A. J. Rivers Books in Order (Updated February 25, 2026)

A. J. Rivers is a prolific mystery/thriller author best known for long-running, fast-release series that are meant to be read in sequence inside each series.

Across series, continuity is usually separate, but a few titles feel like “neighbors” in tone and setup, so it helps to pick a lane first.

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Quick Navigation: pick your doorway

Want the flagship, ultra-long FBI arc? Start Emma Griffin FBI Mystery (Book 1).
Want FBI cases with a different lead and a clean entry point? Start Ava James FBI Mystery (Book 1).
Want a darker, thriller-tilted series that grows into a long run? Start Dean Steele Mystery (Book 1).
Want a newer small-town detective series (shorter commitment)? Start Detective Riley Quinn: Pine Brooke (Book 1).
Want a cozy-leaning, small-town mystery set (rapid, shorter books)? Start Juniper Springs Mystery (Book 1).
Want something shorter and self-contained? Try the standalones.

The rule set (so you don’t get spoiled)

Read each numbered series in publication order. That’s where character backstory and relationship shifts land cleanly.
Do not assume “The Girl…” titles are all the same series. Several series use similar naming patterns.
Box sets exist, but they don’t change the internal order. Use them only as bundles.

Publication Order by Series

Emma Griffin FBI Mystery (main series)

The Girl in Cabin 13 (2019): A body at Emma’s door drags her into a case that feels staged for her specifically, turning a local investigation into a personal test.
The Girl That Vanished (2020): A missing child case forces Emma back into danger, where every clue tightens the net around someone who knows her weak spots.
The Girl in the Manor (2020): A shocking death in a seemingly perfect setting fractures the town’s façade, and Emma has to separate performance from evidence.
The Girl Next Door (2020): Familiar neighbors become suspects, and Emma learns how fast “safe” streets can turn hostile.
The Girl and the Deadly Express (2020): A confined, high-pressure chase compresses the timeline, where the wrong passenger can be the whole story.
The Girl and the Hunt (2020): A predator-and-prey investigation escalates quickly, forcing Emma into decisions that don’t leave room for hesitation.
The Girl and the Deadly End (2020): A case that should resolve cleanly keeps twisting, pushing Emma toward a confrontation with what she can’t unsee.
The Girl in Dangerous Waters (2020): A waterside mystery becomes a survival problem, where the environment turns into an accomplice.
The Girl and the Secret Society (2020): Hidden membership and hidden motives collide, and Emma has to prove who belongs in the investigation at all.
The Girl and the Field of Bones (2020): Old remains create new urgency, and Emma is forced to build truth from what’s left behind.
The Girl and the Black Christmas (2020): A holiday backdrop turns tense and violent, where tradition becomes cover for harm.
The Girl and the Cursed Lake (2021): A local legend masks real danger, and Emma’s casework must cut through fear and folklore.
The Girl and the Unlucky 13 (2021): A pattern-driven case becomes a countdown, with Emma racing the next strike in the sequence.
The Girl and the Dragon’s Island (2021): An isolated location concentrates suspects and secrets, tightening the mystery into a closed circle.
