Erin Kelly Books in Order
Explore Erin Kelly books in order, with quick summaries, series guides, and where to start with her standalones, tie-ins, and related series, all in one place.
Last updated: July 9, 2026
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Publication Order
17 books
The Poison Tree
by Erin Kelly
2010
In the summer of 1997, careful Karen falls under the spell of glamorous Biba and her brother Rex. A decade later, with Rex leaving prison, the deadly secrets of that intoxicating summer begin to threaten everything Karen has built.
The Sick Rose aka The Dark Rose
by Erin Kelly
2011
Teenage Paul is pushed toward crime by the boy who once protected him, then forced to betray that loyalty to save himself. In hiding, he meets Louisa at a decaying estate, but both are running from pasts that refuse to stay buried.
The Burning Air
by Erin Kelly
2013
The MacBrides gather at their Devon retreat for Bonfire Night, but old grief and family strain are already simmering. When newcomer Kerry vanishes with a baby, the weekend spirals into a chilling story of revenge and buried secrets.
Broadchurch
by Erin Kelly
2014
When eleven-year-old Danny Latimer is found dead on the beach, Broadchurch becomes a town of mourning, suspicion, and secrets. Detectives Ellie Miller and Alec Hardy must solve the murder while grief, gossip, and press attention tear the community apart.
The Ties That Bind
by Erin Kelly
2014
After a painful breakup, true crime writer Luke heads to Brighton and latches onto the cold case of gangster Joss Grand's former sidekick. Digging into the city's underworld past pulls him toward dangerous loyalties and a murder that still has teeth.
Broadchurch Stories Volume 1
by Erin Kelly
2015
This first companion collection gathers four original Broadchurch stories linked to the opening episodes of series two. They dig deeper into the town's residents, adding history, secrets, and private tensions to the fallout from Danny Latimer's murder.
Broadchurch Stories Volume 2
by Erin Kelly
2015
The second Broadchurch story bundle follows the closing episodes of series two with four more character-centered tales. These short pieces add backstory, hidden fears, and fresh tension as the town struggles to live with everything it knows.
Broadchurch: The Official Short Story Collection Series 2
by Erin Kelly
2015
This collection brings together all eight official Broadchurch short stories written to accompany series two. Each piece adds background, secrets, and character insight, making the town's grief, suspicion, and hidden history feel even more immediate.
Tainted Moonlight
by Erin Kelly
2016
Five years after a supernatural virus made werewolves and vampires real, Korban Diego is still struggling to live with what he became. When a woman he cares about is attacked, he must face prejudice, danger, and the beast inside him.
He Said/She Said
by Erin Kelly
2017
After witnessing a violent attack in the eerie aftermath of a solar eclipse, Laura and Kit think telling the truth is the right thing. Fifteen years later, that moment still governs their lives, and the full story is darker than either of them knew.
Smoking Kills
by Erin Kelly
2017
In this dark short story, a secret habit becomes the spark that exposes the rot inside a marriage. What begins with hidden smoking turns into a sharp, uneasy tale of deception, misdirection, and murder.
Captured Moonlight
by Erin Kelly
2018
Lost in the Adirondacks after a forced transformation, Korban and Sophie are torn between the freedom of the wild and the dangers waiting back home. When traps and unfamiliar werewolves close in, survival becomes far more complicated than escape.
Infected Moonlight
by Erin Kelly
2019
Out of quarantine at last, Sophie and Korban find the city watching their every move. When a council meeting erupts in murder and strangers arrive with ties to Korban's past, they are pulled into a deeper supernatural conspiracy.
Stone Mothers aka We Know You Know
by Erin Kelly
2019
Thirty years after fleeing her hometown, Marianne returns to care for her mother and finds the past waiting for her. The old asylum, a buried body, and an unforgiving ex threaten the life and family she built in secret.
Watch Her Fall
by Erin Kelly
2021
Star ballerina Ava Kirilova has finally reached the top at the London Russian Ballet, but success leaves her isolated and exposed. As backstage whispers turn vicious and someone seems determined to bring her down, ambition on and off stage turns deadly.
The Skeleton Key
by Erin Kelly
2023
Nell comes home for an anniversary celebration tied to her father's cult treasure-hunt book, hoping to endure the reunion and leave. But when the last missing golden bone is finally revealed, buried obsessions and family grudges turn the gathering into something far more dangerous.
The House of Mirrors
by Erin Kelly
2024
Years after the events of The Poison Tree, Karen and Rex have built a life around silence. When anonymous notes begin arriving at their daughter Alice's vintage shop, old lies and unfinished business push the family toward another reckoning.
Where should I start?
If you want the classic starting point: The Poison Tree → The House of Mirrors
If you want her twistiest suspense novel: He Said/She Said
If you want dark family secrets: Stone Mothers aka We Know You Know → The Burning Air
If you want atmosphere and spectacle: Watch Her Fall → The Skeleton Key
Author bio
Erin Kelly was born in London in 1976 and grew up in Essex, in and around Romford. She studied English and European literature at the University of Warwick, then began freelance journalism in 1998. Over the years she wrote for newspapers and magazines including The Guardian, The Sunday Times, Daily Mail, New Statesman, Red, Elle, and Cosmopolitan. That background shows in the clean, observant way she builds a scene.
For a long time, journalism was the day job and fiction had to fit around it.
She'd wanted to write stories since childhood, but the move into novels came after more than a decade of reporting, interviewing, and fact-checking. By her own account, fiction felt like the opposite of journalism, less about proving facts, more about following fear, memory, and bad choices wherever they led. When she started her first novel, she set it in late 1990s north London, a time and place she knew well, which gave her something solid to build from.
That first leap stuck.
The result was The Poison Tree, a tense debut about desire, class, guilt, and a summer that curdles into violence. It became a bestseller and was later adapted for television. Kelly's reach widened again with He Said/She Said, a twisty novel built around eclipse-chasing, witness testimony, and the long shadow of one terrible night. Readers who come to her for clever plots usually stay for the emotional damage underneath them.
She doesn't repeat herself, even though her books share a certain mood. Watch Her Fall goes backstage into the harsh, competitive world of ballet. The Skeleton Key turns a children's treasure hunt into a gothic family nightmare. Stone Mothers, also published as We Know You Know, brings readers back to a town dominated by an old asylum and the secrets buried around it. Then The House of Mirrors returns to the world of The Poison Tree, showing how old lies can travel into the next generation. Even her novel version of Broadchurch fits neatly into this pattern of grief, suspicion, and fallout.
Across Kelly's work, certain things keep resurfacing: families with cracks running through them, friendships that turn possessive, houses and towns that seem to remember everything, and people who think they can outrun the past. She is especially good at writing ordinary lives under pressure. Nobody is a cartoon villain. People do awful things for reasons that, uncomfortably, make sense to them at the time.
Nobody gets an easy clean slate.
She has also continued to work as a journalist and has taught creative writing, which feels like a natural extension of her career. Both jobs depend on attention, structure, and knowing when a detail matters. In interviews she has talked about writing around family life, often early in the morning, and that practical, working-writer energy seems to suit her. There is nothing overly ornate about her storytelling. The sentences are clear, the tension builds quietly, and then suddenly everything feels unstable.
Kelly lives in north London with her husband and daughters. For readers, that mix of domestic life, journalistic discipline, and dark imagination helps explain why her books feel both grounded and unnerving. She writes about secrets, but also about the cost of carrying them for years.
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