The Best Place to Start Reading Chris Patchell
With multiple suspenseful universes, police procedurals, and standalone domestic thrillers under her belt, deciding where to start with Chris Patchell depends entirely on your preferred flavor of suspense:
- For Small-Town Crime and Procedural Grit: Start with the Lacey James Mystery Series. Beginning with Find Her, this series follows a dedicated police officer juggling the dangers of local investigations with the messy realities of motherhood and family life in Sweet Home, Oregon.
- For Dark Domestic Thrillers and Rescue Missions: Start with The Holt Foundation Stories. This series, beginning chronologically with the origin story Justice for All or by publication order with In the Dark, centers on the fight for victims' rights and high-stakes justice in Seattle.
- For Gritty Detective Roots: Start with the Jill Shannon Murder Series. Her debut novel, Deadly Lies, kicked off this tight duology, introducing readers to a fierce protagonist uncovering deep-seated local corruption.
- For Quick, Self-Contained Thrills: Dive straight into one of her standalone novels. The Perfect Brother offers a high-stakes tech-suspense mystery set in Vancouver, while Deception Bay provides an atmospheric, family-secret mystery on Whidbey Island.
The Lacey James Mystery Series
The Lacey James Mystery series is arguably Patchell's most famous and highly praised sequence, earning awards like the BookFest Award for its final entries. Set in Sweet Home, Oregon, the series is deeply character-driven, following local police officer Lacey James and her partner Eli Davidson as they unravel dark mysteries that disturb their small logging town. Lacey isn't just a tough cop; she's also a wife and mother of two, and a massive part of the series' charm lies in watching her struggle to balance high-stakes crime investigations with keeping her home life intact.
This is a heavily serialized series where character arcs, family drama, and relationships develop steadily from book to book. As a result, it is highly recommended that you read these books in their strict publication order.
Lacey James Recommended Reading Order
- Find Her (2021): The series debut introduces Officer Lacey James in Sweet Home. When a local teen goes missing and a body is discovered, Lacey must team up with Eli Davidson to unravel secrets that hit incredibly close to home.
- Save Her (2022): Lacey is thrown back into danger when she must track down a killer whose targets threaten the safety of the town and her own family.
- Tell Her (2022): As local secrets continue to unravel, Lacey and Eli piece together a complex crime timeline, showing how deep small-town corruption can run.
- Hide Her (2022): A high-tension entry where Lacey faces a race against time, trying to keep those she loves safe while confronting a brilliant and elusive adversary.
- Kill Her (2025): The fifth book wraps up key elements of Lacey's professional and personal journey, earning critical acclaim and a BookFest Award for Best Mystery.
The Holt Foundation Series
The Holt Foundation series is a collection of dark domestic suspense thrillers set in the rainy streets of Seattle. The narrative revolves around Elizabeth Holt, a former Assistant District Attorney who survived a brutal assault during her college years. Channeling her survival into a lifelong mission, she founds the Holt Foundation—a specialized team of legal, investigative, and psychological professionals dedicated to finding justice for victims of violent crimes when the system fails them.
Unlike the Lacey James series, the reading order for the Holt Foundation stories has some flexibility. You can read them in two different ways depending on your preference:
Option 1: Chronological Order (Recommended for Character Continuity)
Reading chronologically lets you follow Elizabeth Holt's personal journey from the very beginning of her legal career before she establishes the foundation.
- Justice for All (2019): Though published later, this book acts as a prequel/origin story. It follows Elizabeth Holt as a young Assistant District Attorney who reopens a cold case using fresh DNA evidence, setting the stage for her future crusade.
- In the Dark (2015): The first full-length novel published in the series. It dives into a terrifying kidnapping and domestic abuse case, showcasing the type of rescue and recovery operations the Holt Foundation handles.
- Dark Harvest (2017): The sequel follows the foundation's agents as they investigate a series of chilling crimes targeting vulnerable individuals in the Pacific Northwest.
Option 2: Publication Order
If you prefer to read the books in the order they were written and released, start with the main suspense novels before backtracking to the founder's origin story:
- In the Dark (2015)
- Dark Harvest (2017)
- Justice for All (2019)
The Jill Shannon Murder Series
The Jill Shannon Murder Series represents Chris Patchell's entry into the suspense thriller genre. Jill Shannon is a vulnerable yet resilient protagonist who finds herself thrust into the middle of deadly conspiracies and cover-ups. These books are tightly plotted and deal with themes of family secrets, betrayal, and survival.
Jill Shannon Recommended Reading Order
- Deadly Lies (2013): Patchell's debut novel. The story introduces Jill Shannon as she uncovers a web of lies that threatens her life, setting the tone for Patchell's future dark thrillers.
- Vow of Silence (2018): The direct sequel, which picks up with Jill as she must confront the dark ghosts of her past that refuse to stay buried.
Standalone Novels and Anthologies
If you aren't ready to commit to a full series, Chris Patchell has written outstanding standalone thrillers that showcase her trademark Pacific Northwest setting, deep character work, and high stakes.
Standalone Novels
- Deception Bay (2019): This novel shifts slightly in tone, blending mystery, romance, and dark humor. Set on Whidbey Island, it follows Austin Martell, a cozy mystery author who left his hometown for New York. When his mother suffers a suspicious accident, Austin is forced to return home, face local police chief Ellie Sharpe, and confront the dark family secrets surrounding his brother's childhood death.
- The Perfect Brother (2022): Set in Vancouver, Canada, this high-stakes thriller centers on Indira Saraf, a talented software engineer. When her brother Amar (the family's "perfect golden child") is arrested for the murder of his student lover, Indira refuses to believe he is guilty. Using her own AI-driven data tracking technology, she launches an unauthorized investigation that leads her into the dark underbelly of the city, placing her directly in the killer's sights.
Anthologies
- Mostly Murder: Till Death (2016): Chris Patchell contributed a short story to this multi-author mystery anthology edited by Patrice Fitzgerald, which features short suspense stories focusing on the theme of marriages and relationships gone deadly.
What to Know Before You Start
Before diving into Chris Patchell’s books, here are a few things that will enhance your reading experience:
- The Pacific Northwest is a Character: Whether it's the rainy forests of Oregon in the Lacey James series, the foggy shores of Whidbey Island in Deception Bay, or the urban sprawl of Seattle and Vancouver, Patchell uses the gloomy, atmospheric weather of the region to reflect the tension of her stories.
- Sensitive Themes: Her thrillers deal with heavy subjects, including domestic violence, kidnapping, murder, and childhood trauma. However, she balances these darker elements with themes of resilience, family loyalty, and recovery.
- Pacing and Tech: Coming from a tech background, Patchell brings a modern edge to her books. You will see realistic uses of data, search engines, and modern tracking tech (especially in The Perfect Brother) that makes the plots feel incredibly contemporary and plausible.