The Coroner’s Daughter Series: NEW BOOK ALERT
Book 5 is Coming, Here’s Everything You Need to Know (and Catch Up On!)
A young mother’s body is found in Lake Isabella.
Her baby has gone missing.
And a fiancè long presumed dead just walked back into Emily Hartford’s life.
And that’s just page one.
I’m beyond excited to officially announce the upcoming release of Book 5 in the Coroner’s Daughter Mysteries:
🖤 What Darkness Does – arriving October 28, 2025.
In this new installment, Emily is pulled into one of her most chilling investigations yet, one that will test her skills as a coroner, her strength as a woman, and the walls she’s built around her heart. If you’ve been waiting for the next chapter in Emily’s journey, trust me… this one cuts deep.
You can preorder it now on Amazon and be one of the first to discover how far Emily will go for justice.
But before we wade into the murky waters of Lake Isabella and meet the newest killer in Freeport, let’s rewind. Whether you’re a longtime reader or just discovering the series, this post will give you a full recap of all four previous books, the evolution of Emily’s story, and the small-town secrets that have built the heart (and the haunting) of this series.
Get ready to catch up, relive the twists, and clear some space on your TBR list.
Because when Emily Hartford is on the case… nothing stays buried for long.
Catching Up with the Coroner’s Daughter
Before What Darkness Does hits shelves, let’s revisit the cases that brought Dr. Emily Hartford to where she is now, emotionally, professionally, and forensically.
Each book in the Coroner’s Daughter Mysteries has peeled back another layer of Emily’s past, tested her in impossible ways, and revealed just how far she’s willing to go to speak for the dead.
Whether you’ve read them all and need a refresher, or you’re wondering where to begin, here’s a quick, spoiler-light recap of each book in the series.
Book 1: The Coroner
Where it all began… and where Emily’s life changed forever.
When her estranged father, Freeport’s longtime coroner, falls gravely ill, Dr. Emily Hartford is pulled back to the small Michigan town she once fled. She’s currently a rising surgical resident in Chicago with no interest in returning to her small town forensic roots… until she’s faced with a chilling case and a town full of secrets… including the one about her mother’s untimely death and the cause of her running away.
As Emily steps into her father’s shoes, both literally and professionally, she must confront the wounds of her past, rekindle an old flame, and navigate a murder investigation that threatens to shatter everything she thought she knew.
Read it if you love: small-town tension, second chances, and a smart, driven female lead with grit and heart.
Book 2: Secret Remains
A buried past. A hidden truth. And bones that won’t stay quiet.
When human remains are discovered beneath a construction site, Emily is called to investigate what turns out to be a decade-old case involving a local teen who vanished without a trace. As she digs deeper into the bones, and the people who knew the victim, she uncovers disturbing connections between the town’s most respected citizens, including her ex-boyfriend, now the town’s sheriff.
It’s been 12 years since Sandi Parkman went missing after being dropped off at home by her schoolmate, Nick Larson, now the Sheriff of Freeport, Michigan. When a construction crew unearths Sandi’s bones–along with Nick’s letterman jacket and one of his hairs–Nick becomes suspect number one in the murder.
Dr. Emily Hartford, the daughter of Freeport’s medical examiner, is called in to investigate, but the case is about to get personal. Nick was Emily’s high school love, and now she has to either clear his name–or contend that he’s the killer. As she delves into the case, a host of other suspects emerge: a coterie of Nick’s jock friends from high school; Sandi’s sister, Tiffany, now a dancer at a local strip club; and James VanDerMuellen, a trust funder who’s recently returned to Freeport.
As the autumn skies darken over Freeport and the holiday season looms, Emily must sift through more than Sandi’s brittle bones to solve the case. Can she exonerate Nick–and rekindle their long-smoldering romance? The race is on to find the truth.
Read it if you love: cold cases, forensic anthropology, and unraveling lies that span generations.
Book 3: Last One Alive
A serial killer is on the hunt for the one victim who got away.
Dr. Emily Hartford is back in Chicago, ready to move forward and leave the past behind, until an unexpected request for help sends her deep into an investigation—and into the path of a killer.
Seventeen months after the Parkman case, Dr. Hartford has returned to Chicago to finish her surgical residency. But when she is contacted out of the blue by Solange McClelland, the only survivor of a decade-old triple homicide, Emily is compelled to dig deeper. She doesn’t know the details of the event but remembers it as one of the few cases her deceased father never solved.
