Folly Beach Mystery Books in Order
Part ofBill Noel Books in OrderSee the Folly Beach Mystery books by Bill Noel in order, with short summaries, series background, reading tips, and a clear guide to where to start.
Last updated: July 6, 2026
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Publication Order
29 books
Folly
by Bill Noel
2007
Chris Landrum heads to Folly Beach for an extended break and quickly falls in with a quirky group of locals. When he finds a murdered developer on the beach, his quiet escape turns into a dangerous amateur investigation.
The Pier
by Bill Noel
2008
Settled into retirement at last, Chris Landrum hopes Folly Beach will calm down. Instead, a suspicious death near the pier and another body force Chris and Charles to dig into a case the police may be reading all wrong.
Washout
by Bill Noel
2009
A trip to the hardware store pulls Chris into a nasty case of threats, cryptic warnings, and murder. When his friend Larry appears to be the killer's target, Chris and his oddball allies have to move fast.
The Edge
by Bill Noel
2010
After surviving a hurricane, Chris discovers an acquaintance dead with an arrow through his heart. The trail leads through a strange boardinghouse, a country music bar, and a growing fear that one of his friends could be next.
The Marsh
by Bill Noel
2011
On the day of a friend's funeral, Chris hears that a murder victim has been found in the marsh behind his home. When police fix on one of Chris's friends, he and his mismatched crew start asking dangerous questions.
Ghosts
by Bill Noel
2012
A Christmas call from Chris's ex-wife pulls him into an investigation far beyond Folly Beach. As Charles fumbles through a side case back home, old history, fresh murder, and uneasy forgiveness start to collide.
Missing
by Bill Noel
2013
When a local teen says he witnessed a beauty queen being kidnapped off the beach, Chris is not sure what to believe. Then bodies start turning up, and soon Charles may be in a killer's sights.
Final Cut
by Bill Noel
2014
A movie production lands on Folly Beach and turns the island upside down. When the film's director dies on a fishing trip, Chris suspects the drama off camera may be deadlier than anything being filmed.
First Light
by Bill Noel
2014
Chris's peaceful dawn routine ends when a stranger beside him is struck dead by a speeding car. A second murder points him toward a new church and a preacher whose past may hide more than faith.
Boneyard Beach
by Bill Noel
2015
A knock at Chris Landrum's cottage door pulls him into another island mystery with danger close to home. As suspicion spreads through Folly Beach, Chris and his friends have to sort truth from rumor before more lives are wrecked.
Dead Center
by Bill Noel
2016
Chris stumbles across the body of a hired killer and suddenly everyone around him has theories about the intended target. An intruder, a shaky relationship, and a town full of secrets put him squarely in another murderer's path.
Silent Night
by Bill Noel
2016
A stolen figurine from a church nativity scene threatens to ruin Christmas on Folly Beach. With porch thefts piling up too, Chris and Charles chase a mystery that grows stranger by the day.
Discord
by Bill Noel
2017
A trip to Nashville goes bad when Charles's girlfriend is accused of murdering the music agent who lured her there. Chris has to untangle a case that stretches from Tennessee clubs back to Folly Beach.
Dark Horse
by Bill Noel
2018
A young woman's death is ruled an overdose, but Chris is not convinced the story is that simple. As local politics heat up, he digs into a case that hits uncomfortably close to home.
Joy
by Bill Noel
2018
Just before Christmas, Chris and Barbara find a woman clinging to a surfboard in freezing water, with no memory of who she is or who tried to kill her. While Chris investigates, the island is also searching for Dude's missing dog.
No Joke
by Bill Noel
2019
Four aging comedians blow into Folly Beach bringing confusion, old secrets, and at least one dead body. Chris and his friends have to decide what is misdirection, what is memory loss, and what is murder.
Faith
by Bill Noel
2020
Days before Christmas, an intentional fire leaves several Folly Beach residents homeless. Chris and Charles help the victims while trying to work out who set the blaze, and whether one of the displaced neighbors is hiding the truth.
Relic
by Bill Noel
2020
A sunrise walk to photograph the Morris Island Lighthouse turns grim when Chris and Charles meet a woman whose relic-hunting husband ends up murdered. Ghost stories, buried treasure, and too many suspects make this one especially tricky.
The Folly Beach Christmas Mystery Collection
by Bill Noel
2020
This omnibus gathers three holiday-set Folly Beach mysteries: Silent Night, Joy, and Faith. It is a festive run of thefts, danger, and island sleuthing with Chris Landrum and his usual crew.
