Samantha Hayes Books In Order

Publication Order of DI Lorraine Fisher Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Samantha Hayes is a renowned author of mystery, crime fiction, and thriller stories hailing from The United Kingdom. She is widely popular for writing the DI Lorraine Fisher book series. Hayes likes to write ‘domestic noir’ thrillers that tend to mess with the mind of the readers and keep them turning pages. Her creation of the lead detectives Adam Scott and Lorraine Fisher as a married couple that works on mysterious cases and tries to catch culprits is highly appreciated by critics. In addition to her popular novel series, Hayes has penned several standalone novels and a couple of novellas as well. All her books have fared quite satisfactorily, bringing her much recognition in her career.

Author Hayes was born in Coventry. She was brought up in Warwickshire, West Midlands, and has lived for some time in the USA and Australia. Hayes claims to have been drawn to writing from a young age. When she was small, she considered it to be a kind of escape from the difficult life at home after her parents got divorced. Earlier, Hayes used to write mostly about life’s darker side. That habit took the form of crime fiction in the later years, which she has enjoyed over the years. Author Hayes did not study for a very long time, having left school when she was just sixteen years old and also avoiding university. Her former years of adulthood were spent working for a wide range of jobs from being a fruit picker to factory worker to barmaid to waitress to accounts clerk to nursery nurse and even a private detective.

The writing career of Hayes began after she emerged as the winner of a 2003 short story competition. Readers across the globe seem to have a liking for her stories because they are family-based psychological thrillers. Hayes mostly emphasizes on real-life fiction and focuses mainly on the current issues, which makes readers questions related to the safety of their own family. The earlier years of Hayes’s adult life were mostly spent in traveling. She resided on the Isle of Man for several years before traveling the world. Her time spent living on a kibbutz inspired her to create longer fiction. After that, Hayes lived in London and then relocated to Australia for 3 years, where she lived in Melbourne and Brisbane. During the 1990s, Hayes had her 3 children. Her youngest child was born in the USA, after which she moved back to England and settled down in Warwickshire, her home county.

Hayes’ first attempts at publishing were filled with struggles. She faced many rejections before coming across an agent who loved her crime novel and helped her in getting a 2-book deal with the Headline publishing company. Under the banner of this publication, Hayes published her first 4 books, all of which were penned under the pseudonym of Sam Hayes. Later, she moved to Penguin Random House, where she penned 4 thrillers under her original name. Currently, Hayes is involved with Bookouture and has already published 4 thrillers with them. The research material for her stories comes from various places, including the internet, newspapers, television, overheard conversations, etc. Usually, a story develops in her mind over time and takes form only after undergoing several changes.

The writer that influenced Hayes the most while growing up was Richard Bach. She became a fan of his writing after reading ‘JonathaLivingstonon Seagull’ and got hooked on his work from then on. Author Hayes likes to hear from her fans. She interacts with them through her pages on social media sites like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Readers also try to get a hold of her on her personal website where she keeps posting updates about her upcoming novels and book-signing events.

The DI Lorraine Fisher series written by author Samantha Hayes began in 2013. This series features the primary characters in the roles of Lorraine Fisher, Adam Scott, Claudia Morgan-Brown, Zoe, Jo, Freddie, Isabel, etc. The debut book of this thrilling series is entitled ‘Until You’re Mine’. It was released in 2013 by the Century publication. The book opens with the introduction of Claudia Morgan-Brown as a woman who has everything in life that one wishes for. She is pregnant with her first baby and she and her husband are quite happy about it. Claudia’s husband has a couple of sons from his first marriage and all four of them live happily together under one roof. Her husband is well-settled with a good career.

Claudia works as a social worker and is committed to it full-time. Because of the frequent traveling of her husband, she gets enough time to focus on her job. Claudia even looks after her family very well. Thinking about the days ahead, she hires a help named Zoe. Claudia thinks her prayers have been answered with the arrival of Zoe as she provides much relief to her by doing the daily chores of the house. Very quickly, Zoe manages to gain the trust of Claudia’s step-sons and establishes a good rapport with them. When Claudia learns that several violent attacks have taken place on pregnant women recently, she becomes worried about herself.

With her husband not in town and her relatives on her mother’s side far away, she wonders who will protect her if an attack happens on her. Something about Zoe doesn’t feel right to her. When Claudia’s suspicion of Zoe’s continues to grow, she decides to dig into her past. The information that she comes across makes her realize that one can go far enough that anyone can imagine having a child of their own. This novel seems riveting right from the first page. The multilayered masterwork of psychological twists and suspense is sure to keep the readers intrigued.

The second installment of this exciting series is known as ‘What You Left Behind’. It was published by the Crown publication in 2014. Author Hayes has set this book in a remote village called Radcote in the UK. Initially, it is depicted that Radcote has started to heal two years after a series of terrifying suicides involving teenagers. Shortly after, a man gets killed in a motorcycle accident. He is found having a suicide note in his pocket. This is followed by another death of a young boy and the village’s community once again feels threatened by repeated suicides’ nightmare. DI Lorraine Fisher just arrives at her sister’s home in Radcote for a vacation. She senses that her time is not going to be easy in the country house as her nephew, Freddie, is facing some troubles and has become uncommunicative. Lorraine’s sister, Jo, seems worried about her son as she is unable to find what’s troubling him.

In the meantime, Lorraine becomes busy discovering the truth behind the repeated deaths in the village. She wonders if someone has been killing the teenagers and making them look like suicides. If Lorraine succeeds in getting to the bottom of this mystery, she thinks that she can find a way to help Freddie. But, the path ahead is very risks and filled with unimaginable dangers. This novel is also very intriguing and filled with interesting twists & turns to make the readers enthralled.