Yes, the order is: In Silent Graves, Keeper, Mr. Hands, Coffin County, and Far Dark Fields. yes, the next novel will begin in exact same spot FDF ended, right there in the tunnel, in the dark.
In one way or another, all of the Cedar Hill short stories are important to the overall cycle, but only a handful are absolutely vital as far as new readers go, which is why Mr. Hands and Coffin County included a few of them, and why FDF has 2 of them integrated into the narrative itself; all the information in the short stories is going to tie into the conclusion of this part of the cycle. (For instance, the bodies buried beneath the Yacht Club on Cholera Island will be waking up to pay the town a visit, and the urn with the ashes on the the Hangman's shelf is also going to be playing a more direct role in things to come.)
I've said this before but it bears repeating: I really, really tried to get Leisure to allow me to put something about FDF being the first book in the concluding novels somewhere on either the cover or in the first pages of the book after the title page. Barring that, I asked to pit a To Be Continued right at the very end. Yes, the central conflict that served as the catalyst for Geoff's trip back to Cedar Hill was resolved, but a lot of threads have been left dangling. Based on some reviews I've read thus far, that fact is at least obvious to readers (though more annoying to some than to others).
As a result, I am going to create a special web page (the URL will be listed in the next novel) to which new readers can go to read a The Story So Far -type of recap.
This decision was based in part on everything that I told you above, but a lot of it was based on the fact that there will be 2, not 1 book to conclude things with. So that grand total for the Leisure books of the Cedar Hill Cycle will be 7, not 6. I refuse to rush things, and I will not leave the major themes unresolved or the minor themes unaddressed.
Does that answer all your questions? If there are more, please do post them here, and I'll be respond asap.
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