Ann Cleeves Books in Order (Updated February 23, 2026)

Ann Cleeves writes multiple crime series with different detectives, different settings, and different continuity rules. Some are long-running and character-driven (where order matters). Others are early-career series you can read more casually.

The simplest way to avoid confusion is to pick a detective first, then read that detective’s books in order.

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Choose your detective

Want the flagship, most-binged series?
Go Vera Stanhope (Northumberland). Start: The Crow Trap (1999).

Want tight modern procedural with personal stakes, shorter list?
Go Two Rivers / Matthew Venn (North Devon). Start: The Long Call (2019).

Want the island noir everyone associates with the TV show?
Go Shetland / Jimmy Perez (Shetland). Start: Raven Black (2006).
(And note: the original Shetland novel arc ends at Wild Fire (2018).)

Curious about the earliest books?
Try Inspector Ramsay or George & Molly Palmer-Jones (older style, different pacing).

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The reading rules that actually matter

• Within a series: read in publication order (best for character arcs and returning relationships).
• Between series: there’s no shared universe you need to protect. Pick any series, any time.
• Short “Quick Reads” and novellas: treat as optional unless you’re already committed to that series.

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Vera Stanhope series (publication order)

1. The Crow Trap (1999): Three women share an isolated cottage for a work project, and Vera’s early-case instincts cut through a knot of secrets before the series’ personal threads even begin.
2. Telling Tales (2005): A cold case resurfaces and drags a community back into its own mythology, where Vera’s patience is tested by people who’ve rehearsed their stories for years.
3. Hidden Depths (2007): A body in a quarry turns a familiar landscape into a crime scene with layers, and Vera’s team dynamics start to feel like a continuing engine rather than a one-off cast.
4. Silent Voices (2011): A researcher’s death pulls Vera into an institution full of quiet power, and the series settles into the rhythm readers expect from the later run.
5. The Glass Room (2012): A prominent figure is found dead in a glass-walled retreat, and Vera has to work around polished reputations that keep trying to manage the narrative.
6. Harbour Street (2014): A street-level murder becomes a community dissection, where everyone’s proximity to everyone else becomes evidence as much as motive.
7. The Moth Catcher (2015): Two deaths link people who’d rather not be linked, and Vera’s ability to read what’s unsaid becomes the decisive tool of the investigation.
8. The Seagull (2017): Vera is pulled into a case that spreads across towns and loyalties, and the series leans harder into long-buried connections with present-day consequences.
9. Frozen (2020) [Optional novella]: A bite-sized Vera case that works best once you already know the tone and the team, without changing the main-series arc.
10. The Darkest Evening (2020): A storm and a missing-person thread trap Vera in a remote house full of tension, tightening the series into near-closed-room pressure.
11. The Woman on the Island (2022) [Optional novella]: A short Vera mystery that slots neatly as an extra, not a required chapter.
12. The Rising Tide (2022): A body discovered after a local event turns celebration into exposure, and Vera must untangle grudges that have been waiting for the right moment.
13. The Dark Wives (2024): A death tied to folklore and fear tests Vera’s ability to separate community stories from the single, sharp truth hiding underneath.

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Two Rivers / Detective Matthew Venn (publication order)

1. The Long Call (2019): A man is found dead on a beach, and Venn’s return to the community he left behind makes the investigation personal before it’s even complicated.
2. The Heron’s Cry (2021): A staged murder pulls Venn into a web of artists and outsiders, where aesthetics and performance become part of the crime’s design.
3. The Girls on the Shore (2022) [Optional novella]: A short Venn case that reads cleanly between novels, offering extra time with the team without shifting the core arc.
4. The Raging Storm (2023): A celebrity-linked death turns a local setting into a spotlight, and the case forces the team to work under glare, noise, and suspicion.
5. The Dying Light (2026) [Upcoming]: A teenage girl is found in a luxury holiday home’s pool and her friend is missing, pushing Venn into a case shaped by privilege, politics, and what a community refuses to say.

