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Women's Murder Club Reading Order.

Quick Answer

Start with 1st to Die (2001); the numbered titles make the order easy to follow.

The Women's Murder Club is a series of mystery novels set in San Francisco, featuring an ensemble group of professional women—including a police officer, reporter, and medical examiner—who work together to solve high-profile murders while navigating complex personal issues.

Where to start

Start with 1st to Die (2001); the numbered titles make the order easy to follow.

  • •Each book has a self-contained case, but the four friends' lives develop across the series.

Community Consensus

Low Debate

"The comments provided do not discuss the 'Women's Murder Club' series, nor do they establish a general reading order for the various books mentioned. The books discussed are standalone fantasy titles, including 'Threads that Bind,' 'Flowerheart,' and 'The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher.' The only sequential reading mentioned is personal progress through a specific detective series: reading 'The Tainted Cup' prior to 'Drop of Corruption.'"

Key Reddit Advice

No specific overall reading order is recommended by the commenters. For the detective series referenced, the implicit order is to read 'The Tainted Cup' before 'Drop of Corruption'.

Complete Series Reading Order

Publication Reading Order23 Titles

Why Publication Order?We recommend reading in Publication Order (default). This follows the author's release schedule, ensuring you experience plot twists, character growth, and world-building exactly as intended without spoilers.
Best Start Here
1

1st to Die

Pub: 2001

Four women-four friends-share a determination to stop a killer who has been stalking newlyweds in San Francisco. Each one holds a piece of the puzzle: Lindsay Boxer is a homicide inspector in the San Francisco Police Department, Claire Washburn is a medical examiner, Jill Bernhardt is an assistant D.A., and Cindy Thomas just started working the crime desk of the San Francisco Chronicle.But the usual procedures aren't bringing them any closer to stopping the killings. So these women form a Women's Murder Club to collaborate outside the box and pursue the case by sidestepping their bosses and giving one another a hand.The four women develop intense bonds as they pursue a killer whose crimes have stunned an entire city. Working together, they track down the most terrifying and unexpected killer they have ever encountered-before a shocking conclusion in which everything they knew turns out to be devastatingly wrong.

2

2nd Chance

Pub: 2002

Plot details hidden until you finish "1st to Die".

A brutal madman sprays bullets into a crowd of children leaving a San Francisco church. Miraculously-or was it intentionally?-only one person dies. Then an elderly black woman is hung. Police homicide inspector Lindsay Boxer senses a connection and together with medical examiner Claire, assistant D. A. Jill, and Chronicle reporter Cindy, finds a link that sends a chill through the entire nation. This killer's motives are unspeakable.A Main Selection of The Literary Guild®, of Book-of-the-Month Club®, of Doubleday Book Club®, and of The Mystery Guild®

3

3rd Degree

Pub: 2004

Plot details hidden until you finish "2nd Chance".

Detective Lindsay Boxer and the Women's Murder Club race against the clock when a ruthless serial killer begins targeting women, leaving a mysterious degree symbol at each crime scene. As the body count rises, the team must untangle a web of secrets, betrayals, and hidden motives to stop the murderer before the next "degree" is struck.

4

4th of July

Pub: 2005

Plot details hidden until you finish "3rd Degree".

Detective Lindsay Boxer and the Women's Murder Club race against the clock as a series of brutal murders erupts around Independence Day. A cunning killer targets women connected to a high‑profile case, forcing the team to confront old secrets and new threats while the nation celebrates the holiday.

5

The 5th Horseman

Pub: 2006

Plot details hidden until you finish "4th of July".

From bestselling author James Patterson, the Women’s Murder Club takes on a string of mysterious patient murders at a hospital—will they find the killer before more innocent lives are lost?   It is a wild race against time as Lieutenant Lindsay Boxer and the newest member of the Women's Murder Club, attorney Yuki Castellano, lead an investigation against a hospital administration determined to shield its reputation at all costs. And while the hospital wages an explosive court battle that grips the entire nation, the Women's Murder Club hunts for a merciless killer—who just might be one of the medical staff. With high-speed thrills and page-turning twists, The 5th Horseman proves once again that James Patterson "has mastered the art of writing" (Chicago Sun-Times).

