Detectives book series in reading order

by Alan Bradley

by Laurie R. King

by Adrian McKinty

by Henning Mankell

by Tana French

by Sara Blaedel

by Ragnar Jonasson

by L.J. Sellers

by Rob Thurman

John Patrick Green is an American author and illustrator, known for creating the children's graphic novel series InvestiGators and for illustrating the comic Jax Epoch and the Quicken Forbidden. Alligators, detectives, humour, friendship and sibling rivalry appear among the subjects of 26 catalogued books published between 2010 and 2026, from Nothing but Trouble to Weather or Not. InvestiGators: Agents of S.U.I.T., Kitten Construction Company, Teen Boat! and the Phineas and Ferb Comic Readers are the named series.

Agatha Christie

290 books• 18 series

Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was an English writer of detective fiction, the author of 66 detective novels and 14 short-story collections. Three sleuths anchor the work. Hercule Poirot first appears in The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920), Tommy and Tuppence in The Secret Adversary (1922) and Miss Marple in The Murder at the Vicarage (1930). The catalogue also carries Superintendent Battle, Harley Quin and Parker Pyne stories, standalone novels, plays and non-fiction, with many short stories listed individually. Christie was born Agatha Miller and published under her first married name.

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.

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.

John Lutz

66 books• 6 series

John Lutz (1939-2021) was an American writer in mystery, crime and suspense, with a career past fifty years, at least fifty books and roughly 250 short stories to it. Three private investigators carry the series work, Alo Nudger, Fred Carver and Frank Quinn, with St. Louis, Florida and New York among the settings. SWF Seeks Same, filmed in 1992 as Single White Female, is his best known title, and Lutz led both the Mystery Writers of America and the Private Eye Writers of America as president. The catalogue holds 66 books, from The Truth of the Matter (1971) to Single White Female Seeks Same (2022).

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.

Tana French is an Irish crime writer and stage actress, born in 1973 and living in Dublin. French's first novel, In the Woods (2007), is a psychological mystery that took the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity and Barry awards for best first novel. The catalogue lists 10 books from 2007 to 2026, including The Likeness, Faithful Place and Broken Harbour, grouped into the Dublin Murder Squad, the Cal Hooper books and standalone novels. The newest title is The Keeper (2026). The Independent has labelled French "the First Lady of Irish Crime".

Detective fiction across several series is Laurie R. King's output. The Mary Russell books pair Mary Russell with Sherlock Holmes, beginning with The Beekeeper's Apprentice (1994), while Kate Martinelli, a policewoman, has her own run from A Grave Talent (1993). Harris Stuyvesant, Raquel Laing and Folly Island add more, alongside standalone novels and non-fiction. King's catalogue holds 50 titles through Those Who Are Gone in 2026.

Addison Moore has 221 books in the catalogue from 2011 to 2027, with cozy mystery, paranormal and romance among the subjects. The earliest titles, from 2011, include Ethereal, Burn, Tremble, Vex and Wicked. Series include Murder in the Mix, Country Cottage Mysteries, 3:AM Kisses, Celestra, Brambleberry Bay Murder Club, Meow for Murder and Hot Flash Homicides. Black Forest Cake and Bigfoot (2026) is the newest release, and Atomic Blondies is scheduled for 2027.

Ake Edwardson

8 books• 1 series

Åke Edwardson, born 10 March 1953 in Eksjö, Småland, is a Swedish author of detective fiction and a former journalism lecturer at the University of Gothenburg. Many of the Inspector Erik Winter novels are set in Gothenburg. Edwardson has won the Swedish Crime Writers' Academy Award for best crime novel three times. Sun and Shadow was the first title translated into English, in 2005, followed by Never End in 2006. The catalogue lists 8 books from Death Angels (1997) to Room No. 10 and Samurai Summer (both 2005).

Roald Dahl

89 books• 2 series

Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British writer of children's books and short stories, and also a poet, screenwriter and wartime fighter ace. Born in Wales to Norwegian immigrant parents, Dahl lived mostly in England and served in the Royal Air Force in the Second World War, first as a fighter pilot and then as an intelligence officer. The catalogue lists 89 titles from The Gremlins (1943) to Marvelously Revolting Recipes (2024), among them Over to You: Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying (1946), Kiss Kiss (1959), James and the Giant Peach (1961) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964). Dahl's books have sold more than 300 million copies.

Adrian McKinty's best known series follows Detective Sean Duffy through police investigations in Northern Ireland. McKinty also wrote the Michael Forsythe crime novels and the Lighthouse Trilogy for younger readers, which turns to magic and to space and time. Twenty-three books are catalogued, from Orange Rhymes With Everything (1997) to Hang on St. Christopher in 2025.

Ed McBain

127 books• 7 series

Ed McBain is the pen name under which Evan Hunter, born Salvatore Albert Lombino (October 15, 1926 – July 6, 2005), published the 87th Precinct police procedurals. Cop Hater, The Mugger and The Pusher, all dated 1956, are early entries in the listing, and Steve Carella and the imaginary city of Isola appear among the subjects. Matthew Hope is a second series character. Under the Evan Hunter name, the author wrote The Blackboard Jungle, a semi-autobiographical novel filmed in 1955, and the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963).

