If you love reading thriller novels, you must check out Lucy Foley. She’s excellent at creating mysteries and keeping readers hooked from start to end. In this article, we look at how to read Lucy Foley’s books in order!
Lucy Foley is a bestselling British author known for her gripping mystery and thriller novels. Before gaining widespread recognition in the crime fiction genre, she wrote historical fiction, showcasing her versatility as a storyteller.
Her thrillers are known for their intricate plots, multiple perspectives, and atmospheric settings that immerse readers in suspenseful, often isolated environments.
Inspired by classic mystery authors like Agatha Christie, the author crafts stories filled with secrets, unreliable narrators, and shocking twists. Her books typically follow a “locked-room mystery” style, where a small group of characters is trapped in a setting, and a crime unfolds.
How Many Lucy Foley Books Are There?
Currently, Lucy Foley has written a total of seven books!
It’s unnecessary to read Lucy Foley’s books in order because they are all standalone. You can read them in any order. But if you want a reading order anyway, I have listed all her books according to their release date!
- The Book of Lost and Found (2015)
- The Invitation (2016)
- Last Letter from Istanbul (2017)
- The Hunting Party (2018)
- The Guest List (2020)
- The Paris Apartment (2022)
- The Midnight Feast (2024)
Apart from all these novels, the author has also written a short story for Marple: Twelve New Mysteries, a collection of short stories featuring Agatha Christie’s legendary detective, Jane Marple. Multiple acclaimed authors today penned these short stories, and Lucy Foley is one of them!
Lucy Foley studied English literature at Durham University and University College London before working in the publishing industry, which gave her valuable insight into the literary world.
Her transition from historical fiction to psychological thrillers proved to be a turning point in her career, earning her a dedicated global readership.
If you’re new to Lucy Foley’s books or looking to revisit them, reading them in order can provide a deeper appreciation of her writing style and storytelling evolution. This guide will chronologically walk you through her books, helping you decide where to start and what to expect from each novel.
How to Read Lucy Foley Books in Order?
1. The Book of Lost and Found (2015)
Kate Darling’s enigmatic mother—a once-famous ballerina—has passed away, leaving Kate bereft. When her grandmother falls ill and bequeaths to Kate a small portrait of a woman who bears a striking resemblance to Kate’s mother, Kate uncovers a mystery that may upend everything she thought she knew.
Kate’s journey to find the true identity of the woman in the portrait takes her to some of the world’s most iconic and indulgent locales, revealing a love story that began in the wild 1920s and was disrupted by war and could now spark new love for Kate.
2. The Invitation (2016)
Hal, an itinerant journalist flailing in the post-war darkness, has come to the Eternal City to lose himself and seek absolution for the thing that haunts him. Here, he meets the mysterious Stella.
Hal and Stella are from different worlds, but their connection is magnetic. Together, they escape the crowded party and imagine a different life, even if it’s just for a night. Yet Stella vanishes all too quickly, and Hal is confident their paths won’t cross again.
But a year later, they are unexpectedly thrown together after Hal receives an invitation he cannot resist. An Italian Contessa asks him to assist on a trip of a lifetime—acting as a reporter on a tremendous yacht skimming its way along the Italian coast toward the Cannes film festival.
Of all the luminaries aboard, only one holds Hal in Stella. And while each has a past that belies the gilded surface, Stella has the most to hide. As Hal’s obsession with Stella grows, he becomes determined to bring back the girl she once was, the girl who’s been confined to history.
3. Last Letter from Istanbul (2017)
It’s Constantinople, 1921, where each day Nur gazes across the waters of the Bosphorus to her childhood home, a grand white house, nestled on the opposite bank. Memories float on the breeze, but now those days are dead.
The house has been transformed into an army hospital; it is a prize of war in the hands of the British. As Nur weaves through the streets carrying the embroideries that have become her livelihood, Constantinople swarms with Allied soldiers—a reminder of how far she and her city have fallen.
The most precious thing in Nur’s new life is the orphan in her care—a boy with a terrible secret. When the boy falls dangerously ill, Nur’s world becomes entwined with the enemy’s. She must return to where she grew up and plead for help.
As the lines between enemy and friend become fainter, a new danger emerges – something even more threatening than the lingering shadow of war.
4. The Hunting Party (2018)
During the languid days of Christmas break, a group of thirtysomething friends from Oxford meet to welcome in the New Year together, a tradition they began as students ten years ago. For this vacation, they’ve chosen an idyllic and isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands—the perfect place to get away and unwind by themselves.
They arrive on December 30th, just before a historic blizzard seals the lodge from the outside world. Two days later, on New Year’s Day, one of them is dead.
The trip began innocently: admiring the stunning if foreboding scenery, champagne before a crackling fire, and reminiscences about the past. But after a decade, the weight of secret resentments has grown too heavy for the group’s tenuous nostalgia to bear.
Amid the boisterous revelry of New Year’s Eve, the cord holding them together snaps. Now one of them is dead, and another of them did it!
5. The Guest List (2020)
On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together. The groom, a rising television star, is handsome and charming. The bride, a magazine publisher, is smart and ambitious.
It’s a wedding for a magazine or a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty, and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.
But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes.
The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast. And then someone turns up dead!
6. The Paris Apartment (2022)
Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone and just left her job under less-than-ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a while, but he didn’t say no, and indeed, everything would look better from Paris.
Only when she shows up to find a very nice apartment, wondering if Ben could really have afforded this, he’s not there.
The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother’s situation, and the more questions she has. Ben’s neighbors are an eclectic bunch, and not particularly friendly. Jess may have come to Paris to escape her past, but it’s starting to look like Ben’s future is in question.
The socialite, the nice guy, the alcoholic, the girl on the verge, the concierge—everyone’s a neighbor, and everyone’s a suspect. And everyone knows something they’re not telling!
7. The Midnight Feast (2024)
It’s the opening night of The Manor, and no expense, small or large, has been spared. The infinity pool sparkles; crystal pouches for guests’ healing have been placed in the Seaside Cottages and Woodland Hutches; the “Manor Mule” cocktail is being poured with a heavy hand.
But under the burning midsummer sun, darkness stirs. Old friends and enemies circulate among the guests. Just outside the Manor’s immaculately kept grounds, an ancient forest bristles with secrets.
And on the Sunday morning of opening weekend, the local police are called. Something’s not right with the guests. There’s been a fire, and a body’s been discovered.
It all began with a secret fifteen years ago. Now, the past has crashed the party, and it’ll end in murder at… The Midnight Feast!
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