Will Carver Books In Order

Publication Order of The Beresford Trilogy Books

Publication Order of Detective Sergeant Pace Books

Publication Order of January David Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Novellas

Publication Order of Anthologies

Will Carver is a British international bestselling author of crime fiction and mystery thrillers best known for the “January David” series. David grew up in Germany though he went back to the UK aged eleven since he wanted to pursue a career in Rugby. However, once in London he chose to pursue an academic education and went to King Alfred’s Winchester where he studied television and theatre. After graduating from college, he worked several jobs that included driver and clothes washer for a documentary crew, cinema usher, bartender, video store clerk, and coffee barista before he got a job in an IT company. During all this time, he was trying to write a novel or play and even set up a successful theatre company in Winchester. His debut novel “Girl 4” the first of the “January David” series was published in 2011. He currently writes his novels and also has his own nutrition and fitness company. Carver lives with his family in Reading and when he is not writing or attending to business he loves to golf, play the guitar, paint, read and watch a film or two.

William Carver had always been someone that wanted to express himself creatively and loved to paint in his mid-teens. He could draw or paint almost anything from portraits or from his environment. Carver started out writing when he was a young boy that read Julian Barnes and Nick Hornby. These two novelists have clearly had a significant effect on his current style, especially with regard to chapter length. He soon found that he had an aptitude for poetry and read a lot David Mamet plays that he loved for the mastery of dialogue and Brecht for his fascinating philosophy. Over the years, his tastes changed and he now reads the likes of Hemingway and Chuck Palahniuk. Chuck Palahniuk blew him away and got him hooked into the novel form the first time he read the classic novel “Fight Club.” In university, he wrote his first significant work that was a dark comedy. However most publishers he submitted to thought it was more of a thriller given the style but promised to have a look at his future works. Once he had the encouragement, he began writing ideas and soon has one for “Girl 4.” Apart from literary works, he also gets some inspiration from TV series and movies such as the “X Files” and the “Twin Peaks.” The lack of a genre in Twin Peaks is particularly telling as it is a comedy, horror and crime story in a small town that has quirky characters and a seedy underbelly that the “January David” series definitely draws a lot from.

The motivation for “Girl 4” was partly driven by the fact that William Carver knew that some publishers had promised to look at his future works. But he got some real impetus when he was laid off from his job and had a small window of opportunity to get down and write every day all day. Instead of pining for his job, he believed it was an opportunity to finally finish and submit the novel he had already started writing. While he had all the time and motivation, it was not as easy as he thought it would be. Carver had to immerse himself in researching the world and characters and the plot of his novel. The hardest part was the style since he writes in a multi-perspective format that gives the victims, the killer and detective an opportunity to give their view of events. Even as each chapter has a name on the top of their chapter, they all tend to have a distinct voice that it is easy to recognize who is speaking just from the words. The lead in the novels is a London detective inspector named January David. January made a name for himself for resolving mysterious crimes of violence and now has made fighting crime a fiercely personal mission. However, he has to deal with the demons from his past and the series is an exploration of his story while he works on the various crime mysteries. He is a flawed character and does not always get things right but it is the flawed nature of the man and the psychology of his struggle rather than police procedure that makes him so relatable.

Will Carver’s debut novel “Girl 4” opens to a serial killer preying on women. He is one of the most inventive serial killers as he kills using sadistic techniques before displaying the bodies in bizarre ways and sending notes with several clues to the cops. But he ups his game targeting the lead detective January David on whom he starts playing psychological games. January David is a man with a complex life story and an even more complex one at work. He sees vital clues of his cases in dreams and visions but given his upbringing has severe psychological issues that have made him an alcoholic and an amnesiac. The combination often blurs the line between fantasy and reality as the emotional delirium he suffers is heightened. He had always kept the private away from the professional but these two are about to crash into each other once he goes to inspect the crime scene. He finds a lifeless female figure hanging from a theatre stage ten feet above his head with blood still dripping from its head into a coffin on the floor. It is not the first time he has seen such gruesome work as three other women from a different suburb of London have been murdered with chilling and elaborate precision in the past few weeks. While he immediately recognizes the work of the most elusive serial killer, he notices that his current victim is alive and that he knows her.

“The Two” is the hot sequel to Girl 4 from the January David series that takes everything to a new level. David the detective is trying to move on from the events of the first novel. He is now drinking even more as he is separated from his wife of many years. He digs into his mother’s journal trying to find clues that would explain his sister’s disappearance. But then bodies start appearing on the streets killed in a manner of a serial killer and January has to get back on the saddle. But he suffers from a lack of focus which negatively impacts his detective work. He is also seeing ghosts of children who tell him of the details of the murders he is investigating. However, there are many questions left unanswered including how many killers there are out there, and what is their motive for the killings. It is not the conventional serial killer story as there is a great twist that introduces the paranormal right at the very end of the story.

“Dead Set” by William Carver opens to Detective Inspector January David on forced leave after his problems with alcohol and in his personal life. But then he gets a call from a mysterious FBI agent who wants him to investigate a murder. In a New York theater, a body has been found and the MO of the killer is very similar to the London maniac that David had once investigated and apprehended. Since his wife moved to the US, he thinks that it is a chance to kill two birds with one stone as he can finally get an opportunity to do what he loves and try to win back his wife. Meanwhile, there is a missing girl that has been discovered dead in London in equally perplexing circumstances. It is a compelling fast-paced novel that keeps its readers guessing right to the very end.