DCI Jonah Sheens Books In Order

Publication Order of DCI Jonah Sheens Books

The “DCI Jonah Sheens” series is a set of bestselling detective mystery fiction by Gytha Lodge. The author has always dreamed of becoming a writer, which perhaps informed her choice to study English when she went to Corpus.

Amidst the essay writing and lectures, she spent much of her time at Cambridge at various theatres both onstage and backstage.

She performed and wrote plays with some big names such as Sullivan Society, and Fletcher Players as well as several independent productions. In fact, there was no single semester where she was not involved in something at the Corpus Playroom.

While her tutor believed that she was over-engaging in extracurricular activities, she believes that juggling academic commitments and theater was worth it in the end.

Gytha gained a lot of confidence and learned a lot about theater which she found a lot of fun.

Upon graduating from college, Gytha established her own playacting company and for several years, she toured all over the United Kingdom performing at festivals in Norwich, London, and Brighton among several other cities.

For her work, she won several awards including Best UK PLay Geoffrey Whitworth Award in 2009. When she started a family in 2010, she suddenly could not go on so many tours and decided to go back to college.

She applied for a master’s in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, where she studied a combination of prose and script writing. One of the most valuable things she learned in college was how to pitch your books in a succinct manner.

Armed with three chapters and her synthesis, she met a London-based agent and three others but no one was interested in signing her up.

After making a list of her dream agents, she continued pitching until she finally landed at Curtis Brown represented by Felicity Blunt.

Gytha published “She Lies in Wait” her debut novel of the “DCI Jonah Sheens” series of novels in 2019.

The “DCI Jonah Sheens” series of novels follows the life and times of detective Jonah Sheens who has been a police officer for more than three decades.

He is now the head of the Southampton station and in between meetings, management, and cases, he hardly finds any time to take days off.

Three decades ago, he had joined the police force, and one of his first cases was looking for Aurora Jackson a missing 14-year-old girl. She had been out with friends camping when she went missing during the night never to be found.

The case had left an indelible mark on the young police officer even though he remains a very effective law enforcer. Nonetheless, Jonah is a steely and strong character that remains determined to solve crimes in his city.

The novels provide a haunting depiction of different crimes as investigated by Jonah Sheens. There are themes of teenage preoccupation with culture and intensity of emotions and feelings.

Gytha writes entertaining and enjoyable police procedural reads that have a great sense of location.

“She Lies in Wait” the first novel of the “DCI Jonah Sheens” series of novels is set in 1983. Several brilliant and bright teenagers have been camping in the forest with Aurora Jackson being the youngest.

The evening begins like any other teenage event as they kiss, drink, fight and dance the evening away. Many slip off into the forest in pairs while others are left heartbroken and jealous.

When morning comes, Aurora is nowhere to be found even though all the kids say she was safe and sound when they last saw her. The police launch a huge investigation into the missing girl’s disappearance but they cannot find any trace of Aurora.

Three decades later, the body of the young Aurora is found in a deserted house that only six of her friends knew about.

The police appoint Jonah Sheen as the lead in the case. Thirty years earlier he had been a young police officer in town and was personally known to Aurora and some of the other kids.

He is now determined to get to the truth of what had transpired on that dark night. Sheen gets all the camping party back to the forest as he believes that this is what will help get valuable clues that may resolve the three-decade-old cold case.

The second novel of the DCI Jonah Sheens series of novels is “Watching From the Dark.” At the opening of the novel, there is one witness, one crime, and one question why were the police not called?

A vibrant young woman gets killed while on video chat which means a detective has to dive into a circle of lovers and friends that may have some dark and dangerous secrets.

Aidan Poole the young detective had logged into his laptop in the middle of the night to Skype with Zoe his girlfriend and is horrified to discover there is someone else in the flat.

He soon hears the sounds of a violent struggle that seems to be coming from her bathroom before all goes silent. He desperately wants to know if his girlfriend is okay but is hesitant to call the authorities.

When he finally calls the police, DCI Jonah Sheens and his team dive right into the case and head to the house where they find the dead body of Zoe.

Upon questioning several people, they learn that Zoe was a big-hearted young artist and no one had a bad word to say against her.

Before her death, she was at the center of a curious web of strays and waifs that rely on her, even as they are hiding buried resentments and dark secrets. Could one of her supposed friends be responsible for her murder or could it be Aidan?

“Lie Beside Me” the third novel of the “DCI Jonah Sheens” series of novels is the story of Louisa. She wakes up with a fuzzy memory, dry mouth, and a bad headache that she suspects something has been done to her.

She rolls over to talk to Niall her husband, only to find a strange man on her bed. Turns out that she had been sleeping beside the dead man for several hours and has no memory of ever getting in bed with him.

Louise finds herself in a desperate struggle to get back her memories but Detective Sheens believes she is the killer. But soon enough, the police learn that there are several other people with something to hide.

Could she have done it, and will Sheens be able to track down and catch the killer before he kills again?