Leanna Renee Hieber is an American author of Gothic fantasy, gaslamp fantasy, supernatural suspense, young adult fiction, novellas, and paranormal nonfiction.
Her bibliography looks more complicated than it is because several series occupy related versions of Victorian and turn-of-the-century supernatural history. Characters from Strangely Beautiful and Magic Most Foul appear in The Eterna Files, while The Spectral City takes the broader paranormal world into 1899 New York.
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These connections matter, but they do not turn every Hieber novel into one numbered saga.
The best approach is to read each series in publication order, then use the crossover sequence if you want the fullest version of her shared Gothic world.
The Most Useful Reading Order
For readers who want Hieber’s major interconnected historical fantasy in a sensible progression, use:
- Strangely Beautiful
- Perilous Prophecy
- Miss Violet and the Great War
- Darker Still
- The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart
- The Double Life of Incorporate Things
- The Eterna Files
- Eterna and Omega
- The Eterna Solution
- The Spectral City
- A Sanctuary of Spirits
- A Summoning of Souls
This is a recommended crossover route, not one official twelve-book series.
Strangely Beautiful, Magic Most Foul, The Eterna Files, and The Spectral City retain their own series identities.
Strangely Beautiful Books in Order
The current author-preferred editions make this series much easier to collect than the original releases did.
Read:
- Strangely Beautiful
- Perilous Prophecy
- Miss Violet and the Great War
There is also a related novella:
- A Christmas Carroll
The current three-book form requires an edition explanation.
Strangely Beautiful
The modern Strangely Beautiful volume combines two novels that were originally published separately:
- The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker
- The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker
Hieber later revised them and reunited them as Strangely Beautiful, restoring what she describes as her original vision for the story.
New readers do not need to buy the two older books separately if they own the revised Strangely Beautiful edition.
Status: Current preferred edition combining the original Books 1 and 2.
Original Strangely Beautiful Publication Order
Collectors using the older editions will encounter:
- The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker (2009)
- The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker (2010)
- A Christmas Carroll (2010, novella)
- The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess (2011)
- Miss Violet and the Great War (2019)
The current titles simplify this substantially.
The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess was revised and reissued as Perilous Prophecy.
Where Does Perilous Prophecy Go?
Perilous Prophecy takes place before Percy’s story.
It is set primarily in the 1860s and explores an earlier generation of the Guard.
That makes the internal chronology:
- Perilous Prophecy
- Strangely Beautiful
- Miss Violet and the Great War
For a first reading, however, publication logic works better:
- Strangely Beautiful
- Perilous Prophecy
- Miss Violet and the Great War
The prequel gains meaning after readers already understand the Guard and the mythology surrounding Percy.
Recommended position: After Strangely Beautiful.
A Christmas Carroll
A Christmas Carroll is a Strangely Beautiful novella centered on Headmistress Rebecca Thompson and Vicar Michael Carroll.
In the older numbering it was identified as Strangely Beautiful 2.5.
Readers using the current combined edition can place it after Strangely Beautiful.
A practical order is:
- Strangely Beautiful
- A Christmas Carroll
- Perilous Prophecy
- Miss Violet and the Great War
Status: Optional related novella.
Miss Violet and the Great War
Miss Violet and the Great War was published in 2019.
It follows Violet Rychman, daughter of Percy and Alexi, during World War I.
Although Tor describes it as an adventure that can stand on its own, it carries considerably more emotional and family context after the earlier Strangely Beautiful material.
Recommended position: Last in the Strangely Beautiful saga.
Magic Most Foul Books in Order
Magic Most Foul is Hieber’s Gothic young adult trilogy set in 1880 New York.
Read:
- Darker Still (2011)
- The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart (2012)
- The Double Life of Incorporate Things
This is a continuous trilogy.
Natalie Stewart and Lord Denbury remain central across the books, and the supernatural conflict develops directly from one volume to the next.
Darker Still
Darker Still: A Novel of Magic Most Foul begins the trilogy.
