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Series · mystery

Elise King

by Fiona Barton

The Elise King series by Fiona Barton has 2 books and is best read in publication order, starting with Local Gone Missing (2022).

Books
2 books
First published
2022
Status
ongoing
Last checked

Start here: Local Gone Missing (2022) — then read straight through in publication order.

Book one

Cover of Local Gone Missing, the first book in Elise King

Local Gone Missing (2022)

Reading order

The order the books were released — the default way to read the series.

  1. Local Gone Missing

    Novel

    View book

  2. Talking to Strangers

    Novel

    View book

About the Elise King series

Fiona Barton's second series swaps her journalist protagonist for a police detective: Elise King, investigating crime in an English seaside community where longtime locals and wealthy weekenders eye each other with open suspicion. Local Gone Missing (2022) opens the series with a man's disappearance during a town festival; Talking to Strangers (2024) follows a Valentine's Day murder that draws in a reporter running her own parallel investigation -- a structural echo of the dual reporter/detective perspective Barton built her career on in the Kate Waters trilogy.

Though Elise King is a police officer rather than a journalist, Barton keeps her interest in how a community's public face and private truths pull apart under investigation -- now viewed from inside the incident room rather than the press pack outside it.

Frequently asked questions

How many Elise King books are there?

Two so far: Local Gone Missing (2022) and Talking to Strangers (2024).

Is Elise King connected to Fiona Barton's Kate Waters series?

No shared characters -- it's a separate series with a police detective protagonist rather than a journalist, though both share Barton's interest in how a community's public and private truths diverge.

Is the Elise King series ongoing?

As of August 2026, no third book has been announced, but the series has not been described as concluded either.

Reading order last verified .