Lisa Gardner Books in Order: Series, Standalones & Shorts

By T.L. BransonThriller

Looking for a list of Lisa Gardner books in order? You’ve come to the right place.

Gardner is best known for tense psychological thrillers, especially her Detective D.D. Warren, FBI Profiler, Tessa Leoni, and Frankie Elkin books. She also wrote several earlier romantic suspense books as Alicia Scott, so I’ve included those here too.

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Lisa Gardner Books in Publication Order

This is the full Lisa Gardner publication order, including books written as Alicia Scott, short stories, collaborative books, and upcoming titles.

  1. Walking After Midnight (1992) (as Alicia Scott)
  2. Shadow’s Flame (1994) (as Alicia Scott)
  3. Waking Nightmare (1994) (as Alicia Scott)
  4. At the Midnight Hour (1995) (as Alicia Scott)
  5. Hiding Jessica (1995) (as Alicia Scott)
  6. The Quiet One (1996) (as Alicia Scott)
  7. The One Worth Waiting For (1996) (as Alicia Scott)
  8. The One Who Almost Got Away (1996) (as Alicia Scott)
  9. Maggie’s Man (1997) (as Alicia Scott)
  10. MacNamara’s Woman (1997) (as Alicia Scott)
  11. The Perfect Husband (1997)
  12. Brandon’s Bride (1998) (as Alicia Scott)
  13. Partners in Crime (1999) (as Alicia Scott)
  14. The Other Daughter (1999)
  15. Marrying Mike… Again (2000) (as Alicia Scott)
  16. The Third Victim (2001)
  17. The Next Accident (2001)
  18. The Survivors Club (2002)
  19. The Killing Hour (2003)
  20. I’d Kill for That (2004) (Collaborative novel)
  21. Alone (2005)
  22. Gone (2006)
  23. Hide (2007)
  24. Say Goodbye (2008)
  25. The Neighbor (2009)
  26. Live to Tell (2010)
  27. Love You More (2011)
  28. The 7th Month (2012) (Short Story)
  29. Catch Me (2012)
  30. Touch & Go (2013)
  31. Fear Nothing (2014)
  32. Face Off (2014) (Anthology containing “The Laughing Buddha”)
  33. The Laughing Buddha (2015) (Short Story, with M.J. Rose)
  34. 3 Truths and a Lie (2016) (Short Story)
  35. Find Her (2016)
  36. The 4th Man (2016) (Short Story)
  37. Right Behind You (2017)
  38. Look For Me (2018)
  39. The Guy Who Died Twice (2019) (Short Story)
  40. Never Tell (2019)
  41. When You See Me (2020)
  42. Before She Disappeared (2021)
  43. One Step Too Far (2022)
  44. Still See You Everywhere (2024)
  45. Kiss Her Goodbye (August 12, 2025)
  46. You’ll Be Sorry (August 4, 2026) (Upcoming standalone)

Do You Need to Read Lisa Gardner Books in Order?

You don’t have to read every Lisa Gardner book in order. Gardner has said each of her novels has a standalone plot, so you can usually pick up the book that sounds best to you and follow the mystery just fine.

That said, the recurring characters do change over time. The D.D. Warren books work better in order, especially once Flora Dane enters the series. The FBI Profiler books also reward a straight read because Pierce Quincy, Rainie Conner, and Kimberly Quincy have a lot of personal history together.

For most readers, I’d start with Alone for D.D. Warren, The Perfect Husband for the FBI Profiler books, or Before She Disappeared for Frankie Elkin. Frankie’s series is the easiest modern entry point if you want Gardner’s newer style without catching up on decades of backstory.

Lisa Gardner Books in Order by Series

Here are Lisa Gardner’s main series in reading order.

A few of Gardner’s books cross between series, which means you’ll see some titles more than once below. That’s intentional. Love You More and Touch & Go both belong to the D.D. Warren and Tessa Leoni lists, while The 4th Man, Never Tell, and When You See Me connect D.D. Warren with the FBI Profiler books.

Detective D.D. Warren Books

Detective D.D. Warren is Gardner’s Boston homicide detective series. It starts as a police procedural, then grows into a wider thriller world with Flora Dane, Kimberly Quincy, and several crossover cases.

  1. Alone (2005)
  2. Hide (2007)
  3. The Neighbor (2009)
  4. Live to Tell (2010)
  5. Love You More (2011) (with Tessa Leoni)
  6. The 7th Month (2012) (Short Story)
  7. Catch Me (2012)
  8. Touch & Go (2013) (with Tessa Leoni)
  9. Fear Nothing (2014)
  10. The Laughing Buddha (2015) (Short Story, with M.J. Rose, from Face Off)
  11. 3 Truths and a Lie (2016) (Short Story)
  12. Find Her (2016)
  13. The 4th Man (2016) (Short Story, with FBI Profiler)
  14. Look For Me (2018)
  15. The Guy Who Died Twice (2019) (Short Story)
  16. Never Tell (2019) (with FBI Profiler)
  17. When You See Me (2020) (with FBI Profiler)

FBI Profiler Books

The FBI Profiler books follow Pierce Quincy, Rainie Conner, and Kimberly Quincy. This series overlaps with D.D. Warren later on, so Never Tell and When You See Me are included here too.

