Elly Griffiths Books in Order
Elly Griffiths is a British author whose best-known character is forensic archaeologist Dr Ruth Galloway, who often helps DCI Harry Nelson when the police find human remains that need a specialist’s eye. In the Brighton Mysteries, detective Edgar Stephens and magician Max Mephisto work murder cases in Brighton’s theater scene after World War II, while cold-case investigator Ali Dawson is a time traveler who solves crimes in the past.
She won the CWA Dagger in the Library in 2016 and the Edgar Award for Best Novel for The Stranger Diaries in 2020. In 2026, The Frozen People, the first Ali Dawson novel, won the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. This page lists all Elly Griffiths books in order, including the Ruth Galloway, Brighton Mysteries, Harbinder Kaur, Justice Jones, and Ali Dawson series, her short story collections, anthologies, and books written under her real name, Domenica de Rosa.
A printable book list is available below. You can print it or save it as a PDF.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Latest and Upcoming Elly Griffiths Books
Publication date: October 8, 2026
- The Night Watchman (Ali Dawson #3, February 11, 2027)
Ruth Galloway Series (Books in Order)
Dr Ruth Galloway is a forensic archaeologist at the fictional University of North Norfolk. DCI Harry Nelson asks for her help when the police find bones or other remains that need archaeological expertise. Ruth’s work takes her across Norfolk, from the salt marshes and coastline to ancient burial sites and places where much more recent history has been buried.
The short story Ruth’s First Christmas Tree was published between Books 4 and 5 and it fits there in the reading order.
For the full series guide and reading notes, see Ruth Galloway Books in Order.
- The Crossing Places, 2009 Amazon
- The Janus Stone, 2010 Amazon
- The House at Sea’s End, 2011 Amazon
- A Room Full of Bones, 2012 Amazon
- Ruth’s First Christmas Tree, 2012 (short story) Amazon
- Dying Fall, 2013 Amazon
- The Outcast Dead, 2014 Amazon
- The Ghost Fields, 2015 Amazon
- The Woman in Blue, 2016 Amazon
- The Chalk Pit, 2017 Amazon
- The Dark Angel, 2018 Amazon
- The Stone Circle, 2019 Amazon
- The Lantern Men, 2020 Amazon
- The Night Hawks, 2021 Amazon
- The Locked Room, 2022 Amazon
- The Last Remains, 2023 Amazon
Reading notes:
- Ruth’s First Christmas Tree was originally published as a digital short story. It is now included in The Man in Black: And Other Stories.
- The Tomb of the Raven King is a former alternate title for Dying Fall. It is not a separate Ruth Galloway book.
Ruth Galloway book reviewed on Mystery Sequels:
Brighton Mysteries (Books in Order)
The Brighton Mysteries are also known as the Stephens and Mephisto series. They begin in 1950, when DI Edgar Stephens asks his wartime friend Max Mephisto for help with a murder that appears to copy a stage illusion. Max is a magician, and he and Edgar served together during the war in a secret unit called the Magic Men. Their early investigations take place in Brighton’s theatres and variety halls, where Max still knows many of the performers.
- The Zig Zag Girl, 2014 Amazon
- Smoke And Mirrors, 2015 Amazon
- The Blood Card, 2016 Amazon
- The Vanishing Box, 2017 Amazon
- Now You See Them, 2019 Amazon
- The Midnight Hour, 2021 Amazon
- The Great Deceiver, 2023 Amazon
Harbinder Kaur and Connected Mysteries (in Publication Order)
Reading order
- Read The Postscript Murders before The Last Word.
- The Stranger Diaries and Bleeding Heart Yard can be read separately.
Harbinder Kaur appears in all four books, but each story is about a different group of characters and Harbinder is not always the main focus. The Stranger Diaries begins with English teacher Clare Cassidy, whose friend is murdered in circumstances that echo a Gothic story Clare teaches. Harbinder investigates the case and returns in The Postscript Murders, where she meets Natalka, Edwin and Benedict.
In Bleeding Heart Yard, Harbinder goes to London for a new case involving former school friends reunited years later. The Last Word returns to Natalka, Edwin and Benedict, who are now running a detective agency and ask Harbinder for help with one of their cases.
- The Stranger Diaries, 2018 Amazon
- The Postscript Murders, 2020 Amazon
- Bleeding Heart Yard, 2022 Amazon
- The Last Word, 2024 Amazon
Justice Jones Series (Books in Order)
The Justice Jones books are historical mysteries for children aged nine and older. The series begins in 1936, when twelve-year-old Justice arrives at Highbury House Boarding School for the Daughters of Gentlefolk and starts investigating suspicious deaths and disappearances with her friends.
- A Girl Called Justice, 2019 Amazon
- The Smugglers’ Secret, 2020 Amazon
- A Ghost in the Garden, 2021 Amazon
- The Spy at the Window, 2022 Amazon
Ali Dawson Mysteries (Books in Order)
Ali Dawson leads a police cold-case unit whose investigations have an unusual advantage, namely the team can travel into the past. Most people believe they are carrying out historical research, while Italian physicist Serafina Pelligrini helps them investigate crimes in another time.
