E.C.R. Lorac Books in Order: All 72 books (1931

How many E.C.R. Lorac books are there?

E.C.R. Lorac has 72 books, released between 1931 and 2021. They include 3 series and 3 titles listed outside any series.

E.C.R. Lorac Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 72 E.C.R. Lorac 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.

Cover of Death On The Oxford Road by E.C.R. Lorac, book 5 of the Robert MacDonald series (1933)

Cover of Post After Post-Mortem by E.C.R. Lorac, book 11 of the Robert MacDonald series (1936)

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E.C.R. Lorac 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.

Robert MacDonald in order

40 books

1. The Murder on the Burrows
2. The Affair on Thor's Head
3. The Greenwell Mystery
4. The Case of Colonel Marchand
5. Death On The Oxford Road
6. Murder in St. John's Wood
7. Murder in Chelsea
8. The Organ Speaks
9. Crime Counter Crime
10. A Pall for a Painter
11. Post After Post-Mortem
12. These Names Make Clues
and 28 more in the table above

Julian Rivers in order

13 books

1. A Double for Detection
2. The Striped Suitcase
3. Clue Sinister
4. Over the Garden Wall
5. Copy for Crime
6. Upstairs, downstairs
7. It\'s Her Own Funeral
10. A Policeman At the Door
11. Impact of Evidence
12. Murder Among Members
13. Rigging the Evidence
14. The Double Turn
and 1 more in the table above

British Library Crime Classics in order

10 books

33. Death of an Author
38. Bats in the Belfry
53. Fell Murder
54. Checkmate to Murder
55. Murder by Matchlight
57. Fire in the Thatch
64. Crossed Skis
67. Murder in the Mill-Race / Speak Justly of the Dead
68. Murder As a Fine Art
99. Two-Way Murder

Inspector Ryvet in order

6 books

1. Triple Death
2. The Missing Rope
3. Murder at Mornington
4. The Case of the First-Class Carriage
5. When the Devil Was Sick
6. Death in the Diving Pool

Standalone books

3 books

3 E.C.R. Lorac titles here are not listed as part of any series.

Do you have to read E.C.R. Lorac books in order?

You only need to read E.C.R. Lorac books in order within each series: the books listed here span 3 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.

Where to start with E.C.R. Lorac

Start with The Murder on the Burrows (1931), the earliest published title.

What is the newest E.C.R. Lorac book?

Two-Way Murder (2021) is the newest E.C.R. Lorac book released so far.

Is there a new E.C.R. Lorac book coming?

No next E.C.R. Lorac book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

E.C.R. Lorac at a glance

Paused: No new E.C.R. Lorac title has appeared for 5 years. The last was published in 2021.
Release pace: E.C.R. Lorac books have appeared about one a year on average.
Length: 2,099 pages across the 9 of 72 books with a recorded length, a median of 231 pages each.
Busiest decade: Most E.C.R. Lorac books, 27 of 72, were published in the 1950s.

What the E.C.R. Lorac books are about

12 of the 72 E.C.R. Lorac books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: police is tagged on 6 of 12. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.

Police 6 of 12 books
English literature 5 of 12 books
Fiction in English 3 of 12 books
Mystery & detective 2 of 12 books
Investigation 2 of 12 books
World War, 1939-1945 2 of 12 books