Louise Doughty Books in Order – Updated February 22, 2026

Louise Doughty is an English novelist and screenwriter whose books move between psychological suspense, moral pressure-cookers, and (in her later work) thriller structures with literary weight. Her novels are standalones, so you’re not managing a shared-universe timeline, but reading in publication order helps you see how her themes and pacing evolve.

A different way to pick your first Louise Doughty

Choose the doorway that matches what you want right now:

• Slow-burn domestic dread with courtroom aftershocks: start with Apple Tree Yard
• A “what really happened?” thriller built around consequences and grief: start with Whatever You Love
• A modern, high-concept, location-driven suspense story: start with Platform Seven
• A contemporary spy-on-the-run thriller: start with A Bird in Winter
• If you’d rather begin at the beginning: Crazy Paving (her debut)

Safest all-purpose starting point: Whatever You Love (it’s a clean standalone and a strong bridge into her later suspense style).

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Novels in publication order (standalones)

1. Crazy Paving (1995): Three women in a London office navigate rivalry, power, and vulnerability as ordinary working life becomes quietly dangerous.
2. Dance With Me (1996): A young woman inherits everything from a man she barely knew, then chases the truth through grief, suspicion, and the gaps people leave behind.
3. Honey-Dew (1998) (also published in the US as An English Murder): A rural double-murder shatters a “perfect” county façade, forcing a reporter to confront a case that won’t stay neatly local.
4. Fires in the Dark (2003): A love story under siege, shaped by war, displacement, and the brutal ways conflict rewrites private lives.
5. Stone Cradle (2006): A young man with a mysterious origin story drifts into a life where identity, loyalty, and violence keep exchanging masks.
6. Whatever You Love (2010): A parent’s loss becomes an obsession with explanation, turning grief into a moral test with consequences that escalate beyond repair.
7. Apple Tree Yard (2013): A woman’s affair collides with secrecy and the justice system, where the story told in public becomes its own kind of punishment.
8. Black Water (2016): An intelligence-linked life unspools across decades and countries, mixing geopolitics, guilt, and a love story lived under threat.
9. Platform Seven (2019): A commuter station becomes a trap of memory and revelation, as a woman watches her last days come into focus from the edge of life.
10. A Bird in Winter (2023): A covert operative walks away and runs, carrying secrets that make safety impossible and trust a moving target.

Continuity note: These novels do not form a series. There’s no required reading sequence for plot reasons, only preference (earlier voice vs. later thriller momentum).

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Nonfiction (separate shelf)

• A Novel in a Year (2007): A practical, week-by-week craft guide built around exercises and momentum, designed for writers who need structure more than inspiration.

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Short fiction (optional)

• Terminus (2018): A short, self-contained piece about shock, refuge, and the quiet conversations that happen when someone is trying not to break.

(Short fiction can be read anytime; it doesn’t connect to the novels’ continuity.)

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Recommended reading routes

If you want “one book that explains why readers stick with her”

1. Whatever You Love
2. Apple Tree Yard
3. Platform Seven

If you want the most thriller-forward run

1. Apple Tree Yard
2. Platform Seven
3. A Bird in Winter

If you want the full career arc without backtracking

Read the novels straight down the publication list from Crazy Paving to A Bird in Winter.

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FAQs

Do any Louise Doughty books share characters or a continuing detective lead?
No. Each novel stands on its own, with fresh protagonists and a self-contained plot.

Is Honey-Dew the same book as An English Murder?
Yes. Honey-Dew is the original title; An English Murder is a retitle used for a US edition.

What’s the newest novel right now?
A Bird in Winter (2023) is the most recent novel currently confirmed in her fiction bibliography.

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Bottom line

If you want the safest start, read Whatever You Love first. If you want the most contemporary, high-tension entry point, go straight to Platform Seven or A Bird in Winter, and treat everything else as a standalone you can slot in whenever the premise grabs you.