On her thirtieth birthday, Solange opens a long-forgotten safe-deposit box and is entirely baffled by what she finds. Inside are not only painful reminders of a once-happy youth but almost four million dollars—enough to pursue and finally solve the mystery of who brutally murdered her family. It’s been over ten years, and Solange has built a new life in Detroit with her husband, Joseph. But there are certain disturbing questions about her past that she is determined to answer. So she reaches out to the only one who might know something about her family’s deaths and their possibly erroneous death certificates—Dr. Hartford, the daughter of Freeport’s former medical examiner.
Finding it impossible to believe that her scrupulous father made a mistake, Emily joins Solange’s pursuit of the truth, and as subzero temperatures blanket snow-covered Michigan, the two women pursue justice in two very different ways. But lurking nearby in the frigid cold is a crafty, unrepentant killer, determined to finish what he started long ago.
Read it if you love: cat-and-mouse thrillers, cold cases, twisty plots, and high-stakes emotional suspense.
Book 4: Frozen Lives
A missing boy. A grieving mother. A storm that reveals more than footprints.
Once again, Emily she herself pulled back to Freeport during a wintery late March when Jeremiah, the eleven year-old son of her best friend, Jo, goes missing on the frigid shores of Lake Michigan. Emily immediately joins the search for the boy.
To everyone’s relief, Jeremiah turns up days later, alive and unharmed. But tensions remain high, and suspicions of every sort continue to grow. Emily observes Jo’s marriage teetering on the brink of disaster. Jeremiah’s account of his abduction doesn’t add up and Emily worries about Jo’s unraveling marriage. Jeremiah’s recovery, it turns out, is not the end of their terrifying tale. It’s only the beginning …
For moving among them is a devious, malevolent force. Sowing panic while seeking to fulfill his own twisted needs, this wolf in sheep’s clothing leaves a trail of rack and ruin, negligent not only for any damages left in his wake … but the bodies he leaves behind.
Read it if you love: raw emotion, high stakes chase, weather-as-metaphor, strong family ties, and the slow burn of unresolved love and loss.
And now…
Book 5: What Darkness Does (Coming October 28!)
Emily Hartford is about to confront her most harrowing case yet.
Called in to investigate after the dead body of a young mother is found floating in a Michigan lake, Freeport coroner Emily Hartford quickly determines that Samantha Browdey was murdered. Among the many questions circling this horrifying event is one that yanks hard on Emily’s heartstrings: Where is Samantha’s infant daughter? Working alongside police detective Ishkode Aditson, Emily becomes ferociously determined to find the missing baby, Brooklyn.
At the same time, Emily’s longtime boyfriend Nick Larsen has reappeared—after being missing, presumed dead, for over a year. But Nick has changed. Badly injured and severely traumatized, the ex-cop is a different man, one who has endured the unimaginable and buried his secrets deep. Nick has a long road ahead … but he’s not a patient man, and catching a sadistic killer seems like good enough therapy to him.
Emily has her doubts, but what’s clear is that a cruel killer’s reign of terror must be stopped, one way or another. Their foe is formidable, if only because he’s increasingly bold and brutally reckless. To catch this monster, Nick must battle his own demons, while Emily puts the puzzle pieces together and they must face a brutal killer while battling personal demons that just won’t die.
Preorder now: What Darkness Does – Amazon Link
Why I Love Writing This Series
The Coroner’s Daughter Mysteries have always been about more than murder. They’re about grief. Healing. Belonging. Legacy. They’re about how we survive what breaks us, and how sometimes, we don’t.
Emily is a complex character. She’s a woman rooted in science but shaped by loss. She’s not a perfect heroine, she’s human. She’s a daughter, a lover, a coroner, a friend, a sister and aunt. And every book in this series digs deeper into how those roles overlap, complicate, and strengthen her.
Freeport, the fictional town where the series is set, is inspired by the small-town Midwest village where I grew up in. It’s cozy, yes, but also full of tension. Because in small towns, nothing stays buried forever.
Want to Start Writing Your Own Crime Series?
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Final Word
Whether you’ve been with Emily since Book 1 or are just meeting her now… thank you.
Your support means everything.
And I can’t wait for you to read (or listen to!) What Darkness Does.
Buckle up, this one goes deep.
🖤
Jennifer
