Peter James Books in Order

Peter James OBE is a Sunday Times number-one bestselling British crime author best known for the Brighton-set Roy Grace series. His books have sold more than 23 million copies in 38 languages. He received the CWA Diamond Dagger in 2016, the Roy Grace novels became the ITV series Grace, and in 2026 he was appointed OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for services to literature and charity.

He has worked closely with Sussex Police since the early 1980s, and Roy Grace was partly based on retired detective Dave Gaylor. The books show the real-life steps of a major investigation. One officer follows CCTV, another speaks to witnesses, forensic results determine or change the direction of the case, and Roy Grace has to ultimately decide which clues matter most in the investigation. Peter James uses Brighton’s various locations, such as roads, suburbs, and hotels as places where crimes happen and suspects try to disappear.

This page lists all Peter James books in order, including the Roy Grace, Max Flynn, and Cold Hill series, standalone novels, short stories, and nonfiction books written with former police officer Graham Bartlett.

Latest Peter James Books

Upcoming Releases

• Dead in Three Two One (October 20, 2026)

Where to Start with Peter James: Roy Grace, Cold Hill or a Standalone?

• For crime and the main Roy Grace series: start with Dead Simple. It introduces Grace, his Brighton police team and the disappearance of Sandy, a story that is in the background of most of the series. If you’ve watched the ITV Grace series, you should start here too, since the first television film adapts Dead Simple.
• For a supernatural story, start with The House on Cold Hill, then read The Secret of Cold Hill.
• For Peter James’s early spy novels, start with Dead Letter Drop, the first of the two Max Flynn novels.
• For a standalone, read Perfect People. It is a good choice if you want one of his medical/science thrillers without reading a whole series.

Roy Grace Series (Books in Order)

Roy Grace is a Detective Superintendent working for the Sussex Police in Brighton and Hove. The series begins with Dead Simple, when a stag-night prank goes horribly wrong and the friends who know where the victim is are killed in a road accident.

Peter James writes each investigation so readers can understand the case without knowing the earlier books. The continuing story is Roy himself. His wife Sandy vanished before the first novel, and his friendship with Glenn Branson and his relationship with Cleo change over time. The author has worked closely with Sussex Police since the early 1980s, and Roy Grace was partly based on retired detective Dave Gaylor. The books follow officers as they divide up their work, some questioning witnesses, others waiting for and dealing with the forensic results, others organizing searches, and reconsidering the theory when the previous one proved to be wrong.

The Roy Grace series was adapted into ITV’s Grace, first broadcast in 2021.

1. Dead Simple, 2005
2. Looking Good Dead, 2006
3. Not Dead Enough, 2007
4. Dead Man’s Footsteps, 2008
5. Dead Tomorrow, 2009
6. Dead Like You, 2010
7. Dead Man’s Grip, 2011
8. Not Dead Yet, 2012
9. Dead Man’s Time, 2013
10. Want You Dead, 2014
11. In the Nick of Time, 2014 (with Ian Rankin)
12. You Are Dead, 2015
13. Love You Dead, 2016
14. Need You Dead, 2017
15. Dead If You Don’t, 2019
16. Dead at First Sight, 2019
17. Find Them Dead, 2020
18. Left You Dead, 2021
19. Wish You Were Dead, 2021
20. Picture You Dead, 2022
21. Stop Them Dead, 2023
22. They Thought I Was Dead, 2024
23. One of Us Is Dead, 2024
24. The Hawk Is Dead, 2025
25. Dead in Three Two One, 2026

From the Mystery Sequels archive: In our 2015 interview with Peter James, he answered questions about Roy Grace and the series as it stood at the time.

Max Flynn Series (Books in Order)

The Max Flynn series follows an undercover British agent whose first assignment in Dead Letter Drop forces him to spy on people on his own side. Atom Bomb Angel sends him after a terrorist plan that is targeting Britain’s nuclear power stations.

These were Peter James’s first two published novels and are entirely separate from the Roy Grace series.

• Dead Letter Drop, 1981
• Atom Bomb Angel, 1982

Cold Hill Series (Books in Order)

The Cold Hill books are modern ghost stories set around an old house in the Sussex countryside. The House on Cold Hill follows a family who move into the property and soon learn that its history is still around to cause trouble. The Secret of Cold Hill takes place after the original house has been destroyed and a new building has been built on the site.

