Order of Book Series
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Jim Kelly Books in Order

Jim Kelly has written 19 books, published between 2002 and 2026. The first book is The Water Clock (2002) and the newest is The American Suspect (2026). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
19
Published
2002–2026
Pages on record
3,497 in 11 of 19 books
Reading time
58–87 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 3,497 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 11 of 19 titles with a page count on record.

See all 19 books in order Printable Jim Kelly checklist

Jim Kelly is a British crime novelist and journalist. The Philip Dryden books put a journalist at the centre of cases set in Cambridgeshire, start with The Water Clock (2002), and earned Kelly the Crime Writers' Association Dagger in the Library in 2006. A second sequence follows DI Peter Shaw and DS George Valentine along the North Norfolk coast and the port of Lynn, and its second book, Death Watch (2010), took the New Angle prize for literature. Kelly has 19 catalogued crime novels, reaching The American Suspect in 2026.

How many Jim Kelly books are there?

Jim Kelly has 19 books, released between 2002 and 2026. They include 3 separate series.

Jim Kelly Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 19 Jim Kelly 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 The Water Clock by Jim Kelly, book 1 of the Philip Dryden series (2002)
  2. Cover of The Fire Baby by Jim Kelly, book 2 of the Philip Dryden series (2004)
  3. Cover of The Moon Tunnel by Jim Kelly, book 3 of the Philip Dryden series (2005)
  4. Cover of The Coldest Blood by Jim Kelly, book 4 of the Philip Dryden series (2006)
  5. Cover of The Skeleton Man by Jim Kelly, book 5 of the Philip Dryden series (2007)
  6. Cover of Death Wore White / Death on the Norfolk Coast by Jim Kelly, book 1 of the DI Peter Shaw & DS George Valentine series
  7. Cover of Death's Door / Death on East Hills Island by Jim Kelly, book 4 of the DI Peter Shaw & DS George Valentine series
  8. Cover of Nightrise by Jim Kelly, book 6 of the Philip Dryden series (2012)
  9. Cover of The Funeral Owl by Jim Kelly, book 7 of the Philip Dryden series (2013)
  10. Cover of At Death's Window / Death On Scolt Head Island by Jim Kelly (2015)
  11. Cover of Death on Demand / Death on Brancaster Marsh by Jim Kelly, book 6 of the DI Peter Shaw & DS George Valentine series
  12. Cover of The Great Darkness by Jim Kelly, book 1 of the Nighthawk series (2018)
  13. Cover of The Mathematical Bridge by Jim Kelly, book 2 of the Nighthawk series (2019)
  14. Cover of The Night Raids by Jim Kelly, book 3 of the Nighthawk series (2020)
  1. 1
    The Water ClockPhilip Dryden #12002 · 368 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2002368
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    The Fire BabyPhilip Dryden #22004 · 291 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2004291
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    The Moon TunnelPhilip Dryden #32005 · confirmed 2/4
    2005–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    The Coldest BloodPhilip Dryden #42006 · 341 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2006341
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    The Skeleton ManPhilip Dryden #52007 · 343 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2007343
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    Death Wore White / Death on the Norfolk CoastDI Peter Shaw & DS George Valentine #12008 · 389 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2008389
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    Death Watch / Death in King's LynnDI Peter Shaw & DS George Valentine #22010 · confirmed 2/4
    2010–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    Death Toll / Death on a Norfolk RiverDI Peter Shaw & DS George Valentine #32011 · confirmed 2/4
    2011–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 9
    Death's Door / Death on East Hills IslandDI Peter Shaw & DS George Valentine #42012 · confirmed 2/4
    2012–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 10
    NightrisePhilip Dryden #62012 · 244 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2012244
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 11
    The Funeral OwlPhilip Dryden #72013 · confirmed 2/4
    2013–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 12
    At Death's Window / Death On Scolt Head IslandDI Peter Shaw & DS George Valentine #52015 · 248 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2015248
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 13
    Death on Demand / Death on Brancaster MarshDI Peter Shaw & DS George Valentine #62015 · 220 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2015220
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 14
    Death Ship / Death on Hunstanton BeachDI Peter Shaw & DS George Valentine #72016 · confirmed 2/4
    2016–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  15. 15
    The Great DarknessNighthawk #12018 · 349 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2018349
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  16. 16
    The Mathematical BridgeNighthawk #22019 · 352 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2019352
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  17. 17
    The Night RaidsNighthawk #32020 · 352 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2020352
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  18. 18
    The Cambridge SirenNighthawk #42025 · confirmed 2/4
    2025–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  19. 19
    The American SuspectNighthawk #52026 · confirmed 2/4
    2026–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Jim Kelly 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.

Philip Dryden in order

7 books
  1. 1. The Water Clock
  2. 2. The Fire Baby
  3. 3. The Moon Tunnel
  4. 4. The Coldest Blood
  5. 5. The Skeleton Man
  6. 6. Nightrise
  7. 7. The Funeral Owl

DI Peter Shaw & DS George Valentine in order

7 books
  1. 1. Death Wore White / Death on the Norfolk Coast
  2. 2. Death Watch / Death in King's Lynn
  3. 3. Death Toll / Death on a Norfolk River
  4. 4. Death's Door / Death on East Hills Island
  5. 5. At Death's Window / Death On Scolt Head Island
  6. 6. Death on Demand / Death on Brancaster Marsh
  7. 7. Death Ship / Death on Hunstanton Beach

Nighthawk in order

5 books
  1. 1. The Great Darkness
  2. 2. The Mathematical Bridge
  3. 3. The Night Raids
  4. 4. The Cambridge Siren
  5. 5. The American Suspect

Do you have to read Jim Kelly books in order?

You only need to read Jim Kelly 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 Jim Kelly

Start with The Water Clock (2002), the earliest published title.

What is the newest Jim Kelly book?

The American Suspect (2026) is the newest Jim Kelly book released so far.

Is there a new Jim Kelly book coming?

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

Jim Kelly at a glance

Still publishing
Jim Kelly published a book as recently as 2026.
Release pace
Jim Kelly books have appeared about one a year on average.
Length
3,497 pages across the 11 of 19 books with a recorded length, a median of 343 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Jim Kelly books, 10 of 19, were published in the 2010s.

What the Jim Kelly books are about

14 of the 19 Jim Kelly books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: england is tagged on 8 of 14. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.