Natalie becomes involved with a mysterious portrait of Lord Denbury and discovers that something much darker than an ordinary painting is involved.
Status: Required Book 1.
The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart
The second novel continues Natalie’s story.
It assumes the outcome of Darker Still, so it should not be used as an entry point.
Status: Required Book 2.
The Double Life of Incorporate Things
This is the third and concluding Magic Most Foul novel.
It was initially serialized by Hieber before becoming available as a complete book.
Status: Required Book 3 and trilogy finale.
Are Magic Most Foul and Strangely Beautiful Connected?
Yes, but they remain separate series.
Hieber’s own bibliography notes that characters from both Strangely Beautiful and Magic Most Foul appear in The Eterna Files.
The historical periods also overlap closely enough for the crossover to feel natural.
You do not need to read Strangely Beautiful before Darker Still, or vice versa.
If you plan to read The Eterna Files and want to recognize its returning characters, reading both earlier series first provides the fullest context.
The Eterna Files Books in Order
The Eterna Files is a complete gaslamp fantasy trilogy.
Read:
- The Eterna Files
- Eterna and Omega
- The Eterna Solution
These novels should remain in publication order.
The Eterna Files
The first novel is set in 1882 and follows competing American and British efforts to investigate the mysterious Eterna Compound and paranormal threats surrounding it.
It introduces the principal Eterna and Omega teams.
Status: Required Book 1.
Eterna and Omega
The second novel directly continues the investigation.
Characters and political tensions established in The Eterna Files carry forward.
Status: Required Book 2.
The Eterna Solution
The Eterna Solution concludes the trilogy.
It brings the American Eterna Commission and British Omega Department into the culminating conflict.
Status: Required Book 3 and series finale.
The Spark
The Spark is an Eterna Files prequel novella.
Despite its earlier position in the fictional timeline, it is not necessary before the first novel.
For new readers:
- The Eterna Files
- Eterna and Omega
- The Eterna Solution
- The Spark
This protects the introductory role of the main trilogy.
Status: Optional prequel.
Should You Read Strangely Beautiful and Magic Most Foul Before The Eterna Files?
It is helpful, but not mandatory.
The Eterna Files has its own central cast and plot.
However, Hieber explicitly identifies cameo appearances from Strangely Beautiful and Magic Most Foul characters.
Readers who enjoy recognizing returning characters should use:
- Strangely Beautiful
- Magic Most Foul
- The Eterna Files
Readers interested only in Eterna can begin directly with The Eterna Files.
The Spectral City Books in Order
The Spectral City is a complete supernatural mystery trilogy set in 1899 New York.
Read:
- The Spectral City (2018)
- A Sanctuary of Spirits (2019)
- A Summoning of Souls (2020)
The central character is Eve Whitby, a young medium working with New York City’s secret Ghost Precinct.
This is one of Hieber’s clearest linear sequences.
The Spectral City
The first novel introduces Eve, her ghostly allies, and the paranormal investigative unit helping the New York police.
Status: Required Book 1.
A Sanctuary of Spirits
The second novel continues Eve’s supernatural investigations and relationships.
Read it after The Spectral City.
Status: Required Book 2.
A Summoning of Souls
The third novel concludes the principal Spectral City trilogy.
It brings the tensions in the spirit world and the Ghost Precinct’s conflicts to a culmination.
Status: Required Book 3 and trilogy finale.
Is The Spectral City Connected to Hieber’s Earlier Victorian Series?
Yes.
It belongs to the broader supernatural historical world Hieber has developed across several series.
However, it is set later, in 1899, and introduces Eve Whitby and the Ghost Precinct as its central focus.
Readers can begin with The Spectral City without completing every earlier trilogy.
For a more expansive shared-world read, save it until after The Eterna Files.
The Spirit Suitor Books in Order
Hieber later returned to the Spectral City setting through a novella trilogy.
Read:
- The Spirit Suitor
- Enchanting the Exorcist
- To Haunt and to Hold
The three novellas are also available together as The Spirit Suitor collection.
