A.J. Aalto books in order
A.J. Aalto is a Canadian author of urban fantasy and paranormal mystery.
She is best known for writing the paranormal mystery series, The Marnie Baranuik Files.
A biologist, a student of criminal psychology & behavior, an axe-throwing bellydancer, and a PVP gamer, A.J. is quick to admit that she sucks at Sudoku, and has a thing for cops.
Whenever she isn't creating imaginary scenarios in her head and putting them on paper, A.J. can be found singing Monty Python in the shower, eavesdropping on strangers, stalking her eye doctor, and drinking copious amounts of tea.
She is attracted to self-approving pseudo-intellectuals and narcissistic jerks, and her work is more often than not full of flawed monsters and oodles of snark.
Genres: Mystery, Paranormal , Urban Fantasy
Canada
Website: http://www.ajaalto.com
Non Series
- Closet Full Of Bones (2017)
Marnie Baranuik Files
- Touched (2011)
- Death Rejoices (2013)
- Cold Company: A Marnie Baranuik Novella (2013)
- Dirt Nap: A Marnie Baranuik Novella (2013)
- Last Impressions (2014)
- Deadhead: A Marnie Baranuik Novella (2015)
- Wrath & Bones (2015)
- Blightmare (2017)
- Stiff Competition: A Marnie Baranuik Novella (2017)
- Kindred Spirits (2021)
Marnie Baranuik Files: Grave Mistakes
- Grave Mistakes (2022)
- Grave Dealings (2022)
Novellas
- Serving One's Guests At Shaw's Fist: A Gentleman's Secrets (2016)
Detailed book overview
Non Series
Ever since they were children, Gillian Hearth has been her sister Frankie’s guardian, her sounding board, and her best friend. Together, the Hearth sisters quietly bury their secrets and form a formidable team during any crisis.
Purchasing the old Blymhill house with the hopes of turning it into an artists’ retreat, the sisters are finally living their dream. But when Frankie’s stable ground is rattled by a vengeful ex-boyfriend, an unstable friend from the past shows up unannounced with delusions of intimacy, and a cold case cop starts sniffing around their door, the sisters are forced to wonder how far they will go to keep their secrets safe.
Gillian discovers that, this time, her fight is about to land her in the crosshairs of a dangerous predator who will use any means necessary to remove her from the equation. With everything she holds dear under threat, Gillian battles to keep her head above water and her skeletons in the closet.
First Release: 2017
ISBN: 978-0995200456
Publisher: Pixiegrind Ink
Marnie Baranuik Files
The media has a nickname for Marnie Baranuik, though she’d rather they didn’t; they call her the Great White Shark, a rare dual-talented forensic psychic. Twice-Touched by the Blue Sense—which gives her the ability to feel the emotions of others, and read impressions left behind on objects—Marnie also has a doctorate in preternatural biology and a working knowledge of the dark arts. She is considered without peer in the psychic community. Then her first big FBI case ended with a bullet in one shoulder and a chip on the other, a queasy heart and a serial killer in the wind.
When the FBI’s preternatural crimes unit tracks her down at a remote mountain lodge for her insight on a local case, her retirement is promptly besieged by a stab-happy starlet, a rampaging ghoul, and a vampire-hunting jackass in tight Wranglers. Marnie figures the only real mystery is which one will kill her first. Too mean to die young, backed up by friends in cold places, and running with a mouth as demure as a cannon’s blast, Marnie Baranuik is about to discover that there’s no such thing as quitting time when you’re Touched.
First Release: 2011
ISBN: 978-0995200401
Publisher: Pixiegrind Ink
Marnie Baranuik is back, and this time, the Great White Shark of psychic investigations has “people skills” and a new assistant who seems to harbor an unhealthy curiosity about Harry, her revenant companion.
Together, they've got a whole lot of questions that need answering. Is an ancient vampire hunting in Denver? Who is stalking Lord Dreppenstedt? How do you cure a slipper-humping bat, ditch an ogre, or give a demon king the slip? And what the hell was she thinking, swearing off cookies?
Teaming up with her sexual nemesis, Special Agent Mark Batten, and their long-suffering supervisor, Gary Chapel, Marnie discovers that vampire hunters aren't easy to rescue, secrets don’t stay buried, and zombies sure are a pain in the ass to kill.
