Northern Gothic Mysteries Books in Order

With the Northern Gothic Mysteries, Shane Peacock moves into adult crime fiction without giving up the things he does best. These are not slick city thrillers. They are moody, place-driven mysteries built around small-town Ontario, old secrets, damaged people, and the uncomfortable feeling that the landscape is keeping score.

The atmosphere matters here as much as the plot.

The series begins with Hugh Mercer, a former NYPD homicide detective who comes to rural Ontario carrying the wreckage of his old life. He expects distance and quiet. Instead, he gets pulled into the disappearance of Elizabeth Goode after a strange woman appears at his rented farmhouse and predicts trouble. That first case brings him into contact with local police officer Alice Morrow, whose practical knowledge of the town makes her a strong counterweight to Hugh's outsider instincts.

By the second book, Alice moves even closer to the center. An elderly woman, Evelyn Massey, appears to have died naturally, until poison is found in her blood and human remains are discovered in her basement. Suddenly the mystery stretches back decades. That long time frame is important to the series as a whole. Peacock is interested in crimes that do not stay buried, and in communities where memory is partial, selective, and sometimes self-protective.

The phrase northern gothic fits because these books use ordinary Canadian settings in an eerie way. Farmhouses, back roads, cafés, basements, winter fields, and quiet houses all feel slightly off. Nothing supernatural needs to happen for the mood to turn unsettling. The pressure comes from silence, conflicting stories, old shame, and the sense that people have been living beside the truth for years.

Hugh and Alice make a strong partnership because they approach the same darkness from different angles. He arrives with urban homicide experience and his own damage. She brings local knowledge, steadiness, and a personal stake in how these places work. The books are not cozy, and they are not pure police procedurals either. They sit in that useful middle ground where character, atmosphere, and investigation all matter.

If you like crime novels that are patient without being slow, and uneasy without becoming flashy, this series should suit you. Start with As We Forgive Others for the full setup, then move to A Place of Secrets to watch the world deepen and the past push even harder into the present.