6

The 6th Target

Pub: 2007

Plot details hidden until you finish "The 5th Horseman".

When a horrifying attack leaves one of the Women's Murder Club struggling for her life, the others fight to keep a madman behind bars before anyone else is hurt in this thriller from the world's #1 bestselling author. Lindsay Boxer and her new partner in the San Francisco police department are racing to stop a series of kidnappings that has electrified the city. Children and their nannies are being plucked off the streets, but the kidnappers aren't demanding a ransom. Amid uncertainty and rising panic, Lindsay juggles the possibility of a new love with an unsolvable investigation, and the knowledge that one member of the club could be on the brink of death. And just when everything appears momentarily under control, the case takes a terrifying turn, putting an entire city in lethal danger. Lindsay must make a choice she never dreamed she'd face—with no certainty that either outcome has more than a prayer of success.

7

7th Heaven

Pub: 2008

Plot details hidden until you finish "The 6th Target".

The Women's Murder Club investigates a series of brutal, seemingly random killings targeting the wealthy elite of San Francisco.

8

8th Confession

Pub: 2009

Plot details hidden until you finish "7th Heaven".

Join the Women's Murder Club on an exhilarating thrill ride as love and murder test their friendships like never before. Someone is killing the richest people in the city-and the Women's Murder Club will pay a high price for hunting him. At the party of the year, San Francisco's most glamorous couple is targeted by a killer-and it's the perfect murder. While Detective Lindsay Boxer investigates the high-profile killings, a saintly street preacher is brutally executed. Reporter Cindy Thomas inquires into this neglected case and discovers the victim may have had very dark secrets. As the search for two criminals tests the limits of the Women's Murder Club, Lindsay sees sparks fly between Cindy and Lindsay's partner, Detective Rich Conklin. The Club now faces its toughest challenge: Will love destroy all that the four friends have built?

9

9th Judgment

Pub: 2010

Plot details hidden until you finish "8th Confession".

The most personalA young mother and her infant child are ruthlessly gunned down while returning to their car in the garage of a shopping mall. There are no witnesses, and Detective Lindsay Boxer is left with only one shred of evidence: a cryptic message scrawled across the windshield in bloodred lipstick. The most dangerousThe same night, the wife of A-list actor Marcus Dowling is woken by a cat burglar who is about to steal millions of dollars' worth of precious jewels. In just seconds there is a nearly empty safe, a lifeless body, and another mystery that throws San Francisco into hysteria. The most exciting Women's Murder Club novel everLindsay spends every waking hour working with her partner, Rich--and her desire for him threatens to tear apart both her engagement and the Women's Murder Club. Before Lindsay and her friends can piece together either case, one of the killers forces Lindsay to put her own life on the line--but is it enough to save the city? With unparalleled danger and explosive action, The 9th Judgment is James Patterson at his compelling, unstoppable best!

10

10th Anniversary

Pub: 2011

Plot details hidden until you finish "9th Judgment".

Detective Lindsay Boxer's long awaited wedding celebration becomes a distant memory when she is called to investigate a horrendous crime: a badly injured teenage girl is left for dead, and her newborn baby is nowhere to be found. Lindsay discovers that not only is there no trace of the criminals, but that the victim may be keeping secrets as well. At the same time, Assistant District Attorney Yuki Castellano is prosecuting the biggest case of her life, a woman who has been accused of murdering her husband in front of her two young children. Yuki's career rests on a guilty verdict, so when Lindsay finds evidence that could save the defendant, she is forced to choose. Should she trust her best friend or follow her instinct? Lindsay's every move is watched by her new boss, Lieutenant Jackson Brady, and when the pressure to find the baby begins interfering with her new marriage to Joe, she wonders if she'll ever be able to start a family.

11

11th Hour

Pub: 2012

Plot details hidden until you finish "10th Anniversary".

