Author

Charlaine Harris

Q: What should I read first by Charlaine Harris?

Start with the Aurora Teagarden series, since it is the first on file, then read it in publication order.

Charlaine Harris has 46 known credited books (46 published) across 6 series. Start with Aurora Teagarden.

Charlaine Harris is an American author who has spent over four decades moving between different corners of crime and speculative fiction, always anchored by a strong regional voice. She's best known for the Southern Vampire Mysteries, thirteen novels following telepathic Louisiana waitress Sookie Stackhouse through a world where vampires have "come out of the coffin," which HBO adapted as the hit series True Blood (2008–2014). Her cozier Aurora Teagarden mysteries, about a small-town librarian turned amateur detective, became the long-running Hallmark Movies & Mysteries franchise starring Candace Cameron Bure, and her Midnight, Texas trilogy, about a town of misfits and supernatural outsiders, was adapted by NBC in 2017. Beyond those franchises, Harris has written the Harper Connelly and Lily Bard mystery series and, more recently, the Gunnie Rose novels, an alternate-history series featuring a gunslinging mercenary in a fractured, Depression-era United States, which concluded its six-book run in 2025. New readers can pick an entry point based on mood: Dead Until Dark for the vampire romance and mystery blend that made her famous, or Real Murders for her gentler Aurora Teagarden mysteries. Harris is a member of Mystery Writers of America and has served on the board of Sisters in Crime.

Series: 6
Credited books: 46
Published: 46
Latest published book: The Last Wizards' Ball 2025
Active: 1981–present
Best known for: Aurora Teagarden

Key facts about Charlaine Harris

Charlaine Harris has 46 books on our list. 44 of them belong to a series, while 2 stand alone. Since all 46 are out now, every book here is ready to read. Their series sit on our cozy mystery, hardboiled mystery and paranormal mystery shelves.

Charlaine Harris has 6 series on file. Aurora Teagarden has 10 books, while Lily Bard has 5 books. Sookie Stackhouse has 16 books, starting in 2001.

Harper Connelly has 4 books, starting in 2005. Midnight, Texas has 3 books, starting in 2014. In particular, Sookie Stackhouse is the longest series on file.

Aurora Teagarden starts with Real Murders, while Lily Bard starts with Shakespeare's Landlord. Sookie Stackhouse starts with Dead Until Dark.

Since Aurora Teagarden is the first series on file, it is the place to start. Their first published book on file came out in 1981. Meanwhile, The Last Wizards' Ball is the latest published book, out in 2025.

There are also 2 standalone books. You can read them in any order, since each one stands alone. The newest one that is out is A Secret Rage, from 1984. The oldest on file is Sweet and Deadly, from 1981.