C.J. Cooke Books in Order (Updated February 22, 2026)

C.J. Cooke is the gothic-thriller pen name of Carolyn Jess-Cooke, and her catalog splits neatly into two reading experiences: (1) modern feminist-gothic suspense under C.J. Cooke, and (2) earlier novels under Carolyn Jess-Cooke that sit closer to literary/psychological fiction.

There’s no ongoing detective series to protect here. These books are standalones, so “order” is mainly for tracking publication history (and choosing the right starting vibe), not for continuity.

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What to read first (depending on what you want tonight)

• Folk-horror island dread + family stakes: The Lighthouse Witches
• Remote-house gothic + childcare anxiety + folklore: The Nesting
• Maternity home secrets + creeping woodland unease: The Ghost Woods
• Locked-ship survival horror in polar isolation: A Haunting in the Arctic
• Time-slip witch-trial echo with a modern mystery spine: The Book of Witching
• Historical witch-persecution thriller (15th century): The Last Witch

If you want one decisive starter that represents “C.J. Cooke at full power,” begin with The Lighthouse Witches.

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Continuity check

Standalone novels: Yes, each title has its own cast and premise.
Recurring connections: Mostly thematic (motherhood, memory, power, folklore), not plot-based.
Safest rule: Pick by premise; you won’t spoil other books.

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C.J. Cooke novels in publication order

1. I Know My Name (2017): An amnesiac woman washes up on a Greek island while, elsewhere, a missing-wife case suggests someone close is rewriting the truth.
2. The Blame Game (2019): A family’s “trip of a lifetime” curdles after a crash, and the sense of being hunted becomes impossible to dismiss.
3. The Nesting (2020): A nanny takes a job in remote Norway where the house, the children, and the folklore all feel slightly… wrong.
4. The Lighthouse Witches (2021): A mother and her daughters flee to a Scottish island where disappearances and witch-history start acting like a living pattern.
5. We Have to Leave the Earth (2021): A shorter-form work that sits adjacent to her gothic mode, leaning into unsettling atmosphere and psychological pressure.
6. The Ghost Woods (2022): A young woman sent to a secluded home for “unwed mothers” discovers that the building’s rules may be hiding something older than cruelty.
7. A Haunting in the Arctic (2023): A whaling ship becomes a sealed system of fear, where ice, confinement, and superstition begin to blur into threat.
8. The Book of Witching (2024): Two women, centuries apart, are bound by the same text, one modern, one accused, each racing the same kind of ending.
9. The Last Witch (2025): In 15th-century Innsbruck, an accusation becomes a death sentence, and the fight to survive turns into a test of what “witchcraft” really means.

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A “recommended order” that isn’t just publication order

If you prefer to read by setting and intensity rather than by year, this sequence tends to flow well:

1. The Nesting (house-in-the-woods dread)
2. The Lighthouse Witches (island mythology + generational stakes)
3. The Ghost Woods (institutional secrecy + gothic history)
4. A Haunting in the Arctic (full isolation survival-horror energy)
5. The Book of Witching (time-echo witch-trial mystery)
6. The Last Witch (historical persecution, no modern “buffer”)

Why this works: it ramps from domestic unease → community folklore → institutional gothic → extreme isolation → time-layered witch narrative → pure historical pressure cooker.

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Earlier novels (as Carolyn Jess-Cooke)

These are separate from the C.J. Cooke gothic-thriller run. Read anytime.

1. The Guardian Angel’s Journal (2011): A woman at a breaking point is pulled into a strange second-chance framework with spiritual overtones.
2. The Boy Who Could See Demons (2012): A psychiatrist and a ten-year-old boy form a tense bond as questions of reality and perception tighten around them.

(If you’re here for the “witches/folklore/haunted places” lane, you can safely skip these and stay with the C.J. Cooke list.)

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Latest release status

• Most recent release located for this update: The Last Witch (2025).
• No later C.J. Cooke novel was confirmed during this update window.

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FAQs

Do I have to read The Nesting before The Lighthouse Witches or The Ghost Woods?
No. They share thematic DNA, not plot. Choose the premise you want.

Are C.J. Cooke and Carolyn Jess-Cooke the same author?
Yes. C.J. Cooke is a pen name used for her gothic suspense work.

Why do I see different dates in different places?
Territory and format (UK vs US; hardback vs paperback vs audio) can shift listed “on sale” dates. The order above follows first-release sequencing for the core reading experience.

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Conclusion

You can read C.J. Cooke in any order, but if you want a clean entry that captures her signature mix of folklore, motherhood, and menace, start with The Lighthouse Witches. If you prefer to build slowly, begin with The Nesting and let the scale of the settings expand from there.