Below is the complete list of Jana DeLeon books in order. For each series, the chronological reading order is the same as the order of publication.
Publication Order of Emerald Books
Publication Order of Ghost-in-Law Books
- Rose and Helena Save Christmas (2014)
Rose and Helena Save Christmas is a 2014 release and appears as book #8 in the Ghost-in-Law series.
Publication Order of Marina at Midlife Books
Publication Order of Miss Fortune Mystery Books
Publication Order of Mystere Parish Books
Publication Order of Mystere Parish: Family Inheritance Books
Publication Order of Shaye Archer Books
Publication Order of Tempest Island Books
Publication Order of Standalone Books
Publication Order of 12 Days of Christmas Books
- Eight Maids a’ Missing (2013)
Eight Maids a’ Missing was published in 2013 and is listed as book #1 in the 12 Days of Christmas series.
Publication Order of Happily Everlasting Books
Publication Order of Shivers Books
with Lisa Childs, Colleen Thompson
About Jana DeLeon
Jana DeLeon is an American novelist whose Louisiana mysteries combine criminal investigations, eccentric characters, fast-moving plots, and a strong sense of regional identity. She is most widely known for the Miss Fortune Mystery series, but her bibliography also includes paranormal comedy, romantic suspense, psychological thrillers, and darker crime fiction. Across these different modes, the bayous, small towns, family histories, and independent-minded women of Louisiana remain central to her fictional world.
DeLeon was raised in Carlyss, a small community in southwest Louisiana. Her family owned a camp near the Gulf of Mexico that could be reached only by boat, and she spent part of her childhood around bayous, wildlife, fishing, and the isolated landscapes that later became natural settings for her novels. Rather than presenting Louisiana as a decorative Southern backdrop, she writes it as a place shaped by water, weather, local loyalties, long memories, and communities where private matters rarely remain private.
Before becoming a full-time novelist, DeLeon worked in finance and served as a chief financial officer. Her business background proved valuable when her career moved from conventional publishing into independent publishing. She began with humorous romantic suspense, making her novel debut with Rumble on the Bayou. Set in the fictional community of Gator Bait, the book established several qualities that would continue throughout her work: competent heroines, law-enforcement intrigue, dangerous secrets, romantic tension, and comedy arising from larger-than-life local personalities.
Her early bibliography includes the Mystere Parish stories and related romantic-suspense novels, many of which pair investigators, law-enforcement officers, or endangered heroines with mysteries rooted in family history. These books are generally more romance-driven than her later comic mysteries, while still showing her preference for atmospheric Louisiana settings and plots that move quickly between personal danger and concealed motives.
DeLeon eventually became an important example of a traditionally published author who successfully rebuilt her career through independent publishing. After problems involving a former publisher, she recovered rights to earlier work and began releasing books directly. This gave her greater control over publication schedules, pricing, series development, and the continuation of characters whose stories might not have fit the priorities of a conventional publishing program.
The Miss Fortune series became the defining success of that transition. Beginning with Louisiana Longshot, it follows CIA operative Fortune Redding, who is sent into hiding in the fictional town of Sinful, Louisiana. Her attempt to maintain an inconspicuous identity is repeatedly disrupted by murder, local intrigue, and her friendship with Ida Belle and Gertie, two older women whose past experience and enthusiasm for dangerous investigations make secrecy nearly impossible. The books mix cozy mystery structure with action comedy, espionage, friendship, and an expanding cast of recurring townspeople.
Her Ghost-in-Law series takes a different comic approach, combining mystery and romance with a supernatural presence whose interference creates as many problems as it solves. By contrast, the Shaye Archer series moves into much darker territory. Those novels center on a private investigator with a traumatic past and use psychological suspense, violent crime, and continuing personal mysteries to create a more intense reading experience.
DeLeon’s bibliography is therefore best understood by tone rather than by treating all of her books as variations on one formula. Miss Fortune offers broad humor and recurring community life; Ghost-in-Law adds paranormal chaos; Shaye Archer emphasizes psychological danger; and the romantic-suspense novels give greater weight to courtship and family secrets. What connects them is DeLeon’s instinct for momentum, capable female protagonists, vivid Louisiana atmosphere, and characters who meet danger with resourcefulness rather than restraint.