Let’s be honest – once you fell down the Housemaid rabbit hole, there was no climbing back out.
Freida McFadden’s bestselling series follows Millie Calloway, a young woman with a troubled past who takes a job as a live-in housekeeper for the wealthy Winchester family…and discovers that their picture-perfect life is hiding something deeply sinister. What makes the series so addictive is the way McFadden plays with perspective, slowly peeling back layers until you realize that nothing—and no one—is what they first appeared to be. The series has now sold millions of copies, dominated the bestseller lists for years, and just made the leap to the big screen: the 2025 film adaptation starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried grossed over $385 million worldwide and already has a sequel in development. If that doesn’t tell you everything about the hold this series has on people, nothing will.
So. You’ve read all the books. You’ve seen the movie. You need more. Here at Binge This Book, that’s our specialty: finding the authors you should be reading but maybe you haven’t found them yet. Today, we have two of them for you.
Jeneva Rose and the Detective Kimberley King Series
If you haven’t yet discovered Jeneva Rose, prepare yourself – because this is exactly the kind of find we live for at Binge This Book.
Rose is a #1 New York Times bestselling author but her Detective Kimberley King series, which she writes under the pen name J.R. Adler, is a hidden gem that deserves far more attention than it gets. If you love The Housemaid for its fierce, complicated female protagonist navigating a world full of danger and deception, Kimberley King is going to feel like a kindred spirit.
The series kicks off with Dead Woman Crossing, inspired by true events and set in a small Oklahoma town. Kimberley is a detective haunted by a serial killer she never caught in New York, who relocates to what she hopes will be a quieter life, only to find herself investigating the brutal murder of a friend. She’s smart, relentless, and quietly carrying more than anyone knows, all while raising her young daughter as a single mother. Sound familiar? Like Millie in The Housemaid, Kimberley is a woman doing extraordinary things in circumstances stacked against her, and you root for her from the very first page.
What readers are saying:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “She’s done it again!! I read this book in 24 hours – it truly is UNPUTDOWNABLE. We need more Kimberley King!”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Detective Kimberley King kept me on the edge of my seat throughout this book and I could not turn the pages fast enough. I highly recommend reading Last Day Alive, and everything else by Jeneva Rose.”
Start with Dead Woman Crossing and you will absolutely not stop there.
(Available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited)
AJ Scudiere and The Hangman’s Shadow Series
Now, if you want to go deeper into the indie author world, we are thrilled to introduce you to AJ Scudiere and The Hangman’s Shadow, a series that deserves to be far better known than it currently is.
Scudiere is a USA Today bestselling indie author who has been quietly building one of the most impressive bodies of suspense fiction around for years, winning multiple Best Suspense and Best Fiction of the Year awards along the way. She grew up the daughter of a physicist and a lawyer, and it shows in the way she constructs her plots: by the time you reach the final page, you realize you were holding all the pieces from the start and somehow still didn’t see it coming.
The Hangman’s Shadow series kicks off with Bad Name, following three women who are each carrying something dark and unusual. Jesse Nash is a determined investigator who knows a ten-year-old cold case is more sinister than anyone believes. Georgia Dunham is searching for her birth mother—a woman who happens to be a missing assassin. And Cindy Baker has a gift she didn’t ask for: the memories of the dead find their way into her mind whether she wants them to or not. When these three reluctant allies collide, they open a door to something far more dangerous than any of them bargained for.
Sound familiar? The Housemaid series works because McFadden gives us women in impossible situations, trying to survive systems designed to work against them. Scudiere does the same thing, but expands the scope: her women are investigators, survivors, and unwilling psychics, fighting crimes that no one else even believes are crimes. The series blends cold case mystery, forensic investigation, psychological suspense, and unexpected supernatural elements in a way that feels fresh and totally unputdownable. With four books now in the series, you can binge the whole thing and still want more.
What readers are saying:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “AJ has done what I have now come to expect from her – written a book that pulls you in, makes you say I think I figured it out, only to be proven wrong time and time again.”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “I love the way AJ writes. It’s immediate, fast-paced, and addictive. Her stories progress quickly and are complex. I care about the characters – I want to know more about them, I want to read more about them.”
Start with Bad Name and clear your schedule.
Not a Kindle reader? Grab Bad Name on Kobo (in Kobo Plus) or start the Hangman’s Shadow series on any major retailer!