Stacy Willingham
Stacy Willingham has published 5 books across 2 series. The recommended reading order starts with A Flicker in the Dark (2022).
Stacy Willingham writes psychological thrillers and made her debut in 2022 with A Flicker in the Dark. The novel quickly became a New York Times and USA Today bestseller and earned the Best Debut Award from Strand Magazine. That first book announced a writer who understands how fear can take root in ordinary settings. Willingham's novels, including All The Dangerous Things and the upcoming Only If You're Lucky, are known for their precise atmosphere and unsettling quality.
Before turning to fiction, Willingham honed her skills as a copywriter and brand strategist, learning to distill complex emotions into language. She studied magazine journalism at the University of Georgia before earning her MFA in writing from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Her work now reaches readers in over thirty languages. Willingham lives in Charleston, South Carolina, with her husband, Britt, and their Labradoodle, Mako.
Shelf & Shadows
Order of Anthologies
- TagssuspensethrillermysteryDescriptionThe book club meets on Thursdays. Wine flows. Secrets simmer. But this isn't your mother's cozy reading circle. Stacy Willingham, master of domestic suspense, turns the wholesome ritual of women gathering over literature into something darker. Something twisted. These women don't just discuss books. They dissect them. They see themselves in the pages—the lies, the betrayals, the desperate measures taken when life corners you. Each member carries her own shadows into that room, and Willingham knows how to make those shadows dance. The atmosphere crackles with unspoken tension, the kind that builds when people who know too much about each other pretend everything is fine. It's not fine. It never was. Willingham's prose is sharp and economical, cutting straight to the nerve. She understands that the most terrifying monsters aren't supernatural—they're the ones sitting across from you, smiling over a glass of Pinot Grigio. The Twisted Women's Book Club delivers exactly what its title promises: a deliciously dark exploration of female friendship, the masks we wear, and what happens when those masks slip. This is psychological suspense that trusts its readers to keep up, to read between the lines, to understand that sometimes the most dangerous place you can be is among friends.Publication date2025Amazon rating3.6/5LanguageEnglishPublisherAudible Originals
Order of Standalone Novels
- TagsthrillermysterysuspensecrimeDescriptionWhat do you do when the worst thing that ever happened to you refuses to stay buried? When Chloe Davis was twelve, her father confessed to murdering six teenage girls in their small Louisiana town, and her childhood shattered into a thousand jagged pieces she's spent two decades trying to reassemble. Now she's a psychologist in Baton Rouge, helping troubled teens navigate their own darkness while white-knuckling her way toward a wedding and the normal life she's desperate to claim. The air is thick and humid, heavy with the weight of things unsaid, and Chloe's grip on her carefully constructed happiness feels as fragile as spun glass. She knows what it's like to lose control, to watch your world collapse in a single summer. Then teenage girls start disappearing again. One, then another. The pattern is sickeningly familiar, and Chloe can feel her past clawing its way back to the surface, demanding to be seen. Is she losing her mind, projecting old horrors onto new tragedies because she never truly healed? Or is something far more sinister unfolding, something that means her father's confession twenty years ago didn't end the nightmare at all? Stacy Willingham weaves a taut psychological thriller that asks whether we can ever really escape our past, or if some shadows are simply too dark to outrun.Publication date11 January 2022Amazon rating4/5Print length368LanguageEnglishPublisherMinotaur Books
- TagsthrillercrimeDescriptionIsabelle Drake hasn't slept in a year. Not since her infant son vanished from his crib in the middle of the night. She travels from city to city, speaking at true crime conventions, recounting the details of Mason's disappearance to anyone who will listen. Sleep deprivation has blurred the edges of her memory. The nights bleed together. She can't stop searching. A journalist approaches her with questions that cut too close. He wants to write about her case, but his interest feels different—sharper, more invasive. As Isabelle digs deeper into her own past, the investigation turns inward. Her marriage shows cracks she never noticed before. Her childhood in the Louisiana bayou surfaces in fragments she'd rather forget. The truth about that night might be buried somewhere in her own fractured mind, and what she uncovers threatens to destroy everything she thought she knew about her family, her husband, and herself. Willingham crafts a psychological thriller that tightens like a noose, where the most dangerous thing might be the secrets we keep from ourselves.Publication dateJan. 10 2023Amazon rating4.2/5Print length332LanguageEnglishPublisherMinotaur Books
- TagsthrillersuspensemysterycrimeDescriptionSome wounds never close, no matter how far you run. Claire Campbell has spent twenty-two years trying to outrun the summer her sister Natalie vanished—blood in a car, a quick arrest, a case sealed shut. She built a new life as an investigative journalist in the city, burying the past under deadlines and distance. Then her father calls. She's going home. Stuck in her childhood house for the summer with an estranged mother and too many ghosts, Claire takes a job at Galloway Farm, a muscadine vineyard on the South Carolina coast. It's where Natalie spent her last happy summer. It should be an escape—slow days, sun-warmed vines, the kind of nostalgia that softens sharp edges. But Claire finds an old diary tucked away, written by one of the vineyard's owners. What starts as a story of young love curdles into something darker: descriptions of unsolved crimes, details that don't add up, a pattern she can't ignore. The journalist in her won't let go. The sister in her can't stop wondering if Natalie's disappearance is threaded through these pages. Galloway was supposed to help her move forward. Instead, it pulls her back into the undertow of her own dangerous past.Publication dateAug. 26 2025Amazon rating4.1/5Print length330LanguageEnglishPublisherMinotaur Books
