Sometimes you want to settle into a long series and stay awhile. Other times, you want a change of scenery: a new couple, an intriguing predicament, and a romance to enjoy before returning to the fictional families you already love.
For those between-series moments, I recommend five of Caroline’s multi-author collaborations: Pinkerton Matchmaker, Proxy Brides, Guns for Hire, Love Train, and Matchmaker’s Ball. Her contributions offer everything from reluctant detective partners to an unexpected bride and a dance invitation that leads to danger.
A multi-author series connects books by different writers through a shared premise, setting, or theme. Each author contributes a story, giving readers familiar territory with a fresh cast. Caroline’s collaborative catalog offers plenty of those opportunities.
Here are five choices to consider when you want an inviting detour between her longer series. “Fast” here means stories with an immediate hook and plenty happening—not a promise that every book is a novella or can be finished in one sitting.
1. Pinkerton Matchmaker: When Your Partner Is Also Your Husband
Start with: An Agent for Magdala
Choose this when you want: detective work, a marriage of convenience, and two people who disagree before they learn to cooperate.
Magdala welcomes the opportunity to become a Pinkerton agent. The requirement that she enter a paper marriage surprises her, but it does not end her ambition. She intends to prove herself as an investigator and obtain an annulment before her unusual family discovers what she has done.
Her assigned partner, Douglas “Cloud” Ryan, is considerably less enthusiastic. He loves his work, distrusts women, and does not believe they should be dealing with criminals. Their assignment to catch jewel thieves gives Maggie an opportunity to challenge his assumptions—provided they survive the dangers along the way.
That is an appealing setup for a between-series read because the central conflict is clear immediately. Maggie wants a chance to do the job. Cloud thinks she should stay out of his way. Neither gets the comfortable arrangement they would have chosen.
The investigation also gives their relationship something practical to contend with. They cannot simply avoid each other when they disagree; they have a case to solve.
If the premise catches your interest, Caroline also contributed An Agent for Lydia and An Agent for Judith. Lydia’s investigation brings her together with the man who disappeared before their wedding, while Judith becomes an agent to secure help for her endangered brother. Each heroine enters the shared framework for a different reason.
Explore Caroline’s books on the Pinkerton Matchmaker page.
2. Proxy Brides: Marriage First, Getting Acquainted Later
Start with: A Bride for Gideon
Choose this when you want: a new beginning, a guarded hero, and the possibility of finding a home in an unexpected place.
After losing her parents, Keira Cameron leaves Scotland for Boston. She hopes to find work and establish a life, but employers—and their wives—find reasons not to hire her. When her cousin suggests a proxy marriage to a friend in Montana, Keira sees a chance for the family and belonging she wants.
Gideon Ross is a blacksmith whose wartime experiences have left him scarred and withdrawn. Keira’s arrival unsettles the life he has built around keeping to himself. He honors their marriage vows, but sharing a future requires more than fulfilling an obligation. As threats emerge, both must face dangers and secrets that put their growing bond at risk.
What makes this a satisfying change of pace is the difference between having a husband and having a home. Keira’s marriage provides a possible destination. It does not automatically give her trust, affection, or security.
That leaves room for the emotional work readers enjoy in a marriage-of-convenience romance: two people learning whether an arrangement made for practical reasons can become something they genuinely want.
Caroline’s other Proxy Brides contributions are A Bride for Luke and A Bride for Dalton. Luke discovers that his mother and aunt have arranged a marriage for him, while Dalton is surprised by a bride’s arrival during a dangerous undercover assignment. These are variations on the same enticing question: what happens after an unexpected marriage becomes real?
Find the books on Caroline’s Proxy Brides page.
3. Guns for Hire: A Bounty Hunter with More Than Money at Stake
Start with: Shad
Choose this when you want: Western danger, a determined hero, and a pursuit that becomes more complicated than expected.
Shad wants enough money to buy a ranch. Trouble involving his uncle consumes his savings, leaving him looking for another way to finance that dream. Pursuing an outlaw with a substantial reward seems to offer an answer.
Then, while taking shelter from a storm, he discovers a badly injured woman who escaped from the outlaw and his gang. The criminal Shad is hunting has already inflicted terrible harm, and the woman needs help. His pursuit now involves an immediate human responsibility as well as his hopes for the future.
For readers who want a stronger dose of Western action between romance series, this is my pick. The hero has a concrete goal, the danger is established, and the story places someone vulnerable directly in his path.
The appeal is not that Shad abandons his dream. It is that pursuing it brings him into circumstances where money cannot be his only concern.
Guns for Hire also illustrates how collaborative projects come together. Caroline credited Charlene Raddon with conceiving the series and creating its covers through Silver Sage Cover Designs. Caroline’s Shad was book seven in that shared project.
Look for it through Caroline’s Guns for Hire series page.
4. Love Train: A Ticket Away from Trouble—Perhaps
Start with: Samantha
Choose this when you want: a heroine on the run, a train journey, and romantic suspense.
Samantha Hayes overhears her fiancé planning to marry her for her fortune and then kill her. She does not wait to see whether he means it. She boards a westbound train, hoping to escape before he can carry out his scheme.
Pinkerton agent Kent Butler follows at her aunt’s request. He tracks Samantha to Council Bluffs and boards the Union Pacific, but the assignment is not as straightforward as it first appears. The woman who hired him has secrets, and Samantha’s former fiancé and his henchmen remain a threat.
This is a good choice when you want a story that gets moving quickly—both literally and emotionally. Samantha has a reason to flee, Kent has a reason to follow, and danger gives them a reason to decide whether they can trust each other.
The railway setting adds a different atmosphere from a ranch or small-town romance. The characters are traveling toward a destination while trying to understand the trouble accompanying them. In Samantha, the journey toward North Platte becomes a test of trust as the threat closes in.
Discover the book on Caroline’s Love Train page.
5. Matchmaker’s Ball: One Invitation, Unexpected Consequences
Start with: Polka with Pauline
Choose this when you want: matchmaking, a Colorado setting, and romance with a suspenseful turn.
Pauline Brubaker travels from Denver to Creede, Colorado, to care for her aunt, who is recovering from a broken leg. Pauline expects the visit to be temporary. Her family and established life are elsewhere.
Then she meets Creighton Reed, a talented furniture maker. Mutual friends arrange for the two to attend a Matchmaker Ball together, providing an opportunity for their attraction to grow. But the budding relationship faces something far more serious than uncertainty about Pauline’s plans: a firebomb attack destroys Creighton’s workshop and home.
I recommend this one for readers who like the promise of a social occasion but do not want a story confined to pleasant conversations and dancing.
The invitation brings Pauline and Creighton together. The attack gives them urgent questions to answer. Alongside the danger is Pauline’s personal dilemma: what does an unexpected attachment mean for a woman who planned only a brief stay?
It is a useful reminder that a matchmaking premise can lead somewhere quite different from what the title first suggests.
Read more on the Matchmaker’s Ball page.
Which One Should You Read First?
For an easy starting point, choose by mood:
Detective partners and conflicting opinions: An Agent for Magdala.
Belonging and an unconventional marriage: A Bride for Gideon.
Bounty hunting and Western danger: Shad.
Escape and a suspenseful train journey: Samantha.
Matchmaking with an unexpected threat: Polka with Pauline.
These are five invitations, not another reading assignment. Choose the premise that appeals to you, check the series listing for numbering or reading-order notes, and enjoy a different corner of Caroline’s fiction before returning to a longer series.
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