These stories shift attention to ghost Maggie Hathorn and Reverend Coronado.
Status: Continuation of the Spectral City world.
Where Does The Spirit Suitor Go?
Read the original Spectral City trilogy first:
- The Spectral City
- A Sanctuary of Spirits
- A Summoning of Souls
- The Spirit Suitor
- Enchanting the Exorcist
- To Haunt and to Hold
The collected Spirit Suitor edition can replace the final three individual novellas.
Dark Nest Chronicles Books in Order
The Dark Nest Chronicles move far away from Hieber’s Victorian gaslamp fantasy and into psychic space opera.
Read:
- Dark Nest
- Dark Nest: Reckoning
- Dark Nest: Song of Saire
The three are also available together as The Dark Nest Chronicles.
This is a genuine trilogy.
Status: Complete.
Is Dark Nest Connected to Time Immemorial?
Yes.
Hieber identifies Time Immemorial as a return to the world of the Dark Nest trilogy.
Readers interested in the complete connected sequence should therefore read Dark Nest first.
Time Immemorial Books in Order
The Time Immemorial saga combines timeslip fiction, psychic abilities, historical settings, and space opera.
Read:
- Time Immemorial
- Time Inescapable
- Time Indivisible
These novellas follow Elizabeth Marlowe through multiple simultaneous lives in different eras.
The storyline includes the Iron Age, Victorian Britain, World War II, and a far-future spacefaring setting.
Recommended Dark Nest and Time Immemorial Order
For the connected sequence:
- Dark Nest
- Dark Nest: Reckoning
- Dark Nest: Song of Saire
- Time Immemorial
- Time Inescapable
- Time Indivisible
This preserves the publication relationship between the two series.
Blackthorn and Amberfire Duology
Hieber also wrote a fantasy-romance novella duology set outside her Victorian Gothic series.
Read:
- Blackthorn and Amberfire
- Burningwood and Devilsbane
The first novella introduces the Three Courts of Allforth and the relationship between Blackthorn and Roseleigh.
The second continues the fantasy-romance storyline.
Status: Separate continuity.
Is Blackthorn and Amberfire Connected to Strangely Beautiful?
No confirmed connection places the Allforth books inside Hieber’s Victorian supernatural world.
Treat the duology as its own fantasy setting.
The World of Tomorrow Is Sadly Outdated
The World of Tomorrow Is Sadly Outdated is a standalone novella.
It combines two versions of New York City, one in 1889 and another in 2089.
Hieber later issued a revised and expanded edition.
It is not a missing Eterna Files or Spectral City installment.
Status: Standalone.
Other Leanna Renee Hieber Short Fiction
Hieber has published a large body of shorter fiction in anthologies and as individual releases.
Notable works include:
- Too Fond
- The World of Tomorrow Is Sadly Outdated
- The Spark
- A Christmas Carroll
- Die Ravanche
Some connect directly to established series. Others stand alone.
For a series-focused reading order, only A Christmas Carroll, The Spark, and the Spectral City continuation novellas need to be placed around the novels.
Too Fond
Too Fond is a Victorian ghost story originally published as short fiction.
It does not need to be inserted into Strangely Beautiful, Magic Most Foul, or The Eterna Files.
Status: Standalone short fiction.
Leanna Renee Hieber Nonfiction Books
Hieber also writes paranormal history with Andrea Janes.
These books belong outside her fictional continuities.
Read them in publication order if you want to follow the authors’ developing approach to American ghost lore:
- A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America’s Ghosts (2022)
- America’s Most Gothic: Haunted History Stranger Than Fiction (2025)
They do not require knowledge of Hieber’s novels.
A Haunted History of Invisible Women
Co-written with Andrea Janes, this nonfiction book examines American ghost stories with particular attention to the women behind the legends.
Status: Nonfiction.
It was Hieber’s first major book-length nonfiction project.
