Dana Marton Books in Order (Updated June 12, 2026)

Dana Marton writes romantic suspense, action-adventure romance, fantasy romance, and historical fiction under the Marta Molnar name. Her catalog is not one single continuity, so the best reading order depends on which side of her work you want first.

For most new readers, the best starting point is Deathwatch. It begins Broslin Creek, Marton’s strongest self-contained romantic suspense entry point.

For strict publication order, begin with Shadow Soldier. That starts the early SDDU sequence.

Fast Route for New Readers

Use this route if you want the clearest path without reading every early Harlequin-connected book first:

1. Broslin Creek
2. Civilian Personnel Recovery Unit
3. Mission Recovery
4. Agents Under Fire
5. Hardstorm Saga if you want fantasy romance
6. SDDU, Mission: Redemption, Protecting/Defending the Crown, and HQ: Texas as earlier category-romance suspense

This keeps the major connected worlds intact and avoids mixing unrelated publisher lines into one false timeline.

Broslin Creek Books in Order

Broslin Creek is the best place to start if you want Dana Marton’s romantic suspense at its most accessible. Read it in series order, not original publication order, because Deathscape was released before Deathwatch but is listed as Book 2.

1. Deathwatch (2013): Kate Bridges is the only person who can identify a notorious hit man, and Murph becomes the soldier standing between her and death.
2. Deathscape (2012): Artist Ashley Price begins painting visions of the dead after a near-death experience, then recognizes one scene as a real man buried alive.
3. Deathtrap (2013): Heart-transplant recipient Sophie Curtis is pulled out of her protected life when a dangerous case forces her into the real world.
4. Deathblow (2013): Small-town cop Joe Kessler faces a case complicated by a troubled single mother, personal danger, and his own limits.
5. Broslin Bride (2014): Luanne Mayfair becomes tangled in a murder at the Mushroom Mile Motel, where suspicion and survival collide.
6. Deathwish (2014): Officer Gabriella Maria Flores needs a clean win for her career, but the murder case she catches only deepens the scandal around her.
7. When You Return to Me (2015): A short Christmas romance about Maggie O’Connor, grief, and a lost love that may not be as finished as she believed.
8. Deathmarch (2021): Allie Bianchi returns to the hometown that rejected her, only to become involved in a murder on the night she arrives.
9. Deathtoll (2021): Kate and Murph return for a later Broslin Creek case, bringing the series back to the couple who launched it.

Civilian Personnel Recovery Unit Books in Order

This series follows rescue and recovery missions in dangerous international settings. Read the three books in order.

1. Forced Disappearance (2014): Investigator Miranda Soto takes her first Civilian Personnel Recovery Unit assignment when an American businessman vanishes in Venezuela.
2. Flash Fire (2015): Clara Roberts investigates a missing American teenager abroad, with the search turning into a fast-moving recovery mission.
3. Girl in the Water (2016): Army veteran Ian Slaney goes to Brazil after his best friend disappears, only to find a mission that reaches into grief, danger, and survival.

Mission Recovery Books in Order

Mission Recovery is short but connected by military recovery and post-trauma suspense. Read Silent Threat first.

1. Silent Threat (2018): Former Navy SEAL Cole Makani Hunter returns from a disastrous black-ops mission injured and grieving, then goes undercover at a rehab center.
2. Threat of Danger (2018): Jess Taylor and Derek Daley survived a serial killer’s abduction in their youth, and the danger resurfaces years later with new stakes.

Agents Under Fire Books in Order

Agents Under Fire is a novella trilogy about former Navy SEALs, private security work, a secret FBI mission, and a corrupt politician. The collected edition is optional if you read the three novellas separately.

1. Guardian Agent (2011): Gabe Cannon is sent after a supposed rogue SEAL, but Jasmine Tekla believes her brother has been framed.
2. Avenging Agent (2011): An undercover operative continues the high-risk private-security arc as the team’s mission grows more dangerous.
3. Warrior Agent (2011): Troy Hill moves deeper into the corrupt-politician plot, closing the trilogy’s action thread.
4. Agents Under Fire (2011): A collected edition containing Guardian Agent, Avenging Agent, and Warrior Agent; do not buy it as a separate story if you already own the novellas.

Hardstorm Saga Books in Order

Hardstorm Saga is separate from Marton’s romantic suspense. It is fantasy romance and should be read in order because Tera and Batumar’s story develops across the trilogy.