The Girl in the Woods (2021): A winter discovery leads Emma into a layered, remote investigation where help is far away and intent is close.
The Girl and the Midnight Murder (2021): A late-night crime sets a darker tone, pushing Emma to act on instincts before certainty arrives.
The Girl and the Silent Night (2021): Quiet becomes the threat, as the case hinges on what no one will say out loud.
The Girl and the Last Sleepover (2022): A small-town tradition turns disturbing, and Emma must unpack group dynamics that turn cruel fast.
The Girl and the 7 Deadly Sins (2022): A thematic case structure shapes the investigation, where symbolism is used to mislead and provoke.
The Girl in Apartment 9 (2022): A tight, enclosed setting turns the case into a pressure cooker, where proximity breeds risk.
The Girl and the Twisted End (2022): Emma hits a turning-point case where answers create fallout, and closure comes with a cost.
The Girl and the Deadly Secrets (2023): Buried truths surface violently, forcing Emma to decide what can be exposed safely.
The Girl on the Road (2023): A moving target case keeps Emma reactive, where every mile changes the suspect pool.
The Girl and the Unexpected Gifts (2023): “Help” arrives in the wrong form, and the investigation has to sort kindness from manipulation.
The Girl and the Secret Passage (2023): Hidden spaces become central evidence, turning a setting into a map of motive.
The Girl and the Bride (2024): A public event becomes a trap, and Emma has to keep the case from becoming spectacle.
The Girl in Her Cabin (2024): A contained location forces fast judgment calls, where privacy becomes vulnerability.
The Girl Who Remembers (2024): Memory turns unreliable and essential at once, and Emma must test what a witness “knows.”
The Girl in the Dark (2024): A case built on missing visibility pushes Emma into risk, where the unknown isn’t abstract, it’s active.
The Girl and the Lies (2024): Competing stories fracture the timeline, and Emma has to treat every statement like evidence.
The Girl and the Inmate (2024): A prison-linked case sharpens stakes and ethics, where access to truth comes with conditions.
The Girl and the Garden of Bones (2024): New remains widen an old story, forcing Emma to connect victims across time.
The Girl on the Run (2025): A fugitive-centered case accelerates fast, where innocence and evasion look too similar at speed.
The Girl and the Last Scene (2025): A final-act twist mindset shapes the case, and Emma has to catch what the culprit thinks is “the ending.”
The Girl and the Last Game (2025): A strategic adversary turns the investigation into moves and countermoves, with real lives as stakes.
The Girl Who Disappeared (2025): A vanishing becomes the core puzzle again, forcing Emma back into her most obsessive kind of case.
The Girl and the Hidden Truth (2025): A long-guarded fact finally surfaces, and Emma has to survive the consequences of learning it.
The Girl in the Field (2025): A rural crime scene becomes a larger pattern, where the openness of the landscape hides intent.
The Girl and the Hidden Trail (2025): A pursuit-driven case turns physical, where following the trail means stepping into the same danger.
The Girl and the Hidden Place (2026): A concealed location anchors the mystery, and Emma must prove what happened where no one admits being.
The Girl on the Outside (2026): Emma works the edges of a closed world, where the real crime is what keeps getting kept out.

