Order of Book Series
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Alan Bradley Books in Order

Alan Bradley has written 18 books, published between 1989 and 2026. The first book is Ms Holmes of Baker Street: The Truth About Sherlock (1989) and the newest is Numb Were the Beadsman's Fingers (2026). Publication order is the reading order below. 13 of the 18 books listed here are in the Flavia de Luce series, which has its own page: Flavia de Luce books in order.

Books
18
Published
1989–2026
Confirmed
15 of 18 titles
Pages on record
4,495 in 13 of 18 books
Reading time
75–112 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 4,495 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 13 of 18 titles with a page count on record.

See all 18 books in order Printable Alan Bradley checklist

Alan Bradley (October 10, 1938 to May 18, 2026) was a Canadian mystery writer and the creator of Flavia de Luce. The Flavia de Luce series began with The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (2009). Bradley's 18 catalogued books start earlier, with the non-fiction Ms Holmes of Baker Street: The Truth About Sherlock (1989), and end with Numb Were the Beadsman's Fingers (2026). Murder, investigation, girls and England are among the subjects.

Flavia de Luce, the central character of Alan Bradley's mystery series, is an 11-year-old girl with a passion for chemistry who investigates crimes in 1950s England using her knowledge of poisons. She lives with her unusual family in a large countryside house and rides a bicycle named Gladys around the village as she uncovers secrets tied to each case.

How many Alan Bradley books are there?

Alan Bradley has 18 books, released between 1989 and 2026. 13 of them belong to the Flavia de Luce series.

Alan Bradley Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 18 Alan Bradley books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.

  1. Cover of Ms Holmes of Baker Street: The Truth About Sherlock by Alan Bradley, book 1 of the Alan Bradley Non-Fiction series
  2. Cover of The Shoebox Bible by Alan Bradley, book 2 of the Alan Bradley Non-Fiction series (2006)
  3. Cover of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley, book 1 of the Flavia de Luce series (2009)
  4. Cover of The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley, book 2 of the Flavia de Luce series (2010)
  5. Cover of A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley, book 3 of the Flavia de Luce series (2011)
  6. Cover of I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley, book 4 of the Flavia de Luce series (2011)
  7. Cover of Speaking from Among the Bones by Alan Bradley, book 5 of the Flavia de Luce series (2012)
  8. Cover of The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley, book 6 of the Flavia de Luce series (2014)
  9. Cover of As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley, book 8 of the Flavia de Luce series (2015)
  10. Cover of As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley (2016)
  11. Cover of Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd by Alan Bradley, book 9 of the Flavia de Luce series (2016)
  12. Cover of Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd by Alan Bradley (2017)
  13. Cover of The Grave's a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley, book 10 of the Flavia de Luce series (2017)
  14. Cover of The Grave's a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley (2018)
  15. Cover of The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley, book 11 of the Flavia de Luce series (2019)
  1. 1
    Ms Holmes of Baker Street: The Truth About SherlockAlan Bradley Non-Fiction #11989 · 205 pages · confirmed 3/4
    1989205
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    The Shoebox BibleAlan Bradley Non-Fiction #22006 · 181 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2006181
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    The Sweetness at the Bottom of the PieFlavia de Luce #12009 · 400 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2009400
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    The Weed That Strings the Hangman's BagFlavia de Luce #22010 · 364 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2010364
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    A Red Herring Without MustardFlavia de Luce #32011 · 399 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2011399
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    I Am Half-Sick of ShadowsFlavia de Luce #42011 · 297 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2011297
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    Speaking from Among the BonesFlavia de Luce #52012 · 378 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2012378
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    The Dead in Their Vaulted ArchesFlavia de Luce #62014 · 336 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2014336
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 9
    The Curious Case of the Copper CorpseFlavia de Luce #72014 · confirmed 3/4
    2014–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 10
    As Chimney Sweepers Come to DustFlavia de Luce #82015 · 392 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2015392
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 11
    As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust2016 · 423 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2016423
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 12
    Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'dFlavia de Luce #92016 · confirmed 3/4
    2016–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 13
    Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd2017 · 368 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2017368
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 14
    The Grave's a Fine and Private PlaceFlavia de Luce #102017 · confirmed 3/4
    2017–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  15. 15
    The Grave's a Fine and Private Place2018 · 400 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2018400
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  16. 16
    The Golden Tresses of the DeadFlavia de Luce #112019 · 352 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2019352
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  17. 17
    What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth RustFlavia de Luce #122024 · confirmed 4/4
    2024–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  18. 18
    Numb Were the Beadsman's FingersFlavia de Luce #132026 · confirmed 3/4
    2026–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Alan Bradley series in order

The series linked below has its own reading-order page.

Alan Bradley books grouped by series

Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.

Alan Bradley Non-Fiction

2 books

2 titles published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.

Standalone books

3 books

3 Alan Bradley titles here are not listed as part of any series.

Alan Bradley Books in Chronological Order

By publication date, the Alan Bradley books run from Ms Holmes of Baker Street: The Truth About Sherlock (1989) to Numb Were the Beadsman's Fingers (2026), the sequence in the table above. No separate story order is recorded for Alan Bradley in the book listings this catalogue merges, so publication order is the only order on record.

Do you have to read Alan Bradley books in order?

You only need to read Alan Bradley books in order within the Flavia de Luce series, which holds 13 of the 18 Alan Bradley books listed here. The numbered table above gives every book in publication order.

Where to start with Alan Bradley

Start with The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (2009), the first Flavia de Luce book. The earliest catalogued title overall is Ms Holmes of Baker Street: The Truth About Sherlock (1989).

What is the newest Alan Bradley book?

Numb Were the Beadsman's Fingers (2026) is the newest Alan Bradley book released so far.

Is there a new Alan Bradley book coming?

No next Alan Bradley book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Alan Bradley at a glance

Died
Alan Bradley died in 2026, according to Wikidata.
Last book
The newest book credited to Alan Bradley on record dates from 2026.
Release pace
Alan Bradley books have appeared about one every 2 years on average.
Length
4,495 pages across the 13 of 18 books with a recorded length, a median of 368 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Alan Bradley books, 13 of 18, were published in the 2010s.
Corroboration
1 of the 18 titles appear in all four independent book listings, and 15 in at least three.

What the Alan Bradley books are about

14 of the 18 Alan Bradley books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: murder is tagged on 5 of 14. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.