Elisabeth Carpenter Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Elisabeth Carpenter
Elisabeth Carpenter lives in Preston with family. She got her BA in English Literature and Language with the Open University in 2011.

She was awarded a Northern Writers’ New Fiction award, and was longlisted for a Yeovil Literary Prize (for 2015 and 2016) and the MsLexia Women’s Novel award.

Elisabeth loves living in the north of England, setting as many of her stories there are she can, including the novel she’s currently writing. She works as a bookkeeper.

Elisabeth, when she’s not busy writing, loves watching movies, painting, and traveling.

“99 Red Balloons” is the first stand alone novel and was released in 2017. Two girls disappear, decades apart. What would you do if one of them was your daughter?

After Grace (age 8) disappears from a sweetshop on the way back home from school, Emma (her mom) is plunged into a nightmare. Her family rallies around her, however while the police hunt starts, cracks start emerging.

What could the secret emails sent between Emma’s sister and husband mean? Why would her mom take so very long to join this search? Is Emma truly as innocent as she appears?

At the same time, Maggie Taylor (aging widow) sees Grace’s picture in the paper. It is a photo that jolts her from the pain of her existence and into a spiraling obsession with another girl, the first little girl that vanished.

This is a gripping psychological thriller with quite the killer twist sure to take your breath away.

“11 Missed Calls” is the second stand alone novel and was released in 2018. Anna has always known two things about her mom. She had dark hair, just like she did. She wasn’t happy at the end.

Anna has also always believed that Debbie, her mom, died 30 years ago the same night she vanished.

However when her dad gets this strange note, she realizes that she has never been told the full story about what happened the night on the cliff.

Anna, upset and confused, turns to Jack (her husband), however once she finds a love letter in his wallet from some other woman, she realizes there is nobody left to help her, her family least of all.

Then there is a body discovered.

“Only a Mother” is the third stand alone novel and was released in 2018. Only a mother.

Erica Wright has not had to scrub ‘MURDERER’ off her house in more than a year now. Life is just about quiet again. Then Craig, her son, gets released from prison, and she knows that the peace and quiet will soon be broken.

Could believe him.

Erica has always believed he was innocent, despite the lies she told for him years prior, however once he arrives back home, she notices the changes in him. She no longer recognizes her son any longer.

Could lie for him.

So when another girl goes missing, she begins questioning everything. However how can a mom turn her back on her son? And, if she won’t, then just how far is she going to go in order to protect him?

Could bury the truth.

“The Woman Downstairs” is the fourth stand alone novel and was released in 2019. Is it possible to ever truly know your neighbors?

Human remains are found in this ground floor flat, and the residents of Nelson Heights are stunned to discover that there had been a dead body in their building for three years.

Laura has been living in the building for as long as she can remember, caring for her elderly dad, although there’s more to her story than she lets on.

Sarah lives at the flat above and after the remains are discovered, she feels threatened by the stranger that hangs around the building.

While the investigation begins heating up, and these two women get more involved, it is obvious that somebody is not telling the truth about what happened all those years ago.

“The Vacancy” is the fifth stand alone novel and was released in 2021. Rachel, running from her past, answers this ad to become a live-in assistant to Dorothy Winters (the eccentric and glamorous author). However behind closed doors of Dorothy’s home, she soon learns that nothing’s like it appears.

Dorothy’s manuscript throws up these striking similarities to events from Rachel’s own life, she is soon convinced that the past she has tried hiding is catching up with her.

Then the phone calls begin. The parcel shows up. And there is blood in the bathroom. Then Dorothy’s friend vanishes. Rachel, now terrified of getting blamed for murder, she has no one left to turn to. Because who can she actually believe when she does not even trust herself?

“The Family on Smith Street” is the sixth stand alone novel and was released in 2023. A picture perfect street. A happy family. A secret that somebody would kill for.

Joanna and James, her husband, both love living on Smith Street, with all its friendly family barbecues and neat houses. Scarlett, their daughter, can play outside with all the other local children. It’s truly a place where nothing bad could ever possibly happen. So Joanna thought anyway.

Because when she wakes up head pounding and horrified, in this cramped and windowless room, sh e realizes that she was dead wrong. While her eyes adjust to the dark, she sees these creased pictures of missing local folks that she vaguely recognizes from the news all over the walls. Then her skin turns ice cold once she notices that the newest pictures are of Joanna. Of Scarlett. And of James.

This terrified sob catches in her throat. It appears that there is a murderer hiding in their neighborhood for years now. And Joanna is their next victim.

She stares at each of the pictures in horror. Because if they have her, they could also have James, or (worst of all) Scarlett. And in that moment she knows that she will do anything and everything she has to in order to save her family. Especially since, deep down, she knows that this is all her fault.