Safest start: The Girl in Cabin 13 (2019).
Why order matters: Emma’s personal arc and recurring relationships accumulate steadily.

Emma Griffin FBI Mystery Retro (limited mini-series)

The Girl in the Mist (2022): A shorter, moodier case sets a “retro” tone, leaning into atmosphere and tighter scope.
The Girl on Hallow’s Eve (2022): A seasonal case sharpens suspense, where tradition becomes cover and pressure rises quickly.
The Girl and the Christmas Past (2022): A holiday-linked mystery ties motive to memory, where the past is the most active suspect.
The Girl and the Winter Bones (2023): Cold-weather discovery pushes urgency, where time and exposure both become threats.
The Girl on the Retreat (2023): A getaway setting turns dangerous, tightening suspects into a smaller, sharper circle.

Placement: Treat as separate continuity/optional unless a retailer explicitly labels them as required.

Ava James FBI Mystery

The Woman at the Masked Gala (2021) / Ava James and the Ivy Grove (2021): The same entry point is commonly listed under two titles, introducing Ava through a case built on concealment and staged identities.
Ava James and the Forgotten Bones (2022): A cold-case thread surfaces into present danger, forcing Ava to work both evidence and time pressure.
The Couple Next Door (2022): Domestic proximity becomes the threat engine, where normal routines hide abnormal intent.
The Cabin on Willow Lake (2022): Isolation turns sharp, and the investigation becomes a race against what the setting enables.
The Lake House (2022): A seemingly safe property becomes a crime container, where access and alibis are everything.
The Ghost of Christmas (2022): A seasonal case uses nostalgia as misdirection, where the past keeps resurfacing as motive.
The Rescue (2023): A crisis-driven plot forces fast coordination, where saving someone is only the first problem.
Murder in the Moonlight (2023): A nighttime crime sharpens suspicion, where visibility and certainty both fail at key moments.
Behind the Mask (2023): A deception-forward investigation tests Ava’s read on people who perform innocence too well.
The Invitation (2024): A social setup becomes a trap, where accepting the invite means entering someone else’s plan.
The Girl in Hawaii (2024): A location shift widens the case’s texture, but the danger stays intimate and close.
The Woman in the Window (2024): Witnessing becomes risk, and what’s seen becomes leverage.
The Good Doctor (2024): Authority and credibility become weapons, forcing Ava to challenge the “safe” version of expertise.
The Housewife Killer (2024): A pattern in victims creates urgency, where public perception complicates the hunt.
The Librarian (2024): Information control becomes motive, and what’s cataloged matters as much as what’s hidden.
The Art of Murder (2024): A case built on presentation and meaning forces Ava to separate symbolism from evidence.
Secrets in the Acadia (2025): Place-based history and present crimes collide, where the setting carries its own motives.
The Forgotten Girls (2025): Missing-person urgency returns, raising stakes through time and vulnerability.
The Hidden Vendetta (2025): A personal motive drives escalation, where revenge shapes the crime’s structure.
The Perfect Lie (2025): One carefully maintained lie becomes the hinge of the case, forcing Ava to prove what can’t be “felt.”
The Last Hunt (2026): A pursuit case pushes the series into higher-risk terrain, where catching up is the only option.

Safest start: The Woman at the Masked Gala / Ava James and the Ivy Grove (2021).
Continuity note: This series reads cleanest in order due to character carryover.

Dean Steele Mystery

The Woman in the Woods (2022): A wilderness-leaning mystery introduces Dean through a case where isolation amplifies threat and mistake.
The Last Survivors (2023): A survival-driven aftermath shapes the investigation, where what people did to live becomes evidence.
No Escape (2023): A closed-loop suspense setup forces Dean into a case where the exit routes collapse early.
The Garden of Secrets (2023): A carefully kept secret becomes the crime’s root, where family and community complicate every lead.
The Killer Among Us (2023): Suspicion turns communal, where the town’s certainty becomes its biggest liability.
The Convict (2024): Guilt and innocence are both contested, forcing Dean to treat the system itself as part of the puzzle.
The Last Promise (2024): A vow from the past becomes a present trigger, tightening motive into something personal and urgent.
Death by Midnight (2024): A time-stamped crime pushes pace, where the clock becomes part of the culprit’s design.
The Woman in the Attic (2024): A hidden-person premise drives tension, where what’s concealed turns into a living threat.
Playing with Fire (2024): A case shaped by risk-taking escalates quickly, where one decision triggers the next disaster.
Murder in Twilight Cove (2024): A coastal setting becomes a pressure chamber, where access and secrecy are in constant conflict.
Under the Mask (2025): Identity manipulation returns as a core engine, forcing Dean to prove who someone is, not just what they did.
Hidden Intentions (2025): A motive-first mystery sharpens, where the “why” is more dangerous than the “how.”
The Great Betrayal (2025): A relationship fracture becomes plot fuel, where trust collapses in the middle of an active case.

Continuity note (reader-reported): Some readers report a soft handoff feel between an Emma Griffin entry and the early Dean Steele books. Treat that as optional unless your editions explicitly label a crossover.

Detective Riley Quinn: Pine Brooke Mystery

The Girls in Pine Brooke (2024): Riley Quinn’s first Pine Brooke case sets the small-town baseline, where missing girls expose what the town tolerates.
Murder in the Pines (2024): A new death forces Riley to test early assumptions, where local familiarity becomes a blind spot.
Strangers in the Pines (2024): Outsiders and secrets collide, expanding the suspect pool while shrinking who can be trusted.
Shadows in the Pines (2025): Long-cast shadows become the case itself, where history starts acting like motive.
Letters in the Pines (2025): Messages and meaning drive the mystery, where what’s written matters as much as what’s done.
Watched in the Pines (2025): Surveillance and fear shape behavior, turning ordinary life into evidence.
Betrayal in the Pines (2025): A trust-break shifts stakes, where alliances become liabilities mid-case.
Secrets in the Pines (2025): A buried truth resurfaces, forcing Riley to reopen what others wanted closed.
Darkness in the Pines (2026): A heavier case pushes the series into higher tension, where the town’s “dark” stops being metaphor.

