Sharon Bolton Books in Order
Sharon Bolton is a British crime thriller author, formerly known as S.J. Bolton, best known for the Lacey Flint series, the Florence Lovelady / Craftsmen books, and standalone psychological thrillers with a Gothic flair. Her books often begin in small communities, with something buried, hidden, witnessed, remembered, or covered up, which often destroys the lives of the families involved. Sharon Bolton won the Mary Higgins Clark Award and the CWA Dagger in the Library, and has been shortlisted for major crime and thriller awards including the CWA Gold Dagger and Ian Fleming Steel Dagger.
This page lists all Sharon Bolton books in order, including the Lacey Flint series, the Craftsmen series, standalone novels, short stories, short story collections, adaptations, and awards.
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Latest Sharon Bolton Books
More upcoming releases:
- The Mortician (November 5, 2026) – standalone thriller
Where to Start with Sharon Bolton
→ New to Sharon Bolton? Start with Now You See Me if you want the Lacey Flint series. It introduces Lacey as a young London police officer who starts working a Jack the Ripper copycat case, and it is easiest way to get familiar with her and other recurring characters.
→ Want the author’s darker standalone novels? Try Little Black Lies or Sacrifice. Both show her interest in isolated places, old damage, and crimes that investigations will reveal.
→ Prefer a police story with a stronger Gothic edge? Start with The Craftsman. It introduces Florence Lovelady and the Sabden case, where an old child-murder investigation comes back years later with new evidence, creating new doubts about what really happened.
→ Want the newest standalone novels? Read The Neighbour’s Secret, then The Token, and keep The Mortician on the upcoming list.
How the Series Connect
The main series are not part of the same universe, and Lacey Flint and Florence Lovelady have separate storylines and cases, but The Night Train short story collection includes eight stories set in the universes of her major books, such as The Craftsmen, Lacey Flint, Dead Woman Walking, and The Split. The Night Train, Alive!, and All Soul’s Eve are set in The Craftsmen world, Mugwort and Moonbeams, and Lacey’s Wedding are part of Lacey Flint’s world, the short story Time Travel, Flight and Invisibility is set in the world of the standalone novel Dead Woman Walking, The Snow Bride is set in The Split, and Mr and Mrs Jansen and the Mermaid is a story of its own.
The Lacey Flint Series (Books in Order)
The Lacey Flint series follows DC Lacey Flint, a young police officer working in London, whose first major case is one she is directly involved it, having seen the murder victim dying right in front of her. The case is connected to Jack the Ripper, but what really stands out in the book is Lacey herself, a woman who is guarded, full of personal baggage and a history she wants nobody to know about. Her personal background and story that is continued throughout the entire series brings the books closer to the psychological suspense genre.
- Now You See Me, 2011
- If Snow Hadn’t Fallen, 2012
- Dead Scared, 2012
- Like This, For Ever, 2013 (also titled Lost)
- A Dark and Twisted Tide, 2014
- Here Be Dragons, 2016
- The Dark, 2022
The Craftsmen Series (Books in Order)
The Craftsmen series follows Florence Lovelady, a London-based investigator, who three decades ago arrested coffin-maker Larry Glassbrook for serial child murder in Sabden, a small town located in the north-west of England. In the first book, in The Craftsman, Florence has a senior role at the police, but the old case still haunts her, with the series moving between past and present after Larry, who is serving a life sentence contacts her with more shocking revelations.
- Alive, 2018
- The Craftsman, 2018
- The Buried, 2022 (also titled The Poisoner)
Standalone Novels
- Sacrifice, 2008
- Awakening, 2009
- Blood Harvest, 2010
- Little Black Lies, 2015
- Daisy in Chains, 2016
- Dead Woman Walking, 2017
- The Split, 2020
- The Pact, 2021
- The Fake Wife, 2023
- The Neighbour’s Secret, 2024
- The Token, 2025
- The Mortician, 2026
Short Story Collections and Anthologies
- Deadlier, 2017
- Noir from the Bar, 2020
- The Night Train, 2021
Sharon Bolton Biography
Sharon Bolton is a British crime and thriller author whose books have been published under both Sharon Bolton and S.J. Bolton.
Official website sharonbolton.com
Sharon Bolton was born in 1960 in Blackburn, Lancashire, and she grew up in a cotton-mill town in the north of England. . She studied drama at Loughborough University and later received her masters degree in business administration at the University of Warwick. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked in marketing and public relations, including working for the National Rivers Authority, later known as The Environment Agency.
Sharon Bolton’s first novel, Sacrifice, was published by Bantam Press in 2008. Her second novel, Awakening, followed in 2009 in hardback and later won the Mary Higgins Clark Award. In 2011, she published Now You See Me, the novel that launched the Lacey Flint series about a young London police officer whose cases often mesh with her dark past. After several Lacey Flint novels and short stories, she brought in Florence Lovelady in The Craftsmen series, an even darker police thriller that connects the past to the resent, set in North West England. The series currently has two novels and a prequel short story.
Besides the series, Sharon Bolton has also written several standalone psychological crime thrillers, including Little Black Lies, Daisy in Chains, Dead Woman Walking, The Split, The Pact, The Fake Wife, The Neighbour’s Secret, The Token, and The Mortician. She has won the CWA Dagger in the Library for her of work and has been shortlisted for several major crime and thriller awards.
Sharon Bolton Book Adaptations
- Sacrifice (2016) – adapted into the feature film Sacrifice (2016)
Sharon Bolton Awards and Honors
Awards
- Awakening – Mary Higgins Clark Award (2010)
- Like This, For Ever / Lost – RT Magazine Best Contemporary Thriller (2014)
- Now You See Me – Plume de Bronze (2014)
- CWA Dagger in the Library (2014)
- Little Black Lies – Dead Good Reader Award for Best Twist (2016)
Nominations and Shortlists
- Sacrifice – Mary Higgins Clark Award (2009)
- Sacrifice – ITW Thriller Award for Best First Novel (2009)
- Awakening – Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel (2010)
- Blood Harvest – CWA Gold Dagger (2010)
- Blood Harvest – Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year (2011)
- Blood Harvest – Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel (2011)
- Blood Harvest – Mary Higgins Clark Award (2011)
- Now You See Me – Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year (2012)
- Now You See Me – Mary Higgins Clark Award (2012)
- Now You See Me – Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel (2012)
- Dead Scared – Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year (2013)
- Dead Scared – Mary Higgins Clark Award (2013)
- Dead Scared – Barry Award for Best Novel (2013)
- Like This, For Ever – Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year (2014)
- A Dark and Twisted Tide – Mary Higgins Clark Award (2015)
- Little Black Lies – Macavity Award for Best Novel (2016)
- The Split – CrimeFest eDunnit Award (2021)
- The Pact – CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger (2022)
- The Neighbour’s Secret – CWA Twisted Dagger (2025)
I love your books, especially Lacey. Write more!
Dear Ms. Bolton, I love the Lacey Flint series and am wondering how long we have to wait to see what Lacey’s answer to Mark’s proposal is?
PS Lynch
hi Sharon, love your books, am wondering when your next book will be published? also, would it be possible to purchase lacey’s wedding.
mh richards