Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
This week, the topic is Books With Occupations in the Title, and I found a bunch of good ones. Let’s check them out!
1. The Princess and the PI
Author: Nikki Payne
Page Length: 480
Pub. Date: Sept. 16, 2025
Publisher: Berkley
Synopsis: An amateur online sleuth must enlist the help of a jaded PI to clear her name while taking down a shady tech start-up in this exhilarating romantic caper.
Famed Reddit detective Fiona Addai is great at solving problems—online, that is. Cold cases, reality TV scandals, everyone calls on @Princess_PI. It’s her way of escaping her strict religious life at home and the memory of her brilliant brother’s sudden death. But when the sheltered sleuth tries to apply her inquisitive skills to real life, her plan to reclaim her late brother’s invention from the ruthless corporation that stole it goes disastrously wrong. Now, instead of getting justice, Fiona finds herself accused of murder.
Maurice Bennett is no stranger to insomnia. These days, he’s not losing sleep over the cases he’s solving—but running from the one he couldn’t. Instead, he’s been settling for small-time scandals that don’t stir up the guilt he’s buried. But when he spots Fiona Addai at the center of a murder investigation, something clicks. And for the first time in a long while, Maurice feels that old spark of intrigue.
However, Fiona is not the helpless damsel she appears to be. Sure, she needs Maurice’s help to clear her name, but she’s got conditions of her own: she wants a crash course in real-world detective work. Maurice isn’t exactly thrilled. With every late-night stakeout and tension-filled interrogation, their partnership starts to feel a little too close for comfort. To bring the real killer to light, they’ll need to trust each other and that might be the most dangerous gamble of all.
2. The Au Pair Affair
Author: Tessa Bailey
Series: Big Shots #2
Page Length: 384
Publisher: Avon
Synopsis: A sports rom-com about a burly, surly, single dad who falls head-over-hockey-stick for his quirky live-in nanny…
Tallulah is smart, vivacious, and studying to be a marine biologist. She’s also twenty-six and broke. So when Burgess, a battle-scarred hockey veteran and newly single dad, offers her a job as his live-in nanny, she jumps at the opportunity to get paid while living in a super fancy neighborhood and being around Lissa, his cool but introverted tween.
Her tween charge isn’t the only one who could use some help fitting in, though. According to…well, everyone except Burgess, he needs to get back on the dating scene, and adventurous Tallulah is just the girl to show him how. But as boundaries are slowly crossed and Burgess finds himself pulled between his daughter, who wants her parents back together, and his insane chemistry with Tallulah, a huge rift is formed, and Tallulah does the “right” thing—breaks her own heart and walks away.
Though Burgess knows it’s for the best—he’s too jaded, with too much baggage—a chance meeting, and a new push from his daughter, forces him to put everything on the line and fight to prove he learned his lessons well and is worthy of a happily ever after with Tallulah.
3 & 4. A Governess Should Never Lure a Spy
Author: Emily Windsor
Series: The Governess Chronicles
Page Length: 300
Publication Date: April 11, 2024
Synopsis: “So tell me, Miss Jones, why should I employ you as governess?”
A question to rouse fear within the breast of any prospective governess, unless…she wasn’t a governess at all.
Yet Amelia must gain this position by whatever means necessary, for this gentleman, dubbed The Scandalous Hugh Cadwalader by fashionable society, is not all he seems. Behind the elegant finery and azure eyes is a dangerous warrior of a man, a tenacious spy for the Crown.
One who might just have turned traitor…
“Just one more question, if I may…”
With her perfect references and perfect demureness, Miss Jones appears…perfect.
Feminine guidance and distraction are required for his inquisitive ward while Hugh Cadwalader is on the trail of a traitor in the alleys of London’s Rookery.
But can such perfection be all it seems? And was that a glimpse of golden fire within those amber eyes?
The Dangerous Spy and… The More Dangerous Governess.
