How to read the Inspector Lynley novels in order

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You can now watch the entire season of the new BBC crime series, Lynley, on BBC iPlayer. It features Leo Suter and Sofia Barclay as detectives Tommy Lynley and Barbara Havers, who are a bit of an odd pair.

This isn’t the first adaptation of the Lynley and Havers stories. Back in the 2000s, a BBC series called The Inspector Lynley Mysteries featured the characters, played by Nathaniel Parker and Sharon Small.

Is this murder mystery show based on a set of books? If so, what’s the best way to read the books in order, and are there plans to adapt more of them for the screen?

Read on for everything you need to know about how to read the Inspector Lynley novels in order.

Is Lynley based on a series of books?

The TV show is adapted from the popular Inspector Lynley novels, which have been running for years. Leo Suter stars as the main character, Inspector Lynley.

The first book in the series came out in 1988, and the author, Elizabeth George, continues to write it today. George is an American author known for her love of England and British culture.

These novels were previously turned into the BBC series The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, which aired from 2001 to 2008 and featured Nathaniel Parker and Sharon Small.

According to Suter, when updating or revising something, it’s important to acknowledge the original work while also making it your own and adding your unique perspective.

Trying to copy someone else’s success is a recipe for failure. You really need to forge your own path and trust your gut, and that realization actually made me feel pretty relaxed about the whole thing from the start.

Barclay explained that they both started by revisiting the first novel, ‘A Great Deliverance,’ but quickly realized Steve Thompson’s original vision and the versions created by Nathaniel Parker and Sharon Small were distinct and essentially existed as separate timelines – different universes, really – each with its own version of the Lynley and Havers partnership.

Suter recalled first reading the script and immediately noticing how unique it was, realizing it drew from different source material than other adaptations.

How many books are there in the Inspector Lynley series?

The Inspector Lynley series currently includes 22 books, and the newest one came out on September 25, 2025.

Here’s the full list of Inspector Lynley novels in order.

  1. A Great Deliverance (1988)
  2. Payment in Blood (1989)
  3. Well-Schooled in Murder (1990)
  4. A Suitable Vengeance (1991)
  5. For the Sake of Elena (1992)
  6. Missing Joseph (1992)
  7. Playing for the Ashes (1993)
  8. In the Presence of the Enemy (1996)
  9. Deception on His Mind (1997)
  10. In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner (1999)
  11. A Traitor to Memory (2001)
  12. A Place of Hiding (2003)
  13. With No One as Witness (2005)
  14. What Came Before He Shot Her (2006)
  15. Careless in Red (2008)
  16. This Body of Death (2010)
  17. Believing the Lie (2012)
  18. Just One Evil Act (2013)
  19. A Banquet of Consequences (2015)
  20. The Punishment She Deserves (2018)
  21. Something to Hide (2022)
  22. A Slowly Dying Cause (2025)

I was so excited to see the first season of Lynley! It adapts four of the novels, but they weren’t presented in the order they were originally published, which was a bit of a surprise. The first episode actually came from the twelfth book, then the second from the sixteenth, the third from the fifteenth, and finally, the fourth was based on the thirteenth novel. It was an interesting approach!

Will the BBC series adapt more of the books?

It’s currently unclear if Lynley will adapt more of Elizabeth George’s books, but there’s a lot of potential. So far, only four out of the twenty-two novels have been turned into screen adaptations, meaning there are still eighteen stories that could be told on TV or film.

The show’s renewal for a second season will probably depend on how many people watch it, both in the UK on BBC One and in the US on BritBox, where it first became available last September.

It remains to be seen if Lynley and Havers will return to investigate further cases in the East Anglia and Cambridgeshire areas.

The new show, Lynley, will debut on BBC One on Monday, January 5th at 8:30 PM. You can also watch all four episodes right now on BBC iPlayer.

Don’t miss out! Add Lynley to your watchlist on the TopMob: What to Watch app. Download it today for daily TV recommendations and exclusive content.

Authors

James HibbsDrama Writer

James Hibbs writes about TV dramas for TopMob, covering shows on streaming services and traditional channels. Before becoming a writer, he worked in public relations, first at a business-to-business agency and then at Fremantle, an international TV production company. He has a BA degree in English and Theatre Studies and a Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.

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2026-01-05 21:35