1. The House on Cold Hill, 2015
2. The Secret of Cold Hill, 2019

Standalone Novels

• Billionaire, 1983
• Possession, 1988
• Dreamer, 1989
• Sweet Heart, 1991
• Twilight, 1991
• Prophecy, 1993
• Host, 1993
• Alchemist,  1996
• The Truth, 1997
• Denial, 2000
• Faith, 2000
• Perfect People, 2011
• Absolute Proof, 2018
• I Follow You, 2020

Short Stories and Novellas

• The Perfect Murder, 2010
• Christmas Is For the Kids, 2011
• Footloose, 2017 (with Val McDermid)
• John Grebble is Gone, 2026

Short Story Collections

• A Twist of the Knife, 2014

Anthologies

• Dark Voices 4, 1992
• Narrow Houses, 1992
• Cyber-Killers, 1997
• Dancing with the Dark, 1997
• Criminal Tendencies, 2009
• The Sounds of Crime, 2010
• The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime 7, 2010
• Guilty Consciences, 2011
• The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime 9, 2012
• Venice Noir, 2012
• The Killer Cookbook, 2012
• Deadly Pleasures, 2013
• OxCrimes, 2014
• Terror Tales of the Ocean, 2015
• FaceOff, 2017
• MatchUp, 2017 (edited by Lee Child)
• Ten Year Stretch, 2018
• Afraid of the Shadows, 2021
• Writers and Artists Yearbook 2022, 2022

Non-Fiction Books

• Death Comes Knocking, 2016 (with Graham Bartlett)
• Babes in the Wood, 2020 (with Graham Bartlett)

About Peter James

Peter James is a British author whose work includes crime novels, supernatural fiction, spy thrillers, standalone suspense, and nonfiction about police investigations. His longest-running work is the Roy Grace series, set in Brighton and the surrounding Sussex area.
Official website: peterjames.com

Peter James was born in Brighton, in 1948, and grew up in the same city that would be the setting of the Roy Grace series. He started writing at an early age and won a national short-story competition that was hosted by the BBC. He attended Charterhouse School and later Ravensbourne Film School in London, where he studied film and broadcasting. One of his early jobs involved cleaning Orson Welles’s London home.

In 1970, he moved to Canada where he worked as a gopher and then worked on the Polka Dot Door television show, first as a production assistant and later as a writer. Before returning to the UK, he worked extensively as a screenwriter and film producer, involved in more than twenty-five feature films.

His first novel, Dead Letter Drop, was published in 1981 and introduced undercover agent Max Flynn. He then continued with spy fiction, supernatural novels, and books involving medicine or emerging technology before beginning the Roy Grace series with Dead Simple in 2005. It introduced Roy Grace, which would become the main character of his primary series. He also wrote additional series and wrote standalone novels across several genres, including suspense, supernatural fiction and spy-themed thrillers.

His connection with Sussex Police began after his Brighton home was burgled in 1981. James became friends with the detective who attended and gradually gained access to officers and police units for research. That long relationship gave him a direct view of how murder inquiries are staffed, how evidence is handled, and what happens when an investigation goes wrong. Roy Grace was partly based on retired Sussex detective Dave Gaylor.

Peter James was also an early adopter of digital publishing. In 1993, his novel Host was released simultaneously in print and digital format on two floppy disks, becoming one of the earliest commercially published electronic novels. A copy is held by the Science Museum. Around the same time, he also helped establish Pavilion Internet, one of Britain’s early commercial internet service providers. He later worked with former police commander Graham Bartlett on the nonfiction books Death Comes Knocking and Babes in the Wood. He continues to publish Roy Grace novels alongside shorter stories and novellas and standalone books.

He lives in the United Kingdom, dividing his time between London and Brighton.

Major Awards and Honors

• ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards – People’s Bestseller Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year (2011)
• Barry Award – Dead Man’s Grip (2011)
• WHSmith Best Crime Author of All Time (2015)
• CWA Diamond Dagger Award (2016)
• Dead Good Readers Tess Gerritsen Award for Best Series – Roy Grace (2016)
• Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to literature and charity (2026)

Peter James Book Adaptations

• Prophecy – adapted for the television anthology Chiller (1995)
• Host – adapted into the television film Virtual Obsession (1998)
• Alchemist – adapted into the television production The Alchemists (1999)
• The Perfect Murder – adapted for the stage (2014)
• Dead Simple – adapted for the stage (2015)
• Not Dead Enough – adapted for the stage (2017)
• The House on Cold Hill – adapted for the stage (2019)
• Roy Grace series – adapted into the ITV television series Grace (2021-present)
• Looking Good Dead – adapted for the stage (2021)
• Wish You Were Dead – adapted for the stage (2023)
• Picture You Dead – adapted for the stage (2025)

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