Debbie Howells Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Debbie Howells is a mystery author best known as the author of the bestselling novel “The Bones of You.” She had always been a huge reader as a child and loved reading anything Enid Blyton, from the whodunits, the murders, the Famous Five and everything else she had. Over the years, she tried her hand at writing but never got to finish anything save for a few chapters that she would later throw in the trash. Several years ago, she decided to take her writing career seriously. During this time, she was running her own floristry and wedding business which meant things were very hectic. She used to take Mondays off her busy schedule and plump down in her garden to write as a form of escape. While she was very optimistic, her initial submission was rejected but she got enough positive feedback and continued writing. In all, she penned three commercial women’s fiction and her third manuscript interested six agents but it was ultimately rejected. She finally decided to go the self publishing route and was relatively successful. But needing to have something published in the traditional way Howells knew she had to change tack.

In 2015, Debbie Howells had an outstanding year that most other people can only dream about. She had worked all manner of jobs over the years from wedding florist, flying instructor and flight attendant before she made it big with her debut psychological thriller. While she had achieved modest success with her self published works, “The Bones of You” which she wrote in less than three months garnered critical acclaim and became a bestseller almost immediately after it was published. She got the idea for her novel from a combination of ideas. Debbie was thinking of a narcissistic character for a long time and decided that since she refused to go away, she would have to write about it. This did coincide with an awareness of emotional abuse that had previously been invisible though all she now wanted to do was to write about it. She also got the idea of telling the story of Rose from her own perspective.

Just a year before publishing her debut psychological thriller she ran a very successful wedding floristry business. Debbie also drew upon her experiences to write contemporary women’s fiction works. When she first sent out the manuiscript to several agents she never expected that they would be so enthusiastic about it. It took only three hours to get an email back from one of the agents. Not long after, she was entertaining offers from several agents that asked her to let them represent her. Debbie decided to go with Juliet and cheekily sent her an email with the subject offers of representation. Juliet agreed to become her agent and agreed to read the manuscript when she got back from holiday the following week. But Juliet called her that very night to tell her that she loved the manuscript. She would then help her get publishers interested and the novel; was finally published by Kensington in 2015.

In “The Bones of You” by Debbie Howells, Kate just got a call informing her that Rosie Anderson had disappeared. She is disturbed and stunned since the girl only recently turned eighteen just like her daughter. She was a kind, quiet and beautiful woman and everybody is saddened by her disappearance. Nonetheless, most of the locals are hopeful that she will be found since she was never known for getting into trouble. But Kate has a sense of foreboding and her fears are confirmed when Rosie is found fatally stabbed and beaten. Who would kill the perfect girl from what was seemingly a perfect family. But the more she investigates the Anderson family including Delphine the watchful younger sister, Neal the renowned journalist father and Jo her graceful mother, the more she starts to think it may not be such a perfect family. She starts getting anonymous notes which urge her to untangle the mystery of Rosies death. “The Bones of You” is a haunting and gripping novel of love and desperation, lies and sacrifices woven into a tautly plotted narrative.

Debbie Howells’ “The Vow” is a novel set a fortnight before Amy was to get married. She had been stopped by a stranger on a city street and warned that her life was in danger. That very night, her fiance Matt never comes home and thinking the worst, she calls the police. When Matt is not found, she has to call off the wedding. When another woman named Fiona reports her boyfriend had gone missing, Amy finds that the description of the man has an uncanny resemblance to Matt. Moreover, the woman says that he was about to leave her fiance for her. Despite the evidence, Fiona is adamant that her boyfriend is not Matt even though the photos say otherwise. It is not long before they realize that Mat was a man living a double life. The police investigations show two plausible but conflicting stories from women that had never crossed paths before then. Amy was forced to cancel/postpone a wedding but might now have a funeral on her hands.

“The Beauty of the End” by Debbie Howell’s is the story of former lawyer Noah Calaway. He now lives a life without purpose having been left a cottage in the countryside where he now resides. He is still smarting from the humiliation of being left by a beguiling young woman more than fifteen years ago. But then he gets a phone call telling him that the woman he once loved had been the victim of what seems like an overdose and is now in a coma. He believes April is innocent but he had also once believed they would get married and live happily ever after. As he tries to find anything to clear her name, Ella, who is nineteen, the same age April was when they first bumped into each other, begins to investigate her painful family history. What she unearths is a revelation that could prove instrumental in resolving the murder mystery.