Elly Griffiths Books in Order (Updated February 23, 2026)

Elly Griffiths is the crime-fiction pen name of Domenica de Rosa. Most readers meet her through long-running series with returning casts, where the cases change each book but the personal storylines keep moving.

If you only read one rule from this page: don’t mix series at random unless you’re deliberately switching continuities.

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Start here: three reliable entry points

If you want the flagship experience (modern forensics + folklore atmosphere): begin the Ruth Galloway novels with The Crossing Places.

If you want a tighter “modern Gothic / bookish mystery” lane: begin the Harbinder Kaur books with The Stranger Diaries.

If you want historical Brighton (police work + stage magic): begin the Brighton Mysteries with The Zig Zag Girl.

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The main continuities (what connects to what)

• Ruth Galloway Mysteries: one continuous timeline. Strong character arc; read in order.
• Brighton Mysteries (Stephens & Mephisto): one continuous timeline in the 1950s-60s; read in order.
• Harbinder Kaur: recurring detective with a loosely connected circle of characters; best in order.
• Ali Dawson Mysteries: new series with time-travel cold cases; read in order.
• A Girl Called Justice: middle-grade historical mystery series; read in order within the set.
• Domenica de Rosa novels (pre-Elly Griffiths crime): separate continuity and genre; read anytime.

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Ruth Galloway Mysteries (publication order)

This is the most spoiler-sensitive series on this page because relationships, jobs, and family dynamics evolve steadily.

1. The Crossing Places (2009): A child’s bones on the saltmarsh draws forensic archaeologist Ruth into a modern investigation that locks her into Nelson’s orbit and sets the series’ emotional engine running.
2. The Janus Stone (2010): A child’s remains under a doorway turn a seeming ritual puzzle into a widening murder inquiry, pushing Ruth deeper into police work and its costs.
3. The House at Sea’s End (2011): Coastal erosion reveals buried bodies and old violence, tightening the series’ blend of landscape history and present-day threat.
4. A Room Full of Bones (2011): A museum event becomes a crime scene, and Ruth’s professional life starts colliding more openly with her private choices.
5. Ruth’s First Christmas Tree (2012) – optional short story: A seasonal interlude that fits best after the early books, rewarding readers who already know Ruth’s domestic “normal.”
6. Dying Fall (2012): A friend’s death and an archaeological secret pull Ruth into darker networks, expanding the series beyond local tragedy into ideological menace.
7. The Outcast Dead (2014): Victorian history echoes into the present, forcing Ruth and Nelson to confront how easily “old” stories become modern motives.
8. The Ghost Fields (2015): A body in a buried WWII plane ties past and present in a way that reshapes what “the war” means to the living characters.
9. The Woman in Blue (2016): Visions, belief, and community pressure complicate the case, testing how Ruth handles uncertainty when everyone wants certainty.
10. The Chalk Pit (2017): Human remains in Norwich’s tunnels drag the investigation into the city’s margins, with consequences that ripple through the team.
11. The Dark Angel (2018): A trip away from Norfolk doesn’t create distance, it exposes how trapped Ruth feels, and how the case can follow anywhere.
12. The Stone Circle (2019): Threatening messages and buried innocence bring family stakes to the surface, turning the investigation into a pressure test for Nelson.
13. The Lantern Men (2020): A “closed” conviction reopens in a way that rearranges loyalties, showing how a past case can rewrite the present.
14. The Night Hawks (2021): A beach death linked to local digging pulls Ruth back into the field while longer-running tensions stop being avoidable.
15. The Locked Room (2022): A photograph and a cottage mystery pull Ruth into questions of identity and belonging, while the case forces hard decisions.
16. The Last Remains (2023): A skeleton behind a wall becomes a final convergence of relationships and long threads, designed to land as a capstone to the arc.

Best way to read Ruth: publication order (above). Chronological order does not meaningfully differ.

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Brighton Mysteries (Stephens & Mephisto) (publication order)

These build like a continuing partnership story; later books assume you know the history between the leads.

