Shari Lapena is a Canadian author of domestic suspense novels, best known for her 2016 thriller “The Couple Next Door”, which sold four million copies worldwide. A former lawyer and English teacher, she has published ten thrillers and two earlier comic novels.
Lapena was born in 1960 and worked as a lawyer and then as an English teacher before turning to fiction. Her first two books were comedies, published by the small Canadian press Brindle and Glass. “Things Go Flying” (2008) was shortlisted for the Sunburst Award in 2009, and “Happiness Economics” (2011) was a finalist for the Stephen Leacock Award in 2012. Both were reissued by Doubleday Canada in ebook and audio in 2024.
Her switch to suspense came with “The Couple Next Door”. Anne and Marco Conti leave their baby, Cora, at home while they attend a dinner party at the house next door, and a crime committed that night turns suspicion on the parents themselves. The novel was WHSmith’s Book of the Year in 2016 and the number one adult fiction title in the UK for 2017. Wikipedia reports that a limited series based on it was in development at Paramount+ as of 2026.
Lapena has since published a thriller almost every year, each a standalone story: “A Stranger in the House”, “An Unwanted Guest”, “Someone We Know”, “The End of Her”, “Not a Happy Family”, “Everyone Here Is Lying”, “What Have You Done?” and “She Didn’t See It Coming”. According to her own website, all of them have been bestsellers for the New York Times, the Sunday Times and the Globe and Mail, four have been Richard and Judy Book Club picks, and her books have been sold into forty territories.
Her tenth thriller, “Getting Away with Murder”, was published in July 2026. It concerns Jill and Ted, a New York couple who decide that the death of a wealthy relative is the way to keep their brownstone after a bad investment. Lapena writes full time from a farm in Ontario, where she lives with her husband.
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
| Things Go Flying | 2008 |
| Happiness Economics | 2011 |
| The Couple Next Door | 2016 |
| A Stranger in the House | 2017 |
| An Unwanted Guest | 2018 |
| Someone We Know | 2019 |
| The End of Her | 2020 |
| Not a Happy Family | 2021 |
| Everyone Here Is Lying | 2023 |
| What Have You Done? | 2024 |
| She Didn’t See It Coming | 2025 |
| Getting Away with Murder | 2026 |