Loretta Chase Books in Order: All 28 Titles
Loretta Chase is an American historical romance novelist, born Loretta Lynda Chekani in 1949 to a family of Albanian descent, and educated at Clark University, where she took a degree in English. Her first novel, Isabella, appeared in 1987, and her first six books were short traditional Regency romances; from The Lion's Daughter in 1992 onward she wrote longer, more sensual historicals for Avon and Berkley. Her 1995 novel Lord of Scoundrels is one of the highest-placed historical romances in reader polls, including All About Romance's Top 100 Romances. She has won two RITA Awards, for The Sandalwood Princess and for Lord of Scoundrels, a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award for historical romance in 2011, and the RWA Vivian Award in the long historical category for Ten Things I Hate About the Duke. She is still publishing: My Inconvenient Duke was released by Avon in January 2025.
Do you have to read Loretta Chase in order?
Almost everything Loretta Chase has written works as a standalone, and most readers start with Lord of Scoundrels without having read the two Scoundrels books that precede it. The one place order genuinely matters is the Carsingtons: read Lord Perfect before Last Night's Scandal, because the later book's hero and heroine are the two children from Lord Perfect grown up. The Dressmakers and the Difficult Dukes are better in order, since each couple appears as secondary characters in the other books, but no book ends on a cliffhanger. The six early traditional Regencies are much shorter and lighter than everything after 1992 and are not a prerequisite for anything.
Genres and eras: Historical romance throughout, and nothing else. Six short traditional Regencies from 1987 to 1990 for Avon and Walker, then longer sensual historicals from 1992 on: mostly Regency-set, with excursions to Albania, Egypt and Venice, plus the 1830s-set Dressmakers quartet. She has never published in another genre or under another name.
Pen names: Loretta Chase — The only name she publishes under. She was born Loretta Lynda Chekani, so Chase is a pen name, but there is no separate body of work under any other name to keep out of this bibliography.
Trevelyan Family duo (traditional Regency) in order (1987-1988)
Her first two books, both short traditional Regencies. Reissued together by Signet in 2003 as a single volume.
| Book | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Isabella | 1987 |
| 2 | The English Witch | 1988 |
Regency Noblemen duo (traditional Regency) in order (1988-1989)
Catalogued by Goodreads as Regency Noblemen; Chase's own site simply files both under Traditional Regencies. Reissued together by Signet in 2004 as a single volume.
| Book | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Viscount Vagabond | 1988 |
| 2 | The Devil's Delilah | 1989 |
Scoundrels (also called the Debauches series) in order (1992-1998)
Chase's own website says this was never planned as a series. It grew out of the character Ismal, introduced in The Lion's Daughter, and characters recur across all five titles, sometimes as leads and sometimes in the background. Lord of Scoundrels is the centrepiece.
| Book | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Lion's Daughter | 1992 |
| 2 | Captives of the Night | 1994 |
| 3 | Lord of Scoundrels | 1995 |
| 3.5 | The Mad Earl's Bride novella | 1995 |
| 4 | The Last Hellion | 1998 |
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The Carsington Brothers in order (2004-2010)
Planned as a trilogy about the three younger sons of the Earl of Hargate and grown to five books. Last Night's Scandal is a direct sequel to Lord Perfect: its hero and heroine are the two children from that book, grown up.
More on the The Carsington Brothers series →
| Book | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Miss Wonderful | 2004 |
| 2 | Mr. Impossible | 2005 |
| 3 | Lord Perfect | 2006 |
| 4 | Not Quite a Lady | 2007 |
| 5 | Last Night's Scandal | 2010 |
The Fallen Women in order (2008-2009)
A two-book thematic grouping rather than a continuing story: a courtesan's book and a harem escapee's book. Chase notes on her own site that Not Quite a Lady also fits the theme but belongs with the Carsingtons.
| Book | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Your Scandalous Ways | 2008 |
| 2 | Don't Tempt Me | 2009 |
The Dressmakers in order (2011-2016)
The Noirot sisters, dressmakers in 1830s London, descended from the Dreadful DeLuceys introduced in Lord Perfect. Dukes Prefer Blondes is the fourth book, about the youngest sister.
More on the The Dressmakers series →
| Book | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Silk Is for Seduction | 2011 |
| 2 | Scandal Wears Satin | 2012 |
| 3 | Vixen in Velvet | 2014 |
| 4 | Dukes Prefer Blondes | 2016 |
The Difficult Dukes in order (2017-2025)
Their Dis-Graces: the Dukes of Ripley, Blackwood and Ashmont. Ten Things I Hate About the Duke won the RWA Vivian Award in the long historical romance category.
| Book | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Duke in Shining Armor | 2017 |
| 2 | Ten Things I Hate About the Duke | 2020 |
| 3 | My Inconvenient Duke | 2025 |
Loretta Chase: books outside the series
These sit outside the numbered series and can be read in any order.
| Title | First published | |
|---|---|---|
| — | Knaves' Wager | 1990 |
| — | The Sandalwood Princess | 1990 |
| — | Falling Stars anthology-contribution | 1992 |
| — | The Jilting of Lord Northwick anthology-contribution | 2011 |
| — | Lord Lovedon's Duel anthology-contribution | 2012 |
Where to start with Loretta Chase
Lord of Scoundrels
Her most famous book and a perennial number one in best-historical-romance reader polls, and it reads perfectly well without the two Scoundrels books before it.