Investigating the murder of a millionaire who was killed with a weapon linked to the deaths of four San Francisco criminals, pregnant detective Lindsay Boxer is horrified to realize that the killer could be among her closest friends. When Chaz Smith is gunned down, Lindsay Boxer discovers the murder weapon is linked to the deaths of four of San Francisco's most untouchable criminals. The coauthor is Maxine Paetro. The plot contains profanity, sexual situations, and violence.

12

12th of Never

Pub: 2013

Plot details hidden until you finish "11th Hour".

Lindsay Boxer's baby is born. But after only a week at home with her new daughter, Lindsay is forced to return to work to face two of the biggest cases of her career. A rising star football player for the San Francisco 49ers is the prime suspect in a grisly murder. And an eccentric English professor has been having vivid nightmares about a violent murder he's convinced is real. Lindsay doesn't believe him, but then a shooting is called in - and it fits the professor's description exactly.

13

Unlucky 13

Pub: 2014

Plot details hidden until you finish "12th of Never".

De vriendinnen van de 'Women's Murder Club' krijgen het aan de stok met een oude bekende, een buikbom-moordenaar en zestien terroristen aan boord van een cruiseschip naar Alaska.

14

14th Deadly Sin

Pub: 2015

Plot details hidden until you finish "Unlucky 13".

With a beautiful baby daughter and a devoted husband, Detective Lindsay Boxer can safely say that her life has never been better. In fact (for a change), things seem to be going well for all the members of the Women's Murder Club as they gather to celebrate San Francisco Medical Examiner Claire Washburn's birthday. But the party is cut short when Lindsay is called to a gruesome crime scene, where a woman has been murdered in broad daylight. As Lindsay investigates, shocking video footage of another crime surfaces. A video so horrific that it shakes the city to its core. Their faces obscured by masks, the cold blooded criminals in police uniforms on the tape could be anyone -- and now all of Lindsay's co-workers are suspects. As a rash of violence sweeps through San Francisco, and public fear and anger grows, Lindsay and her friends must risk their lives in the name of justice -- before it's too late. --

15

15th Affair

Pub: 2016

Plot details hidden until you finish "14th Deadly Sin".

When an alluring blonde with ties to the CIA disappears from a murder scene, Detective Lindsay Boxer and her colleagues track down an elusive suspect—her husband—in this Women's Murder Club novel. As she settles into motherhood and a happy marriage, Lindsay Boxer thinks she has found domestic bliss. But when a beautiful woman with links to the CIA disappears from the scene of a brutal murder at a downtown luxury hotel, Lindsay's life begins to unravel. Before she can track down the woman for questioning, a plane crash plunges San Francisco into chaos and Lindsay's husband Joe vanishes. The deeper she digs, the more Lindsay suspects that Joe shares a secret past with the mystery blonde. Thrown into a tailspin and questioning everything she thought she knew, Lindsay turns to the Women's Murder Club for help as she tries to uncover the truth. Filled with the pulse-pounding intrigue that has made James Patterson the world's #1 bestselling author, 15th Affair proves that all is fair in love, war, and espionage.

16

16th Seduction

Pub: 2017

Plot details hidden until you finish "15th Affair".

Still reeling from her husband's betrayal, Lindsay Boxer investigates a wave of possibly unnatural heart attacks claiming the lives of seemingly unrelated victims while assisting the prosecution of a bomber with a hostile defense team.

17

The 17th Suspect

Pub: 2018

Plot details hidden until you finish "16th Seduction".

A series of shootings exposes San Francisco to a methodical yet unpredictable killer, and a reluctant woman decides to put her trust in Sergeant Lindsay Boxer. The confidential informant's tip leads Lindsay to disturbing conclusions, including that something has gone horribly wrong inside the police department itself. The hunt for the killer lures Lindsay out of her jurisdiction, and gets inside Lindsay in dangerous ways. She suffers unsettling medical symptoms, and her friends and confidantes in the Women's Murder Club warn Lindsay against taking the crimes too much to heart. With lives at stake, the detective can't help but follow the case into ever more terrifying terrain. A decorated officer, loving wife, devoted mother, and loyal friend, Lindsay's unwavering integrity has never failed her. But now she is confronting a killer who is determined to undermine it all.

