Entertainment Weekly calls ONE KICK: "A Summer Must Read."

 

MAN-EATERS vol 1

Mar 2019

Adolescent girls can be real monsters. Maude is twelve—which is just about that age when some girls turn into panthers. As her detective dad investigates a series of strange mauling attacks, Maude begins to worry that she might be a flesh-eating wildcat. From the creative team that brought you the groundbreaking Eisner-nominated series Mockingbird, this trade paperback collects the first story arc of the unconventional coming-of-age tale—including the informative survival handbook, “CAT FIGHT! A BOYS’ GUIDE TO DANGEROUS CATS” and all-new never-before-published extras! Collects MAN-EATERS #1-4

More info here: https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/man-eaters-vol-1-tp

GONE

Feb 2019

ONE KICK was made into a TV showing starring Chris Noth, Leven Rambin, and Danny Pino, so S&S published this TV tie-in paperback.  It's called GONE.  But it's really ONE KICK, with Chris Noth on the cover. 

I love the fact that I have a TV tie-in paperback.  

Seriously.

Pinch me. 

MAN-EATERS vol 2

Jan 2019

MAN-EATERS trade volume 2 collects issues #5-8 of MAN-EATERS.

You can pre-order now.

 

 

Comic books

Jun 2016

I write a monthly comic book called MOCKINGBIRD for Marvel. But you can't buy it here.  You have to go to your local comic book store.  (They are nice.  Tell them I said hi.)  

The next issue  of Mockingbird (#4) comes out on June 29th.   

 

ONE KICK - Hardcover

Aug 2014

Famously kidnapped at age six, Kick captured America’s hearts when she was rescued five years later. Trained as a marksman, lock picker, escape artist and bomb maker by her abductor, Kick continues to expand her strange skill set after her release: mastering martial arts, boxing, knife throwing, and host of other talents. 

She has trained herself to be safe. Now twenty-one, she is approached by an enigmatic and wealthy former weapons dealer named John Bishop. Bishop uses his fortune and contacts to track down missing children. He wants Kick to help him—and he won’t take no for an answer.

With lives hanging in the balance, Kick is set to be the crusader she has always imagined herself. Little does she know that the answers she and Bishop seek are hidden in one of the few places she doesn’t want to navigate—the dark corners of her own mind.

 

ONE KICK

Aug 2014

Famously kidnapped at age six, Kick captured America’s hearts when she was rescued five years later. Trained as a marksman, lock picker, escape artist and bomb maker by her abductor, Kick continues to expand her strange skill set after her release: mastering martial arts, boxing, knife throwing, and host of other talents. 

She has trained herself to be safe. Now twenty-one, she is approached by an enigmatic and wealthy former weapons dealer named John Bishop. Bishop uses his fortune and contacts to track down missing children. He wants Kick to help him—and he won’t take no for an answer.

With lives hanging in the balance, Kick is set to be the crusader she has always imagined herself. Little does she know that the answers she and Bishop seek are hidden in one of the few places she doesn’t want to navigate—the dark corners of her own mind.

Let Me Go

Aug 2013

It's Halloween weekend AND Archie's birthday.  (He is such a Scorpio.)  Guess who's planning a birthday surprise?  Gretchen Lowell is back, and she's wearing a costume.  Archie finally learns what the hell is up with his neighbor, Rachel.  Susan gets to go to a masquerade party, and it totally sucks.  And she gets kidnapped.  Again.  This is my favorite book yet.  And I'm not just saying that because I want you to pre-order it RIGHT NOW.  I'm saying that because it really is everything I love all rolled into one.  To all of you who missed Gretchen in The Night Season, this one is for you.  For the rest of you: I offer one sentence.  "Det. Archie Sheridan gets his first lap dance, and everyone almost dies." 

Reviews (click to expand)

 

