The Inspector Lynley is a Crime Fiction / Mystery series by Elizabeth George, made up of 21 books published between 1988 and 2022. It begins with A Great Deliverance (1988), and is best read in publication order. The most recent entry is Something to Hide (2022), spanning 34 years of storytelling.
Inspector Lynley series: frequently asked questions
What order should I read the Inspector Lynley series?
Start with A Great Deliverance (1988), the first book in the Inspector Lynley series by Elizabeth George. Follow the books in publication order for the best reading experience.
How many books are in the Inspector Lynley series?
There are 21 books in the Inspector Lynley series by Elizabeth George, published between 1988 and 2022.
What is the first book in the Inspector Lynley series?
The first book in the Inspector Lynley series is A Great Deliverance, published in 1988 by Elizabeth George.
What is the latest book in the Inspector Lynley series?
The most recent book in the Inspector Lynley series is Something to Hide (2022) by Elizabeth George.
About the Inspector Lynley series
Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley novels are richly characterised British mysteries with an American author's outsider eye. Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley is an aristocrat — the eighth Earl of Asherton — paired, often abrasively, with the working-class Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers. Their class-crossing partnership is the heart of the series.
George writes long, novelistic mysteries as interested in psychology, grief and social tension as in whodunit mechanics. The character development across the series is unusually deep, with real consequences that carry from book to book.
Because Lynley's and Havers's personal arcs evolve significantly, the series is best read in order from "A Great Deliverance."