Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lowcountry Bribe | 2012 | C. Hope Clark | Buy |
| 2 | Tidewater Murder | 2013 | C. Hope Clark | Buy |
| 3 | Palmetto Poison | 2014 | C. Hope Clark | Buy |
| 4 | Newberry Sin | 2018 | C. Hope Clark | Buy |
| 5 | Salkehatchie Secret | 2020 | C. Hope Clark | Buy |
| 6 | Lake Murray Money | 2024 | C. Hope Clark | Buy |
The Caroline Slade Mysteries launched with Lowcountry Bribe in 2012 and ran six books through Lake Murray Money in 2024. Slade is a federal investigator focused on agricultural finance, which sets her cases firmly in rural South Carolina — the tobacco farms, fishing communities, and small towns of the Lowcountry region.
The series benefits from C. Hope Clark’s own federal investigative background and her deep knowledge of South Carolina. The crimes tend toward financial corruption and rural community conflict rather than the serial killer or organized crime plots more common in crime fiction, which gives the books a grounded specificity.