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Navigating the Donlea Universe
(in reverse order)

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In Long Time Gone, readers meet Sloan Hastings. Although Sloan is an original character and the protagonist of the story, she studies under renowned forensic pathologist, Dr. Livia Cutty. Readers will know Dr. Cutty from her lead role in The Girl Who Was Taken. Livia also makes a cameo in Don't Believe It and Twenty Years Later.  

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Those Empty Eyes introduces readers to Alex Armstrong. Alex works to solve the murder of her family, and encounters Lane Phillips along the way. Lane is the famed FBI profiler first introduced in Some Choose Darkness as Rory Moore's partner, and who shows up again in The Suicide House. 

We meet the incomparable Avery Mason in Twenty Years Later. Avery works to exonerate a woman who was accused of murder before she perished in the 9/11 terror attacks. Avery's task is tall and requires forensic expertise, so she naturally turns to Dr. Livia Cutty for help. Readers will know Livia from The Girl Who Was Taken, as well as cameos in Don't Believe It and Long Time Gone.   

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 Although The Suicide House is the second book in the Rory Moore/Lane Phillips series, I was careful to write each story so fans could read the books in any order.

Rory and Lane are first introduced in Some Choose Darkness. Lane also appears in Those Empty Eyes, where his skills as an FBI profiler are put to good use. 

If The Suicide House was your first adventure with the savvy and resourceful forensic reconstructionist, Rory Moore, and you would like to read more about her, check out Some Choose Darkness. It fills in some background on where Rory's quirkiness comes from. It’s also a hell of a thrill ride. 

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Readers first meet the crafty and wise detective, Gus Morelli, in Don't Believe It. Gus started out as a secondary character, but quickly took over as a solid co-protagonist during the writing process. Readers loved him so much that I brought him back in The Suicide House to help Rory and Lane solve a murder. But DBI is where readers can discover more about Gus's history, his fight with life, his contempt for people his own age, and how he came to walk on a titanium prosthesis.  

 

Dr. Livia Cutty also makes a cameo in Don't Believe It.

​If you read Don’t Believe It and find yourself intrigued by the brilliant forensic pathologist named Livia Cutty, check out her original story in The Girl Who Was Taken. 

Since the film rights for GIRL were snatched up, the book has found a second life, with sales soaring over the last year and making it one of my most popular novels. I can't wait to see who plays Livia on the big screen.  

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Readers will notice that the town of Summit Lake appears in Don’t Believe It. If you’re curious about the history (and secrets) of that town, you can read the book named after it. Summit Lake is my first novel and many readers’ favorite.  

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My new thriller, GUESS AGAIN, hits bookstore shelves in August 2025. This is truly a standalone story. There is, however, one familiar face that only the most ardent readers of my novels will spot. If you're one of them and figure out who it is and which book they're from, email me and let me know. 

Thanks for reading my books. I’m forever grateful.
 

—Charlie Donlea 

Author Charlie Donlea | Chicago

A Character & Story Guide

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