Hope Street Church Mysteries Books In Order

Publication Order of Hope Street Church Mystery Books

Hope street church mysteries is a thrilling four-book series published in October 2014 and centered on the main character, Cooper Lee. She is an honest hardworking individual who only hopes to make the most of herself and her life. The series entails a rag-tag group of friends in the Hope Street Church Bible study group who take it upon themselves to solve a string of murders marred in mystery. At the beginning of the series, Cooper Lee finds herself feeling trapped and bored with her somewhat dull life and job as a copier repairperson. Sensing an opportunity to brighten up her days and add a little thrill to her life, she joins a bible study group at hope street church, but when the murders begin with no less than the very person who invited her to the group, Cooper Lee realizes she may have got much more than she had asked for. With time, however, as she begins to discover her purpose, Cooper Lee finds herself in the thick of every mysterious murder in town and often eager to solve each and every one.

The main character’s journey is not an easy one for an everyday, ordinary citizen as she finds herself in situations unfamiliar to most if not to her while striving to better her life and those of the people around her. Solving murders, searching for clues and interrogating suspects alongside a blind folk artist, a meteorologist with a liking for younger ladies, and a soft-spoken web designer she soon learns that things are not always as they seem.

In the first book of the series, titled ‘The Path Of The Crooked,’ Cooper Lee is living in a room above her parents garage, working as a copier repairperson and has just been left by her boyfriend of five years for another woman. She receives an invitation to join a Bible study group at hope street church from Brooke Hughes and takes it as a welcome change to her life. It’s not until Brooke Hughes is found murdered, implicating her husband, Wesley Hughes, an elder of the church and well known for his loving nature that the Bible study group decide to take matters into their own hands. None of them can believe that a man such as Wesley Hughes could be capable of a deed such as this, and especially not with his wife. The groups loyalty to friendship leads them into taking action, gathering clues and doing whatever they can to help clear an innocent man’s name.

In the second book of the series, ‘The Way of the Wicked’, things are looking up for Cooper Lee. She has a new boyfriend, Nathan, and has just volunteered for a charity along with the Bible study group. She is eager to do something for the less fortunate in this society she has come to hold so dearly, as is the rest of the group. She also sees it as an opportunity to spend more time with her boyfriend, but when one of the charity’s recipients is found murdered, things take a turn for the worst as Cooper Lee, the rest of the Bible study group and their fellow volunteers find themselves the main suspects and the focus of the investigation that ensues, but Cooper and their friends are no strangers to mysteries and once again take it upon themselves to uncover the truth. With the knowledge that they may be putting their own lives at risk, they go about the matter in a discreet fashion interrogating each and every last volunteer in the group in their relentless quest for truth and justice.

In the remaining books of the series, one finds themselves yearning for another juicy mystery for Cooper and her friends to solve, and that’s exactly what the writer delivers. Cooper Lee is no troublemaker, but as the series progresses it is evident that trouble always seems to find her. Her faith is tested once more in ‘The Graves of the Guilty’, but this time, trouble is much closer to home as non-other than her sister, Ashley discovers a dead body and is immediately implicated in the horrific murder. The timing of this discovery could not have come at a worse time for Cooper who was finally beginning to enjoy her life which was just taking shape as she hoped to further strengthen her relationship with Nathan on Valentine’s Day which was just around the corner. But the mayhem in her life doesn’t end there she finds herself tempted to stray the faithful path she has followed all this while with the introduction of a dark, handsome and exciting man to her life. She must fight for justice for the sake of her sister and dig deep to fight a personal battle within herself as she finds herself torn between two men. In the book that follows, the last of the four-book series, ‘The Root of All Evil’, Cooper is once again pulled away from her now more than ever flourishing life as a string of church robberies come to Hope Street Church and true to fashion ends in a gruesome murder of a teacher in what appears to have been a robbery gone wrong. Once again Cooper and her group of self-proclaimed detectives are up to the task. More twists and turns ensue as they discover that they have a con artist amongst them. The clues have never been harder to piece together and all seems to be crumbling as she is no longer so sure about Nathan whose love for her is not as evident as it once was. With the odds stacking against her, she turns to prayer for answers and guidance from above.

The Hope Street Church Mysteries series takes the reader on a journey down a long winding path invoking feelings of eager frustrations, sadness and joy for the main character. It is difficult to see how one would find themselves in such situations, but that doesn’t stop you from finding a connection with Cooper Lee and the band of cleverly grouped characters, who when all hope seems lost, turns to prayer for guidance. If anything, it is a great fictional story that keeps the reader on their toes from start to finish.