Charlene Weir Books In Order

Publication Order of Susan Wren / Kansas Cozy Mysteries Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Charlene Weir was among the highly successful novelists of America, who has penned numerous interesting books over the course of her writing career. Almost all the novels written by her are based on the mystery, thriller, and suspense genres. Author Weir was born on 10 November 1937 in the town of Nortonville, Kansas, The United States. Her death took place on 4 April 2015. Author Weir had 6 other siblings and was the youngest among all of them. Her parents were George Kettner and Clara Kettner. After the completion of her primary schooling, author Weir enrolled herself at the Hutchinson High School and graduated in the year 1955. This was followed by a professional course in the field of nursing, which she did from the Oklahoma state in 1959. After a few years, she got married and settled down in the Bay Area. Author Weir had a couple of children named Chris and Leslie. At one point during her nursing career, author Weir got diagnosed with a disease called ‘Multiple Sclerosis’, due to which she had to leave her nursing job. During her treatment days, she used to get a lot of free time. As a result, she began reading mystery books, as a means to pass her time and get over the boredom. She got so much interested in the mystery novels that she decided to try her hand at writing mystery books. Her attempts started bearing fruits and Charlene loved the new experience of her life.

Author Weir was able to win the prestigious Malice Domestic contest with the help of her very first mystery book. This contest was organized by the St. Martin’s Press and it allowed author Weir a chance to showcase her expertise in writing mystery stories. The novel with which she entered into the contest was titled as ‘The Winter Widow’. This book also went on to be nominated for the Anthony Award. The next 6 books written by author Weir in her writing career following this successful book, were based on the life of the primary character named Susan Wren. She described Susan Wren in the novels as the Police Chief of the police department of the Kansas City. The character description of Susan as per author Weir resembles that of an intelligent and a competent woman. She appears to be quite cool and full of confidence all the time, and has control over her actions and beliefs.

Susan is shown solving the crimes in the city as well as the problems that exist in her own life, all of which she does all alone and does not like to take anyone’s help. She seems capable enough to care of herself and the people around her. Author Weir has said that the character of Susan Wren resembles her own in a number of ways. In fact, she has said that when she was in the course of developing the character of Susan Wren, the only person that she could think of was herself. The latest book featuring Susan was published after the death of author Weir. Other than writing the mystery books, author Weir used to spend her time playing her piano, nurturing her beloved cats, and visiting her grandchildren very often. She does not use to leave a single chance to be with them and always managed to take out some time from her busy schedule for them. Author Weir was particularly famous for the use of quick humor and the sense of sharp wit in her books. She had lived in El Cerrito, California for a period of around 50 years and also breathed her last breath there.

There is a total of 7 books in the Susan Wren series, all of which were released between 1992 and 2007. One of the books in the series is titled as ‘up In Smoke’. It was released in the year 2003 by the Minotaur Books publication. The main characters depicted in the novel include Governor Jack Garret, Wakely Fromm, Sean Donovan, and Susan Wren. At the start of the story, it is shown that Governor Garrett reaches Hampstead into the middle of a severe thunderstorm. He is joined by his constant companion and friend named Wakely Fromm. Around 20 years ago, both of them had encountered a forest fire and had come out alive. However, Wakely was left confined to the wheelchair because of the injuries and Jake Garrett had become a hero. Now, Governor Garrett is battling the nomination of his party as the presidential candidate. At the time of one of the campaigns, the business card of one of the campaign workers named Sean Donovan is found near a homicide scene. It is learned later that Sean Donovan is the cousin of Chief of Police Susan Wren. When Susan carried out the investigation, the evidences and clues let her straight to Governor Garrett. Now, she seems to be in a lot of confusion regarding the involvement of Jack Garrett and Sean Donovan in the homicide case. Susan Wren wonders whether it will be right to take a sitting governor into custody or even her cousin.

One of the other books written by author Charlene Weir in the Susan Wren mystery series is titled as ‘Edge of Midnight’. The Minotaur Books published it in the year 2007. The characters described in this book include Cary Black, Mitch Black, and the Police Chief Susan Wren. As the story of this book begins, it is depicted that Hampstead is struck by a heat wave and it has caught Susan Wren with a vile flu. Due to this, she is not able to concentrate on her work and they keep getting piled on her desk. At the same time, Susan is required to deal with a delusional veteran of the World War II, a troubled girl in her teens, as well as a rookie police officer whom she needs to fire soon before her inexperience and enthusiasm ends up in the death of someone. With all these problems in her life and the town of Hampstead, Susan deals with some other problems that come into the town from outside. Cary Black is described as being new in the Hampstead town and hiding from her aggressive and abusive husband from the police department named Mitch Black. The woman with whom she was staying disappears mysteriously, but Cary is not able to file a complaint with the police as she fears that her husband will find her. She decides to assume the identity of the missing woman. On the other hand, Mitch tries whatever he could in order to get back his wife. However, when Susan Wren comes to know about it, she reaches out to help Cary save herself from her Mitch. Overall, the book appears to be the most suspenseful and thrilling among all the other books of the series. Author Weir has once again woven an interesting tale, showing Susan once again encountering each and every obstacle with resourcefulness and courage.

