Where to Start

Six mystery series, 20 books, one question: which one is yours?

Every series stands alone. Pick the one that sounds like your kind of mystery — each Book 1 is a complete story with a proper ending. No cliffhangers, no required reading.

1950s

The Woodstock Mysteries

Cosy crime with a sharp edge

Two formidable women — Hester Croft, a sharp-minded former MI5 operative who controls the darkness inside herself, and Gertie Bundle, a bawdy, warm-hearted pub landlady with an instinct for reading pe…

Hester Croft Former MI5 operative turned amateur detective
Gertie Bundle Pub landlady and information gatherer
3 books published · 17 planned
1920s

The Fane & Blackwood Mysteries

Traditional country house mystery with literary depth

A celebrated detective, crippled at Ypres in 1915, has become a recluse in a decaying North Oxford villa. The world believes he is dead. A nineteen-year-old woman from a prominent Oxford academic fami…

Roderick Fane Reclusive detective, once the most celebrated in England
Elinor 'Nell' Blackwood Fane's eyes and ears in the world
4 books published · 5 planned
Contemporary

The Brock & Poole Mysteries

Modern police procedural with heart

An unlikely partnership between a giant, gruff detective chief inspector with a philosophical streak and his anxious, young sergeant who's running from his past. Together they solve murders across the…

DCI Sam Brock Detective Chief Inspector
DS Guy Poole Detective Sergeant, youngest DS in the force
5 books published
1920s–30s

The Bingham & Gladstone Mysteries

Wodehouse-style comedic mystery

Lord Hugo Bingham, an amiable but dim aristocrat in the Bertie Wooster mold, constantly stumbles into murder investigations with his brilliant valet Wilberforce Gladstone. While Hugo provides comic re…

Lord Hugo Bingham Amiable aristocrat and inadvertent murder magnet
Wilberforce Gladstone Impassive valet and secret genius
3 books published · 5 planned
1920s

The Hammond & Circle Mysteries

Jazz Age mystery with female duo

Flo Hammond, a society columnist for the Daily Herald who dreams of being a crime reporter, and Jessie Circle, a bold American adventurer with a mysterious past, investigate murders in 1920s England. …

Flo Hammond Society columnist turned crime reporter
Jessie Circle American adventurer with a mysterious past
2 books published · 3 planned
Contemporary

The Mary Blake Mysteries

Cosy crime with showbiz sparkle

Mary Blake spent twenty years playing TV detective Susan Law on the hit show 'Her Law.' When the show replaces her with a younger actress, Mary stumbles into a real murder investigation and discovers …

Mary Blake Former TV detective, now the real thing
Dot Tanner & Pea Blake Co-founders of Blake, Blake & Tanner
3 books published · 4 planned

Quick Match

Like Richard Osman?

Start with The Woodstock Mysteries — sharp older detectives, small-town charm, genuine darkness under the surface.

Like Agatha Christie?

Start with Fane & Blackwood — golden-age country house mysteries with a brilliant odd-couple duo.

Like P.G. Wodehouse?

Start with Bingham & Gladstone — Jeeves-and-Wooster-style comedy, but with actual murders.

Like modern police dramas?

Start with Brock & Poole — a giant gruff DI and his anxious young sergeant, five books of partnership and procedure.

Want something completely different?

Start with The Incredible Fontaine — a mediocre magician who stumbles into murders, with a magic trick at the heart of every case.

Prefer your mysteries with showbiz?

Start with Mary Blake — a TV detective actress who discovers she's good at the real thing.

Want Everything in Order?

Every AG Barnett book, in publication order, with series context.

Complete Reading Order