Five Things I See
A city-wide conspiracy. A killer on the loose. A detective battling her own demons. Everything comes together in Five Things I See, the first installment in a brand-new thrilling police procedural series.
If pain is the price of strength, Grace is one of the strongest people you will ever meet.
Five crime scenes connected by a visible pattern.
A killer terrorizes the citizens of Jacksonville, and the entire police force is focused on cracking the case―but will they be able to stop the murderer before more bodies are found?
Three suspects who all tell a different story.
Homicide detective Grace Hartwell’s knack for reading people has never let her down―until now. Is the killer playing a clever game or is she losing touch with herself?
One determined detective with a taste for justice.
Grace’s life is dedicated to her work. But she has a dark secret―a secret that could jeopardize not only her job but her life . . .
For fans of MICHAEL CONNELLY, LISA REGAN, RUTH WARE, and VAL McDERMID, and the Netflix miniseries Unbelievable―Five Things I See is a fast-paced and twisty thriller with a complex female detective lead.
Out August 4, 2026.
Meet the author
Wendy Church is a Seattle-based author known for fast-paced and sometimes humorous crime fiction novels. Her latest, Five Things I See, is to-date her darkest, and most psychologically complex book that Kirkus referred to as “A textbook case of how to make a police procedural pulse with energy.”
Wendy’s debut, Murder on the Spanish Seas, was named a Booklist Top Ten Debut Mystery/Thriller novel of 2023, and introduces Jesse O’Hara, an introverted and often inebriated woman with a million dollar brain and a ten-cent personality who travels to interesting places and solves crimes, sometimes on purpose. Knife Skills, the first in Wendy’s Shadows of Chicago series, follows a talented chef who is forced to work for the FBI. Knife Skills received a starred review from Kirkus, “Audiences who wish the TV series The Bear could make room for Russian mobsters are in for a treat.”
Wendy’s propulsive novels are informed by her international travel and many careers. She’s been a bartender, tennis pro, management consultant, nonprofit CEO, PhD researcher, and dive bar cleaner. When she’s not writing, doing research, or reading, Wendy spends time with her partner as full time personal valets to a dog and two cats.
I promise to limit the emails and will only send you the really good stuff, like a new short story, or details about upcoming books.
Photo by Monica Depiesse