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Victoria Jenkins Books in Order

Browse Victoria Jenkins books in order, from Detectives King and Lane to her standalone thrillers, with summaries, series notes, and where to start on this page.

Last updated: July 11, 2026

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Victoria Jenkins books in publication order

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18 books

The First One To Die

by Victoria Jenkins

2017

A rooftop fall looks like an accident until DI Alex King spots signs of violence. As she and Chloe Lane dig into the victim's friendships, pregnancy, and secrets, they realize she may be only the first target.

The Girls in the Water

by Victoria Jenkins

2017

When a young woman's body is found in a river, DI Alex King and newcomer DC Chloe Lane are drawn into a case involving vulnerable women with a shared past. Then another body turns up, and the clock starts ticking.

Nobody's Child

by Victoria Jenkins

2018

A burned body in an abandoned hospital gives Alex King a case with no easy answers. When more deaths follow and links begin to surface, the investigation turns personal and the killer edges dangerously close.

A Promise to the Dead

by Victoria Jenkins

2019

After Stacey is found murdered in a broken-down car and her boyfriend disappears, Alex King's team uncovers links to another missing man and a body buried for decades. Past and present collide on a mountain road.

The Argument

by Victoria Jenkins

2019

After a furious row, teenager Olivia stops speaking to her mother and seems to vanish behind a wall of secrets. Hannah's worry grows into panic as she realizes one family argument may have opened something much darker.

The Divorce

by Victoria Jenkins

2019

Lydia and Josh Green look like an ordinary couple under ordinary pressure. But as distance grows between them, buried fears and hidden lies turn their marriage into something far more dangerous.

The Accusation

by Victoria Jenkins

2020

Jenna runs to help an injured woman in the park, only to be accused when the victim wakes up. As the case builds against her, old secrets and cracks in her family life threaten to finish the job.

The New Family

by Victoria Jenkins

2021

A woman rents out her childhood home to a single father and his son, hoping for a clean start. Then strange details and one hidden photograph make her suspect her new tenants know far too much about her past.

The Playdate

by Victoria Jenkins

2021

A mother thinks she has found a friend she can trust at playgroup. But both women are hiding things, and what starts as an ordinary playdate becomes a tense battle of secrets, suspicion, and survival.

The Bridesmaids

by Victoria Jenkins

2022

Holly heads off for a pre-wedding weekend with her closest friends, but old grudges surface fast. When a body is found in the pool, celebration turns into a locked-in nightmare, and one bridesmaid is clearly lying.

The Midwife

by Victoria Jenkins

2022

Pregnant and alone, a woman puts her trust in a kind midwife who seems to understand everything. Then one unsettling appointment makes her fear this helpful stranger recognizes her, and knows the past she is desperate to escape.

Happily Married

by Victoria Jenkins

2023

A woman already worried about money and marriage grows suspicious when a new lodger gets too close to her husband. The more she digs, the clearer it becomes that the secret in her house is worse than infidelity.

The Open Marriage

by Victoria Jenkins

2024

Hoping to save her fading marriage, a woman agrees to an arrangement that promises honesty and freedom. Instead she gets obsession, betrayal, and a missing woman, with the police suddenly far too close.

Your Perfect Life

by Victoria Jenkins

2024

A woman with the job, apartment, and image everyone envies lets an old acquaintance move in after years apart. Soon the guest is copying her life, and a threatening phone call suggests someone knows her darkest secret.

It's Me or Her

by Victoria Jenkins

2025

Daisy thinks coming home with Andrew is the start of a happy future, until his controlling mother makes it clear she is not welcome. After a fall down the stairs, Daisy becomes certain it was no accident.

The Mother's Phone Call

by Victoria Jenkins

2025

A mother stands over a dead girl and fears her son is responsible. To protect him she may have to expose the lie at the heart of an old friendship, and destroy her family in the process.

The Woman in Our Marriage

by Victoria Jenkins

2025

A nanny arrives to help a struggling family, but her growing closeness to both husband and son quickly feels wrong. As jealousy, fear, and buried truths build, the wife starts to wonder who is really being manipulated.

New

The Guilty Daughter

by Victoria Jenkins

2026

After a teenager's drink is spiked at a neighborhood party, suspicion falls on Ellie. Her mother wants to believe she's innocent, but protecting her may mean exposing old lies that could wreck them both.

