DCI Carmichael books in order

Ian McFadyen’s crime novels follow Detective Chief Inspector Steve Carmichael and his team through murder investigations in rural Lancashire. Start with Little White Lies if you want to follow the recurring characters from the beginning. Each book has its own case, so you can also start with whichever mystery catches your eye.

Publication order

1. Little White Lies (2008)
2. Lillia's Diary (2009)
3. Frozen to Death (2010)
4. Deadly Secrets (2012)
5. Killing Time (2015)
6. Death in Winter (2016)
7. The Steampunk Murder (2018)
8. Blood on His Hands (2019)
9. The Murky World of Timothy Wall (2021)
10. Blood Matters (2024)
11. The Corpse Bell (2025)

Where should I start?

For a mystery that begins outside a village bell tower, try The Corpse Bell. Penny Carmichael’s first outing with the local bellringers is interrupted when a body turns up near the belfry. If you prefer a case that digs into the past, Blood Matters opens with the death of a music journalist and leads Carmichael back to the deaths of two local pop idols twenty years earlier.