1. Reluctant Concubine / The Third Scroll (2012 / 2015): Tera is forced into a violent political world, beginning the fantasy arc later reissued under the Reluctant Concubine title.
2. Accidental Sorceress (2015): Tera’s powers and loyalties are tested as she and Batumar travel on a dangerous mission to build alliances.
3. Guardian Queen (2019): Tera and Batumar return for the final struggle to liberate their people and complete the Hardstorm Saga.

SDDU Books in Order

SDDU is Marton’s early Special Designation Defense Unit romantic suspense sequence. These are category romantic suspense titles and are more standalone-friendly, but publication order is still the cleanest route.

1. Shadow Soldier (2004): Alex Rodriguez goes undercover as Nicola Barrington’s bodyguard, only for protection duty to pull him into active danger.
2. Secret Soldier (2005): Jack “Spike” Logan races to stop a terrorist threat while recruiting an academic in the Middle East.
3. The Sheik’s Safety (2005): Dara Alexander hides her identity after saving a Bedouin from attack, creating danger around both her mission and her heart.
4. Camouflage Heart (2005): Brian Welkins escapes captivity in Malaysia, but rescuing fellow hostage Audrey Benedict changes the mission.
5. Rogue Soldier (2006): Former special agent Tessa Nielsen faces danger in the Alaskan wilderness, where survival and trust are both tested.
6. Protective Measures (2006): Congresswoman Kaye Miller receives protection from Daniel DuCharme after a deadly hate-crime threat.
7. 72 Hours (2008): Parker McCall has three days to rescue hostage Kate Hamilton and get them both out alive.
8. Tall, Dark and Lethal (2008): Cade Palmer saves Bailey Preston from an explosion, but the attack is only the beginning of the threat.
9. The Socialite and the Bodyguard (2010): Former commando Nash Wilder takes an unusual bodyguard job involving a socialite, a prized poodle, and more danger than expected.
10. The Spy Who Saved Christmas (2010): Reid Graham returns to Lara Jordan’s life and learns that one night in the past left behind twin daughters.
11. Last Spy Standing (2012): Mitch Mendoza expects a South American rescue mission, but the jungle brings drug runners, natural danger, and Megan Cassidy.
12. Spy Hard (2012): Jase Campbell is deep undercover in a drug lord’s compound when protecting pregnant Melanie Key makes the mission more dangerous.
13. The Spy Wore Spurs (2012): Ryder McKay is shot and left for dead in South Texas, then wakes on Grace Cordero’s remote ranch.

Mission: Redemption Books in Order

Mission: Redemption is a four-book Harlequin Intrigue sequence. It should be read in order because the mission framework is shared.

1. Secret Contract (2007): Agent Nick Tarasov must mentor and protect Carly Jones, whose secretive past makes the assignment harder than expected.
2. Ironclad Cover (2007): FBI agent Brant Law takes on one last case against an international criminal network while working with Anita Caballo.
3. My Bodyguard (2007): Bodyguard Reese Moretti partners with Samantha Hanley on a mission that mixes international danger with personal tension.
4. Intimate Details (2007): Operative Cal Spencer and ex-cop Gina Torno clash over a criminal investigation neither can afford to lose.

Protecting / Defending the Crown Books in Order

This royal romantic suspense sequence is commonly listed as Defending the Crown, while Marton’s own book list uses Protecting the Crown. The reading order is the same either way.

1. Saved by the Monarch (2009): Prince Miklos’s political marriage plan turns dangerous when Judi Marezzi is swept into Valtria’s royal crisis.
2. Royal Protocol (2009): Prince Benedek Kerkay’s search for a suitable royal bride is complicated by opera singer Rayne Williams.
3. Stranded with the Prince (2010): Prince Lazlo is stranded on a remote island with a marriage consultant while killers close in.
4. Royal Captive (2010): Prince Istvan must retrieve the crown he expected to inherit, turning scholarship and royal duty into a chase for survival.

HQ: Texas Books in Order

HQ: Texas is a three-book cowboy-spy romantic suspense sequence. Read these in order.

1. Most Eligible Spy (2013): Moses Mann protects Molly Rogers after her brother’s trouble pulls her into a dangerous spy case.
2. My Spy (2013): Injured soldier Jamie Cassidy starts over in Texas and lands directly in Deputy Sheriff Bree Tridle’s path.
3. Spy in the Saddle (2013): Shep Lewis reunites with a woman from his past while a mission forces old tension and new danger together.

Other Dana Marton Romantic Suspense and Category Titles

These are best treated as standalones or multi-author-world entries unless you are reading every Harlequin Intrigue title in publication order.

