Set in San Francisco, the novels follow a group of women from different professions relating to investigating crime as they work together to solve murders.

The main characters were originally Lindsay Boxer (police officer), Cindy Thomas (reporter), Claire Washburn (medical examiner), and Jill Bernhardt, but later in the series, defense attorney, Yuki Castellano, is introduced.

[3] A New York Times article states that Patterson set The Women's Murder Club in San Francisco to gain more fans on the West Coast, where competitor John Grisham had been leading in book sales.

[6] In 2007, the books were adapted to a television police procedural drama by the same name,[7] which ran from October 12, 2007, through May 13, 2008 and starred Angie Harmon.

Four games based on the books have been released for the PC – #1: Death in Scarlet,[8] #2: A Darker Shade of Grey,[9] #3: Twice in a Blue Moon,[10] and #4: Little Black Lies.