Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Paris Mystery | 2023 | Kirsty Manning | Buy |
| 2 | Murder in Paris | 2026 | Kirsty Manning | Buy |
The Charlotte “Charlie” James series is Kirsty Manning’s first foray into mystery fiction. The Paris Mystery (2023) introduces Charlie as a young Australian journalist working in Paris who stumbles into a murder investigation at a society party. The setting is 1940s France, and Manning draws on the same period detail that characterized her standalone historical novels, but the plot moves at a faster clip with a whodunit structure driving the story forward.
Murder in Paris (2026) continues Charlie’s adventures in the French capital. The series pairs Manning’s strengths in historical atmosphere and sense of place with the tighter plotting of a mystery novel. Readers who came to Manning through her dual-timeline literary fiction will find the Charlie James books are more straightforward in structure, with a single timeline and a clear central question: who did it, and why.