Lily Wu and Janice Cameron Books in Order

The Lily Wu and Janice Cameron books are a tight four-book run of postwar mysteries. Janice is the narrator, a young novelist with good instincts and a tendency to talk herself into trouble. Lily is harder to pin down. She is a Chinese American woman from Hawaii, cool under pressure, socially nimble, and unusually good at spotting what other people miss. The pleasure of the series is watching Janice learn how Lily's mind works, while growing sharper herself.

They make a great detective pair.

The Chinese Chop begins in New York, where the postwar housing squeeze pushes Janice into a Washington Square rooming house. Lily wants that particular house for reasons Janice does not yet understand, and a death in the building turns an awkward roommate arrangement into a real murder case. Sheridan packs the house with artists, strivers, liars, and people protecting old secrets, which gives the first novel a claustrophobic, suspicious feel.

After that, the series shifts back to Hawaii for The Kahuna Killer, The Mamo Murders, and The Waikiki Widow. This is where Sheridan really stretches out. Honolulu streets, Maui ranch country, society parties, hotel life, local neighborhoods, and people passing through from elsewhere all share the page. Hawaii matters here as a lived-in place. The weather, the languages, the food, the local beliefs, and the pressure of postwar change all shape the cases.

That matters because the mysteries are rarely just puzzles for puzzle's sake. Trouble grows out of money, inheritance, land, class, wartime upheaval, and the ways women are boxed in or underestimated. In The Mamo Murders, a missing husband and a hostile ranch household build into something far darker. In The Waikiki Widow, events flowing out of China make the danger more personal for Lily. Even when the plots get dramatic, Sheridan keeps them tied to people and place.

Janice gives the books warmth. She can be funny, flustered, loyal, and very brave when pushed. Lily stays cooler, and that contrast is part of the charm. She moves easily between social worlds, keeps some of her thoughts to herself, and often sees the outline of the truth before anyone else does. Sheridan gets a lot of mileage out of that balance, with Janice handling the telling and Lily handling much of the solving.

And the danger is real.

These are classic mysteries, but they are not bloodless drawing room games. The tone sits somewhere between traditional detective fiction and adventure, with a strong female friendship at the center. If you like sharply drawn settings, smart women, and stories where paradise never quite feels safe, this quartet has a lot to offer.