Crime book series in reading order

by Gladys Mitchell

by Alan Hunter

by Karin Fossum

by Max Allan Collins

by Kathleen Ernst

by Jorn Lier Horst

by Kate Ellis

by Donna Andrews

by G.M. Malliet

by Maurizio de Giovanni

by Hakan Nesser

by John Sandford

by Joanne Fluke

by Jane Casey

by Ace Atkins

by Susan Wittig Albert

by Mark Pryor

by Loren D. Estleman

by M.R. Hall

by H.R.F. Keating

by Catriona McPherson

by Camilla Lackberg

by Elizabeth J. Duncan

by J.A. Jance

by Emily Brightwell

by Leslie Meier

by Mark Billingham

by Keith McCafferty

by Frances Brody

by Laurien Berenson

by Barbara Hambly

by Jane Haddam

by J.T. Ellison

by Harry Bingham

by Barbara Nadel

James Patterson

510 books• 73 series

James Patterson, born on March 22, 1947, is an American writer whose catalogue here holds 514 books published from 1976 to 2027. The run opens with The Thomas Berryman Number (1976), and Along Came a Spider (1992) and Kiss the Girls (1995) follow later. Alex Cross, Michael Bennett, Maximum Ride, Daniel X, Witch & Wizard, NYPD Red, Private, Middle School and the Women's Murder Club are among the Patterson series, alongside standalone thrillers, non-fiction and romance. Marshall Karp shares the credit on 5 of the books. Patterson's sales exceed 425 million copies, and Patterson was the first person to sell one million e-books. Forbes ranked Patterson the highest-paid author in 2016, for a third year running, and the National Book Foundation gave Patterson the Literarian Award in November 2015. 27 Stars is scheduled for 2027.

Eighty catalogued books carry Gladys Mitchell's name, from A Speedy Death (1929) to Sleuth's Alchemy (2005). Mitchell was an English author, and Mrs Bradley, whose full name is Beatrice Lestrange Bradley, is the woman sleuth of 66 detective novels set largely in England and London. Timothy Herring and Pamela Stewart are the other named series. Mitchell also published as Stephen Hockaby and as Malcolm Torrie.

Alan Hunter (1922-2005) was an English crime novelist and the creator of Inspector George Gently, who features in 46 of his books. The 51 catalogued titles open with Gently Does It (1955) and carry the detective's name through the run, from Gently By the Shore (1956) to Gently with Passion (2016). Hunter farmed and then dealt in antiquarian books before publishing his first novel. Police procedure, murder investigation and English settings define the series.

Leslie Charteris (12 May 1907 to 15 April 1993) was a British-Chinese writer of adventure fiction and a screenwriter, born Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin. Charteris created Simon Templar, the hero known as The Saint, and the catalogue lists titles such as Enter the Saint (1930) and Alias the Saint (1931). The catalogue begins with X Esquire (1927) and also lists a Bill Kennedy series. Mystery, crime and espionage thrillers are among the subjects.

Georges Simenon

187 books• 5 series

Inspector Maigret, a policeman in Paris, is the centre of Georges Simenon's crime fiction. The catalogue holds 187 books, beginning in 1931 with Pietr the Latvian. Short novels are the form, at a median 169 pages, and the 1950s were the densest decade. Standalone novels, short stories and non-fiction sit beside the Maigret run, most of it translated from the French.

Rebecca Tope is a British crime novelist and journalist. Four detectives hold her series together: Den Cooper, a Devon police officer; Drew Slocombe, a nurse turned undertaker; Thea Osborne, a Cotswolds house sitter; and a Lake District florist. Tope also ghost-wrote the novels drawn from the ITV series Rosemary and Thyme. Her catalogue reaches 56 books, from A Dirty Death (1999) to The Langdale Legacy (2026), and remains ongoing.

Donna Leon

42 books• 4 series

Venice is where Donna Leon sets her police procedurals, and Guido Brunetti is the character the books return to, in cases of murder and criminal investigation. Leon's 42 catalogued titles open with Death at La Fenice (1992) and reach Backstage: Stories of a Writing Life in 2025, with a Brunetti companion volume and non-fiction beside the novels. Leon remains actively publishing.