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Shetland / Jimmy Perez (publication order)

1. Raven Black (2006): A teenage girl’s murder during a hard winter pulls Perez into a small community quick to decide who the monster is.
2. White Nights (2008): A death that looks simple won’t stay simple, and Perez has to navigate a season where daylight and certainty both blur.
3. Red Bones (2009): An apparent accident becomes a feud-lit investigation, forcing Perez to dig through family history that still controls the present.
4. Blue Lightning (2010): A Fair Isle murder locks everyone into isolation with the killer, making methodical police work the only way to keep panic from steering the case.
5. Dead Water (2013): A journalist’s body in a Shetland boat drags Perez and Willow Reeves into old scandals and new motives tied to reputation and industry.
6. Thin Air (2014): A wedding trip turns into a disappearance and death, and Perez has to sort superstition from staging before grief becomes misdirection.
7. Too Good To Be True (2016) [Optional Quick Read]: A compact Perez case away from Shetland, best treated as a side-path once you already like the character.
8. Cold Earth (2016): A landslide reveals a body, and Perez becomes obsessed with identity, who she was, who wanted her gone, and who benefits from silence.
9. Wild Fire (2018): A newcomer family and a murdered nanny ignite rumor into weaponry, closing the original Shetland novel arc at its most socially combustible.

Shetland companion (non-fiction)

• Shetland (2015): A place-and-season guide that pairs well with the novels, but has no plot continuity role.

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Jimmy Perez & Willow Reeves (new sequence)

This is not part of the numbered Shetland novels above, but it does bring Perez back.

1. The Killing Stones (2025): A violent storm on Orkney uncovers a friend’s murder and a striking ancient weapon, forcing Perez into a case where history and intimacy make every clue heavier.

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Inspector Ramsay series (publication order)

1. A Lesson in Dying (1990): A small community case introduces Ramsay’s steady, observant approach, classic-leaning crime with the roots of what Cleeves later sharpens.
2. Murder in My Backyard (1991): A local mystery expands as Ramsay pushes past comfortable assumptions, rewarding readers who like method over spectacle.
3. A Day in the Death of Dorothea Cassidy (1992): A death with complicated social ties forces Ramsay into a web where status and secrets keep trading places.
4. Killjoy (1993): A body at an event turns celebration into suspicion, and Ramsay has to read the room as closely as the evidence.
5. The Healers (1995): A case threaded through care, authority, and vulnerability, classic procedural tension with moral friction.
6. The Baby Snatcher (1997): A child-related crime raises the emotional stakes, and Ramsay’s restraint becomes the series’ most important tool.

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George & Molly Palmer-Jones series (publication order)

These are earlier “classic mystery” entries with a different texture than Vera/Shetland.

1. A Bird in the Hand (1986): Birdwatching circles and quiet rivalries turn deadly, launching Cleeves’ first continuing duo with a gentle surface and sharp edges underneath.
2. Come Death and High Water (1987): A case shaped by place and routine, where George and Molly’s observational strengths do the real detective work.
3. Murder in Paradise (1988): A holiday setting turns sour, and the series leans into misdirection built from manners and assumptions.
4. A Prey to Murder (1989): A death tied to community tensions pushes the duo into a tighter, more motive-heavy puzzle.
5. Another Man’s Poison (1992): Threats close to home make the mystery feel personal, and the investigation turns on who controls land, animals, and local power.
6. Sea Fever (1993): Coastal risks and human impatience create a case where opportunity matters as much as intent.
7. The Mill on the Shore (1994): A familiar landscape hides a crime that depends on what people overlook because it’s “always been there.”
8. High Island Blues (1996): The final entry closes the series with a setting-driven mystery that favors careful attention over speed.

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Standalones

1. The Sleeping and the Dead (2001): A standalone investigation with strong character pressure, ideal if you want Cleeves’ plotting without committing to a long series.
2. Burial of Ghosts (2003): A darker-angled standalone that leans into psychology and aftermath, showing a different side of her suspense instincts.

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What’s latest and what’s next

• Latest Vera novel: The Dark Wives (2024).
• Latest Two Rivers novel published: The Raging Storm (2023), with The Dying Light (2026) scheduled next.
• Latest Perez return: The Killing Stones (2025), launching the Orkney-set continuation with Willow Reeves.

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The cleanest starting points

• Start Vera: The Crow Trap (1999).
• Start Two Rivers: The Long Call (2019).
• Start Shetland: Raven Black (2006).

Pick one lane, read forward, and you’ll never hit a continuity snag.