Michelle Davies Books In Order

Publication Order of DC Maggie Neville Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Michelle Davies is a magazine writer and mystery fiction author from North London. The writer was born in 1972 Middlesex and grew up In Buckinghamshire before she moved to London with her daughter and partner as an adult.

Davies published “Gone Astray,” her debut novel in 2016, and the work went on to garner critical acclaim. She now has more than four titles in the “DC Maggie Neville” series of novels, alongside two single standing titles.

Before Michelle became a bestselling author, she was a freelance journalist employed at several women’s magazines that included “Stylist,” “YOU,” and “Claire.” Before she became a freelancer, she was “Grazia’s” Editor-at-Large, and was also a Features Editor for the magazine “Heat.”

Davies began writing straight out of college when she was just eighteen. Her first job was in High Wycombe, where she worked at the Bucks Free Press as a trainee reporter. Having achieved so much, she has now become a mentor to aspiring crime writers and is also an editor/reader for “Curtis Brown Creative.”

Davies does not remember a time when she never had a book in her hand. The first book she remembers reading was a collection of fairy tales by Hamlyn. She would read the collection over and over until it started falling apart and had to be trashed.

By the time she was eight, Michelle started writing stories and spent much of her pocket money buying exercise books from Bunces, the local newsagents. She used to find a quiet place and fill up the pages of these books with her own retellings of the “Secret Seven” books by Enid Blyton.

When she turned 12, she was convinced that she was destined for a career as a reporter. Soon after graduating from high school as an eighteen year old, she found work as a reporter on the local paper. It was as if she was wearing blinkers and would not consider any other career let alone go to university.
While she became a reporter she still remained a huge reader. She cites “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee as her favorite novel.

As a journalist, Michelle Davies has to constantly scour the news and gets many of her ideas from the many reports she reads. The idea for her debut novel was sparked when she read some news item that lamented the fate of lottery winners.

It also looked into how many wished they would have never won since winning caused so many rifts and problems in their lives. The best thing about it was that it was something that had never been done before, just as she had been advised by a brilliant magazine editor she once worked with.

Michelle knew her lead had to be someone unlike any other featured in a crime novel. She got the idea for her lead while interviewing Kerry Needham, whose son had gone missing in 1991. She did a ton of research when she was starting out as she wanted every detail to be just right.

In addition to Kerry, she also worked with a former member of the Met detective department that had been charged with overhauling family liaison following the inquiry into the Stephen Lawrence case.

Michelle Davies’ novel “Gone Astray” asks the question “what if someone has the belief that their life is more precious than that of another?”
Lesley Kinnock’s life is changed in an instant when she purchases a lottery ticket. Lesley and Mack, her husband, suddenly find themselves the winners of a jackpot worth 15 million Euros.

They decide to move to Buckinghamshire, to an exclusive gated estate as they leave behind the friends and ordinary lives as they became rich beyond anything they had ever imagined. But this soon becomes a horrible nightmare when Lesley comes back home one afternoon to find Rosie their daughter is missing.
Detective Constable Maggie Neville is put in charge of the case as the Family Liaison Officer who supports Mack and Wesley, even as he quietly conducts his investigations. In the meantime, her life is on the brink as a secret from the past could bring everything she has spent years building crumbling to the ground.

As Maggie and Lesley desperately try to find their daughter, their fates come together on a collision course that may just end in tragedy.

“Wrong Place” by Michelle Davies is a gripping crime work following the compelling first work in the “DC Maggie Neville” series. DC Maggie Neville is now working as a family liaison officer following what seems to be a failed suicide and murder of Eleanor’s husband.

The latter’s husband is in a coma and just may not survive. Meanwhile, Maggie works hard to get to the bottom of the mystery. She thinks there is something wrong with the account she got from Eleanor, but she cannot put her finger on what is exactly wrong.

Maggie has also been assigned the case of an assailant that had brutally beat up a woman in what the authorities believe is a distraction attempt. But the couple believed to be responsible for the crime is not known for causing such injuries to their victims.

The victim is the grandmother of Della named Sadie who has been taking care of the former since she was a three year old child abandoned by her mother. Investigations indicate a link between the burglary and the murder/suicide attempt.

Michelle Davies’ novel “False Witness” is a compelling novel that begins with a lie. Two children had been seen on top of a school wall shortly before one of them was found severely injured and dying at the bottom. Was the boy pushed or did he fal?l is what DC Maggie Neville needs to find out as the family liaison officer.

The Detective Constable had seen many parents broken by the death of a child and Imogen’s reaction is not too atypical. The school caretaker had been witness to the boy’s fall and the detective believes another pupil could be responsible.

Imogen is full of questions including why did the boy arrive at school earlier than was his custom and what was he doing with a girl who he was never known to fraternise with. For Maggie, nothing is more important than resolving the mystery and helping to ease the suffering of the mother.

But the more she investigates, the more questions she has and the more the truth seems to recede. Could the witness be unreliable and if he is then who is the responsible party and what are they willing to do to cover up their crime.