| Order | Cover | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cat and Mouse series | |||
| 1 |  |
Satan’s Affair | 2021[6] |
| 2 |  |
Haunting Adeline | 2021[7] |
| 3 |  |
Hunting Adeline | 2022[8] |
| 4 |  |
Where’s Molly | 2024[9] |
| 5 |  |
Phantom | 2025[10] |
| Hollow Graves Duet series | |||
| 1 |  |
My Dreadful Darling | 2026[11] |
| 2 |  |
My Darling Reverie | |
| Standalone books | |||
| 1 |  |
Shallow River | 2020[12] |
| 2 |  |
Does It Hurt? | 2022[13] |
| 3 |  |
Dissent | 2022[14] |
| 4 |  |
Heartless Heroes | 2022[15] |
| 5 |  |
The Love Archives: Bonus Scenes & Excerpts for Palestine | 2024[3] |
| 6 |  |
The Love Archives: Bonus Scenes & Excerpts Vol Two | 2024[4] |
Cat and Mouse series
It’s recommended to read the Cat and Mouse books in publication order,[6-10] which differs from their chronological order. Readers who include the connected books should start with Satan’s Affair, because it introduces Sibby before her later appearances and establishes events that overlap with Haunting Adeline.[16-20]
Haunting Adeline and Hunting Adeline form the principal narrative, following Addie and Zade through an ongoing relationship and conflict with a trafficking network. The second novel continues unresolved events from the first, making their sequence necessary rather than a matter of preference.[16-17]
Satan’s Affair, Where’s Molly, and Phantom follow connected characters and earlier events. The publication order is the preferred reading order because it introduces Sibby before her later appearances and places the other expansions after the stories they illuminate.[16-20]
Publication order
It’s recommended to read the Cat and Mouse books in publication order,[6-10] because the series introduces connected characters and overlapping events across its installments, by following this sequence:[16-20]
| Order | Cover | Title | First published | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | Satan’s Affair | 2021[6] | Introduces Sibby and provides her perspective on events that later overlap with Haunting Adeline. |
| 2 | | Haunting Adeline | 2021[7] | Begins Addie and Zade’s story and the mystery surrounding Parsons Manor. |
| 3 | | Hunting Adeline | 2022[8] | Continues the plot of Haunting Adeline. |
| 4 | | Where’s Molly | 2024[9] | Expands the story behind Molly’s journal after her connection is established in Hunting Adeline. |
| 5 | | Phantom | 2025[10] | Returns to Gigi and Ronaldo’s 1940s story after their history is introduced through Addie’s investigation. |
Chronological order
Phantom occupies the earliest chronological position, while Satan’s Affair and Haunting Adeline overlap rather than forming a simple before-and-after pair. Where’s Molly contains both earlier events and a 2022 present-day storyline, so its exact position relative to the main novels cannot be established.[16-20]
Chronology is more useful for understanding relationships between the books than as a first-time reading route. It moves Gigi and Ronaldo’s story ahead of Addie’s investigation and accounts for the overlap between Sibby and Zade’s perspectives.[16-20]
Alternatively, the Cat and Mouse books may be read in chronological order by following this sequence:[16-20]
| Order | Cover | Title | First published | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | Phantom | 2025[10] | Set in 1944–1946, long before the present-day stories. |
| 2 | | Satan’s Affair | 2021[6] | Begins before and later overlaps events depicted in Haunting Adeline. |
| 3 | | Haunting Adeline | 2021[7] | Shares its haunted-fair episode with Satan’s Affair and precedes Hunting Adeline. |
| 4 | | Hunting Adeline | 2022[8] | Continues Haunting Adeline and includes a later stage of Sibby’s story. |
| Where’s Molly | 2024[9] | Its 2022 storyline lacks a precise position relative to the other novels. |
Works in sequence
Haunting Adeline and Hunting Adeline are required for the principal narrative. Satan’s Affair, Where’s Molly, and Phantom expand characters, events, and history connected to that storyline without being required to follow Addie and Zade’s central arc.[16-20]
1. Satan’s Affair
Satan’s Affair (2021)[6] follows Sibby, who hides inside a traveling Halloween attraction and believes she can identify evil visitors by scent. Her life with five protective henchmen is interwoven with memories of the religious cult she escaped.[18]
This book establishes Sibby’s perspective and her connection with Zade, adding background for her appearances in the later books. Its fair episode overlaps Haunting Adeline rather than taking place entirely before it.[18]
2. Haunting Adeline
