Vermont book series in reading order

by Maureen Johnson

Archer Mayor

36 books• 3 series

Joe Gunther is the Vermont policeman at the centre of Archer Mayor's procedurals. Open Season (1988) starts a run of 36 catalogued books reaching Fall Guy in 2022, with Brattleboro and the state's drug trade recurring in the subject records. Short stories and non-fiction sit beside the novels, and nothing later than 2022 is catalogued.

Every book Howard Frank Mosher wrote is set in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, usually in the invented Kingdom County. Mosher (1942-2017) published thirteen books, eleven of them fiction, and his subject is a rural Yankee community meeting a modernising world, its residents drawn as taciturn and singular. Disappearances (1977) opens the catalogue and God's Kingdom (2015) was the last novel to appear in his lifetime; 14 titles are catalogued in all, the latest dated 2022.

Marie Force has 132 books catalogued from Line of Scrimmage (2008) to State of Mind (2026), across contemporary romance and romantic suspense. Force's series include Gansett Island, Fatal, First Family, Quantum, Green Mountain, Butler, Vermont, Treading Water, Wild Widows and Miami Heat/Miami Nights. Islands, Vermont, Washington, D.C., policewomen and murder investigations appear among the subjects. Fatal Affair dates from 2010. Force is still publishing.

Barbara Delinsky, born Barbara Ruth Greenberg on August 9, 1945, is an American romance novelist with 19 New York Times bestsellers. Delinsky has also used the pen names Bonnie Drake and Billie Douglass, and 1982 titles such as A Time to Love are listed under Douglass. The catalogue counts 96 books from 1981 to Tender Loving Care (2024), starting with Surrender by Moonlight and Passionate Touch. Series include Crosslyn Rise, Blake Sisters and Victoria Lesser, and mothers and daughters recur in the subjects.

Jennifer McMahon is an American novelist born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1968, and based in Montpelier, Vermont. McMahon graduated from Goddard College and studied poetry at Vermont College. Harper Paperbacks published the debut novel, Promise Not to Tell, in April 2007, and Publishers Weekly called it part mystery-thriller and part ghost story. The catalogue lists 16 books, including Don't Breathe a Word (2011), The Winter People (2014), The Night Sister (2015) and Stay Buried (2026). Horror, Vermont and cold cases feature in the subjects.

Tim Myers writes mysteries, and the subjects name North Carolina, lighthouses, hotelkeepers and the fictional Alex Winston. The catalogue holds 109 books from Innkeeping with Murder (2001) to The Last Donut (2023). Series include Lighthouse Inn Mystery, Candlemaking Mystery, Soapmaking Mystery, Pizza Lovers, Cardmaking Mysteries and Paranormal Kids. Reservations for Murder (2002), Murder Checks Inn (2003) and At Wick's End (2004) are among the early titles.

Broderick (1980) was William Heffernan's first novel; the contract for it came in 1978, when Heffernan left an investigative reporting job at the New York Daily News. Heffernan was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on August 22, 1940. The catalogue lists 19 books through The Scientology Murders (2017), including the Paul Devlin and Corsican series. Recorded subjects include police, serial murder, the Mafia, New York City and Vermont. Heffernan has received an Edgar Award, the Heywood Broun Award twice and the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, and once served as President of the International Association of Crime Writers.

Chris Bohjalian is an American novelist whose books include Midwives (1997), The Sandcastle Girls (2012), The Guest Room (2016) and The Flight Attendant (2018). Steve Yockey turned The Flight Attendant into a television drama starring Kaley Cuoco, and three Bohjalian novels have become films. Translations exist in more than thirty languages. The catalogue counts 31 books from A Killing in the Real World (1988) to The Amateur (2026), including Water Witches (1995), The Law of Similars (1998) and Trans-Sister Radio (2000). Sleepwalker / Ahlberg is a series, and subject headings name Vermont, midwives, air pilots, twins and missing persons.

Gregory Maguire

44 books• 4 series

Gregory Maguire writes fantasy built on adaptations of existing stories. The Wicked Years take on Oz and its witches; the Hamlet Chronicles and Another Day sequences follow, and a graphic novel version of Wicked sits alongside. Maguire started in children's fiction with The Lightning Time (1978), and the 44-title catalogue reaches Galinda in 2026. Witches, magic and humorous stories are the recurring subjects.

Maureen Johnson

23 books• 4 series

Maureen Johnson writes young adult fiction, much of it mystery. Born in 1973, the American novelist has 23 catalogued books running from The Key to the Golden Firebird (2004) to The Velvet Knife (2026). Three series anchor the list: Truly Devious, Shades of London and Little Blue Envelopes, the last opening with 13 Little Blue Envelopes (2005). Boarding schools, murder, ghosts and grief recur across the books. Johnson co-wrote the holiday romance Let It Snow with John Green and Lauren Myracle, and contributed novellas to the anthologies The Bane Chronicles, Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy and Ghosts of the Shadow Market.

Eric Rickstad writes crime novels set in rural Vermont, with murder, missing young women and fatherless families as recurring material. Nine books are catalogued between Reap (2000) and The Five (2025), grouped into the Canaan Crime and Remote series and taking in The Silent Girls (2014), The Names Of Dead Girls (2017) and Lilith (2024). Two titles, The Five and The Six, share a 2025 date, at a median length of 404 pages.

M.T. Anderson

29 books• 4 series

M.T. Anderson writes children's books that range from picture books to young adult novels. The Pox Party took the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2006; it is the first of two Octavian Nothing books, historical novels set in Revolution-era Boston. Wit and sarcasm mark Anderson's stories, and Anderson argues that young adults are capable of mature comprehension. The catalogue holds 29 titles published between 1997 and 2026, from Thirsty (1997) to Stealing Saint Nick (2026). Pals in Peril, the Norumbegan Quartet and the Octavian Nothing books are the listed series, with science fiction, adventure, humour and composers among the subjects.

Beth Ciotta writes romance across contemporary, historical and suspense registers, with steampunk and reincarnation also among the recorded subjects. The catalogue holds 28 books published between 2002 and 2019, opening with Scandalous Spirits and Knight of My Dreams, the latter published as C.B. Scott. Series recorded for Ciotta include Cupcake Lovers, Friends and Lovers Trilogy, Chameleon Chronicles, Glorious Victorious Darcys, Impossible Dream, Scandalous Spirits, McGraws and Elite Society of Character Assassins. The Assassin's Prodigy (2019) is the newest entry, and the list is marked likely complete.

Fran Stewart writes the Biscuit McKee Mystery and ScotShop Mystery series, with 17 books catalogued between 2003 and 2018. Orange as Marmalade (2003) is the first title, and other titles include Yellow as Legal Pads (2004), Green As a Garden Hose (2005) and Violet as an Amethyst (2014). A Wee Murder in My Shop appeared in 2015. Stewart also has a non-fiction line. White as Ice (2018) is the latest book.

Thomas Christopher Greene, born in 1968, is an American novelist and a former college president. His fiction has been translated into thirteen languages. Eight books are catalogued from Mirror Lake (2003) to Notes from the Porch (2024), among them After the Rain (2004), I'll Never Be Long Gone (2005), Envious Moon (2007), The Headmaster's Wife (2014) and If I Forget You (2016). The Perfect Liar, Greene's sixth novel, was published by St. Martin's Press in 2019. Recorded subjects include Vermont, brothers, male friendship, older and young men, and family relationships.