- TagsthrillersuspensecrimemysteryDescriptionMargot has always been the careful one. The sidekick. Then Lucy Sharpe walks into her life at the end of freshman year—magnetic, reckless, impossible to refuse. When Lucy asks Margot to move into an off-campus house with her and two other girls, Margot says yes. Maybe it's daring. Maybe it's hunger. Maybe it's envy. The house hums with tension and secrets. Lucy, the ringleader. Sloane, sharp-tongued and watchful. Nicole, sweet but tangled up in it all. For Margot, it's a chance to shed the grief she's carried since her best friend Eliza died right after high school graduation. She's finally stepping out of the shadows. She's finally close to someone again. Lucy becomes everything. Then a fraternity boy from next door is found murdered. And Lucy vanishes. No note. No explanation. Just gone. Margot is left holding the pieces of a friendship she never fully understood, in a house that suddenly feels like a trap. Willingham spins a dark, propulsive thriller about obsession and the dangerous allure of someone who makes you feel alive. The atmosphere is thick with dread. The friendships are toxic and intoxicating. You won't see the twists coming.Publication dateJanuary 21, 2025Amazon rating3.9/5Print length384LanguageEnglishPublisherMinotaur Books
Frequently Asked Questions about Stacy Willingham
Stacy Willingham writes both standalone novels and a series. The Twisted Women's Book Club is part of her Order of Anthologies, while A Flicker in the Dark, All the Dangerous Things, Forget Me Not, and Only If You're Lucky are standalone novels. If you prefer to read her books in the order they were published, you would start with A Flicker in the Dark, followed by All the Dangerous Things. The upcoming books, The Twisted Women's Book Club, Forget Me Not, and Only If You're Lucky, are scheduled for release in 2025. There is no strict reading order required for her standalone works.
A good starting point for Stacy Willingham's books is A Flicker in the Dark, published in 2022. This novel introduces her style of psychological suspense. It is a standalone work, meaning it can be read without prior knowledge of other books. Following this, readers may wish to pick up her next standalone novel, All the Dangerous Things, released in 2023. Both books explore the complexities of dark secrets and unsettling truths within seemingly ordinary lives, offering a solid introduction to her writing.
You do not have to read Stacy Willingham's books in order. She has published standalone novels, which can be read independently of each other. While A Flicker in the Dark and All the Dangerous Things were released sequentially and share a similar genre, they do not require a specific reading order. Similarly, the forthcoming books, Forget Me Not and Only If You're Lucky, are also standalone novels. The Twisted Women's Book Club is noted as part of an anthology order. Readers can choose any of her standalone titles to begin.
Stacy Willingham writes both standalone novels and books that are part of a specific order. Her standalone novels include A Flicker in the Dark (2022) and All the Dangerous Things (2023). The upcoming books Forget Me Not and Only If You're Lucky, both slated for 2025, are also categorized as standalone novels. However, The Twisted Women's Book Club, also scheduled for 2025, is listed under an 'Order of Anthologies,' suggesting it might be part of a collection or a series that is not strictly a traditional novel series.
Stacy Willingham has written four books that have been published as of early 2025, with two more scheduled for release in 2025. Her published works include A Flicker in the Dark (2022) and All the Dangerous Things (2023). The upcoming books are The Twisted Women's Book Club, Forget Me Not, and Only If You're Lucky, all scheduled for 2025. This brings her total to at least seven books by the end of 2025, depending on how The Twisted Women's Book Club is classified.
The first book Stacy Willingham wrote and published is A Flicker in the Dark, released in 2022. This psychological suspense novel marked her debut. It follows a young psychologist who becomes entangled in a murder investigation that mirrors the unsolved disappearance of her childhood friend. The book established her reputation for crafting intricate plots and atmospheric settings. Readers looking to explore her work chronologically should begin with this title.
As of early 2025, Stacy Willingham's most recent book is All the Dangerous Things, which was published in 2023. This novel is a standalone psychological thriller that centers on a mother's desperate search for her missing child. It delves into themes of grief, obsession, and the dark side of parenting. Three more books are scheduled for release in 2025: The Twisted Women's Book Club, Forget Me Not, and Only If You're Lucky, which will become her most recent publications upon their release.
Stacy Willingham writes psychological thrillers and suspense novels. Her books are characterized by intricate plots, atmospheric settings, and a focus on dark secrets and unsettling truths. She often explores the complexities of human psychology, particularly in situations involving trauma, obsession, and hidden dangers. Readers can expect to find stories that keep them guessing, with twists and turns that reveal the darker aspects of ordinary lives. Her work is known for its tense narratives and immersive quality.
Fannie Flagg
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K.M. Dudley
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John McMahon
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We verified the reading order for Stacy Willingham's books by cross-referencing official publication dates, ISBN databases, and publisher catalogs.
Last verified: May 2026
Shelf & Shadows. (…). “Stacy Willingham Books in Order.” Retrieved …, from https://www.shelfandshadows.com/authors/stacy-willingham