America’s Most Gothic
America’s Most Gothic: Haunted History Stranger Than Fiction was published September 30, 2025.
Again co-written with Andrea Janes, it examines real history behind Gothic motifs, hauntings, legends, buildings, landscapes, and cultural fears.
Status: Nonfiction.
As of August 8, 2026, this is Hieber’s newest traditionally published book.
Leanna Renee Hieber’s Fictional Worlds Explained
Most confusion disappears if her books are divided into five larger groups.
Victorian and Turn-of-the-Century Gothic World
This includes:
- Strangely Beautiful
- Magic Most Foul
- The Eterna Files
- The Spectral City
- The Spirit Suitor novellas
These series contain the strongest character and world connections.
Psychic Space Opera and Timeslip World
This includes:
- Dark Nest Chronicles
- Time Immemorial
These two series are explicitly connected.
Allforth Fantasy
This includes:
- Blackthorn and Amberfire
- Burningwood and Devilsbane
Separate continuity.
Standalone Speculative Fiction
Examples include:
- The World of Tomorrow Is Sadly Outdated
- Too Fond
Paranormal Nonfiction
- A Haunted History of Invisible Women
- America’s Most Gothic
These are nonfiction and should not be mixed into fictional chronology.
Full Recommended Victorian Shared-World Order
For readers who want the most coherent tour through Hieber’s historical supernatural fiction, this is the best balance between publication order and crossover recognition:
Strangely Beautiful
- Strangely Beautiful
- A Christmas Carroll (optional)
- Perilous Prophecy
- Miss Violet and the Great War
Magic Most Foul
- Darker Still
- The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart
- The Double Life of Incorporate Things
The Eterna Files
- The Eterna Files
- Eterna and Omega
- The Eterna Solution
- The Spark (optional)
The Spectral City
- The Spectral City
- A Sanctuary of Spirits
- A Summoning of Souls
Spectral City Continuation
- The Spirit Suitor
- Enchanting the Exorcist
- To Haunt and to Hold
This route is recommended rather than mandatory.
Each trilogy introduces its own principal story.
Could You Read the Victorian Books Chronologically Instead?
Yes, but it is not the best route for a first read.
The fictional timeline begins earlier with Perilous Prophecy, then moves through the 1880s material, later Victorian stories, and eventually World War I.
However, prequels and later-written stories often assume that readers already know concepts introduced in publication order.
Chronological rearrangement may reduce some of the mystery surrounding the Guard, its history, and returning characters.
For a new reader, publication-based series order is safer.
Recommended Order for Strangely Beautiful
Use:
- Strangely Beautiful
- A Christmas Carroll (optional)
- Perilous Prophecy
- Miss Violet and the Great War
Do not begin with Perilous Prophecy simply because it happens earlier.
Recommended Order for Magic Most Foul
Use:
- Darker Still
- The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart
- The Double Life of Incorporate Things
This trilogy is linear.
Recommended Order for The Eterna Files
Use:
- The Eterna Files
- Eterna and Omega
- The Eterna Solution
- The Spark (optional)
The prequel can wait until after the trilogy.
Recommended Order for The Spectral City
Use:
- The Spectral City
- A Sanctuary of Spirits
- A Summoning of Souls
- The Spirit Suitor
- Enchanting the Exorcist
- To Haunt and to Hold
Where Should a New Reader Start?
For Hieber’s central Gothic fantasy world, Strangely Beautiful is the broadest starting point.
Its revised edition gives readers both original Percy Parker novels in one volume and establishes supernatural ideas and characters that echo through later books.
Readers who prefer young adult Gothic mystery can start with Darker Still.
For paranormal crime and ghost investigations, The Spectral City is also a valid independent entry point.
Latest Leanna Renee Hieber Book
As of August 8, 2026, Hieber’s newest traditionally published book is:
America’s Most Gothic: Haunted History Stranger Than Fiction
It was published September 30, 2025 and was co-written with Andrea Janes.
It is nonfiction rather than a novel.
