Susan Reiss Books In Order

Publication Order of In Time Books

Publication Order of St. Michaels Silver Mysteries Books

Susan Reiss is a historical mystery novelist who is best known for her novels set on the eastern shore of Maryland. Despite her many achievements as an author, Reiss is also a person of many talents and has many achievements in literature, television production, and music. Susan began her creative journey by immersing herself in music. Very early on, she trained as a concert pianist and was determined to master the piano no matter what. That foundational experience as a creative honed her discipline and instilled in her a deep appreciation for storytelling, which would be seen in her later literary fiction works. Building on that artistic foundation, Reiss would make her way into television production and writing. While she was in Washington, D.C., she achieved a lot and even established her own production company. She would get critical acclaim for her work, including a national Emmy nomination, a New York International Film Festival Silver Medal, three Telly Awards, and the CINE Golden Eagle.

Reiss had always been fascinated with the eastern shore of Maryland and particularly the tranquility of St. Michaels. At some point, Susan relocated to the picturesque region and loved the peaceful environment, which is what drove her to embark on a literary career. The area’s scenic beauty and rich history would become the backdrop for her novels and allowed her to craft complex and very authentic stories. Making use of her knowledge and connection to the Eastern Shore, she published Tarnished Silver, her debut novel of the St. Michaels Silver Mysteries, in 2013. The works in the series showcase her skills in combining compelling mystery plots with local history. Her portrayal of the complexity and charm of the region has endeared her to readers who are familiar with the region. However, the best testament to her skills as a storyteller is the In Time series, which she launched with the publishing of the novel Letters in Time in 2021. The novels combine mystery and historical intrigue to make for a captivating blend that has become very popular among readers. In 2023, the series was feted with a Best Fiction Series BookFest Gold Medal.

Susan Reiss’s creative philosophy and process is inspired by her diverse artistic background. She has developed a reputation for vividly told narratives, which is perhaps a skill that she developed while she was working in television production. She usually weaves scenes that have been praised for their immersive experiences and cinematic clarity. According to the author, her writing is a transcription of the vivid dialogues and scenes that often play out in her mind. She has attributed this to her background in TV, where it was critical to envision the scenes in a story.

Outside of her writing, Susan Reiss is very much involved in her community, and given her contributions to the literary landscape of the region, she was honored with the Scribe of the Eastern Shore. She loves to engage with local communities and can often be found at book discussions and signings to foster a deeper appreciation for the cultural heritage of the Eastern Shore.

Susan Reiss’s Letters in Time is a brilliant work that introduces kindergarten teacher Emma Chase. She moved to Waterwood Plantation and into a quaint cottage, where she began a unique adventure that connects the present and the past. On an antique plantation desk, she finds a letter from 1862, pleading with her to reply to the declaration of undying love. The man is writing to a woman named Emma, and she cannot help but wonder who she is, and if the desk is haunted by Daniel, the author of the letter. When the police arrive to look into a gruesome murder, she cannot help but also wonder if there is any connection to the letter she found. When she replies to the letter, she finds herself in the middle of a search for treasure, greed that goes back to the Civil War, and a killer prepared to do anything to stop her. Does Daniel know a secret that would keep her safe from a killer? With a backdrop of St. Michaels, Maryland, it combines surprising historical notes with a complicated mystery and dash of romance to make for an unputdownable work.

Letters in Time, the debut novel of the In Time series, ended on a cliffhanger as there were questions on whether Emma and Daniel were reunited. In the sequel, Diaries in Time, we get the answer to that question even as Emma gets to learn about the choices people make, which result in some very intricate consequences. Emma discovered that a decision can come back to haunt a person like a ghost when she replied to a letter from 1862 and tried to reunite the writer with his long-lost love. While waiting to find out if her efforts have been successful, Emma comes to learn that the mysterious ghostly presence is not the only thing haunting Waterwood House. Digging into the past, she uncovers complicated family secrets and a critical truth that everyone believed had long been buried. Looking into the secret and the mystery of the ghost, she soon finds herself in the middle of a massive storm as she starts to realize that people remain largely the same over time. Passion for a cause, love for another person can pit wife against husband, and sister against sister. Choices made sometimes very innocently can ignite red-hot emotions that can result in some very dangerous consequences.

Next, Susan Reiss published Messages in Time, in which Emma Chase gets an unexpected visitor on her doorstep. The visitor invites her into a mystery that goes back more than a hundred years that involves a key in a Civil War artifact. Taking cues from letters written by the Waterwood Plantation’s ghostly mistress, Emma finds a dangerous link between family secrets and the past and a long-buried truth. With time running out fast, Emma needs to navigate the turns and twists of the search from murder to historians eager for prestige to an antique auction house.