First Release: 2013
ISBN: 978-1935961789
Publisher: Bookouture
Before she vanished, few people knew what paralyzing fear Rachel Houseton battled every single day. Can Marnie Baranuik — professional psychic and amateur dunce — muster her resources to confront the face of Rachel’s terror and find her before it’s too late? Joined by her newly undead brother Wes and her revenant partner Lord Guy Harrick Dreppenstedt, Marnie dives into a new case that serves as a grim reminder that DaySitters aren’t the only ones living shoulder-to-shoulder with Cold Company.
First Release: 2013
Ebook: B01GGCYPCY
Publisher: Pixiegrind Ink
Jail probably would have been a better place to spend a Thursday afternoon, but when a preternatural expert is needed, there's no one else who can fill Marnie Baranuik's Keds. Beset by a rampaging stone monster and a furious quarry owner, trapped between a rock and a hard-ass, Marnie faces her biggest challenge yet, and discovers once and for all if size really does matter.
First Release: 2013
Ebook: B01GGOCK1U
Publisher: Pixiegrind Ink
When an FBI Internal Affairs investigation lands the Preternatural Crimes Unit in a bureaucratic spank-fest, it feels like the perfect time for Marnie Baranuik to skip town and lend her expertise to a bear-sized Canadian cop who doesn’t want her help with his case, his love life, or his car stereo.
Back in her childhood stomping grounds, Marnie leaps into action, facing an exorcist in skinny jeans, a slap-happy specter, and an old friend up to new tricks. Are ghosts behind a string of unusual deaths? Why didn’t her revenant companion, Lord Harry Dreppenstedt, tell her he had a Combat Butler? Can she survive dinner with her parents?
With a shifty man of the cloth offering her soul’s redemption, and a revelation that could change the future of her love life, she has her gloved hands full. She may not make a great first impression, but no one makes a Last Impression quite like Marnie.
First Release: 2014
ISBN: 978-0995200425
Publisher: Pixiegrind Ink
Marnie Baranuik has barely had time to enjoy her break from the FBI’s Preternatural Crimes Unit when her favorite hunky vampire hunter comes calling. If Kill-Notch Batten can’t oust an unruly garden invader, maybe Marnie can, but when a wayward woodland sprite takes her for a joyride, it’s more than either of them can handle.
Relying on her two favorite dead guys to read her mind and do her kitchen witching instead of having her for a late-night snack, it’s time for Marnie to add a green thumb to her magical bag of tricks before her unwanted guest takes root permanently.
First Release: 2015
Ebook: B01GGCYSWQ
Publisher: Pixiegrind Ink
Marnie Baranuik is confident that her new psychic detective agency will be a great success, and she has eight million business cards to prove it. But before the paint even dries on her open for business sign, she’s summoned to face the Demon King Asmodeus in His own playground, the revenant court, home of the undead nobility, to participate in a conclave of the most powerful immortals on Earth.
Orc prophets have forewarned her that danger is looming in the far north. In her most ambitious adventure yet, Marnie must harness her powers, gather trusted friends to wade into battle, and complete an international treasure hunt that would make Indiana Jones break into a cold sweat, before raising a new revenant house to rule from the Unhallowed Throne... and do it all without getting her heart or legs broken.
Storms are brewing, threats are piling up, and the stakes are higher than ever, but Marnie is determined to dance with danger to the very end. There’s only one thing left to do: deal with it, Baranuik-Style. Does anyone know if yetis like take-out? And when you're on a date with a mummy, who picks up the check?
First Release: 2015
ISBN: 978-0995200432
Publisher: Pixiegrind Ink
Reeling from her losses and trying to regroup, the Great White Shark of psychic investigation turns her focus on self-improvement, though her remaining friends call it self-flagellation. Marnie is determined to move forward at maximum warp, trauma be damned.
A prospective client named Beau Boudreaux shows up in her office with a peanut butter addiction and a plea for Marnie to protect him from his ex-girlfriend: Pestilence, the First Horseman of the Apocalypse. His story is hard to swallow, but heading off Armageddon seems like a spiffy distraction.
That is, until the Blights descend, and Marnie realizes that all her nightmares are about to come true. Running with a lighter crew and a busted heart, can Marnie get her act together and solve the riddle of Beau Boudreaux before the End Times come a’knockin’? Or will the Blightmare become her new reality?
