Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trio | 2002 | Cath Staincliffe | Buy |
| 2 | The Kindest Thing | 2010 | Cath Staincliffe | Buy |
| 3 | Witness | 2011 | Cath Staincliffe | Buy |
| 4 | Split Second | 2012 | Cath Staincliffe | Buy |
| 5 | Blink of an Eye | 2013 | Cath Staincliffe | Buy |
| 6 | Letters To My Daughter’s Killer | 2014 | Cath Staincliffe | Buy |
| 7 | Half the World Away | 2015 | Cath Staincliffe | Buy |
| 8 | The Silence Between Breaths | 2016 | Cath Staincliffe | Buy |
| 9 | The Girl in the Green Dress | 2017 | Cath Staincliffe | Buy |
| 10 | Fear of Falling | 2018 | Cath Staincliffe | Buy |
| 11 | Quiet Acts of Violence | 2020 | Cath Staincliffe | Buy |
| 12 | Running out of Road | 2021 | Cath Staincliffe | Buy |
| 13 | The Lost Girls of St. Ann’s | 2024 | Cath Staincliffe | Buy |
Cath Staincliffe’s standalone novels cover a wide range of crime and suspense scenarios, all rooted in the lives of ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances. The earliest, Trio (2002), appeared while she was still writing the Sal Kilkenny series, and the most recent, The Lost Girls of St. Ann’s (2024), shows she continues to find new stories and settings within the genre. These thirteen books don’t share characters or continuity, so each one can be read independently.
The subjects vary considerably. The Kindest Thing deals with assisted dying and its legal aftermath. Split Second follows multiple lives disrupted by a random act of violence on public transport. Letters To My Daughter’s Killer is told through correspondence from a grieving mother. Half the World Away centers on a woman searching for her adopted son who has gone missing in Australia. What ties them together is Staincliffe’s focus on how crime ripples outward, affecting families and communities in ways that go well beyond the initial act.
Several of these books are set in and around Manchester, a city Staincliffe knows well and writes about with specificity. Others range further afield, but the emotional territory remains consistent: real people dealing with loss, fear, and moral choices that have no clean answers. Readers who enjoy domestic suspense with strong social awareness will find plenty to appreciate across these thirteen novels.