Sea Fog
by Bill Noel
2021
Chris never cared for Halloween, but Charles talks him into visiting a charity haunted house anyway. There they find a real corpse, and the holiday fun turns into a murder case full of odd suspects and rising danger.
Tipping Point
by Bill Noel
2021
A calm kayak trip turns terrifying when a small plane nearly crashes on top of Chris and Charles. Once they learn the pilot was poisoned, they have to find out who the real target was before the case turns even deadlier.
Mosquito Beach
by Bill Noel
2022
A skeleton found at Mosquito Beach pulls Chris into a mystery that reaches back more than sixty years. With two more deaths and a friend in danger, he has to navigate a close-knit community where trust does not come easily.
Pretty Paper
by Bill Noel
2022
The theft of an expensive Rolex kicks off a string of Christmas burglaries on Folly Beach. When a visiting troupe of singers and actors arrives at the same time, Chris and Charles cannot ignore the coincidence.
Adrift
by Bill Noel
2023
Virgil DeBonnet finds a man floating in a small boat with a knife in his back and drags Chris into the mess. As suspects pile up and another victim falls, Chris realizes the killer is not finished yet.
Midnight
by Bill Noel
2024
A death on a coastal walk looks like an accident, until a second worker connected to the same beachfront construction job dies too. Chris and Charles keep digging while the police lag behind, and the risk keeps climbing.
Phantom
by Bill Noel
2024
Halloween brings a conference of psychics, mediums, and witches to Folly Beach, then a man is shot practically beside Chris. With suspects ranging from annoyed locals to visiting fortune tellers, Chris has to wonder if he was the real target.
Bowen Island
by Bill Noel
2025
A bookstore release party is interrupted by news of a murder on nearby Bowen Island. Chris and Charles soon suspect the killing is tied to an old theft of gold and jewels, and that treasure hunters may kill again.
Crossfire
by Bill Noel
2025
An early morning call tells Chris that an acquaintance has been murdered, and Charles is already ready to investigate. When a second killing points toward a weekly poker game, the pair find themselves facing a very personal double mystery.
Lost
by Bill Noel
2026
In the middle of the night, a dying man collapses into Chris's arms at his back door. The victim once owned Chris's cottage, and the clues he carried make the mystery feel uncomfortably personal from the start.
Series background & context
The Folly Beach Mystery series follows Chris Landrum, a retired Kentucky administrator who heads to Folly Beach expecting sunshine, quiet, and maybe a slower life. Instead, he keeps stumbling into bodies, suspicious deaths, and local messes the police either miss or would rather he ignore. From the opening novel, Folly, the running joke is that Chris did not move to the coast to become a detective. The coast had other plans.
Folly Beach matters here. This is a small barrier island near Charleston, and the books lean hard into that setting: marshes, piers, beach cottages, tourists, storms, churches, and the odd mix of locals, retirees, and drifters who give the place its character. Charleston is close enough to cast a shadow, but Folly has its own rhythm, looser and stranger and much less polished. Real local color is a big part of the appeal.
Chris is rarely alone for long. His main sidekick is Charles Fowler, a self-appointed private detective whose confidence often outruns his skill. Around them is a recurring crowd of friends, neighbors, shop owners, and assorted island personalities who help, argue, gossip, and occasionally make everything harder. That ongoing ensemble is one of the reasons people stick with the series. You are not just following cases. You are dropping back in with a whole community.
Age matters here.
Unlike a lot of mystery series, these books center on older characters who already had full lives before the story began. Chris is retired. Charles is not exactly a man in a hurry. Their investigations grow out of friendship, curiosity, and sheer refusal to let something ugly sit unresolved in a small town. The tone is cozy, but not sleepy. There is danger, sometimes real grief, and plenty of near misses, yet the books keep a light hand and do not dwell on gore.
Most installments build around one main case, so you can enjoy them one at a time. Still, the series works better in order because relationships shift, new friends settle in, and holiday books like Silent Night, Joy, Faith, and Pretty Paper land harder once you know the island crowd. Later entries widen the map a little with trips away from Folly or mysteries tied to older local history, but the emotional center stays the same.
At heart, this is a series about place and company. If you want intricate forensic procedure, this is probably not the lane. If you want beach-town mysteries with humor, recurring friendships, a stubborn amateur sleuth, and the sense that the setting itself is in on the story, the Folly Beach books are a very good bet.
Edited by
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