Below is the complete list of Deanna Raybourn books in order. For each series, the chronological reading order is the same as the order of publication.
Publication Order of City Of Jasmine Books
Publication Order of Killers of a Certain Age Books
Publication Order of Lady Julia Grey Books
Publication Order of Lady Julia Grey Collections Books
Publication Order of Spear Of Summer Grass Books
Publication Order of Veronica Speedwell Books
- A Treacherous Curse (2018)
A Treacherous Curse is a 2018 release and appears as book #3 in the Veronica Speedwell series. 
- A Murderous Relation (2020)
A Murderous Relation was first published in 2020; within the Veronica Speedwell series, it is listed as book #5. 
Publication Order of Standalone Books
About Deanna Raybourn
Deanna Raybourn is an American novelist best known for historical mysteries that combine crime, wit, adventure, romantic tension, and unconventional women operating within societies that expect them to behave far more discreetly. Her two defining bodies of work are the Lady Julia Grey novels and the Veronica Speedwell series, both set in Victorian-era Britain and built around intelligent heroines whose investigations repeatedly lead them into murder, scandal, political intrigue, and secrets hidden behind respectable appearances.
Raybourn studied English and history at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her academic interest in the past fed naturally into her fiction, though her road to publication was long. She wrote for years before selling her debut novel, Silent in the Grave, which appeared in 2007 and introduced Lady Julia Grey. The book won the RITA Award for Best Novel with Strong Romantic Elements and established Raybourn’s characteristic mixture of historical mystery and slow-burning romantic tension.
Lady Julia Grey begins as a sheltered aristocratic widow whose husband’s death forces her to reconsider how little she understands about the people around her. Her investigations bring her into partnership with private inquiry agent Nicholas Brisbane, a dark, secretive figure whose background and methods contrast sharply with Julia’s privileged upbringing. Across the series, Julia develops from a woman constrained by Victorian convention into a far more confident investigator, while her relationship with Brisbane evolves alongside the mysteries rather than replacing them.
The sequence also introduced one of Raybourn’s enduring strengths: eccentric extended families. Julia’s March relatives provide humor, complications, loyalties, and recurring connections that keep the books from functioning as isolated cases. Murder may drive individual plots, but family expectations, class, marriage, inheritance, and reputation are equally important to the world surrounding them.
Raybourn later created Veronica Speedwell, a lepidopterist and independent adventurer whose first appearance came in A Curious Beginning. Set in the 1880s, the series pairs Veronica with Stoker, a natural historian and taxidermist whose irritable temperament and complicated past make him both a useful investigative partner and a persistent challenge. Their cases range through aristocratic households, scientific circles, traveling shows, political conspiracies, archaeological interests, and other corners of Victorian society.
Veronica differs significantly from Lady Julia. She enters the series already self-reliant, sexually independent, professionally curious, and largely unconcerned with conventional expectations of feminine respectability. Her interest in natural science gives the books a different intellectual texture, while her relationship with Stoker develops through years of partnership, arguments, danger, and mutual reliance. The series has become Raybourn’s longest-running work and the clearest expression of her blend of mystery, historical detail, banter, and romantic suspense.
Outside those major series, Raybourn has written stand-alone historical novels including The Dead Travel Fast, City of Jasmine, and Night of a Thousand Stars. These books move through settings such as Transylvania, the Middle East, and the aftermath of World War I, allowing her to explore adventure and romance beyond the Victorian detective framework.
In more recent work, Raybourn has also moved into contemporary crime fiction with Killers of a Certain Age, about four women who spent decades working as elite assassins and discover that retirement may be more dangerous than their careers. Its success showed that many qualities associated with her historical novels—resourceful women, dark humor, danger, loyalty, and characters underestimated because of gender or age—translate easily into a modern setting.
Across her bibliography, Raybourn consistently favors women who refuse to remain decorative figures in someone else’s story. Whether aristocratic widow, scientist, traveler, or retired assassin, her heroines are defined by curiosity and agency. The mysteries matter, but the lasting appeal of her work lies in watching capable women claim increasingly larger lives than their societies originally intended for them.