The Pink Carnation Books in Order: How to read Lauren Willig’s series?

Ready for some Napoleonic-Era spy adventures?

What is The Pink Carnation series about?

Written by bestselling author Lauren Willig, The Pink Carnation series follows a collection of Napoleonic-Era British spies as they fight for Britain and fall in love.

Everything begins with Eloise Kelly, a modern-day student who is determined to finish her dissertation on two spies, the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian. But what she discovers is something historians have missed: the secret history of the Pink Carnation-the most elusive spy of all time.

How to read The Pink Carnation Books in Order?

I. Reading The Pink Carnation Series In Publication Order

1. The Secret History of the Pink Carnation – Realizing romantic heroes are a thing of the past, graduate student Eloise Kelly is determined to focus on her work. Her first stop: England, to finish her dissertation on the English spies of the Napoleonic Wars, like the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian. But her greatest conquest is to reveal the most elusive spy of them all, the dashing Pink Carnation. As she does, she discovers something for the history books-a living, breathing hero all her very own…
2. The Masque of the Black Tulip – Eloise Kelly has achieved a great academic coup by unmasking the elusive spy, the Pink Carnation, who saved England from Napoleon. But now she has a million questions about the Carnation’s deadly nemesis, the Black Tulip. And she’s pretty sure that handsome Colin Selwick has the answers somewhere in his family’s archives…
3. The Deception of the Emerald Ring – Eloise is finally distracted from checking for messages every five minutes by the discovery of a brief note, sandwiched amongst the papers she’s poring over in the British Library. Signed by Lord Pinchingdale, it is all Eloise needs to delve back in time and unearth the story of Letty Alsworthy and the Pink Carnation’s espionage activities on the Emerald Isle…

4. The Seduction of the Crimson Rose – England 1803. Mary Alsworthy accepts a secret assignment from Lord Vaughn: to infiltrate the ranks of the dreaded French spy, the Black Tulip, before he and his master Napoleon Bonaparte can stage their planned invasion of England.
5. The Temptation of the Night Jasmine – After years abroad, Robert, Duke of Dovedale, has returned to England to avenge the murder of his mentor. To uncover the murderer’s identity, he must infiltrate the infamous, secret Hellfire Club. But the Duke has no idea that an even more difficult challenge awaits him-in a mistaken, romantic-minded young lady.
6. The Betrayal of the Blood Lily – Whisked away to nineteenth-century India, Penelope Deveraux plunges into the court intrigues of the Nizam of Hyderabad, where no one is quite what they seem. New to this strange and exotic country- where a dangerous spy called the Marigold leaves venomous cobras as his calling card-she can trust only one man: Captain Alex Reid.

7. The Mischief of the Mistletoe – Despite her dear friend Jane Austen’s warning against teaching, Arabella Dempsey accepts a position at a girls’ school in Bath, just before Christmas. She hardly imagines coming face-to-face with French aristocrats and international spies.
8. The Orchid Affair – Veteran governess Laura Grey joins the Selwick Spy School expecting to find elaborate disguises and thrilling adventures in service to the spy known as the Pink Carnation. She hardly expects her first assignment to be serving as governess for the children of André Jaouen, right-hand man to Bonaparte’s minister of police.
9. Ivy & Intrigue (novella) – the newly married spy, the Purple Gentian, and his bride find more than mince pie when they head home for the holidays.
10. The Garden Intrigue – Secret agent Augustus Whittlesby has spent a decade undercover in France, posing as an insufferably bad poet. The French surveillance officers can’t bear to read his work closely enough to recognize the information drowned in a sea of verbiage.

11. The Passion of the Purple Plumeria – Because she served as second-in-command to the Pink Carnation, it would be impossible for Gwendolyn Meadows to give up the intrigue of Paris for a quiet life in the English countryside. But, when the Pink Carnation’s little sister goes missing from her English boarding school, Gwen reluctantly returns home to investigate the girl’s disappearance.
12. The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla – In October of 1806, the Little Season is in full swing, and Sally Fitzhugh has had enough of the endless parties and balls. With a rampant vampire craze sparked by the novel The Convent of Orsino, it seems no one can speak of anything else. But when Sally hears a rumor that the reclusive Duke of Belliston is an actual vampire, she cannot resist the challenge of proving such nonsense false.
13. The Lure of the Moonflower – All of Portugal believes that the royal family departed for Brazil just before the French troops marched into Lisbon. Only the English government knows that mad seventy-three-year-old Queen Maria was spirited away by a group of loyalists determined to rally a resistance. But as the French garrison scours the countryside, it’s only a matter of time before she’s found and taken. It’s up to Jane to find her first and ensure her safety.

II. Reading The Pink Carnation Series In Chronological Order

1. The Secret History of the Pink Carnation
2. The Masque of the Black Tulip
3. The Deception of the Emerald Ring
4. The Seduction of the Crimson Rose
5. Ivy & Intrigue (novella)
6. The Mischief of the Mistletoe
7. The Temptation of the Night Jasmine
8. The Betrayal of the Blood Lily
9. The Orchid Affair
10. The Garden Intrigue
11. The Passion of the Purple Plumeria
12. The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla
13. The Lure of the Moonflower

If you like The Pink Carnation series, you may also want to check out The Lady Darby Mystery series. Don’t hesitate to follow us on Twitter or Facebook to discover more book series.