One should never judge a governess by her perfectly forged references or a spy by his unblemished Hessian boots, for behind both facades lay passion untamed, subterfuge unbound and a quest for justice.
A battle of wits with only one winner… Love.
With theatres of glister and glamour, nights of shadow and menace, hairpins of poison, and being pressed to a desk by a shirtless masculine chest, the vocation of governess has never been so perilous…to the heart.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
5. The Duke and the Dressmaker
Author: Eva Devon
Series: Once Upon a Wallflower
Page Length: 223
Publication Date: Sept. 4, 2023
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Synopsis: Dressmaker Miss Lily Martin knows too well the sordid dealings of London’s corrupt underbelly. She should have known borrowing from one of the city’s most reviled moneylenders was risky. Horribly so. Now the loan has come due—and there’s nothing standing between Miss Lily and her darling sister’s ruin. Until a dashing American with flashing, defiant eyes intervenes…
Ship captain James Blakefield may be the new Duke of Ashbridge, but he’s only in London for six weeks to secure his estate before returning to America, and far from the watchful eye of the ton. He’ll be damned if he’ll attend another society event where eligible ladies fling themselves at his title. But when he discovers Miss Lily’s desperate predicament, James realizes he might have the perfect arrangement.
By assuming the legal guardianship of Lily’s sister, he can keep them both safe and ensure someone cares for the estate. But it means having Lily under the same roof for the next six weeks. No chaperones. No betrothal. As their undeniable attraction charges the very air between them, both propriety and restraint are threatened. But scandal is the least of their concerns when James’s secret threatens to pull everything apart at the seams…
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
6. Heartless Hunter
Author: Kristen Ciccarelli
Series: Crimson Moth #1
Page Length: 400
Publication Date: Feb. 20, 2024
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Synopsis: On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is.
Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe – a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution – who she can’t help but find herself falling for.
Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?
Kristen Ciccarelli’s Heartless Hunter is the thrilling start to a romantic fantasy duology where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch…is falling in love.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
7. The Bodyguard
Author: Katherine Center
Page Length: 320
Publication Date: July 19, 2022
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Synopsis: She’s got his back.
Hannah Brooks looks more like a kindgerten teacher than somebody who could kill you with a wine bottle opener. Or a ballpoint pen. Or a dinner napkin. But the truth is, she’s an Executive Protection Agent (aka “bodyguard”), and she just got hired to protect superstar actor Jack Stapleton from his middle-aged, corgi-breeding stalker.
He’s got her heart.
Jack Stapleton’s a household name—captured by paparazzi on beaches the world over, famous for, among other things, rising out of the waves in all manner of clingy board shorts and glistening like a Roman deity. But a few years back, in the wake of a family tragedy, he dropped from the public eye and went off the grid.
They’ve got a secret.
When Jack’s mom gets sick, he comes home to the family’s Texas ranch to help out. Only one catch: He doesn’t want his family to know about his stalker. Or the bodyguard thing. And so Hannah—against her will and her better judgment—finds herself pretending to be Jack’s girlfriend as a cover. Even though her ex, like a jerk, says no one will believe it.
What could possibly go wrong???
Hannah hardly believes it, herself. But the more time she spends with Jack, the more real it all starts to seem. And there lies the heartbreak. Because it’s easy for Hannah to protect Jack. But protecting her own, long-neglected heart? That’s the hardest thing she’s ever done.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
8. The Beast and the Bookseller
Author: Eva Devon
Page Length: 150
Publication Date: May 29, 2023
Publisher: Entangled
Synopsis: All of London gossips about the Duke of Montrose. A recluse. Inflicted with a terrible disease. A gargoyle with a terrible temper. But he’s also the most important patron of the centuries-old book shop that belongs to Miss Elizabeth Sharpe’s family. Now she’s been charged with delivering books to the Gargoyle of London herself—or risk their shop falling into ruin. But surely a duke can’t be that ghastly…
Garrett Maximilian doesn’t give a tinker’s damn what society says about him. Most of them are sycophants, bowing and scraping in his presence. But not this proud, redheaded spitfire of a woman standing before him. In fact, nothing makes him feel more alive than Miss Elizabeth tartly criticizing his books. Perhaps he just needs a plan to keep her close…
The duke’s glower doesn’t terrify Elizabeth as much as it fascinates her. And worse, he looks at her with a dark hunger that should make her shake with fear—not desire. But Elizabeth’s father has sinister plans in store for his daughter…and this beastly duke might be her only salvation.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
9. Royal Spy
Series: Fate of Eyrinthia #2
Page Length: 467
Publication Date: May 20, 2021
Synopsis: A DECOY recruited to be a spy.
