Sue Fortin Books in Order
Browse Sue Fortin books in order, with quick summaries, series notes, and where to start across her thrillers, cozy mysteries, and historical novels.
Last updated: July 7, 2026
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Publication Order
20 books
United States of Love
by Sue Fortin
2000
Separated single mum Anna Barnes is not looking for fresh complications, then American chef Tex Garcia walks into her life. Their chemistry is instant, but Tex fears commitment and Anna's estranged husband is not ready to let go.
Closing in
by Sue Fortin
2014
Hiding from a brutal past, Helen returns to Britain under a new name and takes a nanny job in a quiet coastal village. But strange incidents around her new home suggest danger has followed her, and someone is getting closer.
The French Retreat
by Sue Fortin
2015
A retreat in France promises a welcome escape, but real life refuses to stay behind. This short romantic story leans into scenery, self-discovery, and the possibility of a fresh start.
The Half Truth
by Sue Fortin
2015
Widowed Tina moves back to the south coast with her young son, believing her husband's death closed one chapter. Then a police investigation links her to secrets Sasha kept hidden, and DS John Nightingale may be her only ally.
The Girl Who Lied
by Sue Fortin
2016
Erin returns to her childhood village after her father is badly injured, only to find an old enemy ready to expose a devastating secret. When Roisin disappears, Erin becomes the obvious suspect and the past closes in fast.
Sister Sister
by Sue Fortin
2017
When Clare's long-lost sister Alice suddenly returns after decades away, the family reunion should be joyful. Instead, Clare grows convinced something is badly wrong, and the closer Alice gets, the less anyone knows who to trust.
The Birthday Girl
by Sue Fortin
2017
Joanne gathers her old friends for a birthday weekend in a remote cottage, but the celebration is really a trap. Someone is hiding a secret, Joanne plans to expose it, and the night turns deadly.
Schoolgirl Missing
by Sue Fortin
2019
Fourteen-year-old Poppy disappears during a family boating trip, and suspicion falls on her father Kit and stepmother Neve. As the search intensifies, cracks in their marriage and long-buried secrets threaten to destroy them all.
The Dead Wife
by Sue Fortin
2019
Travel reporter Steph Durham visits a luxury Lake District resort reopening after a tragic drowning, then gets pulled into the Sinclair family's secrets. The deeper she digs into Elizabeth Sinclair's death, the more dangerous the truth becomes.
All That We Have Lost
by Sue Fortin
2021
Widowed Imogen moves to a neglected French chateau to begin again, only to uncover whispers about what happened there during the war. In 1944, Simone is drawn into the Resistance and forced to choose between love and duty.
The Forgotten Life of Arthur Pettinger
by Sue Fortin
2021
As Arthur Pettinger's memory fades, one name stays vivid, Maryse. When his granddaughter Maddy starts tracing that wartime connection, the search leads her to France, family secrets, and an unfinished love story rooted in the Resistance.
Beyond a Broken Sky
by Sue Fortin
2022
Called to examine a wartime stained-glass window at Telton Hall, Rhoda expects a routine job, then a body is found beneath the chapel floor. In 1945, Alice's hidden pregnancy and life among POWs reveal the roots of the mystery.
Death at Applewick Schoolhouse
by Sue Fortin
2022
When village headteacher Max Bartholomew is found murdered, funeral director Frank Fairfax becomes the prime suspect. His daughters Esme, Bella, and Isla refuse to stand by, and their amateur investigation exposes secrets all across Applewick.
Death at Applewick Manor
by Sue Fortin
2023
Another death rocks Applewick, and the Fairfax sisters once again find themselves pulled into the case. At the manor, old resentments, village gossip, and carefully hidden motives turn a cozy setting into a dangerous puzzle.
The Dance Teacher of Paris
by Sue Fortin
2023
In occupied Paris, dance teacher Adele Basset risks everything when Jewish children in her care are threatened. Hiding pupils in her studio attic, she joins a desperate effort to move them to safety before the Nazis close in.
The Paris Betrayal
by Sue Fortin
2023
When Darcie uncovers a suitcase of beautiful 1940s dresses and sketches, she begins tracing the fate of Nathalie Leroux. In wartime Paris, Nathalie uses her dressmaking skills in a dangerous Resistance mission close to Nazi power.