BOOKLIST (starred review), by Bill Ott

It figures that nonpareil serial killer Gretchen Lowell, on the loose since Kill You Twice (2012), would pick Halloween for a return trip to Portland, Oregon. After all, with all those revelers adorned in Beauty Killer masks, blond wigs, and red lipstick, no one will be able to tell the real Gretchen from the imitations. Except police detective Archie Sheridan, of course, on whose battered body Gretchen has done some of her best work, and who still can’t get Gretchen out of both his nightmares and sexual fantasies. But Archie has a lot on his mind. A DEA agent has been murdered, and it looks like the long-running sting operation aimed at a local drug lord may be in jeopardy. Hoping to learn more, Archie crashes the drug lord’s Halloween costume party, where he gets a late-night visit from Gretchen (or was that part just a fantasy?). Slowly Archie realizes that Gretchen has been stage-managing much of his recent life from afar, all leading up to a series of birthday surprises that put Archie’s pal, punky reporter Susan Ward, in grave danger. But here’s the thing: Cain knows she needs to keep playing with the dynamic between Gretchen and Archie—and even with our view of Gretchen—if this series is going to stay both fresh and exciting, and she always finds new ways to do it. Gretchen Lowell isn’t just the most fascinating villain (and certainly the most appealing serial killer) to appear in crime fiction in many, many years; she’s also becoming a multifaceted character capable of engendering a much wider range of emotions than one would expect of somebody who enjoys carving up spleens.

HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Cain’s previous Archie Sheridan and Gretchen Lowell thrillers have routinely appeared on the New York Times bestseller lists, and the legion of fans who can’t get enough of the Beauty Killer will be lining up for more.

— Bill Ott

 

 

Kill You Twice

Aug 2012

Gretchen is back. She confesses to an almost twenty year old murder, which leads Archie on a collision course with Gretchen’s past. Also, there are people being skinned and set on fire in Portland, Oregon. But what else is new, right? Seriously. Portland = Very Dangerous. (This book is for all the people who love Gretchen.)

Reviews (click to expand)

Masterful on every level.

--Booklist (STARRED review)

Utterly engrossing.

--Publisher’s Weekly (STARRED review)

The Night Season - Hardcover

Mar 2011

Gretchen is in jail, Archie and Susan are on the trail of a new serial killer, and Portland is flooding!  A major character is poisoned.  A major character drowns.  And a major character gets hypothermia.  So there is a lot of derring-do.  That said, this is a good book for those of you who are new to the series.  You can read it without having read the other three, and there is less stabbing in this one.  Gretchen fans, do not be alarmed.  She's in this book.  Just a little.  And she'll be back in book five when the stabbing continues.  This book also features a lot of good tips that may save you from drowning at some point in the future.  An excellent investment in your safety. 

The Night Season

Mar 2011

Gretchen is in jail, Archie and Susan are on the trail of a new serial killer, and Portland is flooding!  A major character is poisoned.  A major character drowns.  And a major character gets hypothermia.  So there is a lot of derring-do.  That said, this is a good book for those of you who are new to the series.  You can read it without having read the other three, and there is less stabbing in this one.  Gretchen fans, do not be alarmed.  She's in this book.  Just a little.  And she'll be back in book five when the stabbing continues.  This book also features a lot of good tips that may save you from drowning at some point in the future.  An excellent investment in your safety. 

Evil at Heart - Hardcover

Sep 2009

Det. Archie Sheridan is in the nuthouse.  Serial killer Gretchen Lowell is still at large.  That doesn’t seem fair, does it?  Bodies start turning up.  But is Gretchen to blame, or is it a wily bunch of psychotic followers?  Archie and Susan are on the case.  Voted one of Amazon’s “Best Books of 2009… So Far.”

Reviews (click to expand)

“Popular entertainment — the kind that mixes crime, horror, and even a little comedy — just doesn’t get much better than this.” 
--Booklist (STARRED review)

"Cain delivers her usual blend of organ-ripping, blood-soaked gore and compelling flawed heroes—and antiheroes."
--Publishers Weekly

"Fast-paced and very creepy, Evil at Heart is a compulsive thriller read. You won't be able to put it down, and once you do, you won't want to turn off the lights!"
--The Crime Scene, Borders

"Author Chelsea Cain wields her sharp prose with a calculated cool that would make her great creation beam with pride...This is a terrific book...It's horrid, and anything but horrible."
--The Courier Journal

Evil at Heart

Sep 2009

Det. Archie Sheridan is in the nuthouse.  Serial killer Gretchen Lowell is still at large.  That doesn’t seem fair, does it?  Bodies start turning up.  But is Gretchen to blame, or is it a wily bunch of psychotic followers?  Archie and Susan are on the case.  Voted one of Amazon’s “Best Books of 2009… So Far.”

