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Waterman & Stark

by Gregg Olsen

The Waterman & Stark series by Gregg Olsen has 6 known books (6 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with Victim Six (2010). The latest book with a fully recorded publication date is The Bone Box.

Books
6 known books (5 novels + 1 novella)
Published
6
First published
2010
Status
completed
Shelved under
Mystery & Crime
Last checked

Start here: Victim Six (2010) — then read straight through in publication order.

Book one

Cover of Victim Six

Victim Six (2010)

Reading order

The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.

  1. Victim Six

    Novel

    Victim Six (2010, 518 pages) opens the series by introducing forensic pathologist Birdy Waterman and sheriff's detective Kendall Stark in Kitsap County, Washington, pairing her reading of what the bodies won't say with his legwork among living witnesses. Closer Than Blood follows.

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  2. Closer Than Blood

    Novel

    Closer Than Blood (2011, 432 pages) is the second Waterman & Stark novel, continuing Gregg Olsen's small-town Pacific Northwest procedural with Birdy's forensic patience set against Kendall's dogged detective work, between Victim Six and The Bone Box.

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  3. The Bone Box

    Novella

    The Bone Box, a short 64-page novella from April 2012, is the third entry by publication even though fan sites often number it '0.5' for its in-story chronology. It works read alongside the first two novels or skipped entirely, since it sets up no plot points the later books depend on; The Girl in the Woods follows.

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  4. The Girl in the Woods

    Novel

    The Girl in the Woods (2014, 416 pages) is the fourth full novel, arriving two years after The Bone Box and continuing the Kitsap County case files that pair Birdy Waterman's forensic work with Kendall Stark's investigations, ahead of Now That She's Gone.

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  5. Now That She's Gone

    Novel

    Now That She's Gone (2015, 320 pages) is the fifth Waterman & Stark entry in Gregg Olsen's Pacific Northwest procedural series, followed by the series' close, Just Try to Stop Me.

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  6. Just Try to Stop Me

    Novel

    Just Try to Stop Me (2016, 320 pages) closes the six-book series, bringing forensic pathologist Birdy Waterman and detective Kendall Stark's cumulative run of Kitsap County cases to its darkest point yet.

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About the Waterman & Stark series

Kitsap County, Washington sits just a ferry ride from Seattle but feels a world apart -- pine-thick, water-bound, and small enough that everyone half-knows everyone else's business. That's the terrain Gregg Olsen works in this series, pairing forensic pathologist Birdy Waterman with sheriff's detective Kendall Stark: Birdy reads what the bodies won't say out loud, Kendall works the living witnesses and the paper trail, and together they take on cases that usually start as something the county wants to believe is an accident.

Olsen came to fiction after two decades writing true crime, and it shows in how these books are built -- procedural detail that reads as researched rather than borrowed from other thrillers, small-town Pacific Northwest atmosphere, and victims who are given enough interior life that their deaths land as losses rather than plot devices. Waterman and Stark are professional partners, not a romance, and the series leans on that dynamic -- her forensic patience against his dogged legwork -- across a run of standalone-ish cases that still build in cumulative darkness toward the final book.

Frequently asked questions

How many books are in the Waterman & Stark series?

Six: five novels and one short novella (The Bone Box), published between 2010 and 2016.

Is Waterman & Stark connected to Gregg Olsen's other detective series?

No -- it's set in fictional Kitsap County and doesn't share characters with his Emily Kenyon, Nicole Foster, or Detective Megan Carpenter series, though all draw on the same Pacific Northwest true-crime sensibility.

Do I need to read The Bone Box?

No. It's a short standalone novella that doesn't set up plot points the later novels depend on -- read it for more time with the characters, or skip straight to the novels.

Is the series finished?

Yes, it concluded with Just Try to Stop Me (2016); Olsen has not continued it since.

Reading order last verified .