Charlene Weir was one of the prominent authors of America, who has written a number of highly interesting novels in her writing career. Most of her novels were based on the mystery and thriller genres. She was born on November 10, 1937 in Nortonville, Kansas, United States, and died on April 04, 2015. Charlene was the 7th and the youngest of all the siblings born to late Clara and George Kettner. She went on to graduate from the Hutchinson High School in the year 1955 and then completed a professional course in nursing from the Oklahoma state in the year 1959. Later, Charlene got married and chose the Bay Area to settle down after the birth of her two kids, Leslie and Chris. When she got diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, she left the job of nursing and began reading mystery novels as a hobby. Shortly after, Charlene began pursuing her own career as a mystery writer. The first novel that she wrote in her career allowed her to win the Malice Domestic contest by St. Martin’s Press in the category of the best first novel of mystery.

The novel, which was titled The Winter Widow, was also nominated for the prestigious Anthony Award. Following this novel, author Charlene wrote the next 6 novels of her career featuring the Chief of Police of the Kansas City police department named Susan Wren. She has described Susan as one of her strong female characters, who is competent and intelligent. She is also very cool and confident about her beliefs and actions. Susan Wren likes to solve her own problems with great effect and does not look for anyone’s help for rescuing her. In fact, Susan is very well capable of taking care of herself. Author Charlene says that in many ways, the description of Susan Wren is also the description of herself. In fact, she was thinking about herself only while she was developing the character of Susan Wren. The last novel written by author Charlene Weir was published posthumously. Apart from writing novels, author Charlene used to enjoy playing her piano, look after the two beloved and smart cats, and visit her grandchildren, whenever she got the time from her busy schedule. Author Charlene was mainly popular for using a quick humor sense and sharp wit in her novels. Before her death, she lived in El Cerrito, California for more than 50 years.

The Susan Wren mystery series written by author Charlene Weir consists of a total of 7 novels published between the years 1992 and 2007. All the novels of the feature the central character in the form of Susan Wren, who is described by author Charlene as the police chief of Hampstead, Kansas City. One of the initial novels of the series was published under the title ‘Murder Take two’. This novel was released by the Minotaur Books publishing house in the year 1998. The plot of the novel features the main character of Susan Wren as the Chief of Police in the town of Hampstead in Kansas City, and revolves around the happenings in her life. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, Susan Wren does not expect to find herself in in between a real life soap opera. However, she soon finds that there is more drama off the stage of a Hollywood film than on it after the arrival a film crew to the small town of Hampstead in the Kansas City. On the first day of the shooting of the film, a body double stuntman named Kay Bender becomes the victim of a fatal accident.

The incident proves to be a dead ringer for the beautiful screen star named Laura Edwards, who is of the opinion that Kay Bender might have become an unfortunate victim of one of the brutal and murderous plots, which was actually meant to get rid of her as she was disliked by a few people in the film industry. As Susan Wren begins her investigation, she comes to know that almost everyone from the film crew had the motive of killing Laura Edwards or sabotaging the film. Also, the films goes extremely over budget, which makes the temperamental director of the film one of the suspect in the possible murder of Kay Bender. Shortly after, Susan Wren discovers the steamy love affair between Nick Logan, the narcissistic actor and Laura’s boyfriend, and actress Sheri Lloyd, who is the rival character of Laura Edwards in the film. Sheri makes a full attempt not to conceal her dislike for talented and beautiful actress, but is eventually caught by Susan Wren and tells all the truth to her. Susan also becomes successful in uncovering the fact that Laura Edwards was once married to the deputy of Sheri Lloyd named Parkhurst. Now, in order to be able to solve the case successfully, Susan is required to get past the truths of the former relationship of Laura and the jealousy of Parkhurst, as well as her attraction towards the mysterious officer, for whom she is unable to guess her feelings.

One of the other novels of the Susan Wren mystery series written by author Charlene Weir was published under the title ‘A Cold Christmas’. It was released by the Harlequin Books publishing house in the year 2001. The plot of this novel continues to feature the central character of Susan Wren as the Chief of Police in the town of Hampstead, Kansas City. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, the author has described the time of a frigid December in the town of Hampstead. The flu has taken its toll on the half of the police force under the Chief of Police, Susan Wren. She silently prays that difficult weather puts a halt on the criminal activities of the town. But soon, she discovers the dead body repairman from the basement furnace of Caley James. Caley is described as a single mother and struggling with her life. The investigation of the identification from the victim’s pocket leads the police to several dark surprises and establishes a disturbing connection between Caley’s ex-husband and the victim. Now, Susan Wren is required to make use of all her street smartness and bring the murderer to justice, pulling off a Christmas miracle.