A PRINCE compelled to become an assassin.
A SERJAH pressured by an unwanted crown.
A WORLD covered in shadows.
Mere months ago, Clare was just a kitchen maid. Now, she is a decoy for Princess Serene and a novice spy, caught in the royal family’s web of secrets. While journeying to Mortise to finalize the princess’s betrothal to Serjah Desfan, Clare lives for the stolen moments she has with Bennick, the bodyguard who is quickly claiming her heart. But when a notorious assassin is hired to kill her, Clare’s life and the alliance hang in the balance.
In Ryden, Grayson prepares to leave for Mortise with his brother, Liam. Their orders are to ignite a war between their enemies, and Grayson has been tasked with assassinating Princess Serene. It may cost his soul, but he is ready to comply, as long as he gets something in return: freedom for Mia, the girl he loves. But the more time he spends with his brother, the more he begins to wonder if Liam is what Grayson wishes he had the courage to be . . . a traitor.
Desfan feels trapped. By his disapproving council, his impending marriage to a stranger, and the imminent arrival of enemy princes who may not want the peace they profess. When a dangerous drug threatens his people, Desfan jumps at the chance to rely on his swords instead of politics. But his investigation uncovers more than he bargained for–a plot that may destroy Mortise from within.
Eyrinthia hovers on the edge of war. Spies. Rebels. Traitors. All must choose a side.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
10. Butcher & Blackbird
Author: Brynne Weaver
Series: The Ruinous Love Trilogy #1
Page Length: 355
Pub. Date: April 15, 2023
Synopsis: Every serial killer needs a friend.
Every game must have a winner.
When a chance encounter sparks an unlikely bond between rival murderers Sloane and Rowan, the two find something elusive—the friendship of a like-minded, pitch-black soul. From small town West Virginia to upscale California, from downtown Boston to rural Texas, the two hunters collide in an annual game of blood and suffering, one that pits them against the most dangerous monsters in the country. But as their friendship develops into something more, the restless ghosts left in their wake are only a few steps behind, ready to claim more than just their newfound love. Can Rowan and Sloane dig themselves out of a game of graves? Or have they finally met their match?
Can you think of any books with occupations in the title? Comment below!
Omg, Royal Spy! You picked so many great ones and so many that I forgot were also on my TBR (and somehow missed for today)! 🫣 I did have the first Governess book on my list today though, lol. Great list, Julie!
Thanks Dini! It was such a fun topic to do and I’ve seen so many books I didn’t even think of. Lol
Great list Julie. This is the first time I’ve seen PI and Au Pair today.
Thanks Carla! It was a fun topic.
Great list! Loved Heartless Hunter!
Fun list! I think a lot of us included The Bodyguard — it’s a great fit for the prompt and a great book!
It is! I really enjoy her books.
I saw a lot of variations of Dressmaker in titles! I didn’t realize it was such a popular occupation in books. I was expecting to find way more librarians or book keepers!
Same! Lol I noticed a lot of Spy titles too.
Oooh great picks! The Princess and the PI sounds intriguing.
Great list, Julie! I love how you managed to find real-world occupations. Have a great week!
Thanks so much, Leah!