Where to start with Victoria Jenkins

If you want the police procedural series: The Girls in the WaterThe First One To DieNobody's ChildA Promise to the Dead
If you want her early standalones: The DivorceThe ArgumentThe Accusation
If you like mothers, friends, and hidden pasts: The PlaydateThe New FamilyThe BridesmaidsThe Midwife
If you want relationship thrillers: Happily MarriedYour Perfect LifeThe Open MarriageThe Woman in Our Marriage
If you want the newest books: The Mother's Phone CallIt's Me or HerThe Guilty Daughter

Victoria Jenkins sub-series and character series

Detectives King and Lane books in order

Explore this series
  1. Book cover for "The First One To Die"

    The First One To Die

    by Victoria Jenkins

    2017Detectives King and Lane, Book 2
  2. Book cover for "The Girls in the Water"

    The Girls in the Water

    by Victoria Jenkins

    2017Detectives King and Lane, Book 1
  3. Book cover for "Nobody's Child"

    Nobody's Child

    by Victoria Jenkins

    2018Detectives King and Lane, Book 3
  4. Book cover for "A Promise to the Dead"

    A Promise to the Dead

    by Victoria Jenkins

    2019Detectives King and Lane, Book 4

Detectives King and Lane books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "The Girls in the Water"

    The Girls in the Water

    by Victoria Jenkins

    2017Detectives King and Lane, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "The First One To Die"

    The First One To Die

    by Victoria Jenkins

    2017Detectives King and Lane, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "Nobody's Child"

    Nobody's Child

    by Victoria Jenkins

    2018Detectives King and Lane, Book 3
  4. Book cover for "A Promise to the Dead"

    A Promise to the Dead

    by Victoria Jenkins

    2019Detectives King and Lane, Book 4

Standalone Victoria Jenkins books

  1. Book cover for "The Argument"

    The Argument

    by Victoria Jenkins

    2019
  2. Book cover for "The Divorce"

    The Divorce

    by Victoria Jenkins

    2019
  3. Book cover for "The Accusation"

    The Accusation

    by Victoria Jenkins

    2020
  4. Book cover for "The New Family"

    The New Family

    by Victoria Jenkins

    2021
  5. Book cover for "The Playdate"

    The Playdate

    by Victoria Jenkins

    2021
  6. Book cover for "The Bridesmaids"

    The Bridesmaids

    by Victoria Jenkins

    2022
  7. Book cover for "The Midwife"

    The Midwife

    by Victoria Jenkins

    2022
  8. Book cover for "Happily Married"

    Happily Married

    by Victoria Jenkins

    2023
  9. Book cover for "The Open Marriage"

    The Open Marriage

    by Victoria Jenkins

    2024
  10. Book cover for "Your Perfect Life"

    Your Perfect Life

    by Victoria Jenkins

    2024
  11. Book cover for "It's Me or Her"

    It's Me or Her

    by Victoria Jenkins

    2025
  12. Book cover for "The Mother's Phone Call"

    The Mother's Phone Call

    by Victoria Jenkins

    2025
  13. Book cover for "The Woman in Our Marriage"

    The Woman in Our Marriage

    by Victoria Jenkins

    2025
  14. Book cover for "The Guilty Daughter"

    The Guilty Daughter

    by Victoria Jenkins

    2026

Author bio

Victoria Jenkins is a Welsh thriller writer from South Wales, the same part of the country that shapes much of her crime fiction. She has worked as an English tutor and was previously a secondary school teacher. That background gives her books a solid everyday feel. She knows how ordinary routines sound, and how quickly a normal day can tip into fear.

South Wales stays close to the page.

Before publication, Jenkins spent years writing and trying to work out how to turn that habit into a life. She studied at Swansea as an undergraduate for a year, later returned for an MA in Creative Writing, and used the course to work across poetry, screenwriting, prose, journalism, and scriptwriting. She has said that the MA helped her see where her strengths were, sharpen her editing, and, maybe most importantly, believe that writing could be more than a private ambition.

She is also open about the slow part of the job. Jenkins has spoken about keeping a folder of rejection letters from agents and pulling out any useful line of feedback rather than binning the lot in frustration. She learned patience, resilience, and the habit of simply getting back to the page. That patience paid off. In 2017, her debut novel, The Girls in the Water, was published, and it went on to reach the top five in the US Kindle chart.

That book introduced Detective Inspector Alex King and Detective Constable Chloe Lane, the pair at the centre of Jenkins's police procedural series. In The Girls in the Water, The First One To Die, Nobody's Child, and A Promise to the Dead, she mixes murder investigations with the private strain carried by the detectives themselves. Readers who enjoy these books tend to like the pace, the female-led partnership, and the strong Welsh sense of place. The crimes are dark, but the people solving them feel grounded and human.

Then she changed lanes without losing the tension.

From The Divorce onward, Jenkins moved into standalone psychological thrillers and leaned into secrets inside marriages, friendships, and families. Books like The Argument, The Accusation, The Playdate, Happily Married, The Open Marriage, and The Mother's Phone Call start with situations that feel familiar, an argument at home, a new lodger, a complicated marriage, a call no parent wants, and then push them into darker territory. She returns again and again to guilt, jealousy, buried history, and the thin line between protection and control.

By the time she later reflected on her career, Jenkins said she had published four police procedurals and eleven psychological thrillers. She also noted that her books had sold nearly three-quarters of a million copies, with the crime novels translated into Czech and Polish. Those facts tell a simple story. She built her readership steadily, book by book, by delivering sharp setups, emotional stakes, and endings that move fast.

She still lives in South Wales with her husband. The region remains part of her work, not just as scenery, but as mood, memory, weather, and texture. Her advice to new writers is practical and hard-earned: keep writing, learn from rejection, and read widely. That feels like a good summary of her own career too.

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