Miss Wonderful
The opening of the Carsington Brothers, her warmest and most accessible series, and the easiest entry point if Lord of Scoundrels sounds too intense.
A Duke in Shining Armor
The start of her most recent series and the best sample of her current voice, with two sequels already published.
Frequently asked questions
Do Loretta Chase's books need to be read in order?
Mostly no. Every book resolves its own romance and the series are loosely connected rather than serialised. The two exceptions worth respecting are reading Lord Perfect before Last Night's Scandal in the Carsington series, and reading the Dressmakers quartet in order, because the Noirot sisters appear throughout each other's books.
What order should I read the Carsington Brothers series?
Miss Wonderful (2004), Mr. Impossible (2005), Lord Perfect (2006), Not Quite a Lady (2007), Last Night's Scandal (2010). Chase's own website displays these in a grid that is easy to misread, so publication order is the safest guide, and Last Night's Scandal must come after Lord Perfect.
Is Lord of Scoundrels a standalone?
In practice, yes. It is the third book in what is now called the Scoundrels series, after The Lion's Daughter and Captives of the Night, but Dain and Jessica's story stands entirely on its own and it is the book most new readers begin with.
What is the correct Dressmakers series order?
Silk Is for Seduction (2011), Scandal Wears Satin (2012), Vixen in Velvet (2014), Dukes Prefer Blondes (2016). Dukes Prefer Blondes is the fourth and final book, about the youngest Noirot sister, even though some retailer listings shuffle it forward.
Is Loretta Chase still writing?
Yes. My Inconvenient Duke, the third Difficult Dukes novel, was published by Avon in January 2025. She has been publishing since 1987.
How many books has Loretta Chase written?
Twenty-four novels and four novellas, first published between 1987 and 2025. That count excludes reissues and the omnibus two-in-one volumes that repackage her early traditional Regencies.
Which Loretta Chase books are traditional Regencies?
The first six: Isabella (1987), The English Witch (1988), Viscount Vagabond (1988), The Devil's Delilah (1989), Knaves' Wager (1990) and The Sandalwood Princess (1990). They are shorter and far less explicit than everything she has written since 1992.
How this list was counted
This guide lists 28 titles — 23 across 7 series and 5 outside them. 28 works of original fiction: 24 full-length novels and 4 novellas, first published between 1987 and 2025. Excludes reissues, the 2003-2005 Signet two-in-one omnibus volumes (Isabella/The English Witch, Viscount Vagabond/The Devil's Delilah, The Sandalwood Princess/Knaves' Wager), and the 2015 e-collection Royally Ever After, which reprints two novellas already counted. Each novella is counted once, at first publication, not once per anthology it has appeared in.
Publication years for the six early traditional Regencies differ between sources, and the difference is systematic rather than random. Chase's own printable book list, updated January 2025, gives the Avon mass-market paperback dates (Isabella Sep 1987, The English Witch Sep 1989, Viscount Vagabond Feb 1990, Knaves' Wager Aug 1991, The Sandalwood Princess Nov 1991) while Wikipedia and the book databases give the earlier Walker & Company hardcover first editions. This file uses the earlier first-publication years, which the awards record supports: The Sandalwood Princess won the 1991 RITA, an award year covering 1990 titles. Her own list gives no original edition date at all for The Devil's Delilah, only the 2004 Signet reissue; 1989 comes from Wikipedia, bookseriesinorder and Goodreads. Dukes Prefer Blondes is dated 2016 here on the author's own authority (Avon, January 2016); Wikipedia says 2015. The 2011 Royal Weddings novella is titled 'The Jilting of Lord Northwick' by Avon, by Wikipedia and in the heading on Chase's own page, but the blurb and URL slug on her site call it 'The Jilting of Lord Rothwick' and the hero is the Marquess of Rothwick; both forms are in circulation. Wikipedia files Not Quite a Lady under both the Carsington and the Fallen Women series, while Chase's own list assigns it to the Carsingtons only, which is what this file does. 'Falling Stars' first appeared in A Christmas Collection (November 1992) and was reprinted in A Christmas Present (September 1994); 1992 is the first publication. Royally Ever After (2015) is a two-novella e-collection reprinting material already counted and is deliberately not listed as a separate title. No pen names, co-written books or other-genre work were found.