Tres Navarre
crime
Series · hardboiled mystery
Lily Bard
The Lily Bard series by Charlaine Harris has 5 known books (5 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with Shakespeare's Landlord (1996).
- Books
- 5 known books (5 novels)
- Published
- 5
- First published
- 1996
- Status
- completed
- Shelved under
- Mystery & Crime
- Last checked
Start here: Shakespeare's Landlord (1996) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
Shakespeare's Landlord
Charlaine Harris introduced Lily Bard in 1996 with Shakespeare's Landlord, a 224-page series opener following a survivor of a brutal assault who has rebuilt her life as a guarded house cleaner and karate instructor in the small town of Shakespeare, Arkansas. Harris has described the series as her attempt at genuinely hardboiled crime writing, darker and more interior than her cozier Aurora Teagarden novels.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Shakespeare's Landlord - Book 2:
Shakespeare's Champion
Shakespeare's Champion followed in 1997 at 272 pages, the longest book in the series, continuing Lily Bard's slow, unsentimental process of letting people back in as her house-cleaning work keeps giving her access to the whole town's secrets and bodies.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Shakespeare's Champion - Book 3:
Shakespeare's Christmas
The third novel, Shakespeare's Christmas , was published in 1998 at 256 pages, continuing Harris's yearly output for the series' first three entries.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Shakespeare's Christmas - Book 4:
Shakespeare's Trollop
After Shakespeare's Christmas , Harris left a two-year gap before Shakespeare's Trollop , published in 2000 at 194 pages -- the shortest book in the series.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Shakespeare's Trollop - Book 5:
Shakespeare's Counselor
Shakespeare's Counselor, the fifth and final Lily Bard novel, appeared in 2001 at 256 pages, matching the length of the series' third book and closing out Charlaine Harris's five-book run before she moved on to the Harper Connelly and Sookie Stackhouse series that would make her famous.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Shakespeare's Counselor
About the Lily Bard series
Lily Bard is a survivor of a brutal assault who has rebuilt her life in the small town of Shakespeare, Arkansas, working as a house cleaner and karate instructor and keeping almost everyone at arm's length — a much harder-edged protagonist than the cozier amateur sleuths Charlaine Harris is best known for. Cleaning houses gives Lily access to the whole town's secrets and, inevitably, its bodies, but the series' real subject is Lily herself: her PTSD, her guardedness, her slow and unsentimental process of learning to let people back in, worked out across five novels between 1996 and 2001. Harris has described the Lily Bard books as her attempt at genuinely hardboiled crime writing rather than the cozy register of her other 1990s series, and the tone shows it — these are darker, more interior, and less comic than Aurora Teagarden.
The series is sometimes called the "Shakespeare" series after its setting, and it ran for five books before Harris moved on to the Harper Connelly and Sookie Stackhouse series that would make her famous; it's one of her earliest sustained explorations of a damaged, self-protective female protagonist, a type she'd return to throughout her later work. This is the series for readers who want Harris's small-town Southern setting without the cozy tone — a genuinely tough, psychologically serious mystery series about a woman putting herself back together one town secret at a time.
Frequently asked questions
How many Lily Bard books are there?
Five novels, published between 1996 and 2001: Shakespeare's Landlord, Shakespeare's Champion, Shakespeare's Christmas, Shakespeare's Trollop, and Shakespeare's Counselor.
What order should I read the Lily Bard books in?
Publication order, starting with Shakespeare's Landlord. Lily's backstory and her gradual reconnection with the people around her build steadily across the series.
Why is this series sometimes called the Shakespeare series?
Lily Bard lives in the fictional town of Shakespeare, Arkansas, and every book title plays on the town's name — the series is referred to interchangeably as Lily Bard or Shakespeare.
How does Lily Bard compare to Charlaine Harris's other series, like Sookie Stackhouse or Aurora Teagarden?
It's considerably darker and more hardboiled. Lily is a survivor of a violent assault working through real psychological trauma, and the books lean into that seriously rather than playing for cozy-mystery comfort.
Is there a new Lily Bard book coming?
No. The series concluded with Shakespeare's Counselor in 2001 and has not been continued.
If you like the Lily Bard series
Reading order last verified .