Guiness Gang
romantic suspense
Series · romantic suspense
Family Secrets
The Family Secrets series by Alicia Scott has 3 books and is best read in publication order, starting with Maggie's Man (1997).
- Books
- 3 books
- First published
- 1997
- Status
- completed
- Last checked
Start here: Maggie's Man (1997) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The order the books were released — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
Maggie's Man
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Maggie's Man - Book 2:
MacNamara's Woman
Alternative text for cover: Cover of MacNamara's Woman - Book 3:
Brandon's Bride
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Brandon's Bride
About the Family Secrets series
Family Secrets, one of the later series Lisa Gardner wrote as Alicia Scott, follows three estranged half-siblings -- brought together only after the truth about their shared, troubled family history starts coming apart -- as each confronts a different piece of what their parents kept hidden. Maggie's Man opens the series introducing the siblings' fractured history and the first thread of the larger family mystery; MacNamara's Woman and Brandon's Bride continue through the remaining two siblings, each pairing a fresh romance with another uncovered piece of the family's past.
Published in 1997 and 1998 for Silhouette Intimate Moments, the trilogy is more tightly serialized than the earlier Guiness Gang books, with a single ongoing mystery -- what really happened to fracture this family -- running underneath all three romances rather than a shared small-town setting alone. It's a natural next step for readers who enjoy Gardner's later interest, as Lisa Gardner, in family secrets and long-buried trauma, seen here in an earlier, more compressed category-romance form.
How to read this series
Publication order, starting with Maggie's Man (1997). The family mystery driving all three books -- what really happened to fracture the siblings' family -- builds and resolves across the trilogy as a whole, so this is a series to read start to finish rather than dip into individually, even though each book's central romance is complete on its own.
Frequently asked questions
How many books are in the Family Secrets series?
Three, published in 1997 and 1998 under the Alicia Scott pen name: Maggie's Man, MacNamara's Woman, and Brandon's Bride.
What is the Family Secrets series about?
Three estranged half-siblings who are drawn back together as long-hidden truths about their shared family history come to light, with each book pairing a sibling's romance with another piece of the mystery.
What order should I read the Family Secrets books in?
Publication order: Maggie's Man, MacNamara's Woman, then Brandon's Bride. The family mystery builds across all three.
Was Family Secrets Alicia Scott's last series?
No -- two further standalone Alicia Scott titles, Partners in Crime and Marrying Mike...Again, followed it in 1998 and 2000 before the author retired the pen name and began publishing as Lisa Gardner.
Is this connected to the Guiness Gang series?
No shared characters -- both are Alicia Scott-era romantic suspense, but Family Secrets is a separate, later trilogy with its own family and mystery.
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Reading order last verified .