Juniper Springs Mystery

The Girl in Juniper Springs (2025): A new arrival and a new case establish the town’s tone, where charm sits beside danger.
The New Girl (2025): A fresh face becomes the mystery’s hinge, where attention turns into threat.
The Search (2025): A missing-person drive tightens momentum, where time pressure shapes every choice.
The Surprise (2025): An unexpected event triggers a case, where the shock is only the opening move.
The Secret (2025): A hidden truth becomes motive, where protecting the secret creates the crime.
The Chase (2025): Pursuit takes center stage, where the town’s geography becomes a tool.
The Last Girl (2025): Stakes rise around vulnerability, where preventing the “last” becomes the urgent goal.
The Return (2026): A comeback reopens old tensions, where what returns isn’t just a person, it’s unfinished trouble.

Also commonly listed as upcoming in 2026:

The Trail (2026): A new case pivots around what’s found off the beaten path, where “the trail” becomes both clue and danger line.

(Because release dates can shift between storefronts, treat upcoming placements as provisional until your retailer marks them released.)

Bella Walker FBI Mystery (with Thomas York)

The Girl in Paradise (2023): A travel setting becomes a crime container, where beauty and danger share the same frame.
Murder on the Sea (2023): A seaborne case tightens suspects into a smaller circle, where escape is harder than it looks.
The Last Aloha (2023): The trilogy closes with higher stakes, where the final truth forces a decisive end.

Sarah Cross FBI Mystery Thriller (listed for 2026)

The Girl in the Hills (2026): A new FBI lead enters through a hill-country case, where the landscape hides evidence and intent.
Buried in the Hills (2026): The follow-up deepens the threat, where what’s buried becomes the main clue source.
Bones in the Hills (2026): The third entry leans into forensic payoff, where remains finally force the story into the open.

(This is a new lane, treat Book 1 as the correct starting point.)

Standalone novels (separate continuity)

Gone Woman (2019): A disappearance-driven thriller where the calm surface of a small town breaks under what’s been quietly concealed.
Edge of the Woods (2020): A long-echoing disappearance pulls the present into the past, where returning to the woods means reopening the damage.

Date note: You may see different years depending on edition and format; the ordering above reflects commonly listed first-publication timing.

Latest release status (what’s newest)

Emma Griffin FBI Mystery: titles listed through 2026 (including The Girl on the Outside).
Ava James FBI Mystery: titles listed through 2026 (including The Last Hunt).
Detective Riley Quinn: Pine Brooke: a 2026 entry is listed (Darkness in the Pines).
Juniper Springs Mystery: 2026 entries are listed (The Return, and The Trail commonly shown as upcoming).
Sarah Cross FBI Mystery Thriller: a 2026 trilogy is listed (Books 1-3).

FAQs

Do I have to read the Emma Griffin books in order?
If you care about character history and recurring relationships, yes. The cases change, but Emma’s arc stacks.

Are the Retro books required?
They’re best treated as optional unless your editions explicitly position them as mandatory.

What if I only want to try one book and stop?
Pick the Book 1 that matches your preferred lane: The Girl in Cabin 13 (Emma), The Woman at the Masked Gala / Ava James and the Ivy Grove (Ava), The Woman in the Woods (Dean), The Girls in Pine Brooke (Riley), or The Girl in Juniper Springs (Juniper Springs).

Are there crossovers between series?
Some readers report soft connective tissue between certain arcs, but the safest assumption is separate continuity unless your edition labels an official crossover.

Bottom line

Choose the lead you want to follow, then read that series straight through in publication order. For most readers, the cleanest start is The Girl in Cabin 13 (2019), and the cleanest “short commitment” start is The Girls in Pine Brooke (2024).

Frank

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Frank is the editor of BookSeries.blog, focusing on publication order, chronological timelines, and spoiler-free reading guides for book series and fictional universes.