A.J. Waines Books In Order

Publication Order of Dr. Samantha Willerby Mystery Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

A.J. Waines is a reputed English author of psychological thrillers, crime fiction, thriller, and suspense novels. She is particularly famous for writing the Samantha Willerby Mystery series. In addition to this widely successful series, Waines has penned several bestselling standalone books, including Girl on a Train, The Evil Beneath, No Longer Safe, Don’t You Dare, Dark Place to Hide, etc. Waines is credited to have more than half a million printed copies of her books distributed all over the world. Her books have topped the Kindle Charts in multiple countries. Prior to beginning her career in the writing field, Waines has worked as a psychotherapist for 15 years. Working with former offenders from some of the high-security institutions gave her an insight into the abnormal psychology. The things that excite her the most include secrets, lies, devious motives, crimes of passion, and things hidden under the floorboards.

Author Waines has book deals in countries like Germany, Hungary, the UK, Canada, Frane, and Norway. Currently, she resides in Hampshire, the United Kingdom. Waines is married and likes to spend her spare time in the company of her family members. Waines’ 4th book, No Longer Safe, sold more than 300,000 copies in 13 countries in its first month after being published. The literary journals in which she has featured include The Times and The Wall Street Journal. In 2016, Waines was included in Amazon KDP’s Top 10 authors of the UK. A year later, she got a received a 2-book deal with the Bloodhound Books based in the UK. As an author, Waines shows interest in describing the extraordinary traumas and dilemmas faced by ordinary people very often. Being a psychotherapist, it has always interested Waines to see how people tick. As she is able to get into the head of her subjects and see what is going on there, she considers herself the most private of the private detectives. Waines thinks it is a privileged position.

After years of dealing with different kinds of psychological disorders and motives, Waines thought she had everything to turn herself into a crime writer and followed and passion accordingly. Whenever Waines sits down to develop a new story, she generally begins with a single idea. She also locks down a title quite early in the process of developing her story as she believes that it helps her to focus on keeping her story clean and to the point. Waines thinks it is safer to carry out an extensive outline of her plot, but sometimes likes to leave some scope for flexibility. While developing the characters of her novels, Waines usually has a clear sense of what her characters are before beginning the writing work and notes down their characteristics on paper. She says that this makes her feel as if her characters are talking to her and telling their story in the form of a film. Author Waines’ advice to the aspiring is that they should try to read as much as possible. Also, the must analyze the genre that they love to read and explore how the writers open and close the chapters of their books in detail. When it comes to publishing her book, Waines loves the traditional way more than the new digital format. She loves the idea of holding a book in the hand. As of now, Waines is working on the next book of her career and hopes to publish it soon for her fans to read and enjoy.

The Samantha Willerby Mystery series written by author A.J. Waines is comprised of 3 books in total released between 2016 and 2018. It features the chief protagonist in the role of a clinical psychologist named Dr. Samantha Willerby. The other essential characters mentioned by author Waines in the series include Conrad, Rosie Chandler, Aiden Blake, and a few others. All the books of this series are primarily set in London. The debut book of the series is entitled ‘Inside The Whispers’. It was released by Bloodhound Books in 2018, after its initial release in 2016. The book opens by showing that after the terrifying disaster of London Tube, 3 traumatized survivors visit Samantha Willerby for relief. She intends to provide all the help to them as a psychologist. But, after listening to the stories of each of the survivors separately, Samantha finds that their stories do not have much in common. This surprises her and leaves her confused.

Samantha’s confusion turns into horror when all the three survivors commit suicide one after the other. She becomes extremely shocked to learn about the suicides and decides to find out what made them kill themselves. Shortly after, Samantha Willerby’s partner named Conrad also starts suffering from similar terrifying flashbacks, Samantha becomes desperate to find out the cause. Her research unravels a chilling and mysterious crime that involves people at higher ranks. This novel’s story is a haunting and tense psychological thriller that leaves the readers intrigued till the end. The book can also be read as a single novel and can be enjoyed best by the fans of writers such as Caroline Mitchell, Gillian Flynn, and Mark Edwards.

The second volume of this series is known as ‘Lost in the Lake’. It was published in 2017. Rosie Chandler and Samantha Willerby are mentioned as the primary characters in this book. Initially, Rosie Chandler is introduced as an amateur viola player. When she was traveling with a team of musicians on a road trip, their car plunged into a lake, killing everyone except her. After gaining consciousness, she informs the investigators the crash was deliberate. But, she is not able to recall the sequence of events that led to the crash. Determined to regain her lost memory, Rosie Chandler seeks the help of Samantha Willerby.

Samantha assures her that her treatment therapy will help her recover her memories. During the therapy, Samantha suspects that Rosie is not telling the complete truth. Nevertheless, she shows sympathy to the traumatic Rosie and does everything in her capacity to help her. The case takes an unexpected turn when the police come across disturbing new evidence. They wonder why Rosie is showing the desperation to recover her viola. On the insistence of Rosie to visit the lake and relive the crash incident, the police finally succeeds in uncovering the truth.