Bree Taggert Books In Order

Publication Order of Bree Taggert Books

Bree Taggert Series by Melinda Leigh

The Bree Taggert Series, authored by Melinda Leigh, has captured the attention of both critics and readers. A former banker, Ms. Leigh has successfully transitioned to a novelist of note.

Ms. Leigh lives near the beach in a suburban “messy” house with her children and various rescued dogs and cats; they usually takes priority over everything, even her writing. She prefers to write at home, when she has the peace and quiet she needs.

She has earned a Black Belt in Kenpo Karate and form of stick fighting called Arnis, and also Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Her involvement in martial arts lead to her teaching other women self-defense.

Ms. Leigh is known for writing romantic suspense stories. Like all authors, she started with her love of reading which lead to her writing. After living the crazy life as banker, she decided to become a serious writer. When Amazon was rolling out a new romance line, her agent asked if she was interested in writing for Amazon. That launched her highly successful writing career with Amazon.

Since then Ms. Leigh has created ten different series of stories and her books have sold over a ten million copies. She has been nominated for and has been recognized with several writing awards.

The Bree Taggert series by Ms. Leigh introduces the lead character. This series is set in the same area as her Morgan Dane and Scarlet Falls series.

Bree Taggert had been a homicide detective in Philadelphia. After her sister, Erin, is murdered and her sister’s husband, Justin, disappears, she returns to their hometown in upstate New York. Bree becomes the sheriff in Randolph County, taking care of law enforcement business there as well as caring for her sister’s children. Trying to solver her sister’s murder is foremost on her mind.

The return, after twenty-five years, is even more complicated and emotional due to a horrible family history. Bree’s father, an exceedingly sadistic and abusive person, allowed his dogs to attack her leaving her with a life-long deep-seated fear of unknown dogs. Horrifically, Bree and her younger sister and brother had to hide under their front porch to be safe while their father was killing their mother and then killed himself.

Now she is living with her sister’s two children, a rescued cat and even a rescued dog called Ladybug. Her former Philadelphia detective partner, Dana, retired and joined her, helping Bree with the children and is an effective sounding board with this difficult situation and murder case.

The first Bree Taggert story, Cross Her Heart, starts with a graphic flashback of Bree as an eight-year-old on the phone with 911. Her father is insane with rage, beating and choking her mother. Bree is trying to keep her little sister safe and get her brother from his crib so her father does’t hurt him too. They manage to sneak outside and hide under the back porch where they stay until they hear two gunshots.

The parallels between the murder of her mother and the murder of her sister are there. Loud, angry fights between wife and husband, threats of violence, and frightened children. But Bree doesn’t see the evidence adding up against her brother-in-law. She decides to team up with Justin’s friend, Matt, who is a former K-9 handler and sheriff investigator.

More bodies are showing up. Bree isn’t sure if they are related to her sister’s murder and the disappearance of Justin. As she digs into the case, the dangers seem to be hitting closer to home. Bree’s family could be caught again with serious danger.

In See Her Die, Bree Taggert Book 2, Sheriff Bree Taggert becomes the hunter and the hunted. This next offering is filled with revenge, rage, and murder. Sheriff Taggert has been called out to a campground with a reported shooting. The campground has been shuttered for the winter and should, theoretically, be out of bounds.

When she arrives at the campground she is perplexed. There is no victim, dead or alive, no weapon, no blood, nor evidence that a crime has been committed. Except Alyssa.

Alyssa is a homeless teenager who is insisting she saw her friend shot. Bree decides to bring in Matt Flynn and his K-9 to track a supposed killer and Alyssa’s friend. In the iced over Grey Lake they discover a battered corpse that turns out to be a missing university student. Not the victim they are looking for.

More students are missing and more bodies are showing up. Bree is looking for any possible link between the ever growing number of victims.

Bree recognizes one critical fact- the murders are fueled with a dangerous rage. Alyssa disappears and now Bree is in a race to save her witness before she becomes the next murder victim.

In the third Bree Taggert book, Drown Her Sorrows, a killer’s deceitful plan blindsides Sheriff Bree Taggert.

A young woman’s body is found floating near the riverbank and the note in her car suggests suicide. But autopsies will usually peel back the layers of deception and point towards the truth. Holly Thorpe didn’t voluntarily drop off the bridge into the cold water. She was dead long before then,

Matt Flynn, Bree’s investigator and friend, wade into the case. Secrets complicate understanding Holly’s personal life. She had left a volatile marriage- suspect number one. She had an estranged relationship with her sister- suspect number two. And her intimate involvement with her employer was no secret- suspect number three.

When Holly’s estranged sister is stalked and terrorized with disgusting pranks and later Bree’s prime suspect pops up dead, Bree’s case goes off the rails, upside down and she’s back to scratch.

The killer isn’t done yet. He pivots to strike close to Bree and she and Matt are now in a race to finally solve these crimes and shut this guy down. Soon one of their own could become the next victim.