Elizabeth Corley Books In Order

Publication Order of DCI Andrew Fenwick Books

Elizabeth Corley is an English author and financial executive from West Sussex, England, best known for the DCI Andrew Fenwick series of novels. While juggling the demands of running a major global investment company and a writing career is likely to overwhelm almost any other person, she has been so successful at it, that she has managed to attain success and respect in both fields. As a crime fiction writer, she was at one time the vice chairperson and committee member of the Crime Writers Association where she still maintains an active membership. Growing up, she was always a headstrong and spirited girl with something of a rebellious streak. As such, when she quit university to find a job selling shoes, her parents were disappointed though not much surprised. But she soon made a compromise with her parents to take a temporary office job with Sun Alliance, a company with whom both of them worked. It was not long before she was climbing the ranks at the company after attaining professional qualifications through correspondence and nighttime classes. She would go on to work for Coopers & Lybrand, and Mercury Asset Management, before she took up her current role of CEO at AllianzGI. Together with her family comprising of her husband and stepdaughter, she spends most of her time between France, Germany, and London. When she is not running AllianzGI or writing her crime novels, she loves to spend time with her family, traveling, cooking, gardening, and going to the opera.

Elizabeth Corley attributes her success in the writing and management fields to a lot of hard work and a bit of luck. Having never gone to university and starting out as a temp, rising to CEO, while churning out best-selling novels, it was by sheer strength of will that she has managed to become what she is today. Her big break came when she was offered a permanent position at Sun Alliance, which gave her the chance to study during the evenings. She had always been interested in pursuing writing and had followed British detective writers such as Lee Child and Agatha Christie ever since she was a child. Nonetheless, she had always taken writing as a hobby until the publication and success of her first novel Requiem Mass in 1998. Having tasted success, she would dip her toes into full time writing in 2005, when she was in between jobs. But she missed the people, the office environment and the financial management industry and was back as CEO of Allianz Global Investors before the year was out. She prefers to write crime thrillers because she believes she has a good understanding of psychological analysis that is fundamental for the genre. Since the publication of her first novel, she has always been working on a novel – except for 2008/2009 when the pressures of the financial crisis would not allow her to do so. She does most of her writing during the weekends and on holidays but always has a legal pad with her just in case she gets an idea for a new chapter while she is out and about.

Elizabeth Corley writes crime thrillers set in West Sussex, England where she grew up. The novels feature Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Fenwick and his sidekick Louise Nightingale. Right from the first novel to the latest, Fenwick is presented as a multi layered and elusive character that has mastered the art of hiding behind self-constructed walls of distance. He is a widowed single father, who expresses utmost protectiveness of his children. While he loves his children to bits, he refuses to compromise his value on any case put in his charge. This increasingly puts a heavy burden on him, particularly when his children grow older and start engaging in inappropriate and illegal behavior. Nonetheless, he remains a particularly private person that never reveals much about his thoughts and emotions. Similar to her boss, Louis Nightingale is a highly private and independent officer that has been a beneficiary of the fast-track promotion scheme for graduate entrants. The circumstances of her rank and being a rookie officer make her the target of hidden jealousy and the butt of many jokes, which she takes in her stride. She is a very determined and strong character that grows with every novel to become not only a complement to Fenwick but also a major character in her own right.

Requiem Mass is the first novel in the DCI Andrew Fenwick by Elizabeth Fenwick. As far as police procedurals go, the novel does quite well with convincing characters and unobtrusive writing. Andrew Fenwick has just come back to work after the end of his marriage in distressing circumstances. It is not long before he is moved from the desk job right back into the murky world of investigations. Together with his sidekicks WDC Cooper and Nightingale, they have to investigate a two-decade-old freak accident that killed a girl out on a school trip with her five friends. The five surviving girls are now on a hit list of an unknown person and it is up to the team to find and neutralize the man responsible for the threats before he executes his plans. What follows is an exhilarating story full of vivid descriptions, exceptional character development, and a plot that will leave you scared and thrilled in equal measure.

Fatal Legacy the second novel by Elizabeth Corley is an edge of your seat thriller following the adventures of the inimitable DCI Andrew Fenwick. When Alan Wainwright a multimillionaire dies, in what is ruled a suicide, his family and son are surprised to learn that he left all his fortune to his nephew Alex. What follows is a tension-filled narrative with vivid descriptions and excellent scenarios that raise the temperature gradually as the detectives get closer to solving the case. The kicker is when what initially looked like a case of family jealousy becomes even complicated when the financial controller begins looking at the family’s finances, and discovers that there were far too many irregularities. DCI Fenwick and his two sidekicks Nightingale and Cooper are called in after the death of Sally the financial controller. They soon establish that the Wainwright Empire is a front for a plethora of illicit activities. But now they must find a cunning and ruthless killer that is determined to get a bigger share of the empire.