Where to Start with James Patterson’s Women’s Murder Club Series

Lindsay, Cindy, Claire, and Jill each hold a piece to the puzzle of the crimes of a killer who has shocked the entire city of San Francisco.

In order to think outside the box, the four women create the Women’s Murder Club to support each other and sidestep their bosses.

Their bond only grows as they work together to track down the killer—but the conclusion reveals that everything they thought they knew turns out to be devastatingly wrong. 

When a brutal madman sends a shower of bullets into a crowd of children leaving a San Francisco church, the Women’s Murder Club has to figure out whether only one person was killed on purpose, or by accident.

Then, to make matters worse, an elderly Black woman is hung. Lindsay senses a connection between the two events, and with the help of the Women’s Murder Club, they find a link that reveals just how unspeakable the killer’s motives truly were. 

When Lindsay watches a fiery explosion rip through her neighborhood on her morning jog, killing three people, she only becomes more perplexed to find a mysterious message at the crime scene.

Then, a prominent businessman is found murdered, and also left with a mysterious note at the scene. Lindsay recruits the help of the Women’s Murder Club to figure out who could be committing these murders, and why they’re so intent on killing someone every three days.

Oh, and what’s worse, is that the next target is one of the Women’s Murder Club members. 

Lindsay Boxer is back at it in 4th of July—but she may not be forever.

In the midst of a police showdown following a near-fatal car chase, Lindsay makes the instantaneous decision to fire her weapon in self-defense; but the chain of events that follows puts her on trial, with the chance to lose her job on the force. 

She retreats to idyllic Half Moon Bay to escape scrutiny during breaks in her trial, but before she can even relax, a witness-less string of brutal murders ensues, leaving no discernible pattern in its wake.

But a key detail reminds her of a plaguing unsolved murder from her early years on the force, and the Women’s Murder Club teams up once again to help her both win her trial, and get to the bottom of this murder spree. 

Lindsay, with the help of the Women’s Murder Club’s newest recruit, Yuki, leads an investigation into a series of mysterious patient deaths—and they discover a hospital administration that will do whatever it takes to keep their reputation intact.

While the hospital fights for its life in an explosive courtroom battle, the Women’s Murder Club is on the hunt for the medical staff’s notorious murderer. 

Lindsay and her new partner are on the hunt for the culprit behind a string of child and nanny kidnappings—a culprit who is strangely not demanding ransoms.

In the midst of the city’s rising panic, Lindsay must balance the possibility of a new love with an unsolvable crime; and to make matters worse, one of the Club’s members is on the brink of death. 

And just when you think she’s got everything under control, the case takes a terrifying turn, plunging the entire city into lethal danger. It’s up to Lindsay to make an impossible choice—and neither outcome has any certainty of success. 

Lindsay is stuck—not only are there two seemingly unsolvable cases she has to get to the bottom of, but she’s also torn between two men.

Terrible, raging fires are consuming wealthy suburban homes (and their inhabitants) all across California. And on top of that, California golden boy Michael Campion’s missing persons case finally has a (heartbreaking) lead. 

Lindsay and the Murder Club race to get to the bottom of Michael’s disappearance and to identify the arsonists; which somehow seems much easier than solving matters of the heart. 

The double-dose of shocking revelations continues as the Women’s Murder Club works to solve two simultaneous murder cases, and two romantic ones.

A killer has taken vengeance on the city’s most celebrated couple, Isa and Ethan Bailey, at one of their millionaire parties of the year. This case almost distracts from the murder of a preacher who is known to preach messages of hope to the homeless. 

Cindy delves deeper into the preacher’s story, knowing it could be monumental for the paper. But in doing so, sparks begin to fly between Cindy and Lindsay’s partner, Detective Conklin.

Will the Murder Club get to the bottom of these murders? And better yet, will the Club even survive the romantic pressures it’s under? 

When A-list actor Marcus Dowling’s home is broken into and his wife walks in on the culprit, she doesn’t survive to tell the tale. The same night, a woman and her infant child are brutally shot to death in an abandoned garage, the only evidence a cryptic message that reads “WCF” in blood-red letters. 

With two killers on the loose, Lindsay enlists the help of the Women’s Murder Club. But someone has started leaking inside information to the press; as allegations fly that Lindsay is the source, she begins to wonder how much she can actually trust her friends.

A badly injured teenage girl is left for dead, her infant child kidnapped without a trace; and despite Lindsay’s suffering marriage, she puts her all into this case.

Her long-awaited wedding celebration is put on hold in favor of a micromanaging boss and this abhorrent case, but she quickly discovers that the victim is also keeping secrets. 

