Folly Beach Mystery Books In Order

Publication Order of Folly Beach Mystery Books

Folly Beach Series
The Folly Beach Mystery series’ author is the Louisville-based Bill Noel (1947—) who specializes in mysteries. The then university administrator Bill debuted in 2007, following the publication of the earliest book in the biographical-like Folly Beach Mystery series whose title is borrowed from a real location in Folly Island, South Carolina city.

Books in the Folly Beach Series
First dated May 1, 2007; Folly is the first book in the Folly Beach series. Protagonist Chris Landrum is a retired school administrator who relocates to Folly Island, where his diverse newly-found friends include a waitress, academician, and real estate agent help him in his amateurish homicide investigations. Photographer Chris is embroiled in a real estate developer’s murder, conflicting with the murderer who may eliminate him too.
First dated April 14, 2008; The Pier is second in his Folly Beach Mystery series. Here, Chris—alongside a friend named Charles Fowler—is investigating the motive for the suspicious death of an antique dealer who may have killed himself or been killed. First dated March 28, 2009; Washout is the third in the Folly Beach series. Here, Chris together with Charles investigate and attempt to foil serious death threats—and nab the would-be killer—directed at the friendly Larry Mond, owner of the local Pewter Hardware.

Initially dated January 6, 2010; The Edge is fourth in the Folly Beach Mystery series. The Chris-led amateur investigators—whom the police view as vigilantes—are seeking the person who stabbed a friend to death, wherein the suspects or would-be victims (future investigative teammates) include motorcyclist Harley and unsuccessful local artist-and-psychic Heather and artist-and-bar owner Cal Ballew. Initially dated January 17, 2011; The Marsh is fifth book in the Folly Beach Mystery series. Chris attends a friend’s burial that coincides with a mutual friend’s killing at a marshy crime scene near his own compound. Chris conducts a parallel investigation to (dis)prove the friendly murder suspect, Sean Aker, who was the deceased’s legal firm partner.

Initially dated January 16, 2012; Ghosts is sixth in the Folly Beach Mystery series. Amid claims of stealing ghosts; Chris is conducting a self-preservation investigation into the real murderer behind his former wife Joan husband’s death that—though seemingly vehicle accident-related—suspiciously occurred after the spooked Joan contacted him. Initially dated January 2, 2013; Missing is seventh in his Folly Beach Mystery series. Now aged 63, Chris spearheads—before he is targeted—homicide investigations into serial killings that may be related to a woman’s abduction witnessed by local boy Samuel Perkins.

First dated January 3, 2014; Final Cut is eighth in Bill’s serialized Folly Beach Mysteries. Chris is investigating the deaths—including a filmmaker, a drowning victim; and the near-death of a friend in a should-have-been accident—of film crew and cast on a filming location in Folly Beach. First dated December 9, 2014; First Light is ninth in the Folly Beach Mysteries. During a morning beach walk, Chris—accompanied by a stranger—witnesses and is investigating an intentional hit-and-run incident that, shortly thereafter, he connects to a double murder involving a church led by a controversial pastor called Burl Ives Costello who is involved in the ensuing serial deaths.

First dated November 9, 2015; Boneyard Beach is tenth in his Folly Beach Mysteries. Chris’ homicide investigations are aimed at exonerating his friends—boat service provider Mel Evans and Pewter Hardware’s owner Larry Mond— who have been implicated in the murders of a vacationing student and a newly-arrived resident shot dead.

First dated August 8, 2016; Silent Night is eleventh in that Folly Beach Mysteries. Chris is investigating a series of seemingly connected jewelry thefts—among other recreational items—belonging to both a church and a well-off resident. Originally dated October 16, 2016; Dead Center is the twelfth book in the Folly Beach Mysteries. A murderous burglar aside; Chris is investigating the murder of an ill-fated assassin, ostensibly committed by his would-be victim.
Originally dated July 31, 2017; Discord is thirteenth book in the Folly Beach Mysteries. The Nashville-bound Chris teams up with others—including Tennesseans—in a music agent’s homicide investigation, where the suspect is the victim’s one-time unsuccessful signee Heather, according to her lover Charles Fowler. Originally dated June 14, 2018; Dark Horse is fourteenth in the Folly Beach series. The apparently drug-related death of his neighboring hostile ex-detective’s daughter prompts an investigation by Chris whose motive is their years-long grudge and political affiliation.

In Bill’s October 2018 book Joy—fifteenth in the Folly Beach series—Chris is tracing a missing pet dog while still on a Christmastime fact-finding mission concerning a rescued drowning woman who can neither recall her identity nor her murderous kidnaper. Bill’s May 2019 book No Joke is sixteenth book in his Folly Beach series. Chris is unsure whether or not to believe and to investigate after seemingly forgetful comedian’s claim of a beachside corpse. The February 2020 book Relic is seventeenth in the Folly Beach series. Chris, alongside Charles Fowler, chance upon a lone woman in the woods; the seemingly disoriented woman’s alleges that she had accompanied her husband—with whom she also had shortly claimed they were storm victims—on a treasure-hunting exercise. Her allegations become doubtful when they find her murdered husband, prompting their investigation.

In Bill’s September 2020 novel Faith—eighteenth book in the Folly Beach series; Chris teams up with Charles Fowler in an arson investigation whose victims—the duo also facilitates their accommodations—may have been targeted due to their actions, including murder accusations. In the March 2021 book Tipping Point—nineteenth in the Folly Beach series; Chris, together with Fowler, want to identify those who caused, by poisoning a fixed-wing pilot, an air crash that they closely witnessed while kayaking and wherein the hitherto unknown targeted person was onboard—either among the two survivors or two who died. In Bill’s August 2021 book Sea Frog—twentieth book in the Folly Beach series—the investigative duo’s homicide investigation concerns a corpse that they find while strolling in a charity-related Halloween event.

Other Books You May Like
Susan M. Boyer’s November 2015 book Lowcountry Bordello—fourth in her Liz Talbot Mysteries—predominantly features a soon-to-wed private detective Liz Talbot who is conducting a homicide investigation after her close friend Olivia’s husband dies in a relative’s brothel.

In Susan M. Boyer’s September 2019 book Lowcountry Boomerang—eighth in her Liz Talbot Mysteries—Liz is investigating the murder of Trina Lynn Causby whose first lover Darius DeAndre Baker, a famed actor, has seemingly been framed for the crime possibly committed by Darius’ former spouses or illegitimate child.
In Stephanie Alexander’s April 2020 book Charleston Green—first in her Tipsy Collins series—the protagonist is a psychic named Tipsy Collins whose house is haunted by—and she is investigating—ghosts of lovers who arguably died in a murder-suicide dating back to the 1920s.