Edward Marston writes historical crime fiction, and the catalogue of 117 books runs to The Corpse on the Bristol Train (2026). Inspector Robert Colbeck, Elizabethan Theater, Domesday, Home Front Detective, Dillman & Masefield / Ocean Liner Mysteries, Christopher Redmayne, Captain Rawson and Bow Street Rivals are among the series. Nicholas Bracewell and Lord Westfield's Men appear in the subjects, together with theater, police work, railroad travel and World War I. Alan Saxon and Merlin Richards are further series, and Marston is still publishing.

Max Allan Collins

199 books• 34 series

Max Allan Collins, born March 3, 1948, is an American mystery writer who also works in comics, graphic novels and screenplays. Collins created the Ms. Tree and Road to Perdition comics, the second of which became a film, and the series characters Quarry, a hitman, Nolan, a thief, and private investigator Nate Heller. Collins wrote the Dick Tracy newspaper strip for years, and the Mystery Writers of America named Collins a Grand Master in 2017. Catalogue entries run from Bait Money (1973) to Quarry's Reunion (2026), with Eliot Ness, Mallory and Disaster among the other series.

Martin Edwards is a crime writer who took a first in law at Balliol College, Oxford, trained as a solicitor in Leeds, moved to Liverpool on qualifying in 1980 and became a partner at Mace and Jones in 1984. Harry Devlin, Lake District Mysteries and Rachel Savernake are the series. Edwards belongs to the Murder Squad collective, chairs the nominations sub-committee for the CWA Diamond Dagger and became Archivist of the Crime Writers Association in 2007. Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife (2025) is the newest title.

Kate Ellis writes police procedurals in which archaeology recurs alongside murder investigation. Wesley Peterson heads the main series, opening with The Merchant's House (1998), and Joe Plantagenet and Inspector Albert Lincoln lead two more. Forty-four catalogued books reach The Chapel of Bones (2026), at a median length of 346 pages. England, police work and archaeologists recur as subjects.

Sally Spencer writes English police procedurals, and the catalogue holds 66 books from Salt of the Earth (1994) to The Final Beat of the Drum (2023). Chief Inspector Charlie Woodend, DCI Monika Paniatowski and Inspector Sam Blackstone are the recurring detectives. Spencer's series also include the Marston Trilogy, Jennie Redhead Mystery and Detective Sam Brody Thriller, alongside standalone novels. The Salton Killings (1998) and Murder at Swann's Lake (1999) are among the earlier titles. No new Spencer title has appeared since 2023.

Graham Ison writes police procedurals set in London. Forty-seven books are catalogued between 1989 and 2021, from Confirm or Deny (1989) to Hardcastle's Secret Agent (2021). Four series divide them: the Brock and Poole Mysteries, the Hardcastle books, Tommy Fox, and Gaffney and Tipper. The Home Secretary Will See You Now (1989), A Damned Serious Business (1990), The Cold Light of Dawn (1990), The Laundry Man (1991) and The Taming of Tango Harris (1993) come from the early run. Murder, criminal investigation, English history and the First World War run through the subjects.

Laura Childs writes cozy mysteries in three series: the Tea Shop Mysteries, with Theodosia Browning in Charleston, South Carolina, the Scrapbooking Mysteries and the Cackleberry Club Mysteries. Death by Darjeeling (2001) opens the catalogue, which holds 56 books and reaches Death at a Firefly Tea. Buttermint Bomb is scheduled for 2027.

John D. MacDonald wrote hard-boiled crime fiction, most of it in Florida, and created the Fort Lauderdale salvage investigator Travis McGee. 82 catalogued titles open with The Brass Cupcake (1950) and continue through Judge Me Not (1951), Murder for the Bride (1951) and Weep For Me (1951), with early science fiction in Wine of the Dreamers (1951) and Ballroom of the Skies (1952). Standalone novels, short stories and non-fiction fill out a catalogue that closed in 2019.

