Dr. Olivia Winter Books in Order

The Dr Olivia Winter books shift the focus from detectives on the street to the mind of a woman who studies killers for a living. Olivia is a forensic psychologist who advises the police on complex, often brutal cases, and the series is set largely in and around London.

Her work would be intense enough on its own, but she also carries a secret history. Olivia’s father, Richard, was a notorious serial killer whose crimes left a trail of bodies and lasting media fascination. As a child she was supposed to be his final victim and survived, later rebuilding her life under a new identity and profession.

In The Mind of a Murderer, the first book, a new killer is stalking the city, leaving a rising body count and taunting the police. Olivia is brought in to help profile him and quickly realises that elements of the case echo her father’s methods and the twisted fandom that still clings to his name. To stop the murders she has to confront memories she has spent years trying to bury.

The second novel, The Devil’s Code, begins with what looks like an open and shut case, a man found with a dismembered body in the boot of his car. When officers uncover a notebook filled with strange symbols and lists, it becomes clear they may have caught a killer with more victims than anyone realised. Olivia works with DI Linus Sutton to crack the code, knowing that whoever wrote it understands obsessive violence as well as she does.

Across the series Wood leans into the idea of a real life final girl, someone who has survived more than one attempt on her life and is still determined to use her expertise to stop others from dying. Olivia’s sessions with offenders, flashbacks to her childhood and uneasy relationship with the media all add layers to the central investigations.

The tone is darker and more psychological than the Matilda Darke books, with an emphasis on obsession, identity and the stories people tell themselves about evil. The novels still deliver set piece reveals and police teamwork, but much of the tension comes from watching Olivia decide how close she can afford to get to the monsters she is trying to understand.