18

The 18th Abduction

Pub: 2019

Plot details hidden until you finish "The 17th Suspect".

Detective Lindsay Boxer and the Women's Murder Club race against the clock when a cunning serial kidnapper targets women across San Francisco. As the victims vanish without a trace, Yuki, Claire, and Jill pool their expertise to uncover a chilling pattern that points to a personal vendetta. The team must navigate hidden motives, corrupt officials, and a shocking twist that brings the case uncomfortably close to home, testing their loyalty and resolve.

19

The 19th Christmas

Pub: 2019

Plot details hidden until you finish "The 18th Abduction".

As the holidays approach, Detective Lindsay Boxer and her friends are celebrating the fact that crime is down. Soon, a criminal known only as "Loman" shows up in the headlines.

20

The 20th Victim

Pub: 2020

Plot details hidden until you finish "The 19th Christmas".

Sergeant Lindsay Boxer tackles an ambitious case that spans San Francisco, L.A., and Chicago in this pulse-pounding Women's Murder Club thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author James Patterson. Three victims, three bullets, three cities. The shooters' aim is as fearsomely precise as their target selection. When Lindsay realizes that the fallen men and women excel in a lucrative criminal activity, she leads the charge in the manhunt for the killers. As the casualty list expands, fear and fascination with this suspicious shooting gallery galvanizes the country. The victims were no angels, but are the shooters villains ... or heroes? Find out in The 20th Victim.

21

21st Birthday

Pub: 2021

Plot details hidden until you finish "The 20th Victim".

Detective Lindsay Boxer vows to protect a young woman from a serial killer long enough to see her twenty-first birthday in this thrilling Women's Murder Club novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author James Patterson. When young wife and mother Tara Burke goes missing with her baby girl, all eyes are on her husband, Lucas. He paints her not as a missing person but a wayward wife—until a gruesome piece of evidence turns the investigation criminal. While Chronicle reporter Cindy Thomas pursues the story and M.E. Claire Washburn harbors theories that run counter to the SFPD’s, ADA Yuki Castellano sizes Lucas up as a textbook domestic offender ... who suddenly puts forward an unexpected suspect. If what Lucas tells law enforcement has even a grain of truth, there isn't a woman in the state of California who's safe from the reach of an unspeakable threat.

22

22 Seconds

Pub: 2022

Plot details hidden until you finish "21st Birthday".

SFPD Sergeant Lindsay Boxer has guns on her mind and only twenty-two seconds until she loses her badge—or her life—in this thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author James Patterson. There’s buzz of a last-ditch shipment of drugs and weapons crossing the Mexican border ahead of new restrictive gun laws. Before Lindsay can act, her top informant tips her to a case that hits disturbingly close to home. Former cops. Professional hits. All with the same warning scrawled on their bodies: You talk, you die. Now it’s Lindsay’s turn to choose.

23

The 23rd Midnight

Pub: 2023

Plot details hidden until you finish "22 Seconds".

From the world's #1 bestselling author, an attention-seeking copycat from the Women’s Murder Club’s past is recreating murders by a famous killer—with devastating new twists. Detective Lindsay Boxer put serial killer Evan Burke in jail.    Reporter Cindy Thomas wrote a book that put him on the bestseller list.   An obsessed maniac has turned Burke’s true-crime story into a playbook. And is embellishing it with gruesome touches all his own.    Now Lindsay’s tracking an elusive suspect, and the entire Murder Club is facing destruction.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What order should I read Women's Murder Club in?

Start with 1st to Die (2001); the numbered titles make the order easy to follow.

How many books are in Women's Murder Club?

23 main books, published 2001–2023.

Can I read Women's Murder Club out of order?

Yes. Each book tells a complete story, so you can start anywhere; reading in order adds the background that builds up between books.