The Missing Wife
by Sue Fortin
2024
Six months after Kathleen Walsh vanishes, her sister Siobhan finds new hope when Kathleen's purse turns up on Irish cliffs with a plea for help inside. But reopening the case brings threats, and soon Siobhan's own daughter disappears.
Your Little Lies
by Sue Fortin
2024
Hannah hopes moving to the exclusive Silverbanks development will finally keep her family safe. But when a neighbor recognizes her, the past she buried comes roaring back, and her dream home starts to feel like a trap.
The Codebreaker's Daughter
by Sue Fortin
2025
Recruited to Bletchley Park in 1942, teacher Hana Phillips helps crack Japanese naval codes while quietly hunting for a mole inside her team. With her father already targeted and her marriage fraying, every discovery comes at a cost.
The Secret Midwife of Berlin
by Sue Fortin
2026
In 1939 Berlin, British midwife Clara sees the world around her darken as Nazi power tightens. After secretly delivering a Jewish woman's baby, she is drawn into a hidden resistance that saves lives one birth at a time.
Where should I start?
If you want twisty domestic suspense: The Girl Who Lied → Sister Sister → The Dead Wife
If you like family secrets and emotional thrillers: Schoolgirl Missing → The Missing Wife → Your Little Lies
If you want wartime historical fiction: The Forgotten Life of Arthur Pettinger → The Dance Teacher of Paris → The Codebreaker's Daughter → The Secret Midwife of Berlin
If you want something lighter and cozier: Death at Applewick Schoolhouse → Death at Applewick Manor
If you want her romance-led side: United States of Love → The French Retreat
Author bio
Sue Fortin was born in Hertfordshire and spent much of her childhood moving from place to place before her family eventually settled in West Sussex. She grew up a big reader, and that early love of books never really left. The mix that would later shape her fiction was there from the start, romance, mystery, family drama, and the quiet feeling that ordinary lives can turn complicated very quickly.
Writing came later.
For years, life was busy with family and work, and the idea of finishing a novel stayed in the background. The turning point came when she was on maternity leave with her fourth child and decided it was now or never. She joined the Romantic Novelists' Association New Writers' Scheme, sent off a manuscript for critique, and kept working at it. That persistence led to United States of Love, which she first self-published before it was picked up and republished by HarperImpulse, now One More Chapter. It was a contemporary romance, but even then Fortin was already leaning toward stories where relationships and trouble arrive hand in hand.
Her next books pushed further into suspense. Closing In introduced a darker, more anxious mood, and readers really responded to that turn. Then came The Girl Who Lied and Sister Sister, two books that helped make her name with a wider audience and both reached number one in the Kindle chart in the UK. What readers tend to like in these novels is easy to spot: strong central women, family secrets, friendships under strain, and plots that keep tightening one chapter at a time.
She likes a secret with consequences.
That runs through much of her suspense fiction. In books such as Schoolgirl Missing, The Dead Wife, The Missing Wife, and Your Little Lies, Fortin keeps returning to people whose home lives are anything but safe. Her stories often begin with something familiar, a marriage, a village, a missing relative, a weekend away, then slowly expose the lies and pressure underneath. She has a knack for making emotional stakes do as much work as the mystery, which is one reason her thrillers feel tense without losing their human side.
More recently, she began writing historical fiction as Suzanne Fortin. That shift let her bring together two long-running interests, family stories and France. Books such as The Forgotten Life of Arthur Pettinger, All That We Have Lost, The Dance Teacher of Paris, and The Codebreaker's Daughter move into wartime settings, often with dual timelines, but they still carry the same pull toward love, loss, courage, and hidden truths. All That We Have Lost went on to win the Romantic Novelists' Association Jackie Collins Award, which marked that new phase of her career in a very clear way.
France matters here, too. Fortin is a self-confessed Francophile and has a home in the Morbihan region, which has inspired a lot of her later fiction. She also still writes as Sue Fortin, with books like the Applewick Village Mystery titles showing yet another side of her work, lighter in tone, but still rooted in character, community, and secrets.
She lives in West Sussex with her husband and family, and her official biography also notes two grandchildren. When she is not writing, she enjoys spending time with her family, walking near the coast and the South Downs, and taking photographs. It all fits the shape of her books quite well, grounded lives, close relationships, and the sense that the past is never quite as far away as it looks.
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