Rivers of London: Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant Series Reading Order

Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series occupies a niche entirely its own: a London Metropolitan Police procedural in which magic is real, the rivers of London have goddesses, and PC Peter Grant apprentices under the last wizard in England. It’s funny, specifically British, and meticulously researched.

The Main Novels

1. Rivers of London (2011) — published in the US as Midnight Riot

2. Moon Over Soho (2011)

3. Whispers Under Ground (2012)
4. Broken Homes (2013)
5. Foxglove Summer (2014)
6. The Hanging Tree (2016)
7. Lies Sleeping (2018)
8. False Value (2020)
9. Amongst Our Weapons (2022)

The complete Peter Grant reading order is on the series page, including novellas and short stories.

Why Read in Order

Unlike many urban fantasy series, the Rivers of London books have a sustained plot arc across the full sequence. An antagonist called The Faceless Man runs through the first seven books; Peter’s relationships with Beverley Brook, Nightingale, and the Folly develop continuously. Starting mid-series will lose you significant context.

The Peter Grant Character

Peter Grant is a mixed-race Londoner (Sierra Leonean father, English mother) who joins the Metropolitan Police and is accidentally recruited into the Folly — the secret department that handles supernatural crimes. His voice is the series’ greatest asset: deadpan, curious, geographically specific about London, and consistently funny.

Aaronovitch is a Doctor Who writer by background, and the show’s approach to procedural structure and science-fantasy logic is evident throughout — Grant applies police procedure to magical crimes with the same methodology he’d bring to any case.

London as a Character

The series is extraordinarily specific about London. Streets, areas, river confluences, architectural history — Aaronovitch’s London is meticulously observed and constantly present. The London Eye, the Trocadero, the rivers that run beneath the city — these aren’t background but active elements of the world.

This specificity is both the series’ strength and its limitation: readers who know London well get additional pleasure; readers unfamiliar with the city may miss some of the comedy and texture.

The Novellas and Graphic Novels

Aaronovitch has published several novellas (set between the main novels) and a substantial graphic novel series — Rivers of London: Body Work, Night Witch, and others — that continue Peter’s story in visual form. The graphic novels are genuinely good and add to rather than replace the novels.

Novellas in reading order (after main books):

• The Furthest Station (2017) — between The Hanging Tree and Lies Sleeping
• What Abigail Did That Summer (2020) — Abigail’s perspective

Where to Start

Read Rivers of London first. It works as a standalone urban fantasy novel, introduces the world completely, and is one of the best urban fantasy debuts of its decade. If it clicks — the voice, the London detail, the deadpan approach to the supernatural — you’ll want to read all ten.