Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sing It To Her Bones | 1999 | Marcia Talley | Buy |
| 2 | Unbreathed Memories | 2000 | Marcia Talley | Buy |
| 3 | Occasion of Revenge | 2001 | Marcia Talley | Buy |
| 4 | In Death’s Shadow | 2004 | Marcia Talley | Buy |
| 5 | This Enemy Town | 2005 | Marcia Talley | Buy |
| 6 | Through the Darkness | 2006 | Marcia Talley | Buy |
| 7 | Dead Man Dancing | 2008 | Marcia Talley | Buy |
| 8 | Without a Grave | 2009 | Marcia Talley | Buy |
| 9 | All Things Undying | 2010 | Marcia Talley | Buy |
| 10 | A Quiet Death | 2011 | Marcia Talley | Buy |
| 11 | The Last Refuge | 2012 | Marcia Talley | Buy |
| 12 | Dark Passage | 2013 | Marcia Talley | Buy |
| 13 | Daughter of Ashes | 2014 | Marcia Talley | Buy |
| 14 | Tomorrow’s Vengeance | 2014 | Marcia Talley | Buy |
| 15 | Footprints to Murder | 2016 | Marcia Talley | Buy |
| 16 | Mile High Murder | 2018 | Marcia Talley | Buy |
| 17 | Tangled Roots | 2019 | Marcia Talley | Buy |
| 18 | Done Gone | 2021 | Marcia Talley | Buy |
| 19 | Disco Dead | 2022 | Marcia Talley | Buy |
| 20 | Circles of Death | 2024 | Marcia Talley | Buy |
Hannah Ives is not a detective. She’s a breast cancer survivor living in Annapolis who keeps tripping over dead bodies. Marcia Talley’s long-running cozy mystery series follows Hannah as she pokes into local crimes, driven by equal parts curiosity and stubbornness. Her husband Paul, a math professor at the Naval Academy, provides a patient sounding board while Hannah does the legwork.
The series is rooted in the Chesapeake Bay region. Annapolis and its surrounding communities aren’t just settings but active ingredients in the plots. Yacht clubs, historical societies, real estate disputes, and naval traditions all generate motives for murder. Talley clearly knows the area well, and the local color gives each book a distinct sense of place.
Starting with Sing It to Her Bones in 1999, the series ran for 25 years and 20 novels. The later books deal with Hannah aging in place, which is unusual for a cozy series. Most mystery protagonists stay frozen in time. Hannah gets older, her grandchildren grow up, and the world around her changes.