Lynda La Plante Books In Order

Lynda La Plante (website) is a British crime mystery author who is above all well known for her Prime Suspects TV series. Born Lynda Titchmarsh in 1943, she grew up in  Liverpool, Merseyside. After attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) training for stage, she appeared in several productions and well known TV series under the pen name Lynda Marchal.

Lynda La Plante first started writing scripts for TV in 1983 when she created the six-part robbery series Widows for Thames Television. Her most famous work on TV was indeed Prime Suspects, which she started working on in 1990. The show featuers Helen Mirren as DCI Jane Tennison, and it was aired both on BBC and PBS in the US. In 1993, she won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for her job on this particular series.

It was the same year when Lynda La Plante decided to create her own company, which she did under the name La Plante Productions, where she took the lead in producing several high roller TV series including The Governor, Trials And Retribution, Supply and Demand, Killer Net, Mind Games and The Commander.

While she is most famous for the TV show screenplay contributions, mystery book readers should read some of her crime novels, because they are well worth it (I especially enjoyed reading her Anna Travis series), because indeed she has written several popular books.

Her novel writing career took of in 1987 when she got her first novel The Legacy published, which became an instant success, receiving overwhelming positive critiques.

Here are the Lynda La Plante books in order for her series and standalone novels based on the year of publication, with the reading order listed in brackets.

Legacy Series In Order

1. The Legacy (Legacy #1), 1987

2. The Talisman (Legacy #2), 1987

Prime Suspect Series In Order

1. Prime Suspect (Prime Suspect #2), 1991

2. A Face in the Crowd (Prime Suspect #3), 1992

3. Prime Suspect 3 (Prime Suspect #4), 1993

4. The Prime Suspect Cases (Prime Suspect #5), 2014

5. Tennison (Prime Suspect #1), 2015 – prequel to Prime Suspects

Lorraine Page Series In Order

1. Cold Shoulder (Lorraine Page #1), 1994

2. Cold Blood (Lorraine Page #2), 1996

3. Cold Heart (Lorraine Page #3), 1998

Trial And Retribution Series In Order

1. Trial And Retribution (Trial And Retribution #1), 1997

2. Trial and Retribution II (Trial And Retribution #2), 1998

3. Trial and Retribution III (Trial And Retribution #3), 1999

4. Trial and Retribution IV (Trial And Retribution #4), 2000

5. Trial and Retribution V (Trial And Retribution #5), 2002

6. Trial and Retribution VI (Trial And Retribution #6), 2002

Anna Travis Series In Order

1. Above Suspicion (Anna Travis #1), 2004

2. The Red Dahlia (Anna Travis #2), 2005

3. Clean Cut (Anna Travis #3), 2007

4. Deadly Intent (Anna Travis #4), 2008

5. Silent Scream (Anna Travis #5), 2009

6. Blind Fury (Anna Travis #6), 2010

7. Blood Line (Anna Travis #7), 2011

8. Backlash (Anna Travis #8), 2012

9. Wrongful Death (Anna Travis #9), 2014

Standalone Novels By Lynda La Plante

Bella Mafia, 1991

Entwined, 1992

Seekers, 1993

The Governor, 1995

The Governor II, 1996

Sleeping Cruelty, 2000

Royal Flush, 2002

Twisted, 2014