[1][2][3] Her first novel, Blindsighted (2001), was published in 27 languages[4] and made the Crime Writers' Association's Dagger Award shortlist for "Best Thriller Debut" of 2001.

[10] Characters from Slaughter's two main series, Grant County and Will Trent (Atlanta), were brought together in her novels Undone (2009), titled Genesis internationally, and Broken (2010).

Slaughter is best known for her Grant County series: Set in the fictional town of Heartsdale, Georgia (in the fictional Grant County), the narrative takes place from the perspective of three main characters: Sara Linton, the town's pediatrician and part-time coroner; Jeffrey Tolliver, Linton's husband and the chief of police; and his subordinate, detective Lena Adams.

So far, Trent has appeared in Triptych, Fractured, Undone, Broken, Fallen, Criminal, Unseen, The Kept Woman, The Last Widow, The Silent Wife, After That Night, and This is Why We Lied, as well as the novellas Snatched, Busted, and Cleaning the Gold.

ABC ordered a pilot episode starring Ramón Rodríguez as Trent and Erika Christensen as Angie, his girlfriend.

[18] Her book Pieces of Her reached number 2 on the New York Times Bestseller list, the week it was released in late August 2018.