Stuart Pawson worked as a mining engineer and then for the probation service before writing full time, and that grounding in the justice system shaped the Detective Charlie Priest Mysteries. Yorkshire and a dry humour run through the books, which take in fraud, drug trafficking and murder investigation. The Picasso Scam (1995) opens 13 catalogued titles, ending at A Very Private Murder (2010). Pawson was shortlisted for the CWA Dagger in the Library Award in 2004 and belonged to the writers' group The Murder Squad.

Ellery Adams writes murder mysteries, and women sleuths appear among the subject headings. The catalogue lists 57 books from 2006, the year of A Killer Collection and A Fatal Appraisal, to The Liars' Book Club (2026). Named series include the Secret, Book & Scone Society, Book Retreat Mysteries, Books by the Bay, Antiques & Collectibles Mysteries, Hope Street Church Mystery, Supper Club Mystery and A Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery. Librarians, bakeries and pies are listed there too.

Stuart MacBride

32 books• 8 series

Scottish police procedurals are Stuart MacBride's main line, with Logan McRae as the recurring detective. Cold Granite (2005) opens a catalogue of 32 titles that reaches Blood, Rust, and Steel (2026), with Ash Henderson and Roberta Steel heading further series and standalone novels beside them. Serial murder, crime and investigation fill the subject tags.

James Hadley Chase was the pen name of Rene Lodge Brabazon Raymond, an English crime writer who lived from 1906 to 1985. Ninety-six books are catalogued between No Orchids for Miss Blandish (1939) and Hit Them Where It Hurts (1984), and some early titles appeared as by Raymond Marshall. Recurring characters carry the series: Vic Malloy, Steve Harmas, Dave Fenner, Frank Terrell, Tom Lepski, Mark Girland, Helga Rolfe and Don Micklem. Fifty of the books have been filmed, the work was widely translated into Russian, and Chase was called the king of thriller writers in Europe. The median book runs 204 pages.

Cats run through most of Clea Simon's mysteries. 34 catalogued books span Mad House (1997) to The Butterfly Trap (2025), and the sleuths recur: Dulcie Schwartz in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Pru Marlowe, Theda Krakow, and the Blackie & Care and Witch Cats of Cambridge lines. Mew Is for Murder (2005), Cattery Row (2006), Cries & Whiskers (2007) and Probable Claws (2009) are among the titles. Murder, investigation and psychics fill the subjects, and Simon remains actively publishing.

Lee Child

78 books• 15 series

Lee Child is the pen name of James Dover Grant, a British thriller writer born on 29 October 1954. The Jack Reacher novels follow a former American military policeman who drifts across the United States. Killing Floor (1997), the first novel, won the Anthony Award and the 1998 Barry Award for Best First Novel, and Die Trying (1998) and Tripwire (1999) came next. The catalogue runs to Chain Reaction (2026), with Zero Margin listed for 2027. Andrew Child shares credit on a line of Jack Reacher short stories and novellas, and a Frances Neagley line also appears. Subjects include military police, ex-police officers, private investigators and murder.

Iris Johansen writes crime fiction, suspense and romance, and was born on April 7, 1938, in St. Louis, Missouri. The catalogue lists 120 books from Stormy Vows (1983) to Wait and See (2026), with the 1980s as the busiest decade. Eve Duncan, Kendra Michaels and Catherine Ling are the recurring characters, and facial reconstruction and women sculptors appear among the subject headings. Johansen's series also include Sedikhan, Wind Dancer, Clanad and Delaneys.

Cozy mysteries with a trade attached are Jenn McKinlay's speciality: a library, a cupcake bakery, a hat shop and a resale business each anchor a series. The catalogue reaches 69 titles between 2002 and 2026, including contemporary romance in the Bluff Point and Museum of Literature books and the Decoupage mysteries written as Lucy Lawrence. Stuck on Murder (2009) and Sprinkle with Murder (2010) start the main cozy runs, and Booking for Trouble is the most recent title.

G.M. Malliet writes English mysteries in three series: the St. Just books, Max Tudor and Augusta Hawke. Murder investigation carries all three, with England and Scotland as settings and police, parochial vicars and women authors among the catalogued subjects. Twenty-two titles run from Death of a Cozy Writer (2008) through Wicked Autumn (2011) and A Demon Summer (2014) to Death in Cornwall in 2026.