Hannah Howell Books in Order: The Complete Reading Guide

Howell has written well over a hundred novels, but her heart and her biggest following live in the Highlands. The Murray Clan is a multi-generational family saga: dozens of Murrays, their allies and their enemies, falling in love across a beautifully drawn medieval and early-modern Scotland. Each book is a standalone romance with its own couple, but because the family tree is so vast, reading in publication order is the sane way to keep everyone straight. Here is the sequence.

The Murray Clan series in order

1. Highland Destiny (1998)
2. Highland Honor (1999)
3. Highland Promise (1999)
4. Highland Vow (2000)
5. Highland Knight (2001)
6. Highland Bride (2002)
7. Highland Angel (2003)
8. Highland Groom (2003)
9. Highland Warrior (2004)
10. Highland Conqueror (2005)
11. Highland Champion (2005)
12. Highland Lover (2006)
13. Highland Barbarian (2006)
14. Highland Savage (2007)
15. Highland Wolf (2008)
16. Highland Sinner (2008)
17. Highland Protector (2010)
18. Highland Avenger (2011)
19. Highland Master (2013)
20. Highland Guard (2015)
21. Highland Chieftain (2016)
22. Highland Devil (2018)

Hannah Howell's other series

Once you've worked through the Murrays, Howell has more Scottish-flavoured worlds to explore. The Wherlocke series follows an unusual family blessed (and burdened) with psychic gifts, blending Howell's trademark warmth with a light paranormal thread. The Seven Brides for Seven Bastards series pairs a set of illegitimate brothers with the women who claim their hearts. She has also written many linked and standalone Highland titles beyond the Murray line, so there is a near-endless supply once you're hooked. As with the Murrays, each of these is a standalone romance, but reading each series in order keeps the family connections clear.

What to expect from a Hannah Howell romance

If you're new to the Highland romance subgenre, Howell is one of its most comfortable entry points. Her stories lean into everything readers love about the setting: brawny, honour-bound warriors, spirited heroines who won't be told what to do, clan rivalries, kidnappings and rescues, and a strong streak of found-family warmth once the couple's own story is settled. The heat is sensual but the emotional core is loyalty — to family, to clan, to the person you've chosen. There's real comfort-read reliability here, which is exactly why the Murray saga has kept readers coming back for two decades.

A practical note on the settings: because Howell writes across medieval and early-modern Scotland rather than a single tight era, don't expect Regency ballrooms, dukes or London seasons. Expect castles, Highlands, and the rougher, more dangerous world of the Scottish clans. If that's the escape you're after, few authors do it as prolifically or as warmly.

Where to start with Hannah Howell

Start with Highland Destiny. It opens the Murray Clan saga, introduces the family you'll follow for twenty-plus books, and sets the tone for everything Howell does best: a fierce Highland hero, a heroine who more than holds her own, and a love story wrapped in danger and clan intrigue. Read the Murrays in order and you'll have months of comfort reading ahead of you. If you'd rather sample something self-contained with a twist, try the first Wherlocke book instead.

One more tip for tackling such a long series: don't feel you must memorise the family tree. The Murray clan is enormous, and Howell reintroduces the key players naturally as each new couple takes the spotlight, so the books never assume you've kept a spreadsheet. Reading in publication order simply means the recurring names land with a little more warmth. And if you fall behind or take a break, each novel still stands entirely on its own — you can always pick up wherever a premise grabs you and circle back to the gaps later.