Rob Osler Books In Order

Publication Order of Harriet Morrow Investigates Books

Publication Order of Hayden & Friends Books

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Anthologies

Rob Osler is a cozy and historical mystery novelist who is credited with coining the term “quozy” for his novels that combine the two genres. The author was born and brought up in Boise, Idaho, and then went to the Tacoma Washington-based University of Puget Sound for a bachelor’s in Philosophy degree. Rob then moved to Chicago and spent more than ten years working as an advertising copywriter. After transitioning to brand strategy, he went back to school at the University of Washington in Seattle where he got an MBA. Thereafter, he spent more than twenty years in senior roles for corporations and agencies in San Francisco and Seattle. He continued writing throughout this time focusing on brand strategy and business communications, even as he published articles in The Journal of Brand Management.

As for how he got into writing, Rob Osler has said that he loved telling stories right from when he was a child. He used to spend a lot of time on his own and used to imagine himself going on many exotic adventures into faraway lands and places. Upon graduating from college and while looking for employment, one of his friends told him that since he liked to write he needed to find a job that required a lot of writing. It was from that recommendation that he decided to become a copywriter and ultimately a marketing strategist. However, he always had creativity in him that needed an outlet but never tried to exercise it.

Rob was in his fifties when he got into fiction, publishing ANALOGUE his first short story in 2022. The story which had a Seattle tech industry setting made it into the 2022 edition of the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. The story also won several awards including a Robert L Fish Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 2022. He published his debut novel yet again in a Seattle setting in 2023. Just like his short story, Devil’s Chew Toy would become a fan favorite as Crime Reads named it A Years Best, even as it won Macavity, Anthony, Lefty, and Agatha Awards.

A long-time business writer and brand strategist, Rob also loves playing tennis, making crab cakes and chicken piccata, and occasionally playing the banjo and bridge. After living in San Francisco, Seattle, and Chicago, he currently makes his home in Southern California alongside his long-time partner and their gray cat.

Rob Osler published Devil’s Chew Toy his first novel in 2023. The work tells the story of Hayden McCall the part-time blogger and Seattle teacher who awakens to find, that he is sporting a shiner, is half naked, and is in a stranger’s bed. A few minutes after he awakes, the police knock on the door looking for Camilo Rodriguez the Latino dancer who is missing in mysterious circumstances. Determined to get answers, Hayden finds Burley and Hollister who are two of Camilo’s best friends. They tell him that Camilo is a dreamer who is all alone after his family was deported the year before. The three come together to search for Camilo, convinced the police would never take his disappearance seriously. They find their first clues at a pet store where Camilo worked part-time, but the owner claims he does not know anything about Hayden’s disappearance. What is even more interesting is that Ryan who is Camilo’s ex has suddenly come into a lot of money recently. When Hollister and Hayden follow Ryan, they discover a shocking reason for his newfound wealth. The clues point them to an opulent property in Puget Sound where they wil stumble into some even more shocking secrets.

Osler went all out to prove that his debut was not a fluke with the publishing of the second novel of the Hayden & Friends series Cirque du Slay. This is a rollicking mystery set in the circus where someone high profile is murdered resulting in a thrilling madcap mystery. The lead in the novel is Hayden McCall, a pint-sized gay dating blogger who also teaches middle school in Seattle. Together with his friend, they head out to Bakers Without Borders where they have been invited to a fundraiser. The lead in the fundraiser was to be Kennedy Osake, a celebrity performer who also doubles up as an artistic director working for a circus act. He usually directs up-scale arts shows that combine acrobatics, magic, and a Michelin Star dinner to give an exclusive experience that has been in high demand. But Osaka does not turn up and is found dead in her room with Sarah Lee her long-time rival. Hollister and Hayden have to find the killer before the cops take in Sarah Lee. However, the complication is that the list of suspects is too long. If Hollister and Hayden are to clear Sarah Lee’s name, they will have to outsmart one of the most treacherous criminals ever.

In The Case of the Missing Maid, Rob Osler writes a very different kind of novel from her previous two. The work follows a new junior detective named Harriet Morrow who works in Chicago. Harriet Morrow has long admired the idea of working as a professional detective without answering to a husband. She is a twenty-one-year-old who only needs enough to support her brother and herself and as such, when there is an opportunity at the Prescott Agency she jumps at the chance. But now she has to deal with skeptical male colleagues, Mr. Theodore Prescott her boss, and a high-strung office secretary who are all certain that she is going to buckle under all that pressure. She is working on the case of a missing maid from Prairie Avenue and while her employer is known for sending detectives on wild goose chases, Harriet is convinced something is different this time around. Harriet has a hard deadline and needs to work hard through the murky motives and labyrinth of eccentric characters, to find who is responsible for the missing maid’s disappearance. She finds clues all over the city but she may have to bring all her smarts to bear if she is to have any hope of solving the mystery.