Wisconsin book series in reading order

by Annelise Ryan

by Kathleen Ernst

by Cindy Kirk

Fly fishing and murder meet in Victoria Houston's Loon Lake mysteries, set in Wisconsin around the police officer Lew Ferris and Doc Osbourne. Dead Angler (2000) opens that series, followed by Dead Creek and Dead Water. Houston's catalogue holds 30 books, the earliest of them non-fiction from the 1980s, and reaches The Wolves Are Watching in 2026.

Jennifer Beckstrand writes Christian romance, with subjects including the Amish, Wisconsin, family life and marriage. The catalogue runs to 34 books from Kate's Song (2012) to Annie's August Frolic (2026). Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill is a series, and Huckleberry Hill, Huckleberry Summer and Huckleberry Christmas date from 2014. Amish Quiltmaker, Honeybee Sisters, Petersheim Brothers and Forever After In Apple Lake are other series. Courage and Christmas stories also appear among the subjects.

Maggy Thorsen, a Wisconsin businesswoman in the coffeehouse trade, is the sleuth Sandra Balzo returns to most often, from Uncommon Grounds (2004) onward. Balzo grew up in southeastern Wisconsin and came to mystery writing after twenty years in corporate public relations, event management and publicity. 23 catalogued books reach Poison and Pooches (2025), across three series: Maggy Thorsen Mystery, Main Street Mystery and the Dog-sitting Mysteries. A displaced journalist, AnnaLise Griggs, carries a second strand. Balzo's novels have been nominated for the Anthony and Macavity awards, and her short fiction has taken the Macavity, Derringer and Robert L. Fish awards.

Dave Cubiak anchors Patricia Skalka's mystery series, 7 books published between 2014 and 2022. Death Stalks Door County (2014) opens the run and every later title keeps the same pattern, through to Death Casts a Shadow (2022). Wisconsin, sheriffs and murder investigation fill the subject tags. Skalka has published nothing since 2022.

Laura Ingalls Wilder

67 books• 7 series

Laura Ingalls Wilder (7 February 1867 to 10 February 1957) was an American writer, teacher and journalist. The Little House on the Prairie children's books, published from 1932 to 1943, drew on Wilder's childhood in a pioneer settler family. Catalogued Wilder titles from those years include Little House in the Big Woods (1932), Farmer Boy (1933), Little House on the Prairie (1935), On the Banks of Plum Creek (1937), By the Shores of Silver Lake (1939), The Long Winter (1940), Little Town on the Prairie (1941) and These Happy Golden Years (1943). Catalogue subjects include frontier and pioneer life, farm life and families.

Deb Baker, born in 1953, is an American mystery writer from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, with three mystery series to the Baker name: Gertie Johnson: Yooper Mysteries, the Queen Bee Mysteries and Gretchen Birch. Murder, investigation, doll collecting and beekeeping appear in the recorded subjects, as do Wisconsin and Scotland. Gertie Johnson is listed among the characters. The catalogue holds 23 books from Dolled Up for Murder (2006) to Be Still My Bleating Heart (2019), a run marked likely complete.

Steven James, born in 1969, writes psychological suspense alongside Christian education material. The Bowers Files, an eleven-book thriller sequence built around the criminologist Patrick Bowers, has taken four Christy Awards. The catalogue holds 57 books from Worship Sketches 2 Perform (2000) to Portal (2025), and subject tags span criminologists, suspense, Bible stories, American Christian drama and the teaching of storytelling in Christian ministry. Synapse, a standalone science fiction thriller, arrived on 8 October 2019 with starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Library Journal. Other headings include the Blur Trilogy, the Rift Trilogy, the Jevin Banks Experience and Travis Brock.

Mary Logue's 36 catalogued books span 1987 to 2026 and cross several forms: mystery fiction, juvenile literature and biography all appear among the recorded subjects, which also list women detectives, murder, investigation and Wisconsin. The Claire Watkins novels take their name from a recurring character, and the Bloodwater Mysteries, Brigid Reardon Mystery, Laura Malloy and Deadwood Mystery series are also listed. Red Lake of the Heart (1987) is the first title and A Wasp in the Beehive (2026) the most recent. One book carries a joint credit with Doug Ohman.

Lyn Cote writes inspirational romance: Christian romance, religious themes and historical romance are the recorded subjects, with frontier and pioneer life and Wisconsin recurring among them. The catalogue holds 74 books from Never Alone (1998) to A Life for Verity (2026). Series include Northern Intrigue, Northern Shore Intrigue, Harbor Intrigue, Patriots & Seekers, the Women of Ivy Manor, the Carlyle Women, Blessed Assurance and the Gabriel Sisters. Love Inspired also appears among the catalogue's subject headings.