The Frozen People, which introduces Ali, sends her to Victorian London, where one member of her team becomes trapped. The Killing Time is the direct sequel, with the unit barred from further time travel while Ali tries to find a way back to her colleague. The first two novels belong together, and The Night Watchman moves to a different period, taking Ali into London during the Blitz of 1940.
Ali Dawson Novella
- The Case of the Christmas Card, 2026 Amazon
The Case of the Christmas Card was published after The Killing Time and before The Night Watchman. Read it between books 2 and 3 if you are following publication order.
Which Series Should You Read First?
- Start with The Crossing Places for Ruth Galloway, her best-known series. It introduces Dr Ruth Galloway, DCI Harry Nelson and the Norfolk setting that is a major part of the series.
- The Stranger Diaries introduces Harbinder Kaur, although it also works as a standalone mystery. It has a more Gothic, literary feel than the Ruth Galloway books.
- For the Brighton Mysteries, begin with The Zig Zag Girl. DI Edgar Stephens investigates alongside his wartime friend Max Mephisto, now a stage magician, in postwar Brighton.
- If you like time travel, start the Ali Dawson mysteries with The Frozen People. Ali can travel into the past to investigate crimes there.
- Younger readers can start with A Girl Called Justice, the first mystery about a schoolgirl investigating trouble at a girls’ boarding school in 1930s England.
The main series are separate from each other, so you can start reading each series separately.
Short Story Collection and Anthologies
Short Story Collection
- The Man in Black: And Other Stories, 2024 Amazon
The Man in Black includes stories featuring Ruth Galloway, Harry Nelson, Max Mephisto, Harbinder Kaur and Justice Jones, along with other crime, ghost and suspense stories. It also has the previously released Ruth’s First Christmas Tree, The Man in Black and Ruth Galloway and the Ghost of Max Mephisto.
If you’re following Ruth and Nelson’s story, finish The Last Remains before reading the collection, as it has a later story about their lives.
Anthologies with Stories by Elly Griffiths
- Killer Women: Crime Club Anthology #2: The Body, 2017 Amazon
- Marple: Twelve New Mysteries, 2022 (includes Murder at the Villa Rosa) Amazon
- Murder in Harrogate, 2024 Amazon
- Playing Dead: Short Stories by Members of the Detection Club, 2025 (includes The Woman in Whitechapel) Amazon
- Double Crossing Van Dine, 2025 (includes A Murder Mystery Without a Body) Amazon
Books Published as Domenica de Rosa
Domenica de Rosa is the author’s real name, and Elly Griffiths is the pen name she uses for her crime books. Under her own name, she published one non-fiction book and four novels before The Crossing Places.
Three of the novels have since been reissued under different titles, listed in brackets.
- The Little Book of Shakespeare and Food, 2001 (non-fiction) Amazon
- The Italian Quarter, 2004 (reissued as Return to the Italian Quarter) Amazon
- The Eternal City, 2005 Amazon
- Villa Serena, 2007 (reissued as The Secret of Villa Serena) Amazon
- Summer School, 2008 (reissued as One Summer in Tuscany) Amazon
About Elly Griffiths
Before writing crime fiction as Elly Griffiths, Domenica de Rosa worked for several years in publishing and released four novels under her own name.
Official website: ellygriffiths.co.uk
Born in London in 1963, she moved to Brighton with her family when she was five. She studied English at King’s College London, then worked in a library and for a magazine before joining HarperCollins as a publicity assistant. She eventually became Editorial Director for children’s books.
While on maternity leave in 1998, she wrote the novel later published as The Italian Quarter. She wrote three additional novels as Domenica de Rosa, about Italy and Italian families.
By then, her husband Andy had left his city job to become an archaeologist. During a holiday in Norfolk, they walked across Titchwell Marsh and talked about the way prehistoric people had regarded marshland as a place between land and sea. Griffiths has said that, as Andy spoke, the plot of The Crossing Places came to her and she pictured Ruth Galloway walking out of the mist.
Her agent read the manuscript and told her that she had written a crime novel and needed a crime-writing name. Griffiths chose the name of her grandmother, Ellen Griffiths. The Crossing Places was published in 2009 and introduced Ruth Galloway.
She then returned to Brighton for another series. Her grandfather had been a music-hall comedian, and she used his experiences and collection of old playbills while writing the Brighton Mysteries. She later created the Justice Jones mysteries for children, the books featuring Harbinder Kaur, and the time-travelling Ali Dawson series.
Elly Griffiths lives near Brighton with her archaeologist husband. They have two grown-up children and a cat named Pip.
Major Awards and Honors
- The Crossing Places – Mary Higgins Clark Award (2011)
- CWA Dagger in the Library (2016)
- The Stranger Diaries – Edgar Award for Best Novel (2020)
- Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution Award (2025)
- The Frozen People – Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year (2026)
Elly Griffiths Book Adaptations
The Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries are in development with New Pictures, and the Harbinder Kaur books are in development with CBS. Neither project has announced a cast, production date or release date.