Maeve Kerrigan · #4
The Stranger You Know
He meets women. He gains their trust. He kills them. That's all London police detective Maeve Kerrigan knows about the man she is hunting. Three women have been strangled in their homes, and it appears to be the work of the same sadistic killer. With no sign of break-ins, every indication shows that the women let their attacker in willingly. The victims' neighbors and friends don't seem to remember anything unusual or suspicious, and Maeve is almost at a loss about how to move forward with the investigation.
Then the evidence starts to point to a shocking DCI Josh Derwent, Maeve's partner on the police force. Maeve refuses to believe he could be involved, but how well does she really know him? Secrets Derwent has long kept locked away are coming back to haunt him, and the more Maeve learns about her partner's past, the more difficult it is to dismiss him as a suspect. After all, this is hardly the first time Derwent's been accused of murder.
The series
In a city that never truly sleeps—where justice is messy and violence whispers from behind closed doors—the Maeve Kerrigan series carves out its own dark corner of the crime fiction world. With an unflinching eye for detail and a deep psychological undercurrent, these novels follow a young detective who must navigate not only the brutal crimes of London’s underbelly, but the quieter, more insidious dangers that come from within the very system meant to uphold the law.
Read full series description
The series begins in the early days of Maeve’s career, but it never indulges in tidy origin stories or quick moral resolutions. Instead, each installment peels back another layer—of Maeve, of her colleagues, of the city itself. The procedural framework is there, yes: evidence, suspects, high-stakes chases. But what lingers are the silences between the interviews, the tension in the squad room, the moments where instinct and ethics collide.
Through slow-burning suspense and sharp character work, the books explore themes of power, vulnerability, and the cost of ambition. Kerrigan herself is more than a detective—she’s a woman constantly negotiating her place in a world that underestimates her, a world that expects her to be both tough and soft, relentless and restrained. That quiet duality pulses through every case she takes on, whether she’s confronting serial killers, corruption, or the ghosts of her own past.
The atmosphere is tense, urban, and deeply human—less about solving the mystery and more about why people commit the acts they do. It's this emotional depth, paired with the intricacy of the investigations, that has earned the series a devoted following among readers of psychological thrillers and police procedurals alike.
For those drawn to stories where justice comes at a cost, and where the truth is rarely black and white, this is a series that doesn’t just ask who did it—but what it means when they do.
#0.5 · 2013Left for Dead 
#1 · 2010The Burning 
#2 · 2011The Reckoning 
#3 · 2012The Last Girl 
#4 · 2014The Stranger You Know 
#5 · 2014The Kill 
#6 · 2015After the Fire 
#7 · 2017Let the Dead Speak 
#7.5 · 2018One in Custody 
#8 · 2019Cruel Acts 
#8.5 · 2019Love Lies Bleeding 
#8.6 · 2020Silent Kill 
#9 · 2020The Cutting Place 
#10 · 2023The Close 
#11 · 2024A Stranger in the Family 
#12 · 2025The Secret Room 
#13 · 2027The Silent Neighbour Be the first reviewer
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