London (England) book series in reading order

by Patricia Wentworth

by Gladys Mitchell

by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

by Simon Brett

by John Mortimer

by Simon R. Green

by Rhys Bowen

by Anne Perry

by Mark Billingham

by Will Thomas

by Lynda La Plante

by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

by John Lawton

by C.S. Harris

by Charles Todd

by C.J. Sansom

by Darren Shan

by Lisa Kleypas

by Jane Casey

by Andrea Penrose

by Laurie R. King

by Lynda La Plante

by Ashley Weaver

by S.J. Bolton

by Diana Gabaldon

Patricia Wentworth was the pen name of Dora Amy Turnbull (formerly Dillon, born Elles), a British crime writer who lived from 15 October 1877 to 28 January 1961. Miss Maud Silver, a woman private investigator in England, is the recurring character of the Miss Silver series. The Wentworth list begins with A Marriage Under the Terror (1910), and the 1930s are the busiest decade. Benbow Smith, Ernest Lamb and Frank Garrett are the other series characters.

Michael Innes was the pen name of John Innes Mackintosh Stewart, a Scottish novelist and academic born in 1906 and died in 1994, equally known for the literary criticism and contemporary novels he published under his own name. As Innes he wrote traditional English detective fiction, chiefly the Sir John Appleby series, which begins with Death at the President's Lodging (1936) and runs through Hamlet, Revenge!, Lament for a Maker and Appleby's End. Charles Honeybath heads a second series. Eighty-nine catalogued titles date from 1936 to 2021.

Ben Aaronovitch

105 books• 9 series

Ben Aaronovitch, born 22 February 1964, is an English novelist and screenwriter and the author of the Rivers of London novels. The PC Peter Grant / Rivers of London series has a companion line of graphic novels, and London, police, magic, wizards and murder are recorded subjects. Aaronovitch wrote two Doctor Who television serials in the late 1980s, as well as spin-off novels from Doctor Who and Blake's 7. The listing also files the Doctor Who: New Adventures line and a Seventh Doctor comic line under the Aaronovitch name. Stone and Sky (2025) is the newest title.

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles is a British novelist of historical, romance and mystery fiction, born 13 August 1948 at Shepherd's Bush, London. The first Harrod-Eagles novel was written in 1972, during university. Most books carry the author's own name, though Emma Woodhouse and Elizabeth Bennett have also served as pseudonyms, and several 1970s titles on file appear as Emma Woodhouse. The catalogue lists 115 books from 1974 to 2026, and series include Morland Dynasty, Bill Slider, War At Home, Ashmore Castle and the Kirov Trilogy. Deadly Force (2026) is the newest.

Anne Perry

111 books• 14 series

Anne Perry (28 October 1938 – 10 April 2023), born Juliet Marion Hulme, was a British writer of historical detective fiction. Perry wrote the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt novels and the William Monk series. In 1994 it became public that Perry, at fifteen, had been convicted in 1954 in Christchurch, New Zealand, of murdering Honorah Parker, mother of Perry's friend Pauline Parker; after a five-year sentence, Perry took a new name and returned to the United Kingdom. The catalogue holds 111 Perry books, opening with The Cater Street Hangman (1979) and reaching Death Times Seven (2026). Other series include Daniel Pitt, Elena Standish, Timepiece and Tathea.

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.

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.

Dilly Court is an English author of historical fiction and family sagas, born in 1940, who also publishes as Lily Baxter. Court published a first book at the age of 65, and by 2023 the novels had sold more than four million copies. Fifty-five titles are catalogued from Mermaids Singing (2005) to The Midwinter Daughter (2026), with The Spring Bride scheduled for 2027. London, family life and social conditions are the standing subjects, and the books are long, at a median of 512 pages.

Charlie Higson

35 books• 7 series

Charlie Higson, born 3 July 1958, is an English actor, comedian, author and former singer who has also written and produced for television. Higson is the author of The Enemy, a young adult post-apocalyptic series, and wrote the first five Young Bond novels. King of the Ants (1992) opens the catalogue of 35 titles, followed by Happy Now (1993), Full Whack (1995) and Getting Rid of Mister Kitchen (1996). The Dalek Factor (2004) appears next, then SilverFin (2005), Blood Fever (2006), Double or Die (2007) and By Royal Command (2008). Spies, zombies, survival and London appear in the subject tags.

