Fiona Davis Books in Order: Every Historical Novel and Where to Start

Fiona Davis builds historical novels around places that hold more stories than any visitor could discover in a single afternoon. A hotel, library, museum, or theater becomes the meeting point for women whose ambitions collide with the expectations of their time.

If you are looking for Fiona Davis books in order, publication order begins with The Dollhouse (2016). However, her New York landmark novels are standalones, so you can choose your first book by its setting or subject.

For book lovers, my recommended starting point is The Lions of Fifth Avenue. For readers who want to follow her career from the beginning, start with The Dollhouse. Her latest published novel is Samantha: The Next Chapter, released October 13, 2026; her next announced novel, The Jewel of Sugar Hill, is scheduled for January 26, 2027.

Fiona Davis Books in Publication Order

The list below uses original publication years, rather than the dates of later paperback editions. It covers her full-length historical novels, with the upcoming title clearly marked.

Davis’s official bibliography provides links to her novels. The publisher confirms the October 2026 publication of Samantha: The Next Chapter and the January 2027 release of The Jewel of Sugar Hill.

Do You Need to Read Fiona Davis’s Books in Order?

You do not need to read her landmark novels in publication order. Each introduces its own central characters and mystery.

Publication order is useful if you enjoy seeing an author develop a recurring interest. Across Davis’s bibliography, that interest includes women’s work, the institutions that shape their opportunities, and the histories preserved—or obscured—inside famous buildings.

Samantha: The Next Chapter has a different connection: it continues an established American Girl character’s life into adulthood. Familiarity with Samantha adds nostalgia, but American Girl’s introduction to Davis and the novel also welcomes readers new to the character.

Every Fiona Davis Historical Novel

1. The Dollhouse (2016)

Davis’s debut follows Darby McLaughlin, who arrives at the Barbizon Hotel in 1952 to attend secretarial school. Her friendship with a hotel maid draws her into a world beyond the ambitions and social rules of her fellow residents.

Decades later, journalist Rose Lewin investigates a tragedy connected to the building’s past. As the author’s synopsis explains, the investigation also raises questions about Rose’s methods.

Start here if: You want the debut, a hotel setting, and a mystery linking two generations of women.

Find The Dollhouse on Amazon

2. The Address (2017)

The Address moves between Sara Smythe’s arrival at the Dakota in 1884 and interior designer Bailey Camden’s work there in 1985. A renovation opens the way to questions about inheritance, family history, and a long-ago killing.

The official book description establishes the Dakota as the connection between the two women’s stories.

Start here if: You enjoy family secrets, Gilded Age settings, and mysteries tied to old homes.

Find The Address on Amazon

3. The Masterpiece (2018)

Grand Central Terminal connects an illustrator teaching at its art school in 1928 with a woman working in its information booth in 1974. The discovery of a painting sets the later story in motion.

Davis’s synopsis for The Masterpiece links the search for an overlooked artist with the struggle over the terminal’s future.

Start here if: You are drawn to art, forgotten women artists, and historic preservation.

Find The Masterpiece on Amazon

4. The Chelsea Girls (2019)

Playwright Hazel Riley and actress Maxine Mead pursue their theatrical ambitions against the backdrop of the Chelsea Hotel. Their friendship comes under pressure as anti-Communist investigations threaten people working in entertainment.

Spanning the 1940s through the 1960s, the novel’s central conflict involves the personal cost of political suspicion.

Start here if: You prefer theater, complicated friendships, and the consequences of McCarthyism.

Find The Chelsea Girls on Amazon

5. The Lions of Fifth Avenue (2020)

In 1913, Laura Lyons lives with her family inside the New York Public Library, where her husband works as superintendent. She pursues journalism while valuable books disappear. In 1993, her granddaughter Sadie faces another series of thefts while working at the library.

The two-generation premise makes this my recommended first choice for readers who love novels about books. Its appeal is easy to identify: a literary setting, a family mystery, and questions about who gets to tell a story.

Start here if: Libraries, rare books, and literary mysteries are your favorite ingredients.

Want to begin with the library mystery? Find The Lions of Fifth Avenue on Amazon

6. The Magnolia Palace (2022)

Lillian Carter finds work as Helen Frick’s private secretary after scandal disrupts her life as an artists’ model. Nearly fifty years later, another model encounters hidden clues at the Frick Collection.

The author’s description brings together family tensions, missing jewels, and a mystery stretching across decades.

Start here if: You want a mansion mystery with art, wealth, and family secrets.

Find The Magnolia Palace on Amazon

7. The Spectacular (2023)

Set in 1956, The Spectacular follows Marion Brooks as she pursues a place among the Rockettes. Her new life at Radio City Music Hall intersects with a police search for a bomber terrorizing New York.

The official synopsis combines a performer’s ambitions with a dangerous investigation.

Start here if: You want a historical novel with a strong suspense premise and a performing-arts setting.

Find The Spectacular on Amazon

8. The Stolen Queen (2025)

The Stolen Queen connects Charlotte Cross’s archaeological work in Egypt in 1936 with events surrounding the Met Gala in 1978. A missing antiquity brings Charlotte together with young Annie Jenkins.

According to the author’s synopsis, their search takes them beyond New York and forces Charlotte to confront her past.

Start here if: Museums, archaeology, and Egyptian antiquities interest you.

Find The Stolen Queen on Amazon

9. Samantha: The Next Chapter (2026)

Samantha Parkington is 25 in this American Girl novel for adults. In 1920 New York, she helps educate women about voting before the theft of her inheritance overturns her circumstances.

Her search for answers exposes her to a different side of the city. For more background on the character and this new direction, read our coverage of Fiona Davis bringing American Girl’s Samantha back as an adult.

Start here if: You grew up with American Girl or want a historical mystery about inheritance and social class.

Find Samantha: The Next Chapter on Amazon

Fiona Davis’s Next Book: The Jewel of Sugar Hill

The Jewel of Sugar Hill is scheduled for January 26, 2027. It is upcoming as of this guide’s October 16, 2026 update.

The novel centers on the Morris-Jumel Mansion. Its story connects Eliza Brown’s ambitions in the nineteenth century with architect Abby Dorrance’s investigation into her father’s death in 2010. Davis outlines the premise on her official page for The Jewel of Sugar Hill.

For readers following her landmark novels, this is the next announced stop after The Stolen Queen. The premise suggests a return to family legacy, property, and women’s efforts to secure independence.

Where Should You Start?

Choose the subject you most want to spend time exploring:

These are recommendations based on each book’s premise, rather than a ranking of literary quality.

What About Fiona Davis’s Shorter Works?

This guide counts full-length historical novels. Davis’s shorter fiction should be tracked separately.

For example, she co-wrote The Gimlet Slip with Greg Wands. Penguin Random House describes it as an audio-first novella, so it is not included in the novel count above.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many novels has Fiona Davis written?

As of October 16, 2026, Davis has nine published full-length historical novels, including Samantha: The Next Chapter. The Jewel of Sugar Hill is scheduled to become her tenth in January 2027. Shorter fiction and anthology work are excluded from this count.

What is Fiona Davis’s first novel?

Her debut novel is The Dollhouse, first published in 2016.

What is Fiona Davis’s latest book?

Her latest published novel is Samantha: The Next Chapter, released October 13, 2026.

Are Fiona Davis’s novels a series?

Her New York landmark novels are standalones. You can read them in publication order or choose by setting. Samantha: The Next Chapter continues an established American Girl character’s story.

Are Fiona Davis’s books true stories?

They are historical fiction. Real places, historical figures, and events can appear alongside invented characters and plots. Readers interested in that distinction can also explore our historical fiction books based on real events.

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