Carrie Smith Books In Order

Publication Order of Claire Codella Mystery Books

Carrie Smith was born and raised in the suburbs of Michigan. After completing her primary school education, Smith attended Residential College at the renowned University of Michigan. At the University of Michigan, Carrie Smith majored in Literature and Creative Writing. Smith is the recipient of 3 Hopwood Awards. Carrie was a finalist in the Annie Porter prize for fiction, which was organized by Nimrod Magazine. In the year 1981, Carrie Smith relocated to New York City. Apart from writing, she has a full-time job at Publisher Benchmark Education Company, where she is the Vice President. Currently, Carrie Smith resides in the Upper Parts of Manhattan with her spouse and two children.

Carrie Smith Best Books

Silent City

If you are a fan of police procedural novels then you should definitely read Silent City by Carrie Smith. Silent City is the first novel in the Claire Codella mystery series. With a number of well-drawn cast and a somewhat impossible murder mystery to solve, Silent City is a brilliant written and intriguing mystery that provides the readers with a fascinating behind the scenes look at educational politics an infighting, when the newly appointed Principal, Hector Sanchez is slain. After her rather aggressive and intensive treatment for cancer, Claire Cordella is given this case to make her return. Claire Cordella is paired up with the newly promoted Eduardo Munoz, who apart from both being police detectives, have a difficult task of proving to their co-workers that they are some of the best detectives in the department. Together with Brian Haggerty, Cordella’s former partner follow several leads while searching for Hector Sanchez Killer. The staging of Sanchez’s body makes it evidently clear that his death had something to do his job as the principal of PS 777.

It does not take long before these three inspectors come to the realisation that, there were several people, who had the motive to kill him. Despite being a brilliant detective, Cordella still faces several challenges including her new boss who appears to be against everything that she does. From time to time, her boss tries to undermine her authority; nonetheless, Cordella still manages to pull together a brilliant team of detectives. Unlike her colleagues, Cordella has a precise way of conducting her investigations; instead of following the hunches, she follows the evidence. Claire Cordella is not only clever but also highly resourceful as well. Irrespective of the fact that she is still settling down, Cordella chooses to follow any and all the leads in the case. Haggerty and Munoz are also brilliant detectives. Furthermore, they are also super loyal to Cordella. Because Munoz is still new to the department, thus he endears some extremely malicious harassment from his fellow detectives.

Codella is shocked to find out that Sanchez was not loved as everyone had expected. A majority of the staff who used to work at the PS 777 disliked him a lot especially due to his impossibly high standards, bullying tactics towards the staff members and unfair performance assessments. Recently, Sanchez had locked horns with Margery Barton, a police Superintendent over the projected presentation of a computer program that was to play a key role in individualising student learning. Lies and secrets often hindered the investigations. However, Cordella the protagonist skilfully rummages out the truth and doggedly follows the clues where they may lead. With that said, Silent City is an exceedingly compelling mystery that has an engaging storyline and highly likeable characters. With no clear cut motive and plenty of suspects and several plot turning twists, author Smith carefully conceals the identity of the killer until Silent City’s astonishing conclusion.

Forgotten City

Forgotten City is a fast-paced police procedural novel and the second instalment in the Claire Codella mystery series. Despite being the second installment, Forgotten City can be read as a standalone novel. After the sudden death of her mother, one Lucy Merchant, Julia appears to be the only person, who is more than determined to ensure that someone looks into her mother’s death. Julia decides to turn to police detective Claire Cordella, in the hopes of getting the truth about what happened to her mother. Claire needs much more other than conjecture and accusations to ensure that the investigation is opened. Thus, she decides to do a little bit of digging around before she approaches her boss with the case. After she finds enough evidence to warrant a probe, Claire decides to turn to her old partner once again Detective Eduardo Munoz for assistance. Despite receiving enough pressure from Thomas, Lucy’s husband, as well as Lt. McGowan to put an end to the case, Claire is more than determined to ensure justice os served.

Claire begins by first looking into the nursing facility, where Julia’s mother had died. She begins by first questioning the director of the institution, Constance Hodge appears to be more than determined to ensure that the case is closed. Claire cannot do anything but wonder whether Director Constance Hodge is misleading her with regards to Lucy’s care. After talking to Constance, Claire then decides it is high time to talk to the person who is in charge of the hospital’s memory unit, Baiba Lielkaja. However, she is informed that Baiba did not report for work because she had fallen ill. Claire cannot help but question the timing of Baiba’s illness and tells herself that this cannot be a coincidence. Lucy’s caregiver is the next person on her list. However, she is informed than Brandon Johnson had recently resigned, which in turn makes Claire more suspicious. Thomas Merchant is undeniably a person of interest. He is more than eager to ensure that Claire puts an end to her investigation. Finally, he decides that it is in his own best interest to cooperate with the police.

He begins by granting permission for an autopsy to be conducted. The initial results support the theory presented by the protagonist that Claire had been murdered. However, Claire is still not able to establish what motive could the person have for taking Lucy’s life. Thus, she has no option but to take a deeper look into the people who were a part of Lucy’s life. She begins by first uncovering interesting facts about Thomas’s life. After discovering that one of the people she had interviewed had lied, Claire continues to become more and more concerned.