Twist Phelan Books In Order

Publication Order of Finn Teller Corporate Spy Books

Publication Order of Pinnacle Peak Books

Chronological Order of Pinnacle Peak Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of Anthologies

Twist Phelan is a mystery, thriller, and crime fiction author that is best known for the “Finn Teller Corporate Spy” and the “Pinnacle Peak Mysteries” series of novels. She grew up in a half Irish family and this meant that she was brought up a storyteller. At her family table, coming to the dinner table meant that one had to prepare stories to share with the family and Phelan was usually well-armed. As a teen, she went to Stanford from where she earned her bachelor and law degrees, even as she wrote for the student paper. Her novels are known for having shocking and unexpected endings, and often have a strong sense of justice which Phelan most likely gets from her time practicing as a lawyer. Her characters usually strive for justice and uprightness whether outside or within the system. Aside from her novels, she also writes short stories that have been published in a variety of magazines including the MWA anthologies, and “Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.” For her work, she has won nominations for a Derringer, Shamus, Anthony, and Arthur Ellis Awards.

When Twist Phelan graduated from Stanford, she had started practicing as a plaintiff’s trial lawyer. During this time, she sued middle-aged white men who took other people’s money and believes it was at this time that she learned how to write compelling stories. According to Phelan, finding the evidence was easy but she also needed to weave it into compelling stories that would persuade a jury. She did it so many times that it became second nature. She used the same skills to become an author that creates entertaining and enlightening characters that live with the reader long after the last page of the novel. Besides winning many awards, her work has also been featured in several compilations and been praised by Booklist, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, Margaret Maron, Sue Grafton, and Michael Connelly. She is a wandering traveler and after she retired from a successful private practice in the law, she purchased a boat and traveled the world for more than a decade. She also got her private pilot license during this time. Phelan spends a lot of time in Airbnbs and hotels across the world from which she writes most of her novels. Over several years, she has traveled to more than 70 countries and flown more than 700,000 miles. Twist chronicles her travels on her website.

Phelan credits Playboy magazine and boredom for making her into a writer. Phelan had been vacationing at a ski training camp in Finland when someone stole the stack of books she had brought to the month-long camp. The only reading material in English left was several well-worn Playboy magazines and she set about reading them. When she was done with the magazines she started thinking that it would not be too hard to write books given that she could not find any to read. She skied during the days and wrote during the nights and within a month she had completed writing the manuscript for the first “Pinnacle Peak Mystery” that was published as “Heir Apparent” in 2002. After winning a contest with “Family Claims” the second novel, several doors opened and she has never looked back since. Twist Phelan now has more than ten titles in the “Pinnacle Peak Mysteries” and “Finn Teller Corporate Spy” series and at least one single standing title. While she has made quite some success of herself, she wishes she had attended the many crime and mystery conferences for their wealth of contacts and information.

Twist Phelan’s ”Family Claims” is a fascinating story that tells of a skilled business lawyer named Hannah Dain that is about to leave her family’s law firm as she has found something better. But things go awry when the real estate deal she had nearly completed is derailed. Two million dollars that belonged to investors had gone missing and if she had made any mistakes, the firm would have to find the money somehow. Her career is on the line and she is forced to investigate, even as an antagonistic sister and a disapproving father look on. She had long since accepted the fact that she could not heal the rift in the family and now enjoys living her own life. Whether it be biking through the Arizona desert or working through the night to finish a complex IPO, she is content being alone. While she manages to exonerate the company, two murders and a car bomb make it impossible for the police to identify the man that had been the architect of the plan to defraud the firm. Working on a new deal, she gets the help of Cooper Smith who is her former lover and is now a computer consultant with the company. Hannah soon finds a threat that may be too close to home. It is only by bringing to light long-held family secrets that she can save the law firm and her own life.

“Spurred Ambition” by Twist Phelan sees Hannah Dain still smarting from her maiden attempt at breaking and entering. She is now heading to Pinnacle Peak Arizona to do some rock climbing on the cliffs but ends up embroiled in a violent anti-Indian protest. Hannah manages to escape but she has made an enemy. Nonetheless, enemies are the least of her worries given that there has been a shocking revelation that may destroy everything. She now has to embark on a hunt to go find a man that has been missing for more than three decades and may not be interested in being found. It gets interesting when she meets Tony Soto, a Latino/Native American that had rescued her from a climbing incident. He is passionate about bettering his tribe’s fortunes and that combined with his charm makes Hannah nearly fatally attracted. The attraction very nearly destroys her relationship with Cooper Smith her boyfriend and gets her entangled in a complex securities fraud investigation and a kidnapping. Is Soto just an innocent victim or is he involved in the fraud in which there are other things more important than money at stake? When there is another murder, Hannah is forced to investigate the complex plot and how it is related to a mystery that had haunted her for a long time.

Twist Phelan’s “Heir Apparent” sees Joe McGuiness the young attorney having to deal with a murdered client and dead partner. He had never expected this when he decided to become an associate at one of the most respected law firms in the city of Pinnacle Peak in Arizona. The ink on his license to practice law is hardly dry when the senior partner at the firms drops dead and the young lawyer’s job is in jeopardy. Soon there is a lot at stake than his job at the firm. He met Mia Ortiz who is an assistant to a wealthy client of the firm but their first date goes wrong even before it has started. Cordelia Barrett who is Ortiz’s boss and her son have been brutally murdered and it is the couple who stumble upon the bodies. Mia is the top suspect and she is arrested forcing Joe to investigate the mystery of the death of one of the richest women in the state.