Victoria Jenkins Books In Order

Publication Order of Detectives King and Lane Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Victoria Jenkins is a Welsh author who has made a name for herself writing the highly popular Detective King and Lane series of novels. The first novel in the series was “The Girls In The Water” that Jenkins first published in 2017, to much critical acclaim and popularity among crime fiction fans. The series of novels features Detective Constable Chloe Lane and Detective Inspector Alex King, who are the lead investigative characters that solve some mysterious murders in their hometown. Even though Jenkins’ writing has only come to the fore in the recent past, she has always been a writer. Right from her childhood, she would write stories and went on to win her first literary prize aged only ten. The novel that she co-wrote with her father was titles “The Giraffe who Sneezed”. The book won the school writing competition and won the young author an award of two novels that she was to pick from the collection of books at the school fair. One of the titles that she chose was Vivien Alcock’s “A Kind of Thief” whose male lead character was Jenkins’ first crush. When she is not writing, Jenkins loves to play scrabble, run marathons, and decorate cakes. She currently lives in South Wales with her husband, from where she teaches English during the day, and writes her excellent crime fiction during the night and on weekends.

Victoria Jenkins’s series of novels come with intense plot lines and interesting characters that make for an excellent debut. These are great police procedural featuring female detectives similar to novels such as the “DI Kim Stone” detective mysteries by Angela Marsons. Chloe Lane and Alex King are two detectives that work side by side, even though they could not be any more unlike in character and temperament. Alex describes Chloe as a twenty-year-old woman that is highly ambitious but with a dark past. On the other hand, Alex King is a slightly bitter woman who is divorced and now concentrates all her energies on her job. Set in Wales, the series of novels offer some interesting perspectives, and offers some exotic locations as opposed to the usual London, Paris, or New York.

Similar to many new series of novels, the first two titles in the series spend quite some time in the character development and world building. Alex King is a highly qualified investigator that has been working as a detective inspector for several years. Nonetheless, she is not immune to the occasional second-guessing that everyone from time to time makes of themselves. However, unlike your typical crime fiction detective, King is not a rogue officer and loves to work in a team rather than work on little sleep and gallons of coffee on her own. Nevertheless, even as she is a team player and a good detective, her unusual relationship with her former husband comes to interfere with her work from time to time. On the other hand, detective constable Chloe Lane is a brilliant young detective, who is also not immune to the occasional detachment and distraction that interfere with the team’s investigations. She is consumed with some personal demons, that over the course of the series comes out interfering with her job.

When we are first introduced to the lead characters in the series, Lane has just joined King’s team, having come recommended as a competent and promising officer. The two police officers are divided by a huge age gap but that never stops them from becoming the best of friends and partners. Their investigations typically involve dead bodies whose story usually ends up having more than meets the eye. Over the course of the novels, Lane is obsessed by resolving the mysterious death of her brother that often introduces two intriguing plot lines into the novels. The novels provide an intriguing backstory on both characters, which helps explain their different motivations and why they become the best of friends. The novels are well paced with strong plot lines that are well thought out, setting the stage for intriguing character development and investigations. The novels provide detailed descriptions of the settings around the city of Cardiff that offers a sense of realism and place.

“The Girls In The Water” is a thrilling crime fiction novel introducing the Detective King and Lane series of novels by Victoria Jenkins. The body of Lela Evans is found in a local park, and now DI Alex King and her newest employee DC Chloe Lane have to find the perpetrator. For the killer, the first kill had felt like something of an accident as killing the girl had never been his intention. However, looking at the body of his victim, he had the horrifying feeling that he would soon have a second victim. When a second girl disappears, the detectives discover that the two victims came from the same support group and had a shared history, making plausible the case that there could be a killer preying on the group. As the detectives begin piecing together the clues, Chloe finds that her own life is in danger as secrets about her brother’s death comes back to haunt her. Someone who knows how her brother died is determined to kill to keep the secret hidden. They are now fighting a war on two fronts, determined to find the killer before he can kill again or take out Chloe.

“The First One To Die” is a shocking and heart stopping detective thriller similar to the likes of Val McDermid, Angela Marsons, and Patricia Gibney. Keira Norht falls to her death at a party in what is initially believed to be an accident. When the two detectives Chloe Lane and Alex King come in to investigate, they believe that there is foul play involved in the case. The case is even more complicated given that most of Keira’s closest friends have dark secrets that could serve as motives for the murder. Meanwhile, Chloe and Alex have to deal with their own demons while trying to track down an elusive killer. It would seem that the killer is still in the vicinity of the group of friends, and is determined to take out as many of them as he can, to either protect a yet uncovered secret or exact vengeance. Given how the first girl died, the detectives know that they are dealing with a highly intelligent and determined killer, who would stop at nothing if they will not catch him.