Annelise Ryan Books In Order

Publication Order of Mattie Winston Mysteries Books

Publication Order of Helping Hands Mystery Books

Publication Order of Monster Hunter Mystery Books

Registered nurse Beth Amos uses the pen name of Annelise Ryan to write the “Mattie Winston” series of books. She began publishing this series in the
year 2009 with the release of “Working Stiff”. The series is from the genre of humor, romance, mystery, and thriller.

Beth Amos uses the pseudonym because she works as an emergency room RN in the state of Wisconsin, where she works. She thinks that laughter truly is the best medicine. With her Mattie Winston series, she hopes to medicate the masses.

There are many reasons she chose to use a pen name. One of which included her patients at the emergency room may not like the fact she spent some of her off time coming up with new and more creative ways to kill someone.

“Working Stiff” is the first novel in the “Mattie Winston” series and was released in the year 2009. Mattie Winston walks in on her husband (named Dr. David Winston) with a registered nurse named Karen Owenby while the pair are having a special moment together. It makes Mattie quit her job and move out. Her best friend, named Izzy, tells her she would be great as a deputy coroner after giving her a place to stay. Instead of checking the pulse of her patients, she now weighs hearts and livers.

The first homicide call she gets sent out on turns out to be Nurse Karen. Although she did see her ex and this woman having a fight just the night before, she has a hard time believing that David could ever kill someone. She keeps what she saw to herself, and is left speechless by Detective Steve Hurley and his own hunkiness.

She learns the ropes of her new job, sorts out how she feels about her ex, and deals with her attraction to Detective Hurley. She is deep and in danger of sinking further. It does not help much when she places her own self in the path of a determined and desperate killer’s path.

Fans of the novel found themselves loving the story and Mattie. Even though her life gets wrecked a little, she is able to pick herself back up and right the ship. The plot has some clever twists that keep things moving, and the dialogue and situations were quite realistic. There is true heat between both Steve and Mattie that some feels burns up the very pages of the book. This should prove to be a relationship that is always interesting.

“Scared Stiff” is the second novel in the “Mattie Winston” series and was released in the year 2010. Deputy Coroner Mattie and Izzy (both her boss and best friend) get called to Shannon Tolliver’s (who works part time as a model and a waitress) home. They find some Halloween decorations that are far too real. Among some skeletons and fake blood, is Shannon’s corpse. She and Erik (who is Shannon’s estranged husband) had a quite public spat recently, making him the prime
suspect.

Mattie knows that Erik really loved his wife, and is surely not capable of the brutal murder, despite the fact that he owns the same caliber gun as the one used to kill Shannon. Mattie wants to find out what really happened, and she puts her scalpel sharp skills as a medical professional to dig deeper. She finds something stranger than anyone could have imagined.

From the beginning, readers were laughing out loud. Fans of the novel found this one has got some spicy romance, laughter, and suspense that was well put together; really, what more could you ask from a book? Some found Mattie to be the most hilarious deputy coroner to work on a body ever. The dialogue between Steve and Mattie is still pretty stellar.

“Frozen Stiff” is the third novel in the “Mattie Winston” series and was released in the year 2011. Death is not pretty ever. That is true of Mattie’s latest case, too. This victim used to be beautiful, before she was stabbed in the chest.

Mattie knows every person in Sorenson, Wisconsin (a charming small town). This makes the dead woman someone from out of town that Mattie does
not know. If a woman this gorgeous moved into the town, it would have found the rumor mill quickly. Why was the victim here and laid out in a barren field?

It only gets cloudier from here, when Steven Hurley turns up at the scene, turns white, and excuses himself from the investigation. She used to be a great investigative reporter out of Chicago. Hurley knew her and dated her eighteen months ago. Then the woman broke it off with him. Hurley swears Mattie to secrecy and then says that the knife that killed his ex belongs to him.

Fans of the novel enjoyed reading more about Mattie, and is written brilliantly by the author. This is a character who does a great job of carrying the stories on her back, by both being hilarious, nerdy, and able to solve cases. Some found this to be incredible, and they simply could not put it down for very long. They are just glad they had plenty of free time to devout all of their free time to taking in Mattie and her latest case.

“Lucky Stiff” is the fourth novel in the “Mattie Winston” series and was released in the year 2012. Christmastime has come to Sorenson. Instead of unwrapping her presents, Mattie is at a house that has burnt down. Inside the house, a body is found after being charred. The victim is Jack Allen (who is a paraplegic), who recently just won a large jackpot at a casino. Further inspection suggests that he killed to get his winning.

Mattie does her best to investigate, but it is not enough in a case that has a lot of suspects. Not to mention a lot of twists. Her prime suspect ends up dead, while Mattie and Hurley fight against time to catch the killer before there is another victim.

Some found the books in the series just keep on getting better and better. The author does a great job of leaving you guessing at who the killer really is in her work. This is a great series that is a go to read when someone is in a fix for a good read.

2 Responses to “Annelise Ryan”

1. Joyce: 1 year ago

   Just finished the 3rd Mattie Winston book. Love them. Looking forward to the rest of the series. They are interesting, easy to read, fun to read and the ending is always a surprise.

   Reply
2. Glenda: 2 years ago

   Wasn’t sure at first and after listening for 10 minutes I was hooked. Just wish there were more in the audiobook format. Keep them coming…..

   Reply