Series · police procedural
Inspector Lynley
The Inspector Lynley series by Elizabeth George has 22 books and is best read in publication order, starting with A Great Deliverance (1988).
- Books
- 22 books
- First published
- 1988
- Status
- ongoing
- Last checked
Start here: A Great Deliverance (1988) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The order the books were released — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
A Great Deliverance
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Great Deliverance - Book 2:
Payment in Blood
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Payment in Blood - Book 3:
Well-Schooled in Murder
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Well-Schooled in Murder - Book 4:
A Suitable Vengeance
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Suitable Vengeance - Book 5:
For the Sake of Elena
Alternative text for cover: Cover of For the Sake of Elena - Book 6:
Missing Joseph
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Missing Joseph - Book 7:
Playing for the Ashes
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Playing for the Ashes - Book 8:
In the Presence of the Enemy
Alternative text for cover: Cover of In the Presence of the Enemy - Book 9:
Deception on His Mind
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Deception on His Mind - Book 10:
In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner
Alternative text for cover: Cover of In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner - Book 11:
A Traitor to Memory
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Traitor to Memory - Book 12:
A Place of Hiding
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Place of Hiding - Book 13:
With No One as Witness
Alternative text for cover: Cover of With No One as Witness - Book 14:
What Came Before He Shot Her
Alternative text for cover: Cover of What Came Before He Shot Her - Book 15:
Careless in Red
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Careless in Red - Book 16:
This Body of Death
Alternative text for cover: Cover of This Body of Death - Book 17:
Believing the Lie
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Believing the Lie - Book 18:
Just One Evil Act
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Just One Evil Act - Book 19:
A Banquet of Consequences
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Banquet of Consequences - Book 20:
The Punishment She Deserves
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Punishment She Deserves - Book 21:
Something to Hide
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Something to Hide - Book 22:
A Slowly Dying Cause
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Slowly Dying Cause
The order the story's events happen in, novellas slotted where they belong.
- Book 1:
A Suitable Vengeance
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Suitable Vengeance - Book 2:
A Great Deliverance
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Great Deliverance - Book 3:
Payment in Blood
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Payment in Blood - Book 4:
Well-Schooled in Murder
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Well-Schooled in Murder - Book 5:
For the Sake of Elena
Alternative text for cover: Cover of For the Sake of Elena - Book 6:
Missing Joseph
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Missing Joseph - Book 7:
Playing for the Ashes
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Playing for the Ashes - Book 8:
In the Presence of the Enemy
Alternative text for cover: Cover of In the Presence of the Enemy - Book 9:
Deception on His Mind
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Deception on His Mind - Book 10:
In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner
Alternative text for cover: Cover of In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner - Book 11:
A Traitor to Memory
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Traitor to Memory - Book 12:
A Place of Hiding
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Place of Hiding - Book 13:
With No One as Witness
Alternative text for cover: Cover of With No One as Witness - Book 14:
What Came Before He Shot Her
Alternative text for cover: Cover of What Came Before He Shot Her - Book 15:
Careless in Red
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Careless in Red - Book 16:
This Body of Death
Alternative text for cover: Cover of This Body of Death - Book 17:
Believing the Lie
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Believing the Lie - Book 18:
Just One Evil Act
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Just One Evil Act - Book 19:
A Banquet of Consequences
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Banquet of Consequences - Book 20:
The Punishment She Deserves
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Punishment She Deserves - Book 21:
Something to Hide
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Something to Hide - Book 22:
A Slowly Dying Cause
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Slowly Dying Cause
About the Inspector Lynley series
Thomas Lynley, 8th Earl of Asherton, is a Scotland Yard detective who happens to be minor aristocracy — a premise Elizabeth George uses to explore British class friction from the inside, especially through his prickly, working-class partner DS Barbara Havers, whose resentment of and eventual loyalty to Lynley is one of the great slow-burn partnerships in crime fiction. George, an American writing English detective fiction with unusual authority, builds each novel as a dense, doorstop-length literary mystery: multiple POV characters, real psychological depth given to victims and suspects alike, and cases that dig into grief, class, and family dysfunction as much as whodunit mechanics.
Lynley and Havers's personal lives evolve substantially and sometimes brutally across the series — marriage, loss, professional exile and reinstatement all happen to Lynley over the books' 35-plus-year span. It's for readers who want their British procedurals long-form and character-saturated rather than brisk, who don't mind sitting with difficult material, and who enjoy a class-conscious odd-couple detective partnership. The books were the basis for the BBC's The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (2001–2008).
How to read this series
Publication order, starting with A Great Deliverance (1988), is the way most readers approach this series, and it's what the publication order list reflects. There is one genuine wrinkle: A Suitable Vengeance (published 4th, 1991) is a prequel telling the story of Lynley and Havers's first case together and is set roughly a year before A Great Deliverance — readers who want Lynley's personal chronology to unfold in story order can read it first, though most readers and the author herself have not insisted on this.
What Came Before He Shot Her (2006) is a companion novel told from the perpetrator's perspective following the tragedy that ends With No One as Witness — it barely features Lynley and is best read immediately after that book, in its publication-order slot, not skipped.
Frequently asked questions
How many Inspector Lynley books are there?
There are 22 novels in the Inspector Lynley series, from A Great Deliverance (1988) to A Slowly Dying Cause (2025).
What order should I read the Inspector Lynley books in?
Publication order, starting with A Great Deliverance. The one exception some readers make is A Suitable Vengeance, a prequel published 4th but set about a year before A Great Deliverance -- you can read it first for strict story chronology, though it isn't required.
Is there a new Inspector Lynley book coming?
No new book has been announced as of August 2026. The most recent entry, A Slowly Dying Cause, was published in September 2025.
Is What Came Before He Shot Her a Lynley novel?
It's a companion novel in the series' publication sequence (book 14) but is told from the point of view of the killer responsible for the tragedy at the end of the previous book, With No One as Witness, rather than from Lynley's perspective.
Is the Inspector Lynley series finished?
No, it's ongoing. Elizabeth George has continued publishing new Lynley novels, with A Slowly Dying Cause (2025) the most recent.
Reading order last verified .