Horror and crime share Christopher Fowler's catalogue, most of it set in London. Arthur Bryant and his partner in the Peculiar Crimes Unit head the main series of police procedurals, with short story collections, graphic novels, non-fiction and the Best Horror of the Year anthologies beside it. Eighty-four catalogued titles run from The Bureau of Lost Souls (1984) through Roofworld (1988) to a Best Horror of the Year volume dated 2026.

Susanna Gregory is the pen name of Elizabeth Cruwys, a Cambridge academic and former coroner's officer who writes historical detective fiction. Matthew Bartholomew, a physician investigating murders in fourteenth-century Cambridge, carries her longest sequence, which opens with A Plague on Both Your Houses (1996). Thomas Chaloner heads a second series. Under a further name, Simon Beaufort, she wrote the Sir Geoffrey Mappestone and Alec Lonsdale books. The catalogue holds 52 books published between 1996 and 2022, and nothing has followed The Pudding Lane Plot (2022).

Jane Tennison, the detective of Prime Suspect, is Lynda La Plante's best known creation, and Anna Travis, Dolly Rawlins, Lorraine Page and DC Jack Warr head further series. London police work, serial murder and missing persons are the recurring subjects. Widows (1985) opens a catalogue of 56 titles that reaches Sacrifice in 2026, at 392 pages on median.

Barbara Cartland

702 books• 3 series

Barbara Cartland, born Mary Barbara Hamilton Cartland on 9 July 1901 and died on 21 May 2000, was an English romance novelist and socialite. This directory catalogues 702 titles under Cartland's name, from His Hour (1910) through to A Heart in the Highlands (2024), with the 1980s the heaviest decade. The Eternal Collection, the Pink Collection and the Camfield Novels Of Love group the bulk of that output. Cartland wrote contemporary as well as historical romance, the historical novels set mainly in the Victorian and Edwardian periods, and ranks fifth among the most translated authors worldwide.

Paul Doherty writes historical mysteries set largely in England, with 127 books catalogued from The Death of a King (1985) to The Meadows of Murder (2026). Recurring detectives include Hugh Corbett, Brother Athelstan, Kathryn Swinbrooke and Amerotke. Other series cover the Canterbury Tales Mysteries, Ancient Rome, Egyptian Mysteries, Nicholas Segalla, Mathilde of Westminster, Margaret Beaufort and Vlad Drakulya. Satan in St Mary's (1986) and Spy in Chancery (1988) are among the early titles.

Simon R. Green is an English science fiction and fantasy author, born 25 August 1955 in Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire. Green studied modern English and American literature at the University of Leicester, began writing in 1973, sold the first story, "Manslayer", in 1976, and published a first full-length work, Awake, Awake, Ye Northern Winds, in 1979. Green sold seven novels in 1988, and the 1989 commission to novelise the Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves produced a book with more than 370,000 copies sold. The catalogue lists 83 titles from Blue Moon Rising (1989) to For Better or Murder (2026). Series include Nightside, Deathstalker, Hawk & Fisher, Ghost Finders, Ishmael Jones, Gideon Sable and Forest Kingdom.

Fay Weldon

59 books• 9 series

Fay Weldon (1931-2023), born Franklin Birkinshaw, was a British novelist, essayist and playwright whose career ran fifty-five years and produced 31 novels. The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (1983) is the best known, televised by the BBC in 1986. The Bulgari Connection (2000), Puffball (1980), Wicked Women (1995) and The Cloning of Joanna May (1989) sit alongside it. Weldon was a feminist and described her subject as overweight, plain women. Fifty-nine catalogued titles, taking in novels, plays, short stories and nonfiction, run from 1967 to 2019.