Reviews (click to expand)

“Popular entertainment — the kind that mixes crime, horror, and even a little comedy — just doesn’t get much better than this.”
--Booklist (STARRED review)

"Cain delivers her usual blend of organ-ripping, blood-soaked gore and compelling flawed heroes—and antiheroes."
--Publishers Weekly

"Fast-paced and very creepy, Evil at Heart is a compulsive thriller read. You won't be able to put it down, and once you do, you won't want to turn off the lights!"
--The Crime Scene, Borders

"Author Chelsea Cain wields her sharp prose with a calculated cool that would make her great creation beam with pride...This is a terrific book...It's horrid, and anything but horrible."
--The Courier Journal

Sweetheart - Hard Cover

Sep 2008

Serial killer Gretchen Lowell escapes.  ’Nuff said.

Reviews (click to expand)

"Steamy and perverse."
--The New York Times Book Review

"This is one of the best series in the contemporary thriller genre."
--USA Today

Sweetheart

Sep 2008

Serial killer Gretchen Lowell escapes.  ’Nuff said.

ALSO available in paperback and as an audio book.

Reviews (click to expand)

"Steamy and perverse."
--The New York Times Book Review

"This is one of the best series in the contemporary thriller genre."
--USA Today

Heartsick - Hard Cover

Sep 2007

Det. Archie Sheridan led the Beauty Killer Task Force for ten years, before the Beauty Killer (Gretchen Lowell) caught him, tortured him for ten days and then mysteriously let him go and turned herself in.  Now it’s two years later and Archie, addicted to pain pills and still obsessed with Gretchen, is called off medical leave to hunt a second serial killer.  Pink-haired girl journalist Susan Ward is assigned to profile Archie.  She knows he’s hiding something.  But what?  (It’s bigger than a breadbox.)

Reviews (click to expand)

"In her dynamite first thriller, Cain introduces one of the most seductive and original psychopaths since Hannibal Lecter." 
--Entertainment Weekly

Heartsick

Sep 2007

Det. Archie Sheridan led the Beauty Killer Task Force for ten years, before the Beauty Killer (Gretchen Lowell) caught him, tortured him for ten days and then mysteriously let him go and turned herself in.  Now it’s two years later and Archie, addicted to pain pills and still obsessed with Gretchen, is called off medical leave to hunt a second serial killer.  Pink-haired girl journalist Susan Ward is assigned to profile Archie.  She knows he’s hiding something.  But what?  (It’s bigger than a breadbox.)

 

Reviews (click to expand)

"In her dynamite first thriller, Cain introduces one of the most seductive and original psychopaths since Hannibal Lecter."
--Entertainment Weekly

Does This Cape Make Me Look Fat?

May 2006

This is a funny book.  Not gory at all.  My husband and I co-wrote it and my friend Lia Miternique did the illustrations.  It has all sorts of useful hints for the introspective caped crusader.  Practical Costume Concerns, Advice for Sidekicks, What to do if Your Parent is a Super Villain, that sort of thing.  A send-up of both comics and self-help books.

Reviews (click to expand)

"Every one of the 19 brief chapters is absolutely hysterical."
--Ink19

Recommended gift for Father’s Day
--People Magazine

The Hippie Handbook

Jul 2004

Everything you need to know to be a hippie, including How to Macrame, How to Milk a Goat, and How to Throw a Frisbee.  Illustrated by my friend Lia Miternique.  (She also designed the website you’re looking at.)

Confessions of a Teen Sleuth

Jan 2004

This book is written from the point of view of Nancy Drew, looking back on her life and setting the record straight.  Also features lots of cameos from other series characters, including Cherry Ames, the Hardy Boys and Encyclopedia Brown.  This book is intended for grown-ups, not because it’s terribly risqué, but because grown-ups will get the jokes.  A perfect gift for anyone who’s ever been a Nancy Drew fan.  Your mom, for instance.  Or Sandra Sotomayor. 

Reviews (click to expand)

"[A] loving parody… breezy fun with a heart of gold."
--The Onion

"Chelsea Cain's gleeful parody affectionately hits all the formulaic high points of a Nancy Drew mystery." 
--The New York Times Book Review

”A wonderful send-up of the Nancy Drew novels… tremendously entertaining reading.”
--Nancy Pearl, author of Book Lust

Wild Child

Oct 1999

An anthology of essays written by women who grew up in the counter culture.  I edited this book, and also have an essay in it about going to my first (and only) Rainbow Gathering.

Dharma Girl

Oct 1996

My first book, written when I was twenty-two.  DHARMA GIRL tells the story of a road trip I took to Iowa with my mom and our visit to the farm where we lived on a hippie commune a lifetime earlier.  This book is flawed and pretty novice in many ways, but it will always be my favorite.

 

Out of print. Used copies available on various websites.