C.A. Larmer Books in Order (Updated February 25, 2026)

C.A. Larmer is the pen name of Christina Larmer, an Australian-based crime writer who publishes multiple distinct series plus a small set of standalone novels.

Order matters within each series (recurring casts), but you can switch between series without continuity problems.

A simple way to choose your starting point

• Book-club Christie homages with modern pacing: start The Murder Mystery Book Club (Book 1).
• A sharper, contemporary amateur sleuth with a writing-world angle: start Ghostwriter Mystery (Book 1).
• Puzzle/“impossible mystery” team setup (short, modern run): start Sleuths of Last Resort (Book 1).
• A paranormal-tinged “solve my own death” hook: start A Posthumous Mystery (Book 1).
• Want one-and-done: pick either standalone; no order required.

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The Murder Mystery Book Club (read in order)

Continuity: same core group; best read sequentially. Note: earlier editions use the “Agatha Christie Book Club” wording in some titles.

1. The Murder Mystery Book Club (2012) (aka The Agatha Christie Book Club): A crime-loving book club stumbles into a real murder, turning literary “theories” into survival-level deductions.
2. Danger on the SS Orient (2016) (aka Murder on the Orient (SS)): A nostalgia cruise becomes a closed-circle case, where the killer’s advantage is the ship’s enforced togetherness.
3. Death Under the Stars (2021) (previously published as Evil Under the Stars): A public night-out turns into a murder with too many witnesses and not enough seeing, forcing the club to prove how the strike happened at all.
4. When There Were 9 (2021) (previously published as And Then There Were 9): A remote lodge gathering tightens into a shrinking-suspect setup, where each new reveal reassigns suspicion inside the group.
5. The Widow on the Honeymoon Cruise (2023): A celebratory trip becomes an evidence trap, as motives hide behind “vacation” roles and rehearsed personas.
6. Gone Guest (2023): A manor-style setup turns volatile when a guest goes missing, and the book club has to separate staged drama from real danger.
7. Peril on the Indian Pacific (2024): A long-distance rail journey becomes a moving locked-room problem, where answers are confined to the same cars as the threat.

Safest entry: Book 1.
Spoiler risk if you skip around: character relationships and “in-jokes” land flatter out of sequence.

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Ghostwriter Mystery (read in order)

Continuity: recurring lead (Roxy Parker) and returning relationships; strongly benefits from reading in sequence.

1. Killer Twist (2011): Ghostwriter Roxy Parker gets pulled into a death that looks tidy on the surface, and learns fast that “research” can become motive.
2. A Plot to Die For (2011): A new job in a sun-drenched setting becomes a body-on-the-page problem, where the story she’s hired to write keeps colliding with the one unfolding.
3. Last Writes (2012): A writing-world mystery sharpens into a dangerous pattern, pushing Roxy from observer to target.
4. Dying Words (2013): A missing object becomes a keyhole into a darker past, and the hunt turns personal when the secret behind it starts killing people’s certainty.
5. Words Can Kill (2014): A case tied to Roxy’s history forces her to decide how much truth she actually wants, once “finding someone” stops being a romantic idea.
6. A Note Before Dying (2015): A celebrity biography job becomes a murder investigation, where fandom, jealousy, and access make the suspect list unstable.
7. Without a Word (2020): A long-cold disappearance returns with new pressure, and Roxy’s attempt to document the past becomes a direct threat in the present.

Safest entry: Book 1.
Best “test read” if you don’t want a long run yet: Book 1 still works, because it introduces the tone cleanly.

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Sleuths of Last Resort (read in order)

Continuity: one team, one evolving problem; short run, built for sequential reading.

1. Blind Men Don’t Dial Zero (2021): Five crime buffs are brought together to solve an “impossible” mystery under a deadline, where the real puzzle is who controls the game.
2. Smart Girls Don’t Trust Strangers (2022): A new case pressures the team’s trust rules, as outside interference turns helpful instincts into liabilities.
3. Good Girls Don’t Drink Vodka (2022): The series leans into higher risk, where the team’s mistakes become evidence and the cost of guessing wrong spikes.

Safest entry: Book 1.

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A Posthumous Mystery (read in order)

Continuity: recurring supernatural framework; read in sequence for the cleanest logic of the “after” rules.

1. Do Not Go Gentle (2016): Lulu is dead but not done, and solving her own murder becomes a race against the pull to move on before the truth surfaces.
2. Do Not Go Alone (2018): A new death resets the rules under pressure, as the investigation has to work with limited time, limited influence, and messy human motives.

Safest entry: Book 1.

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Standalone novels (separate continuity)

These do not connect to the series above and can be read in any order.

1. An Island Lost (2012): A remote setting turns tense and intimate, where isolation amplifies every wrong assumption.
2. After the Ferry (2019): A single decision point fractures a life into consequences, and the suspense tightens around what changes when you miss, or make, the crossing.

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Nonfiction (separate continuity)

• A Measure of Papua New Guinea (2008): A nonfiction project outside the crime-fiction continuity; read anytime.

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The “least thinking required” reading plan

1. Choose one series lane (Book Club, Ghostwriter, Sleuths, or Posthumous).
2. Read that lane straight down by book number.
3. Use the standalones as breaks whenever you want a clean reset.

If you want the most broadly representative starting point for her cozy-mystery style, begin with The Murder Mystery Book Club (2012). If you want a slightly edgier, contemporary voice first, begin with Killer Twist (2011).

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Latest confirmed release status

• Latest confirmed release in the Murder Mystery Book Club lane: Peril on the Indian Pacific (2024).
• Other lanes have no reliably confirmed newer mainline titles beyond what’s listed above as of this update.