’s starting to miss dry land almost as much a...

  • Murder Is a Piece of Cake

    Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper - 8

    Mystery shopper Josie Marcus is thrilled to be getting married. But when a deranged bride meets a grim end, Josie will have to catch a murderer before she tosses the bouquet… As a bride-to-be, Josie’s latest assignment is absolutely fitting -...

  • Board Stiff

    A Dead-End Job Mystery - 12

    Husband and wife PI team Helen Hawthorne and Phil Sagemont won’t be sparing the sunscreen on their latest assignment, but they’re about to find out murder is no day at the beach…. Will the Real Paddleboard Killer Please Stand Up? There’...

  • Fixing to Die

    Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper - 9

    Mystery shopper Josie Marcus has been happily married to veterinarian Ted Scottsmeyer for months. But her newly wedded bliss is about to be cut short.... Josie and Ted have finally tied the knot, and they're ready for the next step: buying a house...



  • Catnapped!

    A Dead-End Job Mystery - 13

    No more pussyfooting around Husband and wife PI team Helen Hawthorne and Phil Sagemont have barely scratched the surface of the world of show cats when a cornered kitty kidnapper's claws come out.... This show cat is a no-show.... The one thi...

  • A Dog Gone Murder

    Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper - 10

    New in the national bestselling Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper series, from the Agatha and Anthony Award-winning author of the Dead End Job Mystery series. Mystery shopper Josie Marcus is getting the dirt on doggy day-care centers, and discovers th...

  • Checked Out

    A Dead-End Job Mystery - 14

    Shhh...in the newest hardcover in the national bestselling Dead-End Job Mystery series, Helen Hawthorne quietly goes undercover at a local library to search for a missing masterpiece. Wealthy socialite Elizabeth Cateman Kingsley has hired Helen to...

  • The Art of Murder

    A Dead-End Job Mystery - 15

    From the national bestselling author of Checked Out, Helen Hawthorne must pose as a painter at Fort Lauderdale’s famous Bonnet House Museum to catch an artful killer . . . The art world is a happening place -- but a brush with death shouldn’t ...

  • Brain Storm

    Death Investigator Angela Richman - 1

    The ultrawealthy families of Chouteau Forest may look down on a woman like death investigator Angela Richman, but they also rely on her. When a horrific car crash kills a Forest teenager, Angela is among the first on the scene. Her investigation is h...

  • The Seven

    in Malice Domestic 12: Murder Most Historical

  • Fire and Ashes

    Death Investigator Angela Richman - 2

    In the exclusive, gated enclave of Olympia Forest Estates, death investigator Angela Richman watches a mansion go up in a fiery blaze. With it, seventy-year-old financier Luther Delor, a drunken, bed-hopping rhinestone cowboy. Embroiled in a bitter d...

  • Ice Blonde

    Death Investigator Angela Richman - 3

    Angela Richman prays she doesn’t have another death investigation on her hands in this chilling novella from Anthony and Agatha Award-winning author Elaine Viets. The last thing Chouteau County death investigator Angela Richman wants to do during t...

  • Dog Eat Dog

  • A Star is Dead

    Death Investigator Angela Richman - 4

    Hollywood diva Jessica Gray is on the last leg of her one-woman show when she suffers a sudden and fatal illness . . . but Angela Richman thinks there’s more to it. “Ageless” Hollywood diva Jessica Gray is finishing the last leg of her one-w...



  • Death Grip

    Death Investigator Angela Richman - 5

    Every town has its secrets. Some are too deadly to stay hidden. Chouteau County's super-rich know how to cover up a scandal, but when it comes to murder, they'd better watch their backs . . . Death investigator Angela Richman is determined to see a ...

  • Life Without Parole

    Death Investigator Angela Richman - 6

    Fans of J.A. Jance and Lisa Gardner will love this exploration of the little-known job of death investigator in small-town Missouri where Angela Richman finds herself investigating the lives and secrets of the one percenters in Chouteau Forest. Chou...

  • Late for His Own Funeral

    Death Investigator Angela Richman - 7

    Death Investigator Angela Richman suspects foul play when a disgraced resident of Chouteau Forest survives one car crash only to then be involved in another.Until his Porsche careened off the road killing him instantly and not leaving much of him beh...

  • Dead Of Night

    Death Investigator Angela Richman - 8

    When Angela Richman finds two dead bodies in a cursed crypt on Halloween, she is drawn into a spine-tingling mystery. Has a Chouteau Forest legend turned deadly, or is a dangerous killer on the loose?Everyone in Chouteau Forest knows the legend of th...

  • A Scarlet Death

    Death Investigator Angela Richman - 9

    Angela’s new case is full of dark secrets and scandal, but shocking events closer to home prove to be her biggest challenge yet . . .Nobody in Chouteau Forest expected one of their most prominent citizens, socialite Selwyn Skipton, to be found ...

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Elaine Viets has published 44 books.

Elaine Viets does not have a new book coming out soon. The latest book, A Scarlet Death, was published in April 2024.

The first book by Elaine Viets, Backstab, was published in October 1997.

Yes. Elaine Viets has 4 series.
Author Series
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