Chelsea Cain Books In Order

Publication Order of Archie Sheridan & Gretchen Lowell Books

Publication Order of Kick Lannigan Books

Publication Order of Mockingbird Graphic Novels

Publication Order of Man-Eaters Graphic Novels

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Chelsea Cain is an American author out of Iowa. She is best known for the Archie Sheridan & Gretchen Lowell series of books and the Kick Lannigan series of books.

The first book in the Archie Sheridan & Gretchen Lowell series is called Heartsick. It was heavily praised upon release as it was named as the 6th best book of 2008 by Stephen King. The book was also named as a Barnes & Noble Developing Writer pick and a New York Times Book Review editor’s choice pick. That book, her first thriller, was actually written while she was pregnant with her daughter.

Cain was born in February of 1972 in Iowa City, Iowa to Mary Cain and Larry Schmidt. Her father dodged the Vietnam draft which sent the family underground for several years. This lead to them living in a hippie commune outside of Iowa City for much of her early life. She ended up moving to Washington state with her mother in 1978 where she would attend school. She would then live in a split parenting situation where she spent the school year in Bellingham, Washington with her mother and then would head down to Florida to spend time with her father and his new family.

After high school, Cain would go to the University of California, Irvine where she would study political science. As a student, she would write for the New University school paper and become the opinion editor. She graduated in 1994 and then headed to the University of Iowa for their graduate school of journalism. She continued writing here and had a weekly column in The Daily Iowan. She presented her master’s thesis, Dharma Girl, as a memoir about her growing up in the hippie commune. One of her professors helped her to get it into the hands of editors and it was picked up for publication.

Cain would go on a book tour after school before settling in Portland, Oregon. She would find work as a creative director at a public relations firm in Portland. She continued to write at this time, writing humor books for publication. She also worked for the local alternative newspaper, The Portland Mercury, and also contributed to The Oregonian. She would eventually find enough success in the world of writing to leave marketing behind in order to focus on writing full-time.

Heartsick is the first book in the Archie Sheridan & Gretchen Lowell series of books. The series has drawn praise from all over with authors like Tess Gerritsen and Chuck Palahniuk giving their praise.

The first book begins Portland detective Archie Sheridan has spent ten years tracking the beautiful serial killer Gretchen Lowell, but in the end she was the one who found him. She took him and tortured him for ten days, but didn’t kill him and instead let him go. Then she did a strange thing and turned herself into the authorities.

She was locked away for the rest of her life while Archie’s life ended up down a dark path. He was unable to return to his old life after the torture and ended up addicted to pain pills. He visits Gretchen in prison once a week hoping to get her to confess to the whereabouts of her other victims, but the truth is he can’t stay away.

Now, another killer has started to snatch girls in Portland and Archie is put in charge of the task force. At the same time, a local newspaper reporter is doing an investigation on him and the case. As he hunts for the killer, he hopes that doing so will allow him to finally let Gretchen go.

Gone is the first book in the Kick Lannigan series. Kick is a tough woman who can pick any lock, fire any weapon, and handle any opponent. She taught herself to do that and she’s taught herself to be safe. One day John Bishop shows up asking for her help to rescue some missing kids. He has unlimited access to money, high-level contacts, and he knows things about Kick’s background that she has done her best to keep secret. Her alarm bells are going off as everything he tells her about himself seems to be a lie.

She is headstrong and suspicious, but she can’t help but see that her and Bishop could make an unstoppable team that would get things done. Even though she’s unsure about him and they might end up killing each other, she knows that this is a risk worth taking for the good they could accomplish.

Cain also wrote Confessions of a Teen Sleuth: A Parody. The story sees a girl detective out to set the record straight. Nancy Drew might be someone you have heard of and Chelsea tells her story here, her real story. (Not really.) Nancy is not a fictional character, but a real person who had her real life exploits plagiarized by a writer. She tells not only of her adventures, but also her secret romances, reckless driving, minor drinking problems, political action, and all other sorts of drama that you wouldn’t expect from Nancy Drew.

Sweetheart is the second book in the Archie Sheridan & Gretchen Lowell series. This book sees a body discovered in Portland’s Forest Park which reminds him of his first case, and one of Gretchen’s first victims. He knows that the body can’t be one of Gretchen’s, but he is able to recover the woman’s identity with help from the local reporter, Susan Ward.

It turns out to be another big case for the department, but Archie’s attention shifts when he learns that Gretchen has escaped. He had finally manage to distance himself from her and move on with his life, but the news of her escape fills him with a weird sense of relief. Now he can be the one to catch her and get rid of her once and for all.