Maxine Paetro

Maxine Paetro is an American author best known for her collaborations with James Patterson on the Women’s Murder Club, Private, and Confession series. Paetro worked in advertising from 1975 to 1987 as a recruiter and EVP creative department manager at several large New York City advertising agencies. She made her debut as an author in 1979 when she released How to Put Your Book Together and Get a Job in Advertising.

The best place to start is the Women's Murder Club series, the earliest of Maxine Paetro's multi-book series: it opens with 1st to Die (2000) and runs to 27 books across 2000–2027, ending with 27 Stars (2027). Maxine Paetro's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Maxine Paetro has 61 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1986 and 2027. 55 of them belong to 4 named series — the largest being the Women's Murder Club series with 27 books — and 6 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Maxine Paetro's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Women's Murder Club (2000–2027, 27 books), Confessions (2012–2015, 4 books) and Bookshots: Women's Murder Club (2016–2023, 3 books).

This guide splits Maxine Paetro's 61 books into 4 named series and 6 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Women's Murder Club (27 books, 2000–2027); Confessions (4 books, 2012–2015); Bookshots: Women's Murder Club (3 books, 2016–2023); Private (21 books, 2010–2026).

This guide splits Maxine Paetro's 61 books into 4 named series and 6 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Women's Murder Club (27 books, 2000–2027); Confessions (4 books, 2012–2015); Bookshots: Women's Murder Club (3 books, 2016–2023); Private (21 books, 2010–2026).