Denise Swanson

Unlike the usual repertoire of mystery novels, Denise Swanson’s storytelling comes with humor, wit and LOL moments not easily found in others. Aside from the thrill and nerve-wracking excitement of solving a murder case, each of her books have creative and well-paced plot infused with humorous dialogues, witty banters, and knee-bending romance. At the rate her mystery novels are going, it will be no time to hear a Denise Swanson movie or television serious pretty soon.

The best place to start is the Scumble River Mysteries series, the earliest of Denise Swanson's multi-book series: it opens with Murder of a Small-Town Honey (2000) and runs to 19 books across 2000–2016, ending with Murder of a Cranky Catnapper (2016). Denise Swanson's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Denise Swanson has 49 books catalogued in this guide, published between 2000 and 2026. 47 of them belong to 9 named series — the largest being the Scumble River Mysteries series with 19 books — and 2 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Denise Swanson's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Scumble River Mysteries (2000–2016, 19 books), Devereaux's Dime Store Mysteries (2012–2021, 7 books) and Scumble River Mysteries Short Stories (2012, 2 books), plus 6 more.

This guide splits Denise Swanson's 49 books into 9 named series and 2 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Scumble River Mysteries (19 books, 2000–2016); Devereaux's Dime Store Mysteries (7 books, 2012–2021); Welcome Back To Scumble River (5 books, 2017–2026); Change Of Heart (4 books, 2015); Chef-To-Go Mysteries (4 books, 2018–2023), plus 4 further series.