Kimberley Chambers, born 13 June 1967 and living in Hornchurch, Greater London, is an English novelist of crime family sagas, set for the most part in Essex or East London and told largely from the villain's point of view, with a streak of humour. Payback, Tainted Love and Life of Crime each reached number one on the Sunday Times list. The catalogue holds 20 books, from Billie Jo (2008) to The Brothers (2024), with Born Evil (2009), The Feud (2010) and The Traitor (2010) early in the run. Butlers and Mitchells & O'Haras are the two series credited to Chambers. Gangsters, criminals, adultery and mothers and daughters appear in the subject records.

Lisa Jewell

24 books• 4 series

English novelist Lisa Jewell, born in 1968, writes popular fiction. The catalogue holds 24 of her books, from Ralph's Party (1999) to It Could Have Been Her (2026). Other titles include Thirtynothing (2000), After the Party (2010), Then She Was Gone (2018), The Family Upstairs (2019) and None of This Is True (2023). Subjects range over family secrets, sisters, missing persons and London, with both psychological suspense and humorous fiction represented. Ralph's Party and Family Upstairs also appear as series listings next to her standalone novels.

Rhys Bowen is the name Janet Quin-Harkin publishes adult mystery novels under; Quin-Harkin was born in Bath, Somerset, in September 1941. The catalogue gathers 171 books, opening with Peter Penny's Dance (1976) and reaching Vanished in the Crowd (2026), with A Whiff of Scandal dated 2027. Molly Murphy, Her Royal Spyness and Constable Evans are the mystery series listed, alongside teen series carrying the Janet Quin-Harkin byline such as Heartbreak Cafe, Sugar and Spice and The Boyfriend Club. Catalogue subjects run to detective and mystery stories, women private investigators, historical mystery, aristocracy and children's fiction.

Simon Brett writes English detective fiction across several long-running series. Charles Paris, an actor, heads one; the Fethering Mysteries follow Carole Seddon; Mrs Pargeter, Blotto and Twinks, and the Decluttering Mysteries make up the rest. Brett's catalogue holds 107 books, from Cast in Order of Disappearance (1975) to A Shock to the System (2026), with plays, short stories and non-fiction alongside.

Mark Billingham

32 books• 6 series

Mark Billingham, born 2 July 1961, is an English novelist, actor, comedian and television screenwriter. The Tom Thorne crime novels are the series Billingham is known for. The catalogue lists 32 books, from Knight School (1998) through Sleepyhead (2001), Scaredy Cat (2001), Lazybones (2003) and Lifeless (2005) to The Shadow Step (2026). Detective Miller is a second series, alongside standalone novels, short stories and nonfiction. Police procedure, London and serial murder are recurring subjects.

Veronica Heley writes British mystery fiction with women sleuths at the centre. Ellie Quicke, a widow turned investigator, and Bea Abbot of the Abbot Agency head the two longest series, both set around London. Heley also writes the Sam & Co School Adventures and Kate Overcomes books. Eighty titles span 1974 to 2026, beginning with the alliterative early run of Sue for Mercy, Scream for Sarah, Cry for Kit and Fear for Frances, and reaching False Relation (2026).

John Creasey (17 September 1908 to 9 June 1973) was an English novelist of detective and crime fiction who also wrote science fiction, romance and westerns, producing more than six hundred novels under twenty-eight pseudonyms. Creasey characters include The Toff (Richard Rollison), Commander George Gideon of Scotland Yard, Inspector Roger West, The Baron (John Mannering), Dr Emmanuel Cellini and Dr Stanislaus Alexander Palfrey. Gideon, introduced in Gideon's Day (1955), was the basis for the 1958 John Ford film Gideon's Day and the television series Gideon's Way (1964 to 1966). The catalogue lists 497 books from Seven Times Seven (1932), with early titles as M.E. Cooke and Margaret Cooke.

Annie Groves was one of several pen names used by Penelope Halsall (24 November 1946 - 31 December 2011), an English writer of more than 200 romance novels who also published as Caroline Courtney, Penny Jordan, Melinda Wright and Lydia Hitchcock. Halsall took the Groves name from her mother's maiden name and used it for historical romances; sales across the names pass 70 million copies. The catalogue lists 29 Annie Groves titles opening with Ellie Pride (2003), and entries dated after Halsall's death carry the run on to Three Sisters in the Snow (2025). Subjects on record include the Second World War of 1939-1945, England, London, family life, sagas and social customs.