Haunting Adeline (2021)[7] follows author Addie Reilly as she inherits Parsons Manor, investigates her great-grandmother’s diaries, and becomes the target of a stalker. Her discoveries about the house develop alongside Zade’s campaign against a trafficking network.[16]
The novel establishes the central relationship, the family-history mystery, and the unresolved conflicts that carry into Hunting Adeline.[16]
3. Hunting Adeline
Hunting Adeline (2022)[8] follows Addie and Zade as their conflict with the trafficking network becomes a struggle for survival and recovery. The focus extends beyond pursuit and confrontation to the effects of trauma on their relationship.[17]
It supplies the second half of the principal narrative, carrying the earlier novel’s unresolved crisis into its aftermath rather than introducing an independent storyline.[17]
4. Where’s Molly
Where’s Molly (2024)[9] centers on Molly Devereaux, a trafficking survivor living under another identity on a Montana pig farm. Alternating timelines connect her present relationship with Cage Everhart to her escape, separation from her sister, and efforts to rebuild her life.[19]
Molly’s story expands the journal connection in Hunting Adeline, but its separate protagonists and central relationship make it independently readable.[19]
5. Phantom
Phantom (2025)[10] follows Genevieve “Gigi” Parsons and Ronaldo Capello as their secret relationship develops in 1940s Seattle. Her troubled marriage and his Mafia obligations shape a story centered on the earlier inhabitants of Parsons Manor.[20]
This historical expansion develops the relationship that Addie encounters through family records in Haunting Adeline. Although it occurs earlier, reading it after the other novels preserves the progression from Addie’s investigation to Gigi’s own story.[20]
Hollow Graves Duet series
The Hollow Graves Duet series comprises two books.[1]
| Order | Cover | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
My Dreadful Darling | 2026[11] |
| 2 |
|
My Darling Reverie |
1. My Dreadful Darling
My Dreadful Darling was originally published on April 21, 2026.[11]
In My Dreadful Darling, Reverie Adams tries to build a workable life while carrying public association with her father’s serial killings and the trauma of a childhood near drowning. At Hollow Canyon University she presents as ordinary, but a man tied to her past presses her to suffer.
Dreadful Sharpe, a competitive swimmer, focuses on revenge against the family he believes murdered his mother. He targets Reverie with intimidation, treating her as the proxy for that loss and disrupting any chance of stability.
2. My Darling Reverie
It’s unknown when My Darling Reverie will be published.
Standalone books
H. D. Carlton’s standalone books do not need to be read in any particular order because they are self-contained.[21-25] However, they may be read in publication order:[3-4][12-15]
| Order | Cover | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Shallow River | 2020[12] |
| 2 |
|
Does It Hurt? | 2022[13] |
| 3 |
|
Dissent | 2022[14] |
| 4 |
|
Heartless Heroes | 2022[15] |
| 5 |
|
The Love Archives: Bonus Scenes & Excerpts for Palestine | 2024[3] |
| 6 |
|
The Love Archives: Bonus Scenes & Excerpts Vol Two | 2024[4] |
1. Shallow River
Shallow River (2020)[12] follows River, a college student trying to escape her traumatic past, who falls into an increasingly controlling and violent relationship with a wealthy law student named Ryan Fitzgerald. As Ryan’s physical and psychological abuse escalates, River finds an unexpected ally in Mako, a detective and Ryan’s estranged adopted brother, who is simultaneously pursuing a ruthless serial killer operating in their town.[21]
This novel is a self-contained, standalone thriller that explores themes of domestic survival, trauma, and vigilante justice.[21]
2. Does It Hurt?
Does It Hurt? (2022)[13] follows Sawyer Bennett, who goes on the run after killing her abusive brother and assumes a stolen identity in Australia before Enzo Vitale, a vengeful shark researcher she scammed, tracks her down. When a violent storm shipwrecks them on a remote, treacherous island, the pair are forced into an uneasy alliance while housed by a sinister lighthouse keeper with dark secrets of his own.[22]
This novel is a self-contained, standalone dark romance and suspense thriller, exploring themes of trauma, survival, and moral ambiguity through an isolated enemies-to-lovers arc.[22]
3. Dissent
Dissent (2022)[14] is an anthology of 150 short stories, each one written by a different author or pair of authors. H. D. Carlton contributed the short story Hide & Seek.