Latest Fiction
Hieber continues to publish shorter digital and audiobook fiction in addition to her traditionally published books.
Her current fiction catalog includes the Spectral City follow-up Spirit Suitor novella trilogy, the connected Time Immemorial sequence, and the two-part Allforth fantasy-romance story beginning with Blackthorn and Amberfire.
No newer traditionally published full-length Hieber novel with a firmly confirmed publication date was identified for this August 8, 2026 update.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Leanna Renee Hieber book should I read first?
Start with Strangely Beautiful if you want her central Victorian gaslamp fantasy.
It is the current revised edition combining her first two Percy Parker novels.
Is Strangely Beautiful one book or two books?
Both answers appear in bibliographies because of the publishing history.
The current Strangely Beautiful edition combines and revises:
- The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker
- The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker
New readers can simply buy Strangely Beautiful.
What happened to The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker?
It became part of the revised Strangely Beautiful volume.
It does not need to be purchased separately if you own the newer edition.
Is Perilous Prophecy a prequel?
Yes.
It takes place before the main Percy Parker story.
For a first reading, however, read Strangely Beautiful first.
What order are the Magic Most Foul books?
Read:
- Darker Still
- The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart
- The Double Life of Incorporate Things
Is Magic Most Foul connected to Strangely Beautiful?
Yes, through Hieber’s broader Victorian paranormal world.
However, they remain separate series and can initially be read independently.
What order are The Eterna Files books?
Read:
- The Eterna Files
- Eterna and Omega
- The Eterna Solution
Is The Spark Book 1 of The Eterna Files?
It is a prequel novella, but it is not the recommended first read.
Begin with The Eterna Files.
Do characters from Hieber’s earlier series appear in The Eterna Files?
Yes.
Characters from Strangely Beautiful and Magic Most Foul make appearances.
That is why readers interested in the full shared world benefit from reading those series first.
What order are The Spectral City books?
Read:
- The Spectral City
- A Sanctuary of Spirits
- A Summoning of Souls
Then continue with the Spirit Suitor novellas.
Is The Spectral City trilogy complete?
Yes.
A Summoning of Souls is the third principal novel.
Hieber later continued the setting through shorter fiction.
What comes after A Summoning of Souls?
The Spirit Suitor novella sequence continues the Spectral City world:
- The Spirit Suitor
- Enchanting the Exorcist
- To Haunt and to Hold
Are Dark Nest and Time Immemorial connected?
Yes.
Hieber identifies Time Immemorial as a return to the Dark Nest world.
Read the Dark Nest trilogy first.
What order are the Dark Nest books?
Read:
- Dark Nest
- Dark Nest: Reckoning
- Dark Nest: Song of Saire
What order are the Time Immemorial books?
Read:
- Time Immemorial
- Time Inescapable
- Time Indivisible
Is Blackthorn and Amberfire part of the Victorian books?
No confirmed continuity connection places it there.
It begins a separate fantasy-romance duology.
What comes after Blackthorn and Amberfire?
Burningwood and Devilsbane.
What is Leanna Renee Hieber’s newest book?
Her newest traditionally published book as of August 8, 2026 is America’s Most Gothic: Haunted History Stranger Than Fiction, co-written with Andrea Janes.
It was published September 30, 2025.
Where the Series Fit Together
Leanna Renee Hieber’s bibliography is easiest to understand as several connected houses rather than one enormous hallway.
Strangely Beautiful, Magic Most Foul, The Eterna Files, and The Spectral City share enough characters and supernatural history that reading them in that general progression rewards returning readers. They should still remain separately numbered series.
Dark Nest and Time Immemorial form another connected branch, while Blackthorn and Amberfire begins a separate fantasy setting.
For the broadest first experience, begin with the revised Strangely Beautiful. It establishes Hieber’s signature Gothic world without requiring readers to untangle the older edition history before the story begins.
Frank is the editor of BookSeries.blog, focusing on publication order, chronological timelines, and spoiler-free reading guides for book series and fictional universes.