1. Undercover Sheik (2006): Dr. Sadie Kaufman is stranded and captured in the desert before Sheik Nasir ibn Ahmad offers protection.
2. Bridal Op (2006): Confidential agent Isabelle Rush is assigned to rescue a kidnapped heiress in South America while navigating a difficult partner.
3. Sheik Seduction (2008): Sara’s businesslike mission is disrupted by Sheik Tariq Abdullah, whose protection and power complicate her choices.
4. Sheik Protector (2008): Sheik Karim Abdullah must protect Julia Gardner, a pregnant woman with a claim tied to his throne.
5. Desert Ice Daddy (2009): Billionaire Akeem Abdul arrives at the McKade ranch and becomes involved when Taylor McKade’s son disappears.
6. The Black Sheep Sheik (2011): Sheik Amir Khalid wakes from a coma in a Wyoming cabin and finds Dr. Isabelle Andrews back in his life.
7. Three Cowboys: Morgan (2012): Ex-soldier Morgan McCabe returns to Texas at Christmas, where family duty and a former flame complicate his homecoming.

Fantasy and Paranormal Standalones

These are separate from the romantic suspense series.

1. Dragon Lord (2018): Einin is sent to a dragon’s cave as a sacrifice, but Draknart is under a curse and offers her a dangerous bargain.
2. Madfall (2018): A two-author dragon-shifter novella collection that includes Marton’s Dragon Lord; treat it as a collection, not a separate required story.

Historical Fiction / Marta Molnar Title

This is separate continuity. It is not part of Broslin Creek, SDDU, or Marton’s romantic suspense reading order.

• The Secret Life of Sunflowers (2022): Published under the Marta Molnar name, this dual-timeline historical novel connects a modern auctioneer with Johanna Bonger, Vincent van Gogh’s sister-in-law.

Nonfiction and Writing Books

These are not part of the fiction reading order.

1. Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction (2011): A multi-author writing guide that includes Marton among the contributors.
2. Guy Food (2015): A multi-author nonfiction / cookbook-style project; it is separate from Marton’s fiction catalog.

Recommended Dana Marton Reading Order

For the best reader experience, use this order:

1. Start with Broslin Creek.
2. Continue with Civilian Personnel Recovery Unit.
3. Read Mission Recovery.
4. Add Agents Under Fire for novella-length romantic suspense.
5. Read Hardstorm Saga if you want fantasy romance.
6. Go back to SDDU, Mission: Redemption, Protecting/Defending the Crown, and HQ: Texas for the earlier category-suspense books.
7. Treat Dragon Lord, The Secret Life of Sunflowers, and nonfiction titles as separate side reading.

This order favors readability over strict publication order. It gives new readers a strong suspense entry point before moving into older category-romance structures and separate fantasy/historical material.

Chronological Order

There is no useful full-universe chronological order for Dana Marton’s books.

Use series order. The books are divided by world, publisher line, and genre rather than by one shared internal timeline.

Latest Release Status

As of this update, the latest Dana Marton-branded romantic suspense release is Deathtoll, Book 8 of Broslin Creek, published in 2021.

Marton’s official book list also includes The Secret Life of Sunflowers from 2022, which belongs to the Marta Molnar historical-fiction side of her work. No firmly confirmed upcoming Dana Marton romantic suspense title was found.

FAQs

What Dana Marton book should I read first?

Start with Deathwatch if you want the best modern romantic suspense entry point. Start with Shadow Soldier only if you want to read by original publication history.

Are Dana Marton’s books connected?

Some are connected within series, but the whole catalog is not one continuous universe. Broslin Creek, SDDU, Mission Recovery, Hardstorm Saga, and the royal/cowboy-spy series should be treated separately.

Should I read Broslin Creek in publication order?

No. Read Deathwatch first, then Deathscape. Deathscape was published earlier, but the series order places Deathwatch as Book 1.

Is Hardstorm Saga connected to Broslin Creek?

No. Hardstorm Saga is fantasy romance and separate from Marton’s romantic suspense worlds.

Is The Secret Life of Sunflowers a Dana Marton book?

It is associated with Dana Marton through the Marta Molnar name, but it is historical fiction and separate from the Dana Marton romantic suspense order.

Do I need to read the boxed sets?

No. Boxed sets and collections are convenient editions, not extra story steps, unless they include a separate novella you do not already own.

Conclusion

For most readers, Deathwatch is the strongest first Dana Marton book. Read the Broslin Creek series in order, then move to Civilian Personnel Recovery Unit and Mission Recovery.

Use Shadow Soldier only if you want the strict early-publication path. Keep the fantasy, historical fiction, novellas, and nonfiction separate so the reading order stays clean.