  1. The Perfect Husband (1997)
  2. The Third Victim (2001)
  3. The Next Accident (2001)
  4. The Killing Hour (2003)
  5. Gone (2006)
  6. Say Goodbye (2008)
  7. The 4th Man (2016) (Short Story, with D.D. Warren)
  8. Right Behind You (2017)
  9. Never Tell (2019) (with D.D. Warren)
  10. When You See Me (2020) (with D.D. Warren)

Tessa Leoni Books

Tessa Leoni starts as a Massachusetts State Trooper with a brutal personal case, then becomes a private investigator. Her first two books also connect directly to D.D. Warren.

  1. Love You More (2011) (with D.D. Warren)
  2. Touch & Go (2013) (with D.D. Warren)
  3. Crash & Burn (2015)

Frankie Elkin Books

Frankie Elkin searches for missing people the world has stopped looking for. These books are more recent, easy to start, and best read in publication order.

  1. Before She Disappeared (2021)
  2. One Step Too Far (2022)
  3. Still See You Everywhere (2024)
  4. Kiss Her Goodbye (August 12, 2025)

Romance Books Written as Alicia Scott

Before Lisa Gardner became known for psychological thrillers, she wrote romantic suspense as Alicia Scott. These books are separate from the Gardner thriller series, but they’re part of her full bibliography.

Walking After Midnight Books

  1. Walking After Midnight (1992)
  2. Shadow’s Flame (1994)

Guiness Gang Books

  1. At the Midnight Hour (1995)
  2. Hiding Jessica (1995)
  3. The Quiet One (1996)
  4. The One Worth Waiting For (1996)
  5. The One Who Almost Got Away (1996)

Family Secrets Books

  1. Maggie’s Man (1997)
  2. MacNamara’s Woman (1997)
  3. Brandon’s Bride (1998)

Other Alicia Scott Books

  1. Waking Nightmare (1994)
  2. Partners in Crime (1999)
  3. Marrying Mike… Again (2000)

Lisa Gardner Standalone Books

Gardner has a small group of standalones outside her main series. These are good choices when you want her suspense style without committing to a longer character arc.

Standalone Novels

  1. The Other Daughter (1999)
  2. The Survivors Club (2002)
  3. You’ll Be Sorry (August 4, 2026) (Upcoming standalone)

Collaborations and Anthologies

These are easy to miss because they aren’t solo Lisa Gardner novels, but they do include Gardner’s work.

  1. I’d Kill for That (2004) (Collaborative novel)
  2. Face Off (2014) (Anthology containing “The Laughing Buddha”)

Lisa Gardner Short Stories

Gardner’s short fiction mostly sits inside the D.D. Warren world. That includes the D.D. Warren e-shorts and The Laughing Buddha, which appears in Face Off and pairs D.D. Warren with M.J. Rose’s Malachai Samuels.

  1. The 7th Month (2012) (D.D. Warren Short Story)
  2. The Laughing Buddha (2015) (D.D. Warren Short Story, with M.J. Rose)
  3. 3 Truths and a Lie (2016) (D.D. Warren Short Story)
  4. The 4th Man (2016) (D.D. Warren / FBI Profiler Short Story)
  5. The Guy Who Died Twice (2019) (D.D. Warren Short Story)

Who Is Lisa Gardner?

Lisa Gardner is a #1 New York Times bestselling thriller author whose books have been published across more than 30 countries. She started with romantic suspense under the Alicia Scott name, then shifted into darker psychological suspense, police investigations, and missing-person thrillers.

Her biggest recurring characters include Detective D.D. Warren, FBI profiler Pierce Quincy, Rainie Conner, Kimberly Quincy, Tessa Leoni, Flora Dane, and Frankie Elkin. Gardner lives in New Hampshire, where she spends time with her dogs when she’s not writing.

Looking for more books in order?

If you want more thriller authors and reading-order guides like this one, start with my Thriller Books in Order index.

2 thoughts on “Lisa Gardner Books in Order: Series, Standalones & Shorts”

  1. I love all of her books in the D.D. Warren and FBI series been reading them since, The Perfect Husband in 1997. Got my husband to start reading them, normally we don’t read the same books. But neither of us can ever put them down, such page turners! Every time we would finish the last book in the list we couldn’t hardly stand having to wait for the next one. My late husband was a Marine (10 years) war veteran, Texas State Trooper (10 years) before getting sick, I was a country officer, we were very impressed on how accrued she was in not only how things were done (policy and procedures) but how Marines and Troopers would typically act and things they would say, great research! Great memories of us talking about each book! Thank you for adding to just some of the many great memories I have of my amazing 20 year marriage with my wonderful husband, Staff Sargent and Trooper William Toland! As long as you write them I will keep reading them.

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  2. As a former LEO, Ms. Gardner’s books take me back to patrol and investigations. A different time; a different location but absolutely spot on. Her cases are so incredible, it’s likely you’ll assume they can’t or didn’t happen. But that couldn’t be further from the truth..

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