At the same time, Yuki is prosecuting the biggest case of her life – a woman accused of murdering her husband in front of her two children.

Yuki’s career requires a guilty verdict, so when Lindsay discovers evidence in favor of the defendant, she’s forced to choose between her best friend and her instinct. 

Lindsay is finally pregnant—but that doesn’t mean her job is slowing down. Millionaire Chaz Smith is shot to death, and the murder weapon is linked to four of San Francisco’s most notorious criminals…which means it was taken from her own department’s evidence locker.

Anyone, including the members of the Women’s Murder Club, could be the killer. 

Between scathing articles about her social life online and a brutal crime in a famous actor’s garden, Lindsay realizes there are secrets all over the place.

But if she can’t trust anyone, who can she turn to? 

Just one week after the birth of Lindsay’s child, she’s called back into work; and it ends up being the two biggest cases of her career. In one, a 49ers rookie is the prime suspect in a brutal murder. In the other, an English professor claims that the murder he keeps seeing in his nightmares is real

—while Lindsay laughs it off, a shooting is called in that fits the description to a T. 

Lindsay races against time to prevent a terrifying future from unfolding, but these crimes seem like nothing in comparison to the possibility of the most devastating loss of her life. 

Lindsay is loving her life as a new mother; attentive husband, a job she loves, and friends she can talk to about anything. But when the FBI sends her a photo of a killer from her past, that happiness dries up pretty quickly.

In the picture, there is a beautiful woman at a stoplight; but all Lindsay sees behind those pretty eyes is a psychopath. Mackie Morales, the most deranged and dangerous culprit the Women’s Murder Club has ever gone up against, is back.

Can they find her before she finds them? 

The morgue is going to get pretty busy if both living and the dead are cooped up in there! But that’s what happens when a wealthy heiress checks into a hotel to entertain a man who’s not her husband—and a killer blows him to smithereens and leaves her for dead. Is the killer the husband?

And can the Women’s Murder Club track him down? 

In a Robin Hood story of sorts, Lindsay is called in for three shootings in three different cities that result in three deaths.

But a little more research reveals that the three fallen folks were all involved in some lucrative criminal activity—as the bodies pile up, the country becomes more and more curious and afraid of this case.

If the victims were no angels, then does that make the shooters heroes, or villains? 

Tara Burke, a young wife and mother, and her baby girl go missing—and everyone’s top suspect is the husband, Lucas. He tells the police that she left him, but then a gruesome piece of evidence is discovered, turning the investigation criminal.

While Cindy covers the story, Claire nurtures theories that disagree with the SFPD’s, and Yuki moves forward with prosecuting Lucas as a typical domestic offender…until he puts up an unexpected suspect.

If Lucas’ claims are even partly true, every woman in the state of California is in danger…can Lindsay keep her promise and keep Tara alive to see her 21st birthday? 

When Lindsay gets word of a last-ditch shipment of drugs and weaponry over the Mexican border before the new restrictive gun laws are enforced, she goes to act.

But before she can, an informant lets her know about another case: a group of former cops have been killed, all with the same cryptic warning scrawled across their bodies: you talk, you die. 

Now it’s Lindsay’s turn to choose. 

When Lindsay put serial killer Evan Burke in jail, Cindy wrote a bestselling book on it; but someone’s turned into a playbook, complete with gruesome embellishments all their own.

Now, Lindsay is on the hunt for an elusive suspect, and the Women’s Murder Club is facing destruction. 

A collection of three short stories, 23 ½ Lies includes “23 ½ Lies,” “Fallen Ranger,” and “Watch Your Back.” 

In “23 ½ Lies,” Lindsay’s estranged father is executed with a bullet, and the investigation leads to some life-changing information. 

In “Fallen Ranger,” Rory Yates believes that being a Texas Ranger means absolute loyalty to the badge. But when he’s tasked with resolving an armored car robbery whose chief suspect is a rogue ex-Ranger, he’s not so sure what to think anymore. 

“Watch Your Back” is the story of a starving artist who is paid to expose his client’s cheating wife, and how when the tides turn, he needs to paint a picture that will save his own life. 

In honor of Cindy’s exciting engagement news, the Women’s Murder Club at one of San Francisco's finest restaurants to celebrate. But before they can even raise their glasses, a woman is assaulted in the restaurant. 

They take their own respective roles: Claire examines the victim, Lindsay makes an arrest, Yuki takes the case, and Cindy covers it. 

But it gets complicated due to gaps in the plaintiff’s memory—and even more complicated when they finally figure out why testimony keeps changing. 

As Yuki leads the prosecution, Lindsay tracks down a high-society killer who might shorten the Women’s Murder Club a bridesmaid…or two.