Marshall Karp writes police mysteries, and Lomax and Biggs is the recurring detective pair, with Mike Lomax named among the subjects. The Rabbit Factory (2006) is the first title, followed by Bloodthirsty (2007), Flipping Out (2009) and Cut, Paste, Kill (2010). Amusement parks, gangs, the film industry, actors and house flippers are among the subjects. Terminal (2016), Snowstorm in August (2022) and Don't Tell Me How to Die (2025) are later Karp titles, and the listing also carries NYPD Red 7 and NYPD Red 8.

Erle Stanley Gardner

152 books• 8 series

Erle Stanley Gardner (July 17, 1889 to March 11, 1970) was an American lawyer and author of the Perry Mason legal detective stories. The catalogue opens in 1933 with The Case of the Velvet Claws and The Case of the Sulky Girl, followed by The Case of the Curious Bride and The Case of the Howling Dog in 1934, and lists 152 books in all. Other Gardner series include Donald Lam & Bertha Cool, Doug Selby, Gramp Wiggens and Terry Clane. Gardner also wrote non-fiction, mostly accounts of travels through Baja California and elsewhere in Mexico. Pseudonyms included A. A. Fair and Carleton Kendrake, and at the time of death Gardner was the best-selling American author of the 20th century.

James Hayman writes police procedurals. One series is recorded, McCabe & Savage Thriller, and the six catalogued books run from 2009 to 2018: The Cutting (2009), The Chill of Night (2010), Darkness First (2013), The Girl in the Glass (2015), The Girl on the Bridge (2017) and A Fatal Obsession (2018). Murder investigation, violent crime against women and personality disorder supply the subject matter, at a median of 376 pages.

James Preller writes for readers in grades 1 to 3, and the Jigsaw Jones Mysteries are the core of the list: most titles begin The Case of, from The Case of Hermie the Missing Hamster (1998) to The Case of the Hat Burglar (2019). Preller worked as a copywriter at Scholastic before publishing his first book in 1986, and has used the pen names Mitzy Kafka, James Patrick and Izzy Bonkers. Bystander and Six Innings sit outside the mystery series. The 38 catalogued books run to a median of 74 pages.

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.

Tess Gerritsen

38 books• 6 series

Tess Gerritsen, born Terry Tom on June 12, 1953, is an American novelist who worked as a general physician before retiring from medicine. Gerritsen's 39 catalogued books start with Adventure's Mistress (1985) and continue through The Shadow Friends (2026), with The Italian Affair listed for 2028. Rizzoli & Isles is the recurring pairing named on the page, and Detective Jane Rizzoli appears in the subject tags. Other series are the Martini Club and the Tavistock Family. Subjects range across suspense, thrillers, medical fiction, women forensic scientists and romantic suspense.

Ian Rankin

74 books• 13 series

Sir Ian Rankin is a Scottish crime writer and philanthropist, born in Fife on 28 April 1960, and the creator of the Inspector Rebus novels. Rankin was the first member of the family to go to university and held several jobs before turning to writing. The Rebus novels belong to the tartan noir genre, have won domestic and international awards and have sold more than 35 million copies. Knots and Crosses (1987), the first Rebus book, placed eighth in a 2016 poll of the best Scottish novels. The catalogue holds 74 Rankin books, from The Flood (1986) to The Heights (2026), including the Malcolm Fox series and Edinburgh-set police procedurals.

Iceland is the setting for Ragnar Jonasson's crime novels. Snowblind (2010) opens the Dark Iceland series, and 15 catalogued books run to The Body in the Bath in 2026, taking in Hidden Iceland, the Helgi novels and a set of standalones. Police investigations, murder and violent crime supply the plots.

Henning Mankell

35 books• 9 series

Kurt Wallander, a police detective in Sweden, is the figure Henning Mankell is known for. Mankell's catalogue holds 35 books, from A Bridge to the Stars (1990) to The Rock Blaster (2020), and takes in the Joel Gustafsson and Linda Wallander sequences, the Fredrik Welin novels, the Sofia Alface books, children's fiction and non-fiction. Faceless Killers (1991) and The Dogs of Riga (1992) are among the early titles.

Danish police fiction is Sara Blaedel's field, headed by the detective Louise Rick. The catalogue opens with Call Me Princess, also published as Blue Blood and as The Silent Woman (2005), and runs through The Forgotten Girls (2015), The Killing Forest (2016), The Lost Woman (2017) and The Running Girl (2018). Seventeen books are catalogued, standalone novels included, and A Mother's Love is the most recent title.

Kelly Irvin writes Christian fiction, with 36 books in the catalogue from A Deadly Wilderness (2010) to Lilly's February Love (2026). No Child of Mine (2011), A Heart Made New (2012), A Plain Love Song (2014) and The Beekeeper's Son (2015) are among the titles in between. Irvin series include Every Amish Season, Bliss Creek Amish, New Hope Amish, Amish of Bee County, Amish of Big Sky Country, Amish Blessings and Amish Calling. Subjects include the Amish, Christian romance, murder investigations, detectives and widowers.