Marele Day Books in Order
Marele Day has written 13 books, published between 1984 and 2023. The first book is Shirley's Song (1984) and the newest is Reckless (2023). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 13
- Published
- 1984–2023
- Pages on record
- 2,173 in 10 of 13 books
- Reading time
- 36–54 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 2,173 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 10 of 13 titles with a page count on record.
Claudia Valentine, a woman private investigator in Australia, is the series character in Marele Day's crime fiction. Day was born on 4 May 1947 and is Australian. The first Claudia Valentine novel earned Day a Shamus Award, and the 1996 guide How to Write Crime won a Ned Kelly Award for non-fiction. The catalogue lists 13 books from Shirley's Song (1984) to Reckless (2023), including The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender (1988) and Lambs of God (1998).
How many Marele Day books are there?
Marele Day has 13 books, released between 1984 and 2023. 4 of them belong to the Claudia Valentine series.
Marele Day Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 13 Marele Day 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.
- 1Shirley's Song1984 · 216 pages · confirmed 1/419842161/4
- 219881761/4
- 319901921/4
- 419922241/4
- 5Successful Promotion By Writers1993 · 76 pages · confirmed 1/41993761/4
- 6How to Write Crime1996 · 187 pages · confirmed 1/419961871/4
- 719962191/4
- 8Lambs of God1998 · 330 pages · confirmed 1/419983301/4
- 9Mavis Levack, P.I2000 · 181 pages · confirmed 1/420001811/4
- 10Mrs Cook: The Real and Imagined Life of the Captain's Wife2003 · 372 pages · confirmed 1/420033721/4
- 11Making Waves2006 · confirmed 1/42006–1/4
- 12The Sea Bed2011 · confirmed 1/42011–1/4
- 13Reckless2023 · confirmed 1/42023–1/4
Marele Day 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.
Claudia Valentine in order
4 booksStandalone books
9 books9 Marele Day titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Marele Day books in order?
You only need to read Marele Day books in order within the Claudia Valentine series, which holds 4 of the 13 Marele Day books listed here. The numbered table above gives every book in publication order.
Where to start with Marele Day
Start with Shirley's Song (1984), the earliest published title.
What is the newest Marele Day book?
Reckless (2023) is the newest Marele Day book released so far.
Is there a new Marele Day book coming?
No next Marele Day book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Marele Day at a glance
- Paused
- No new Marele Day title has appeared for 3 years. The last was published in 2023.
- Release pace
- Marele Day books have appeared about one every 3 years on average.
- Length
- 2,173 pages across the 10 of 13 books with a recorded length, a median of 204 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Marele Day books, 6 of 13, were published in the 1990s.
What the Marele Day books are about
7 of the 13 Marele Day books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: valentine, claudia (fictitious character) is tagged on 3 of 7. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Valentine, claudia (fictitious character) 3 of 7 books
- Australia 2 of 7 books
- Mystery & detective, women sleuths 2 of 7 books
- Women private investigators 2 of 7 books