Downside Ghosts Books in Order
How to Read the Downside Ghosts series
Standalone stories, but characters and relationships develop across the series.
Publication order gives the best experience with the Downside Ghosts series. Each book has a complete central plot focused on a distinct supernatural investigation. Character relationships and ongoing developments carry across the series. Readers miss important context for Chess’s personal growth, her addiction struggles, and her evolving relationship with Terrible if they read out of order.
About the Downside Ghosts series
Series Premise
The Downside Ghosts series follows Chess Putnam as she investigates crimes involving the dead in a world where ghosts are a constant deadly threat. The books combine dark urban fantasy cases with Chess’s personal struggles, including addiction and dangerous relationships.
Main Characters
Chess Putnam serves as the central protagonist, a talented and flawed Churchwitch with a sharp mind and a troubled past. She is closely tied to Terrible, a powerful enforcer in the Downside criminal world, whose complicated relationship with her develops throughout the books.
Setting
The series is set in a dark, near-future urban environment where the Church of Real Truth controls society and ghosts haunt the living, particularly in the dangerous Downside district.
Tone & Themes
The tone is gritty, intense, and emotionally raw with strong romantic elements. Central themes include addiction and recovery, trust and betrayal, the cost of power, and finding connection in a harsh world.
Is This Series Worth Reading?
This series appeals to readers who enjoy dark urban fantasy, complex and flawed female protagonists, and stories that blend intense mysteries with raw emotional and romantic arcs.
Content Warnings and Heat Level
Contains strong language, explicit sexual content, drug use, and graphic violence; intended for adult readers.
The Downside Ghosts series delivers gripping supernatural cases within a continuing personal storyline. Following publication order allows readers to fully experience Chess’s development and relationships. The combination of dark mystery, intense romance, and emotional depth creates a distinctive urban fantasy series.
FAQ
9 books total: 6 main + 3 extra stories
No new book is currently scheduled. The latest book, Close to You, was published in October 2013.
Close to You was published in October 2013.
The first book in the series is Unholy Ghosts, published in May 2010.
The series primarily falls into the Paranormal Romance genre.
It’s best to read the series in order. Each book has its own story, but ongoing character arcs and relationships develop across the series.
The Downside Ghosts series follows Chess Putnam as she investigates crimes involving the dead in a world where ghosts are a constant deadly threat. The books combine dark urban fantasy cases with Chess’s personal struggles, including addiction and dangerous relationships.
The series does not currently have a new book scheduled.