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Diane Kelly is a financial expert that writes cozy mysteries. She worked as a state assistant attorney general and tax advisor before abandoning her pursuit of white-collar criminals in favor of a career in publishing.
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Order of Tara Holloway Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Death, Taxes, and a French Manicure | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Death, Taxes, and a Skinny No-Whip Latte | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Death, Taxes, and Extra-Hold Hairspray | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
4 | Death, Taxes, and a Sequined Clutch (Short Story) | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
5 | Death, Taxes, and Peach Sangria | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
6 | Death, Taxes, and Hot-Pink Leg Warmers | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
7 | Death, Taxes, and Green Tea Ice Cream | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
8 | Death, Taxes, and Mistletoe Mayhem (Short Story) | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
9 | Death, Taxes, and Silver Spurs | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
10 | Death, Taxes, and Cheap Sunglasses | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
11 | Death, Taxes, and a Chocolate Cannoli | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
12 | Death, Taxes, and a Satin Garter | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
13 | Death, Taxes, and Sweet Potato Fries | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
14 | Death, Taxes, and a Shotgun Wedding | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
15 | Death, Taxes, and Pecan Pie (Short Story) | 2017 | Description / Buy |
Order of 12 Days Of Christmas Short Stories
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Five Gold Smuggling Rings (Short Story) | 2013 | Description / Buy |
Order of Paw Enforcement Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Paw Enforcement | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Paw and Order | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Laying Down the Paw | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
4 | Upholding the Paw (Short Story) | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
5 | Against the Paw | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
6 | Above the Paw | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
7 | Enforcing the Paw | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
8 | Love Unleashed (Short Story) | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
9 | The Long Paw of the Law | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
10 | Paw of the Jungle | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
11 | Bending the Paw | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
12 | Pawfully Wedded | 2024 | Description / Buy |
Order of House-Flipper Mystery Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Dead as a Door Knocker | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Dead in the Doorway | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Murder With a View | 2021 | Description / Buy | |
4 | Batten Down the Belfry | 2022 | Description / Buy | |
5 | Primer and Punishment | 2023 | Description / Buy | |
6 | Four-Alarm Homicide | 2024 | Description / Buy |
Order of Busted Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Busted | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Another Big Bust | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Busting Out | 2020 | Description / Buy |
Order of Mountain Lodge Mystery Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Getaway With Murder | 2021 | Description / Buy | |
2 | A Trip with Trouble | 2022 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Snow Place for Murder | 2023 | Description / Buy |
Order of Southern Homebrew Mystery Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Moonshine Shack Murder | 2021 | Description / Buy | |
2 | The Proof Is in the Poison | 2022 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Fiddling with Fate | 2023 | Description / Buy |
Order of Diane Kelly Standalone Novels
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Love, Luck, and Little Green Men | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Don't Toy With Me (Short Story) | 2024 | Description / Buy |
Order of Diane Kelly Short Stories/Novellas
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | A Sappy Love Story (Short Story) | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Wrong Address, Right Guy (Short Story) | 2019 | Description / Buy |
Order of Cozy Case Files Mystery Sampler Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Cozy Case Files Volume 1 | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Cozy Case Files Volume 2 | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Cozy Case Files Volume 3 | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
4 | Cozy Case Files Volume 4 | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
5 | Cozy Case Files Volume 5 | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
6 | Cozy Case Files Volume 6 | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
7 | Cozy Case Files Volume 7 | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
8 | Cozy Case Files Volume 8 | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
9 | Cozy Case Files Volume 9 | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
10 | Cozy Case Files Volume 10 | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
11 | Cozy Case Files Volume 11 | 2021 | Description / Buy | |
12 | Cozy Case Files Volume 12 | 2021 | Description / Buy | |
13 | Cozy Case Files Volume 13 | 2021 | Description / Buy | |
14 | Cozy Case Files Volume 14 | 2022 | Description / Buy | |
15 | Cozy Case Files Volume 15 | 2022 | Description / Buy | |
16 | Cozy Case Files Volume 16 | 2022 | Description / Buy | |
17 | Cozy Case Files Volume 17 | 2023 | Description / Buy | |
18 | Cozy Case Files, Volume 18 | 2023 | Description / Buy | |
19 | Cozy Case Files, Volume 19 | 2023 | Description / Buy | |
20 | Cozy Case Files, Volume 20 | 2024 | Description / Buy | |
21 | Cozy Case Files, Volume 22 | 2024 | Description / Buy | |
22 | Cozy Case Files, Volume 23 | 2025 | Description / Buy |
Order of Trouble In Tumbleweed Mysteries
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Trouble with Digging Too Deep (Short Story) | 2022 | Description / Buy | |
2 | The Trouble with Hope and Glory | 2022 | Description / Buy | |
3 | The Trouble with Exes | 2022 | Description / Buy | |
4 | Trouble with the Tumbleweed Twister | 2022 | Description / Buy | |
5 | The Trouble with Pushing Up Daisies (Short Story) | 2023 | Description / Buy |
Diane Kelly Anthologies
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Cozy Case Files Volume 2 | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Cozy Case Files Volume 7 | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Cozy Case Files Volume 8 | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
4 | Writers Crushing COVID-19 | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
5 | Cozy Case Files Volume 10 | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
6 | Cozy Case Files Volume 11 | 2021 | Description / Buy | |
7 | Cozy Case Files Volume 14 | 2022 | Description / Buy | |
8 | Cozy Case Files Volume 16 | 2022 | Description / Buy | |
9 | Cozy Case Files Volume 17 | 2023 | Description / Buy | |
10 | Cozy Case Files, Volume 19 | 2023 | Description / Buy | |
11 | Cozy Case Files, Volume 23 | 2025 | Description / Buy |
The Mansfield Texas Citizens Police Academy graduate is best known for the Tara Holloway and Paw Enforcement novels. Diane does not downplay the challenges associated with writing long-running series.
