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Series · crime fiction
Tony Hill and Carol Jordan
The Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series by Val McDermid has 11 known books (11 published). It is best read in publication order, starting with The Mermaids Singing (1995).
- Books
- 11 known books (11 novels)
- Published
- 11
- First published
- 1995
- Status
- hiatus
- Shelved under
- Mystery & Crime
Start here: The Mermaids Singing (1995)
— then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
The Mermaids Singing
The Mermaids Singing opens the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series in 1995 and won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger, setting the template for Val McDermid's psychological-thriller-plus-procedural hybrid -- visceral violence seen partly from inside a killer's point of view. Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Mermaids Singing - Book 2:
The Wire in the Blood
The Wire in the Blood, book two of the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series, appeared in 1997. Its title later gave the 2002-2008 British TV adaptation its name, a series that significantly raised the books' international profile. Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Wire in the Blood - Book 3:
The Last Temptation
The Last Temptation, published in 2002, is the third Tony Hill and Carol Jordan novel by Val McDermid. Tony and Carol's slow-burning tension continues unresolved as their careers become further entangled across investigations. Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Last Temptation - Book 4:
The Torment of Others
The Torment of Others comes after The Last Temptation and before Beneath the Bleeding, published in 2004. McDermid keeps escalating the cases from serial murder investigations into wider questions about policing and the psychology of violence. Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Torment of Others - Book 5:
Beneath the Bleeding
Beneath the Bleeding is the fifth novel in the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series, published in 2007. Tony and Carol's relationship survives suspensions and institutional politics as their personal and professional lives keep intertwining. Alternative text for cover: Cover of Beneath the Bleeding - Book 6:
Fever of the Bone
Fever of the Bone precedes The Retribution in the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series, published in 2009. Val McDermid continues the carefully researched, visceral style that made The Mermaids Singing a Gold Dagger winner over a decade earlier. Alternative text for cover: Cover of Fever of the Bone - Book 7:
The Retribution
The Retribution sits between Fever of the Bone and Cross and Burn in the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series, arriving in 2011. The consequences of earlier cases continue to carry forward, part of a series McDermid never rushes toward resolution. Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Retribution - Book 8:
Cross and Burn
Cross and Burn, published in 2013, is the eighth Tony Hill and Carol Jordan novel. Tony and Carol work through periods entirely apart in this installment, one of the strains McDermid puts their two-decade relationship through across the series. Alternative text for cover: Cover of Cross and Burn - Book 9:
Splinter the Silence
Splinter the Silence, running 416 pages, was published in 2015 as the ninth Tony Hill and Carol Jordan novel, continuing Val McDermid's escalation of the pair's cases into wider questions about profiling and policing. Alternative text for cover: Cover of Splinter the Silence - Book 10:
Insidious Intent
Insidious Intent arrived two years after Splinter the Silence, continuing the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series in 2017. It keeps the slow-burning tension between its two leads that McDermid has never rushed to resolve across the run. Alternative text for cover: Cover of Insidious Intent - Book 11:
How the Dead Speak
How the Dead Speak follows Insidious Intent in the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series, published in 2019 -- the eleventh entry in Val McDermid's two-decade-spanning run since The Mermaids Singing won the Gold Dagger in 1995. Alternative text for cover: Cover of How the Dead Speak
Key facts about the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series
Our list has 11 books in the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series. Since all 11 are out now, you can read the whole list today.
Start with The Mermaids Singing, since it opens the publication order in 1995. The Wire in the Blood is book 2, from 1997. The Last Temptation is book 3, from 2002.
The Torment of Others is book 4, from 2004. Beneath the Bleeding is book 5, from 2007. Fever of the Bone is book 6, from 2009.
The Retribution is book 7, from 2011, while Cross and Burn is book 8, from 2013. Splinter the Silence is book 9, from 2015. Insidious Intent is book 10, from 2017, while How the Dead Speak is book 11, from 2019.
The list keeps the books in date order, while each title links to its own page. Each book page shows its dates and editions. The catalogue marks the series as on hiatus, so no next book has a date yet.
The books came out between 1995 and 2019, while their length runs from 400 to 513 pages. That is a run of 24 years.
Val McDermid has 42 books on our list. Additionally, they write Lindsay Gordon, Kate Brannigan and Karen Pirie, plus 1 more series. We shelve the books under crime fiction.
About the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series
Val McDermid's best-known series pairs Tony Hill, a clinical psychologist and profiler with a troubled personal history and an unnerving gift for thinking like the killers he hunts, with Carol Jordan, a police officer whose career and personal life become entangled with his across two decades of investigations. The opening book, The Mermaids Singing (1995), won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger and set the template for the psychological-thriller-plus-procedural hybrid McDermid became known for: visceral, carefully researched violence, an unusual willingness to sit inside a killer's point of view, and a slow-burning will-they-won't-they tension between its two leads that the series never rushes to resolve.
Across eleven novels, Tony and Carol's relationship survives suspensions, near-misses, institutional politics, and periods working entirely apart, while the cases escalate from serial murder investigations into wider questions about policing, profiling, and the psychology of violence. The series was adapted for British television as Wire in the Blood (2002-2008), which took its name from the second novel and significantly increased the books' international profile; note that the TV series and the second novel share a title but the books are more commonly referred to collectively by the characters' names.
Frequently asked questions
How many Tony Hill and Carol Jordan books are there?
Eleven, published between 1995 and 2019, running from The Mermaids Singing to How the Dead Speak.
Is this the same as the Wire in the Blood TV series?
The ITV series Wire in the Blood (2002-2008) is based on these books and takes its name from the second novel, but it diverges substantially from the books' plots and is best treated as a separate adaptation rather than a direct guide to reading order.
Is the series finished?
No new installment has appeared since How the Dead Speak (2019); McDermid has focused on the Karen Pirie and Allie Burns series since, and has not confirmed whether Tony Hill and Carol Jordan will continue.
Where should a new reader start?
At the beginning, with The Mermaids Singing -- the series builds Tony and Carol's relationship and personal histories cumulatively.
If you like the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series
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