First Release: 2017
ISBN: 978-0995200449
Publisher: Pixiegrind Ink
Marnie Baranuik, forensic psychic and DaySitter to Lord Guy Harrick Dreppenstedt, has seen her fair share of paranormal shenanigans at Shaw’s Fist Lake. But when Ruby Valli’s old coven members show up to petition in a contest to claim Ruby’s tainted grimoire from Marnie’s possession, she and Harry are warily optimistic. Could she finally be rid of the grimoire's dark influence and intrusive, papery whispers? It seems too good to be true, and Marnie soon discovers that ditching the book doesn’t come without a cost.
In order to navigate this delicate mission, Marnie will have to match wits with dark witches whose methods and motives are suspect to say the least. Fortunately, she has her self-proclaimed “dude-witch” brother to lend a hand with a few new inventions. Which witch will take the dreaded grimoire off Marnie’s hands for good? And will Marnie survive being the beneficiary of Wesley’s help? With a Baranuik in the judge’s chair and chaos in the air, there’s bound to be some stiff competition.
First Release: 2017
ISBN: 978-0995200463
Publisher: Stiff Competition
Marnie Baranuik, psychic detective and DaySitter to Lord Guy Harrick Dreppenstedt, returns home to Canada for double-helpings of Thanksgiving turkey and undead treachery after hearing disturbing reports from beyond the Bitter Pass.
Mark Batten was last known to be lying in wait for Aston Sarokhanian, digging into the secret of what happened to his grandfather, Colonel Jack Batten. Marnie, Harry, and her brother Wesley are working -- sometimes together, sometimes at cross-purposes -- to unravel the machinations of not only House Sarokhanian, but the other powerful revenants in the region and the tendrils of territorial alliances they’ve tended for centuries, and to protect Batten before they lose him for good to threats, both mortal and otherwise.
Stripped of the moon’s sway for her own good, Marnie must slip under the radar of primeval houses embroiled in a blood feud, to manage a high-stakes game of hide-and-seek with undead smugglers, mortal thieves, con artists, and vampire hunters. Will calling in favors with local law enforcement prove a double-ended stake for Marnie and the crew?
First Release: 2021
ISBN: 978-0995200470
Publisher: Pixiegrind Ink
Marnie Baranuik Files: Grave Mistakes
Though she firmly believes herself to be as non-essential as they come during these strange times, Marnie Baranuik's unique talents are once again requested, this time by her close friend, Sheriff Rob Hood.
It's bad enough having to abandon her general routine of sloth and gluttony, but when she's asked to negotiate with the dead to help Hood investigate the haunting specter of a man murdered not once but twice on her property, her past misdeeds threaten to put her and Wesley at risk. How will the spirit of Neil Dunnachie, ex-vampire hunter and ex-zombie, react to her summons?
What Marnie does next should surprise no one who's met her. Step one: install the undead in Sheriff Hood's office for the graveyard shift. Step two: Coffee, and lots of it. Step three: ...stumbling to victory? Through the veil and against all odds, Marnie and Hood do their level best to confront the ugly truths, dodge ghostly fists, and avoid making Grave Mistakes.
First Release: 2022
Ebook: B09RPF3ZQJ
Managing the sudden, overwhelming influx of psychic impressions that were inevitable after returning to public and a social life, Marnie Baranuik struggles to filter out the most extreme and confusing impressions offered up by the Blue Sense. Distractions and temptations bombard her from every side.
Fortunately, there's no work to be done. Unfortunately, bad guys don't take vacations, and though she's not gone looking for trouble, trouble finds Marnie. New friends, new flirtations, new foes, and worst of all, new cadavers. She's one shove closer to the grave this time. A cold case nearly leads to a cold conclusion, but can Marnie summon the power she needs to face these Grave Dealings?
First Release: 2022
Ebook: B09RNDCZH3
Publisher: Pixiegrind Ink
Novellas
In this special tie-in cookbook, Lord Guy Harrick Dreppenstedt, the resident revenant at 1 Shaw's Fist Lane, shares a few treasured secrets of his pantry with recipes from the world of the Marnie Baranuik Files. In this short volume, Harry reveals those dishes he makes for his DaySitter and her merry band of misfits. From cookies to cocktails, there are gems within that are sure to become favorites for any fan of the Marnie Baranuik Files.
First Release: 2016
ISBN: B01MTZ9T69
Publisher: Pixiegrind Ink