In 2004, she began the first of more than two dozen collaborations with best-selling author James Patterson, co-writing 4th of July for the Women’s Murder Club series. Paetro explains in an interview that she and Patterson (who had also worked in advertising before becoming a full-time writer) had known each other since the 1970s. According to British newspaper The Sunday Times, of authors with the most titles to be at number one on The Sunday Times bestseller list over the past forty years, she ranks #16 with eleven separate titles in the #1 position.