Elaine Viets Books in Order
Elaine Viets has written 50 books, published between 1988 and 2026. The first book is Urban Affairs (1988) and the newest is Beach Blonde Betrayal (2026). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 50
- Published
- 1988–2026
- Pages on record
- 9,354 in 34 of 50 books
- Reading time
- 156–234 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 9,354 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 34 of 50 titles with a page count on record.
Elaine Viets writes mystery series with women investigators: the Dead-End Job Mysteries led by Helen Hawthorne, Josie Marcus: Mystery Shopper, the Death Investigator Angela Richman books, the Francesca Vierling mysteries and the Florida Beach Mysteries. Fifty catalogued books run from Urban Affairs (1988) to Beach Blonde Betrayal (2026), with non-fiction among the early titles.
How many Elaine Viets books are there?
Elaine Viets has 50 books, released between 1988 and 2026. They include 5 series and 9 titles listed outside any series.
Elaine Viets Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 50 Elaine Viets books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 1Urban Affairs1988 · 205 pages · confirmed 2/419882052/4
- 2Viets Guide to Sex, Travel and Anything Else That Will Sell This Book1993 · 195 pages · confirmed 2/419931952/4
- 3St. Louis1995 · 415 pages · confirmed 2/419954152/4
- 419973092/4
- 5How to Commit Monogamy1997 · 216 pages · confirmed 2/419972162/4
- 619983202/4
- 71999–2/4
- 82000–2/4
- 920032762/4
- 1020032752/4
- 11Sex and Bingo2003 · 261 pages · confirmed 2/420032612/4
- 1220042782/4
- 13Wedding Knife2004 · 232 pages · confirmed 2/420042322/4
- 1420052792/4
- 152005–2/4
- 1620052802/4
- 1720062782/4
- 18After the Fall2006 · confirmed 2/42006–2/4
- 1920062762/4
- 2020072782/4
- 2120072632/4
- 2220082922/4
- 232008–2/4
- 242009–2/4
- 2520092642/4
- 2620102932/4
- 2720102612/4
- 2820112882/4
- 292011–2/4
- 302012–2/4
- 3120123042/4
- 322013–2/4
- 332013–2/4
- 3420142902/4
- 3520142762/4
- 3620152942/4
- 3720163052/4
- 3820163202/4
- 3920172712/4
- 40Deal with the Devil2018 · 226 pages · confirmed 2/420182262/4
- 412018–2/4
- 4220202242/4
- 43Dog Eat Dog2020 · 362 pages · confirmed 2/420203622/4
- 4420212082/4
- 452021–2/4
- 462022–2/4
- 4720232402/4
- 482024–2/4
- 492025–2/4
- 502026–2/4
Elaine Viets characters in order
The character linked below has its own reading-order page.
Elaine Viets books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
Dead-End Job Mystery in order
16 books- 1. Shop Till You Drop
- 2. Murder Between the Covers
- 3. Dying to Call You
- 4. Killer Blonde
- 5. Just Murdered
- 6. Murder Unleashed
- 7. Murder with Reservations
- 8. Clubbed to Death
- 9. Killer Cuts
- 10. Half-Price Homicide
- 11. Pumped for Murder
- 12. Final Sail
- and 4 more in the table above
Josie Marcus: Mystery Shopper in order
10 booksDeath Investigator Angela Richman in order
9 booksFrancesca Vierling Mystery in order
4 booksFlorida Beach Mystery in order
2 booksStandalone books
9 books9 Elaine Viets titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Elaine Viets books in order?
You only need to read Elaine Viets books in order within each series: the books listed here span 5 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.
Where to start with Elaine Viets
Start with Shop Till You Drop (2003), the first Dead-End Job Mysteries book. The earliest catalogued title overall is Urban Affairs (1988).
What is the newest Elaine Viets book?
Beach Blonde Betrayal (2026) is the newest Elaine Viets book released so far.
Is there a new Elaine Viets book coming?
No next Elaine Viets book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Elaine Viets at a glance
- Still publishing
- Elaine Viets published a book as recently as 2026.
- Release pace
- Elaine Viets books have appeared about one a year on average.
- Length
- 9,354 pages across the 34 of 50 books with a recorded length, a median of 277 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Elaine Viets books, 18 of 50, were published in the 2000s.
What the Elaine Viets books are about
38 of the 50 Elaine Viets books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: mystery & detective is tagged on 17 of 38. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Mystery & detective 17 of 38 books
- Mystery & detective, women sleuths 15 of 38 books
- Murder 12 of 38 books
- Helen Hawthorne (Fictitious character) 9 of 38 books
- Investigation 8 of 38 books
- Mystery shopping 8 of 38 books
- Crime 7 of 38 books
- Hawthorne, helen (fictitious character) 7 of 38 books
- Josie Marcus (Fictitious character) 6 of 38 books
- American literature 3 of 38 books