1. The Zig Zag Girl (2014): A shocking body and a wartime shadow introduce Stephens and magician Max Mephisto, establishing the series’ signature mix of showbiz misdirection and police procedure.
2. Smoke and Mirrors (2015): A winter disappearance turns brutal, tightening the partnership and showing how the stage can hide very real violence.
3. The Blood Card (2016): A death tied to old comrades and public ceremony widens the stakes, making the past feel freshly dangerous.
4. The Vanishing Box (2017): A new case puts performance tricks and personal secrets in the same frame, pushing trust to the forefront.
5. Now You See Them (2019): Missing girls and shifting careers accelerate change in the core cast, moving the series into a more complicated later phase.
6. The Midnight Hour (2021): A seemingly quiet death in a retirement home becomes a poison case, sharpening the series’ focus on hidden lives and late consequences.
7. The Great Deceiver (2023): A magician’s plea and a Brighton boarding house death pull Max back into old networks, steering the series toward a sharper, more perilous endgame tone.

Best way to read Brighton: publication order (above).

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Harbinder Kaur (publication order)

These are interconnected through Harbinder and recurring characters; reading in order preserves reveals about who survives what.

1. The Stranger Diaries (2018): A school-linked murder and a creeping story-within-a-story introduce Harbinder and the series’ love of texts, secrets, and layered narration.
2. The Postscript Murders (2020): A death that “should” be natural becomes anything but, widening into a community-driven investigation that deepens Harbinder’s circle.
3. Bleeding Heart Yard (2022): A murder at a school reunion turns personal fast, raising the emotional temperature and sharpening Harbinder’s role as anchor.
4. The Last Word (2024): A new case that leans on earlier relationships rewards in-order readers, while testing what Harbinder can trust when stories are curated.

Best way to read Harbinder: publication order (above). You can read them standalone, but you’ll lose the intended character progression.

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Ali Dawson Mysteries (publication order)

This series uses time travel as a working method, so order matters for the team’s rules and ongoing fallout.

1. The Frozen People (2025): A cold case team with an impossible advantage sets the ground rules for how the investigations work, and what the job costs Ali personally.
2. The Killing Time (2026): When the team’s method becomes less reliable, Ali is forced into riskier choices, turning the second book into both a case and a systems stress test.
3. The Case of the Christmas Card (2026): A festive, time-bending mystery that plays with famous-company intrusion while still advancing Ali’s wider continuity.

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A Girl Called Justice (Justice Jones) (publication order)

A separate, younger-reader continuity, safe to read independently of the adult crime novels.

1. A Girl Called Justice (2019): A new boarding school and a missing-maids mystery establish Justice’s voice and the series’ puzzle-box rhythm.
2. A Girl Called Justice: The Smugglers’ Secret (2020): A fresh term brings a danger with wider reach, pushing Justice from school mischief into real criminal stakes.
3. A Girl Called Justice: The Ghost in the Garden (2021): A haunting question turns investigative, sharpening the series’ balance of atmosphere and evidence.
4. A Girl Called Justice: The Spy at the Window (2022): Secrets and surveillance escalate the tension, rewarding readers who’ve watched Justice grow into her instincts.

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Separate continuity: novels written as Domenica de Rosa

These are not part of the crime-series continuities above.

1. The Italian Quarter (2004): A return to family and place frames the central mystery as emotional archaeology rather than police procedure.
2. The Eternal City (2005): Rome becomes both setting and catalyst, pushing the plot through culture, desire, and consequence.
3. Villa Serena (2007): A change of scene becomes a change of life, with secrets that surface through relationships more than investigations.
4. One Summer in Tuscany (2008): A summer narrative where personal revelation drives the tension, best read as its own self-contained arc.

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What’s newest, and what’s next (as of February 23, 2026)

• Newest released title: The Killing Time (Ali Dawson #2) – February 2026.
• Most recent completed flagship series: The Last Remains (Ruth Galloway #15) – 2023.
• Upcoming (reliably listed): The Case of the Christmas Card (Ali Dawson #3) – scheduled for October 8, 2026.

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Reading-order FAQs

Do I need to finish Ruth Galloway before starting another series?

No. The series are separate. Just avoid dropping into a later Ruth book if you care about the personal arc; that’s where spoilers concentrate.

Which series is most “must-read-in-order”?

Ruth Galloway first, then Brighton Mysteries. Harbinder is more flexible, but the emotional reveals still land best in order.

Is “publication order” always the same as chronological order here?

For these series, yes in practice. The rare exception is optional short fiction, which is easiest to place by publication context (not by timeline math).

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Bottom line

If you want the safest single starting point: read The Crossing Places (2009) and follow Ruth Galloway in publication order. If you’d rather sample a different flavor first, start The Stranger Diaries for modern Gothic, or The Zig Zag Girl for historical Brighton.