Lori Wick writes Christian historical romance in linked sets: A Place Called Home, the Californians, the Kensington Chronicles, Rocky Mountain Memories, the English Garden, the Yellow Rose Trilogy, the Tucker Mills Trilogy and Big Sky Dreams. Wisconsin, California and England appear among the settings. The catalogue holds 43 books, from A Place Called Home (1990) to Christmas for Two, The Christmas Gift, and is listed as likely complete.

Kathleen Ernst writes historical fiction and mysteries, and children's fiction appears among the subjects. Chloe Ellefson is the recurring character of one series, and women museum curators, murder and investigation appear in the subject tags. Ernst also wrote American Girls: Caroline books and the White Mane Kids and Hanneke Bauer series. The catalogue holds 41 books from The Night Riders of Harpers Ferry (1996) to Between These Rivers (2025), with Retreat from Gettysburg (2000) and Ghosts of Vicksburg (2003) among the earlier titles.

Karen McQuestion

29 books• 1 series

Karen McQuestion is an American novelist, born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on January 16, 1961, who writes for adults, teens and children. Humour or suspense runs through most McQuestion books, which have sold over a million copies, with translation rights sold in Germany, Turkey, South Korea and Poland. After 30,000 self-published sales, McQuestion signed with AmazonEncore, which re-released A Scattered Life. The catalogue lists 29 books from Easily Amused (2009) to The Tip-Off (2026), including the Edgewood series. McQuestion lives in Hartland, Wisconsin.

Jane Hamilton

8 books

Jane Hamilton is an American novelist, born in 1957, with eight books catalogued. The Book of Ruth (1988) opens the run and The Phoebe Variations (2025) is the most recent, with A Map of the World (1992), The Short History of a Prince (1998), Disobedience (2000), When Madeline Was Young (2006), Laura Rider's Masterpiece (2009) and The Excellent Lombards (2016) between them. Family life, mothers and daughters, small-town Wisconsin and dairy farms are the recurring subjects.

Cindy Kirk has 115 catalogued books, with contemporary, western and Christian romance all among the subjects. The Tycoon's Son, Romancing the Nanny and When She Was Bad appeared in 2007, and Claiming the Rancher's Heart and Merry Christmas, Cowboy! followed in 2009. Series include Good Hope, Jackson Hole, Rx For Love, Holly Pointe, Hazel Green and Cornwall Loom & Bark Mysteries. Physicians, widowers, widows, single fathers and nannies also appear in the subjects. The Wishing Gate is dated 2026, and The Dragonfly Journal is scheduled for 2027.

Lori Handeland, born 1961, is an American romance novelist and a two-time winner of the Romance Writers of America RITA Award. The catalogue lists 61 books from Second Chance (1994) to Charmed by the Moon (2024). Series include Nightcreature, Luchetti Brothers, Once Upon a Time in the West, Sisters of the Craft and Shakespeare Undead. Subjects include paranormal romance, romantic suspense, werewolves, vampires, witches, outlaws and Wisconsin.

Christian romance is the category recorded for Andrea Boeshaar, with historical fiction, Christian living, widows, sabotage, Wisconsin and the American Civil War of 1861-1865 among the subjects. The catalogue holds 33 books, from Unwilling Warrior (1994) to There Is A Season (2021), and the 2000s are the heaviest decade. Seasons of Redemption, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Weddings, Iowa, Faded Photograph, Fabric of Time and Shenandoah Valley Saga are the series credited to Boeshaar. No new title has been listed since 2021.

Laura Alden's catalogue splits in two. The early work is children's non-fiction and picture books, Saying I'm Sorry (1982), Dinosaur Jokes (1988), Houdini (1989) and the Read Around Alphabet Town and Circle The Year With Holidays series, at a median 32 pages. The later work is the Beth Kennedy mystery series, in which murder arrives by way of a parents' and teachers' association, ending with Poison at the PTA in 2014. Thirty-five books span 1982 to 2014, with the 1990s the peak decade.

Two books by David Wroblewski are catalogued, 16 years apart: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (2008) and Familiaris (2024). Both draw on the same material, family life in Wisconsin, the relationship between people and animals, a speech disorder, and fratricide. Wroblewski remains an actively publishing author.