L. A. Detwiler Books in Order (Updated February 25, 2026)

L. A. Detwiler (also published under the name Lindsay Detwiler) writes across domestic thrillers, psychological suspense, and horror. The good news: most of her novels are standalones, so you’re rarely “locked” into a sequence.

Where order does matter is in her two short, numbered series, plus one loose novella line that’s best read in its own internal order.

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A quick “choose-your-path” map

If you want a true series (book numbers, continuing setup)

• Chameleon Killer Chronicles → start with Five Will Die
• Maternal Instincts → start with The Delivery

If you want one-and-done novels (no commitment)

• Start anywhere below in the Standalone Novels list (publication order is still the cleanest default).

If you want bite-sized, darker pieces

• Use The Killer Within novellas/shorts as a sampler lane.

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Series: Chameleon Killer Chronicles (read in order)

1. Five Will Die (2023): A revenge-driven countdown begins inside a workplace pressure cooker, where the past picks the victims and the present sets the trap.
2. Four Will Die (2023): The fallout deepens and the target list tightens, as the threat evolves beyond a single plan into something harder to predict.

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Series: Maternal Instincts (read in order)

1. The Delivery (2022): New motherhood collides with a husband’s resurfacing darkness, forcing one woman to decide what protection looks like when the danger is inside the home.
2. Evette (2022): A “fresh start” becomes a slow unravelling, where the perfect-life surface breaks and the threat becomes personal again.

Note: These can sometimes be marketed as readable standalone, but Book 1 → Book 2 gives you the cleanest emotional and thematic progression.

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Standalone novels (publication order)

These books do not share an ongoing cast or required timeline. Read in publication order if you want to track how her style shifts across thriller → horror → hybrid territory.

1. The Widow Next Door (2018): A newlywed move into “forever home” territory turns claustrophobic as a neighbor’s attention stops feeling friendly and starts feeling strategic.
2. The One Who Got Away (2020): A late-life relocation to a care home becomes a nightmare of credibility, where threats arrive as notes and fear is dismissed as confusion.
3. The Diary of a Serial Killer’s Daughter (2020): A father-daughter bond is reframed through a long pattern of violence, with loyalty and identity pushed into disturbing territory.
4. A Tortured Soul (2020): A brutal domestic history and a present-day disappearance collide, with psychological fractures becoming part of the danger.
5. The Christmas Bell (2020): Holiday imagery flips into horror, turning tradition into a delivery system for dread.
6. The Redwood Asylum (2021): A new job at a notorious institution becomes a haunted descent, where the building’s secrets follow the heroine beyond its walls.
7. The Arsonist’s Handbook (2021): Two men orbit the same fire-driven obsession, one chasing justice, one chasing inheritance, until the burn line reaches everything.
8. The Flayed One (2021): A creature-horror entry tied to a journal of chilling tales, where the forest legend stops being a story and starts being a hunt.
9. Tell Me All Your Lies (2024) (with Lindsay Detwiler credit): A psychologically driven descent into how a killer is made, with family influence acting as the engine of the plot.

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Novellas & short reads (The Killer Within and other short-form works)

If you want to sample Detwiler at maximum intensity (fast pace, sharp turns, darker themes), start here. These are separate continuity from the novels.

The Killer Within (best read in this order)

1. Her Darkest Hour (2020): Obsession and revenge take over the driver’s seat, where a personal grievance becomes a dangerous project.
2. Slaughtered Love (2020): A relationship-focused thriller bite that leans into the horror of devotion turned predatory.
3. It Started on Halloween (2020): Seasonal dread used as misdirection, where “tradition” becomes the cover story.
4. Mirrored (2020): A paranormal-tinged shocker built around reflection, identity, and what follows you home.
5. The Christmas Bell: Rachel’s Story (2020): A companion-style short that pairs best after The Christmas Bell.

Additional short-form titles (read anytime)

• Mr. Alexander Garrick’s Traveling Circus (2021): A darker, oddball premise delivered in a shorter format.
• The Witch of War Creek (2021): A folklore-leaning horror short with a sharper supernatural edge.

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Nonfiction (separate shelf)

• Teaching High School Creative Writing (2022): A practical craft/teaching resource, unrelated to the thriller/horror fiction continuity.

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Three ready-made reading plans

Plan 1: “I want the most structured experience”

1. Five Will Die → Four Will Die
2. The Delivery → Evette
3. Then pick any standalone that matches your preferred subgenre (thriller vs horror).

Plan 2: “Domestic thriller first, then horror”

1. The Widow Next Door
2. The One Who Got Away
3. The Diary of a Serial Killer’s Daughter
4. A Tortured Soul
5. Shift into horror with The Redwood Asylum → The Flayed One

Plan 3: “Give me a fast sampler”

1. Her Darkest Hour (short, sharp)
2. The Widow Next Door (full-length, classic domestic unease)
3. The Redwood Asylum (horror lane entry)

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Latest release status (as of February 25, 2026)

• Most recently listed new title: Tell Me All Your Lies (June 4, 2024).
• No reliably scheduled upcoming release was consistently posted across major listing sources at the time of this update.

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FAQs

Do any of the standalones spoil each other?
No. They’re designed as separate stories.

Is “Tell Me All Your Lies” an L. A. Detwiler book or a Lindsay Detwiler book?
It is commonly cataloged under Detwiler’s name across listings, and you’ll see it credited with the Lindsay Detwiler author name as well. Treat it as part of the same overall bibliography unless your edition states otherwise.

Where should I start if I only want one book?

• For domestic thriller: The Widow Next Door (2018)
• For horror: The Redwood Asylum (2021)
• For a short test read: Her Darkest Hour (2020)