Louise Rick Books in Order
Part ofSara Blaedel Books in OrderSee the Louise Rick novels by Sara Blaedel in order, with quick plot summaries, character background, series timeline, and tips on the best reading order.
Last updated: January 15, 2026
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Publication Order
12 books
A Mother's Love
by Sara Blaedel
2025
Newly leading Denmark’s Mobile Task Unit, Louise Rick is called when an innkeeper is murdered and a hidden nursery is found upstairs. With a missing child, a shadowy cabin in the nearby woods, and ex-fiancé Eik on the case, she must untangle a web of exploitation and secrecy.
A Harmless Lie
by Sara Blaedel
2022
On leave in Thailand, Louise Rick gets a panicked call that her brother has attempted suicide after his wife, Trine, vanished from their small hometown. Returning to Denmark, Louise uncovers links between Trine’s disappearance and a schoolmate who went missing decades earlier, forcing her to confront buried secrets in her own past.
The Woman in the Hotel
by Sara Blaedel
2020
Journalist Camilla Lind rushes to the seaside town of Skagen after her father, editor of the local paper, is badly beaten and the newsroom set on fire. Taking over his work, she discovers that his reporting on a real-estate scam has made powerful enemies who will do anything to silence the story.
The Stolen Angel
by Sara Blaedel
2018
The terminally ill granddaughter of the wealthy Sachs-Smith family is kidnapped, and the abductors demand a single ransom: the return of a priceless stained-glass panel called the Angel of Death. Louise Rick, working as a hostage negotiator, must navigate greed, family rivalries, and art theft before the child’s time runs out.
The Running Girl
by Sara Blaedel
2018
When violent teenagers crash a school party, twelve-year-old Signe runs for help and is struck and killed by a car. As her grief-stricken mother fixates on revenge, Louise Rick investigates escalating attacks on the boys involved and tries to untangle who is really behind the payback.
The Midnight Witness
by Sara Blaedel
2018
In her first big case, rookie homicide detective Louise Rick investigates the strangling of a young nurse in a Copenhagen park. The same night, a journalist is beaten to death behind a hotel, and Louise’s best friend Camilla knew him, pulling both women into a dangerous tangle of murders and newsroom secrets.
The Lost Woman
by Sara Blaedel
2017
A woman preparing dinner in an English village is shot through her kitchen window, then identified as Sofie Parker, a Dane who disappeared nearly two decades earlier. When Louise Rick learns that her partner Eik reported Sofie missing, she must solve the murder while questioning what he has kept from her.
The Killing Forest
by Sara Blaedel
2016
Back from leave, Louise Rick is sent to search for a missing fifteen-year-old boy who vanished near the forest where she once lost her first love. The case draws her into a secretive group that practices ancient Norse rituals, forcing her to confront both cult violence and her own past.
The Forgotten Girls
by Sara Blaedel
2015
A woman with a striking facial scar is found dead in a Danish forest, yet no one has reported her missing. Leading a new Missing Persons unit, Louise Rick releases the photo and uncovers a trail of abandoned twins, falsified death certificates, and long-hidden crimes tied to the woods.
The Night Women
by Sara Blaedel
2008
A young woman is found on a Copenhagen street with her throat cut, and afterward Camilla Lind’s ten-year-old son discovers an abandoned baby. As Louise Rick investigates, the murder and the foundling connect to a human-trafficking ring that will kill to stay hidden.
Only One Life
by Sara Blaedel
2007
When a teenage girl from a Jordanian immigrant family is pulled from a Danish fjord, rumors of an honor killing spread quickly. Louise Rick must look beyond easy answers as a second girl linked to the case turns up dead.
Call Me Princess
by Sara Blaedel
2005
Detective Louise Rick investigates a brutal assault on a young woman who met her attacker through an online dating site. When similar cases surface, she must unmask a predator hiding behind fake profiles before he targets another victim.
Series background & context
The Louise Rick series tracks a Danish police officer over many years, from her first days in Copenhagen’s homicide squad to leading specialized units that search for missing people and handle the toughest cases across the country. Each book stands on its own investigation, but together they chart the messy, demanding life behind the badge.
When readers first meet Louise in The Midnight Witness, she is a rookie detective juggling long hours, office politics, and a fraying personal life while investigating a strangled young woman and a murdered journalist. In Call Me Princess she is drawn into the world of online dating when a woman is brutally assaulted by a man she met on a website, and the case suggests a serial predator who knows how to vanish behind fake profiles.
The next cases push her outside Copenhagen and deeper into the social tensions shaping modern Denmark. Only One Life centers on a teenager from a Jordanian immigrant family who is found drowned, with whispers of an honor killing that inflame public opinion. In The Night Women a murdered sex worker and an abandoned baby lead Louise and her journalist friend Camilla Lind into a human-trafficking network that reaches across borders and preys on vulnerable women.
Midway through the series, Louise shifts into the newly formed Special Search Agency, taking charge of difficult missing-persons investigations. In The Forgotten Girls she tries to identify a woman found dead in a forest and uncovers a dark history of abandoned twins at a state institution, a story that pulls her back toward her own childhood landscape. The Killing Forest sends her to Hvalsø and a nearby woodland controlled by a secretive group practicing old Norse rituals, where a missing teenage boy and the mysterious death of her first love become impossible to separate. In The Lost Woman she follows the trail of a Danish woman shot in England, a victim who was reported missing years earlier by Louise’s partner Eik, forcing her to question how well she knows the person closest to her.
Later novels show Louise as a mother and as a senior investigator. In The Running Girl, a school party ends in chaos when violent youths crash the event and a twelve-year-old girl dies trying to flee for help, leaving her devastated mother bent on revenge. The Stolen Angel places Louise in the role of negotiator when a wealthy family’s gravely ill granddaughter is kidnapped and the ransom demand centers on a priceless stained-glass artwork that has already been stolen. In A Harmless Lie, a call from her father pulls her home to Osted after her brother’s suicide attempt and his wife’s disappearance, a case that tangles with the decades-old vanishing of a girl from a school trip. A Mother’s Love moves her into a new Mobile Task Unit and opens with the murder of an innkeeper whose hidden nursery suggests a missing child and a dangerous business operating in the woods behind the property.
Across the arc of the series, Louise’s work and private life constantly collide, and the scars from one book rarely stay in the background for long.
Readers can expect grounded police procedure, moody Danish settings, and plots that circle themes of loyalty, trauma, and the cost of secrets. The books can be read as standalones, but following them in order lets you watch Louise grow from a driven young detective into a leader who has paid a high personal price for justice.
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