It takes a deft hand to skillfully explore and pace overarching plots and subplots when she doesn’t know how many books any given series will have. She has learned to explore each character’s personal growth and romantic adventures carefully, providing enough information to keep readers interested but not so much that the story runs dry before the series is ready to end.
Another challenge is keeping things fresh. When a story starts to grow stale, the author takes that opportunity to transition to a new series with fresh concepts. Diane loves writing at their cabin in the Blue Ridge mountains because it isolates her from distractions. Her goal is to write every single day, even on the weekends.
Diane gets most of her work done between mid-morning and late afternoon. If the weather is nice, she will settle in a lounge chair outside that encourages her creative juices to flow.
Every so often, various obligations will get in the way, forcing Diane to take breaks. That includes chores and the business aspects of her publishing career. However, she doesn’t obsess over those days when writing isn’t possible. Although, she also understands how easily deadlines can sneak up on her.
For that reason, whenever she settles down to write again, Diane will try to compensate for the days she missed. She looks forward to those moments when she completes a manuscript, performs the necessary revisions, and then submits the final product to her editors, whom she credits for providing insightful suggestions.
Humor plays a pivotal role in the author’s stories. Diane describes her books as ‘Light Entertainment.’ She may address social issues from time to time, especially when she bases a novel on reports from the news.
But ultimately, she wants her readers to have a good time. Initially, Diane wanted to write books with feisty female leads that met their match in an equally strong male protagonist. Later on, she discovered that her voice thrived in the romantic mystery genre. This compelled her to study literary comedy in the hope of injecting humor into her work.
Along the way, Diane realized that a skillful writer could weave humor into every book, regardless of the genre.
Diane Kelly Awards
Diane’s accolades include the Romance Writers of America Golden Heart and Reviewers Choice Awards.
Best Diane Kelly Books
When the author isn’t penning cozy mysteries, you will find her helping young writers. Diane Kelly’s best books include:
Death, Taxes, and A French Manicure: The Treasury Department’s Criminal Investigations Division is lucky to have Tara. The special agent has an unparalleled understanding of numbers. Honest taxpayers have nothing to fear from her.
On the other hand, people like Joseph Cullen should keep an eye out for Tara. Joe looks like an ordinary ice cream vendor, at least on the surface. But in truth, his earnings originate from the narcotics he sells.
But Tara has Joe in her sights. She’s equally determined to bring Michael Gryder to justice. Tara won’t let his Ponzi scheme succeed. Meanwhile, Brett Ellington is complicating things. The fellow is dating Tara.
On its own, that isn’t an issue. But unfortunately, he’s also landscaping Stan Shelton’s lake house. Shelton and Gryder are working together on Gryder’s Ponzi scheme.
Paw Enforcement: Megan was in trouble. After tasering a male colleague, she wouldn’t have blamed the police chief for booting her off the force, even though the colleague in question had it coming. But the police chief had other plans.
He wanted Megan to take on a new partner. When the police chief first floated the idea, Megan thought she knew what to expect. But then the dog walked in and changed everything. Now, Megan and Brigit must join forces with an attractive bomb squad expert to find the culprit responsible for a bomb that went off in a food court.
Fortunately for Megan, Brigit’s nose has no equal.
When Does The Next Diane Kelly book come out?
Diane Kelly doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is Pawfully Wedded and was released on December, 16th 2024. It is the newest book in the Paw Enforcement Series.