Caroline Mitchell Books in Order

Recommended Reading Paths: Where to Start?

With multiple bestselling series and a host of hit standalones, deciding where to start with Caroline Mitchell’s catalog can feel daunting. Because her series are self-contained, you do not need to read them in a specific order relative to each other. However, to get the best experience, you should follow the publication order within each individual series. Depending on your tastes, here are the three best entry points into her work:

• The Detective-Procedural Path (DI Amy Winter Series): If you love dark psychological thrillers focused on family secrets, start with Truth and Lies (2018). This series follows a detective who discovers her biological parents were infamous serial killers. It is her most popular and acclaimed series.
• The Cursed-Town Path (Slayton Thriller Series): If you prefer atmospheric, eerie mysteries with light supernatural chills, start with The Midnight Man (2021). Set in the haunted town of Slayton, it follows Detective Sarah Noble as she investigates creepy crimes alongside a young psychic child.
• The Standalone Path: If you want a quick, self-contained story without committing to a full series, start with Silent Victim (2018) or her eerie domestic thriller The Family at No. 1 (2025).

DI Amy Winter Series Reading Order

The DI Amy Winter series is Mitchell’s most famous work, blending procedural elements with deep psychological trauma. The series must be read in order to follow Amy's ongoing struggle with her dark heritage and her complicated relationship with her incarcerated serial-killer mother.

1. Truth and Lies (2018) – Amy Winter is confronted by her biological mother, killer Lillian Grimes, who offers to reveal the locations of her remaining victims—but only to Amy.
2. The Secret Child (2019) – Amy handles a high-stakes kidnapping case that hits dangerously close to home.
3. Left For Dead (2020) – A cold case resurfaces when a victim is found alive after being missing for thirty years.
4. Flesh and Blood (2021) – Amy investigates a series of gruesome murders in a local community where someone is reenacting historical crimes.
5. In Cold Blood (2022) – DI Winter must track down a killer targeting families in their own homes while dealing with threats from her past.

Slayton Thriller Series Reading Order (Detective Sarah Noble)

This series moves away from traditional gritty city procedurals into the atmospheric and folklore-steeped town of Slayton. Detective Sarah Noble works alongside a psychic child named Elliott Carter to solve horrific crimes that have an almost supernatural tint.

1. The Midnight Man (2021) – Sarah Noble returns to the force to investigate a group of girls who played a game in a haunted manor and disappeared.
2. The Night Whispers (2022) – Investigations lead Sarah into local woods where sinister forces and missing children are connected.
3. The Bone House (2023) – A mass death of birds and the discovery of old bones in a lake bring Sarah face-to-face with Slayton's deepest legends.

DS Ruby Preston Series Reading Order

Set in London, this series is a gritty, fast-paced police procedural featuring a tough female lead who is not afraid to cross lines to get justice.

1. Death Note (2016) – Also published under the title Love You to Death, this debut follows Ruby Preston as she hunts a killer who leaves diary entries detailing their crimes.
2. Sleep Tight (2017) – Ruby is tasked with stopping a kidnapper targeting new mothers.
3. Murder Game (2017) – A serial killer plays a twisted game with the police, forcing Ruby to make impossible choices.

Detective Jennifer Knight Series Reading Order

This was Caroline Mitchell's debut fiction series. Set in the fictional town of Haven, these books feature the strongest supernatural elements in her procedural work, incorporating a Grim Reaper-like figure.

1. Don't Turn Around (2015) – Detective Jennifer Knight investigates serial killings that seem to have a supernatural connection.
2. Time to Die (2015) – A serial killer who claims to know when his victims will die challenges Jennifer.
3. The Silent Twin (2016) – Jennifer is called to investigate the disappearance of a child whose twin sister has stopped speaking.

Standalone Thrillers, Memoirs, and Anthologies

In addition to her series, Caroline Mitchell has written several highly successful standalone psychological thrillers. Readers should note that her earliest publication, Paranormal Intruder, is not a novel but a non-fiction memoir detailing her real-life experiences with a haunting.

• Paranormal Intruder: The True Story of a Family in Fear (2013) – A non-fiction memoir recounting the supernatural events Mitchell and her family allegedly experienced in their home. This real-life terror inspired her to start writing fiction.
• Witness (2016) – A psychological thriller about a woman in witness protection trying to escape her past.
• Silent Victim (2018) – A massive bestseller about a woman who buries her abusive husband's body under the patio, only to have a new family move in years later.
• The Perfect Mother (2020) – A gripping domestic thriller centered on secrets, lies, and a mother's worst nightmare.
• The Village (2022) – A family moves to a remote village only to find themselves trapped in a local legend.
• The Islanders (2023) – A group of people trapped on a remote island find themselves hunted one by one.
• The Last Guest House (2024) – A suspenseful thriller set at an isolated seaside property.
• The Family at No. 1 (2025) – An estate agent trying to sell a beautiful house with a dark history of double murder becomes the target of a killer.
• Everyday Kindness (2021) – A charity anthology edited by L.J. Ross to support the charity Shelter. Caroline Mitchell contributed a short story to this collection.

What to Know Before You Start

Caroline Mitchell’s writing is heavily influenced by her nine years as a police detective in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the UK. This background gives her police procedurals a high level of technical accuracy, especially regarding high-risk domestic abuse and sexual crimes. She pairs this gritty realism with eerie, gothic atmospheres, which she calls "creepy crime." If you dislike supernatural elements in your mystery novels, you may want to skip the Jennifer Knight and Slayton series, and instead focus on the DI Amy Winter series or standalones like Silent Victim.