Hide & Seek follows Adeline, a writer alone in a secluded manor during a severe storm, who engages in an intense and dark game of cat-and-mouse with her fiancé, an obsessive killer named Zade. As Zade pursues and restrains her throughout the shadowed house, Adeline must navigate her intense trauma responses and the frightening, inexplicable presence of hostile spirits that seem to haunt the property.[23]
This short story focuses on the complex, dominant power dynamic and extreme consent games between its two lead characters within a single night.[23]
4. Heartless Heroes
Heartless Heroes (2022)[15] is another anthology, this one comprising seventeen stories, each written by a different author or pair of authors. H. D. Carlton contributed What Lies Between Us.[24]
What Lies Between Us follows Echo de Luca, a student at an isolated university housed in a former asylum in New Orleans, who is shunned by his peers and accused of murdering his girlfriend, Leighton Mason. As Echo navigates the campus hostility, he forms an intense, volatile relationship with Leighton’s twin brother, Link, while the two unravel hidden secrets about Leighton’s death and a sinister presence stalking the school’s secret passage.[24]
This short story is a completely self-contained, standalone psychological thriller and dark romance that explores themes of trauma, guilt, and toxic obsession.[24]
5. The Love Archives: Bonus Scenes & Excerpts for Palestine
The Love Archives: Bonus Scenes & Excerpts for Palestine (2024)[3] is a collection of short stories, each written by a different author. H. D. Carlton contributed Puzzle Pieces.[25]
Puzzle Pieces centers on Adeline, a woman haunted by terrifying nightmares of a man named Xavier, and Zade, the partner who helps ground her through intense physical and psychological intimacy following a panic attack. As Adeline grapples with lingering trauma and feelings of dirtiness, Zade employs a personal grounding technique inspired by his own childhood night terrors, combining sensual dominance with intense emotional reassurance to help her reclaim a sense of control over her body.[25]
This self-contained story focuses on the complex interplay between trauma recovery, dynamic ownership, and hyper-specific intimacy.[25]
6. The Love Archives: Bonus Scenes & Excerpts Vol Two
The Love Archives: Bonus Scenes & Excerpts Vol Two (2024)[4] is a collection of short stories, each written by a different author, including one by H. D. Carlton.
References
- Hollow Graves Duet (2 book series) Kindle Edition. Amazon.com.
- Library. H. D. Carlton.
- The Love Archives: Bonus Scenes & Excerpts for Palestine. Copyright page. ISBN: 9788334757998.
- The Love Archives: Bonus Scenes & Excerpts Vol Two. Copyright page. ISBN: 9788334757929.
- Phantom is LIVE! H. D. Carlton.
- Satan’s Affair. H. D. Carlton. Copyright page. ISBN: 9781957635064.
- Haunting Adeline. H. D. Carlton. Copyright page. ISBN: 9798454848842.
- Hunting Adeline. H. D. Carlton. Copyright page. ISBN: 9781957635019.
- Where’s Molly. H. D. Carlton. Copyright page. ISBN: 9781957635156.
- Phantom: 9781957635248: Carlton, H. D.: Books. Amazon.com.
- My Dreadful Darling (Hollow Graves Duet): 9781957635279: H. D. Carlton: Books. Amazon.com.
- Shallow River. H. D. Carlton. Copyright page. ISBN: 9788763549218.
- Does It Hurt? H. D. Carlton. Copyright page. ISBN: 9781957635033.
- Dissent. Kennedy Fox Books, LLC. Copyright page.
- Heartless Heroes: A Dark Romance Anthology: 9798843932374: Hallman, C., Beck, J.L., Roberts, Sahara, Pulitano, Dori, Jesus, Sonya, Carlton, H. D., Wrights, D.S., Miller, Elizabeth: Books. Amazon.com.
- Haunting Adeline. H. D. Carlton. ISBN: 9781957635002.
- Hunting Adeline. H. D. Carlton. ISBN: 9781957635019.
- Satan’s Affair. H. D. Carlton. ISBN: 9781957635064.
- Where’s Molly. H. D. Carlton. ISBN: 9781957635156.
- Phantom. H. D. Carlton. ISBN: 9781957635248.
- Shallow River. H. D. Carlton. ISBN: 9781957635200.
- Does It Hurt? H. D. Carlton. ISBN: 9781957635033.
- Dissent. Kennedy Fox Books, LLC. Hide & Seek.
- Heartless Heroes. What Lies Between Us. ISBN: 9798843932374.
- The Love Archives: Bonus Scenes & Excerpts for Palestine. Puzzle Pieces. ISBN: 9788334757998.