Stuart MacBride Books in Order

Stuart MacBride is a No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling Scottish crime writer best known for the Logan McRae series and the Ash Henderson novels. Most of his books are set in northeast Scotland, with Aberdeen and the fictional city of Oldcastle giving his work its own darkly funny corner of tartan noir.

The Logan McRae series began with Cold Granite, winner of the Barry Award for Best First Novel. Logan returns to work after a year of sick leave and is immediately assigned to a child-murder investigation. That first book establishes the pattern for the series: Logan tries to keep the case moving while Roberta Steel ignores procedure, colleagues make mistakes, and senior officers worry about the headlines. The crimes are often grim, but much of the humor comes from the way the police argue, cut corners, and make one another’s jobs harder.

This page lists all Stuart MacBride books in order, including the Logan McRae, DS Roberta Steel, and Ash Henderson series, the connected Oldcastle novels, standalone books, novellas, short stories, collections, and children’s books.

Latest Stuart MacBride Books

How the Stuart MacBride Series Connect

Logan McRae and Roberta Steel belong to the same Aberdeen universe. Steel is Logan’s boss for much of the main series and becomes one of its most important returning characters. Her first solo novel, Now We Are Dead, follows the consequences of In the Cold Dark Ground, so it makes more sense to read it after Logan McRae #10. And the Corpse Wore Tartan and Blood, Rust and Steel continue Steel’s own separate series.

The Oldcastle novels are not part of the Logan McRae, and together they have a shared setting. Birthdays for the Dead, A Song for the Dying, and The Coffinmaker’s Garden follow Ash Henderson. A Dark So Deadly, No Less the Devil, and In a Place of Darkness introduce other lead detectives working in the same fictional city, with some police characters appearing across the books.

Logan McRae Series (Books in Order)

The Logan McRae series follows DS, later DI, Logan McRae, a police detective working in Aberdeen and across northeast Scotland. Cold Granite begins during Logan’s first week back after a year of sick leave caused by a near-fatal stabbing. He returns straight into the search for a child killer.

The police station is rarely under control. Logan often has to keep a case moving while Robert Steel ignores instructions, upsets her colleagues, and creates various problems for everyone around her. She is crude and exhausting, but on the other hand, she is a very capable detective, which is why she is still on the force. A lot of the series’ dark humor comes from Logan trying to manage both the investigation and Roberta.

1. Cold Granite, 2005
2. Dying Light, 2006
3. Broken Skin, 2007 (also titled Bloodshot)
4. Flesh House, 2008
5. Blind Eye, 2009
6. Dark Blood, 2010
7. Shatter the Bones, 2011
8. Close to the Bone, 2012
9. The Missing and the Dead, 2014
10. In the Cold Dark Ground, 2016
11. The Blood Road, 2018
12. All That’s Dead, 2019
13. This House of Burning Bones, 2025

Logan and Steel Short Stories and Collections

• Partners in Crime, 2012
• The 45% Hangover, 2014
• 22 Dead Little Bodies and Other Stories, 2015

DS Roberta Steel Series (Books in Order)

The spin-off DS Roberta Steel series follows Logan McRae’s former boss, Roberta Steel, after she is demoted and returned to ordinary detective work. In Now We Are Dead, Steel has been caught planting evidence against a suspected rapist. She is ordered to stay away from him but continues investigating in an unofficial capacity. DC Tufty Quirrel becomes her main partner in the unwanted job of surviving her plans. In the later books, Robert returns to the Aberdeen police universe that was established in the Logan series. For example, And the Corpse Wore Tartan sends her into a Highland wedding murder, while Blood, Rust and Steel follows her near retirement as a body in a wheelie bin drags her into one more messy case.

To follow her full timeline, read Now We Are Dead after In the Cold Dark Ground, then continue with And the Corpse Wore Tartan and Blood, Rust and Steel.

• Now We Are Dead, 2017
• And the Corpse Wore Tartan, 2026
• Blood, Rust and Steel, 2026

Ash Henderson Series (Books in Order)

The Ash Henderson series follows Detective Constable Ash Henderson, a police officer working in the fictional Scottish town of Oldcastle whose daughter was taken by a serial killer known as the Birthday Boy. Ash has spent five years secretly investigating the disappearance of his daughter, and the series, not part of the Logan McRae universe, mostly centers on Ash’s private obsession with his daughter case, while trying to keep it a secret from his colleagues. Forensic psychologist Dr Alice MacDonald becomes Ash’s main partner. She tries to understand the people involved in a case, but Ash is different, as he tends to intimidate suspects or break the rules to keep the investigation going.

1. Birthdays for the Dead, 2012
2. A Song for the Dying, 2014
3. The Coffinmaker’s Garden, 2021

Standalone Novels

• Halfhead, 2009 (published as Stuart B. MacBride)
• A Dark So Deadly, 2017
• No Less the Devil, 2022
• The Dead of Winter, 2023
• In a Place of Darkness, 2024

Short Stories and Novellas

• Sawbones, 2008
• The Tasting Menu, 2024

Short Story Collections and Anthologies

• Damn Near Dead, 2006
• The Mammoth Book of Best British Mysteries, 2008
• Twelve Days of Winter, 2009
• Uncage Me, 2009
• The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime 8, 2011
• The Mammoth Book of Best British Mysteries 8, 2011
• The Killer Cookbook, 2012
• Suspense Magazine February 2013, 2013
• Dark Duets, 2014
• Bloody Scotland, 2017

Picture Books

• The Completely Wholesome Adventures of Skeleton Bob, 2013

Stuart MacBride Biography

Stuart MacBride is a Scottish author whose books include the Logan McRae series, the Ash Henderson novels, the Roberta Steel spin-off books, standalone crime novels, short stories, novellas, and a children’s picture book. He has published more than twenty books since his debut in 2005.
Official website: stuartmacbride.com

Born on 27 February 1969 in Dumbarton, near Glasgow, he moved to Aberdeen as a child, where he also grew up. He studied architecture at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh but did not complete the degree. Before writing full time, he worked as a graphic and web designer, computer programmer, actor, undertaker, and studio manager of a nationwide marketing company, experiences that later helped some of the settings and professions that are part of his novels.

Cold Granite, his debut novel that started the Logan McRae series, was published by HarperCollins in 2005 after a deal that grew from a three-book contract to six, then was expanded further continuing for more than twenty years. It was technically his fifth attempt at writing a novel, as the publishers were initially more interested in Halfhead, a sci-fi thriller he wrote under the name Stuart B. MacBride, but pushed him toward the crime series instead, particularly on the “tartan noir” subgenre set in Scotland.

The Logan McRae books became a No.1 Sunday Times bestselling series, and his novels have sold over 6.5 million copies worldwide. Roberta Steel, one of the main characters in the Logan series, received her spin-off series in her first solo novel with Now We Are Dead in 2017. In addition, Stuart MacBride has also written the Ash Henderson series, set in the fictional town of Oldcastle, first for the Ash Henderson novels and then for several books led by other detectives.. as well as standalone crime novels and short stories and collections.

Stuart MacBride has won the Barry Award for Best First Novel, the CWA Dagger in the Library, and the ITV3 Crime Thriller Award for Breakthrough Author of the Year, and has been awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Dundee and Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen. He lives in northeast Scotland with his wife, Fiona.

Stuart MacBride Awards and Honors

Awards

• Cold Granite – Barry Award for Best First Novel (2006)
• CWA Dagger in the Library (2007)
• Broken Skin – ITV3 Crime Thriller Award, Breakthrough Author of the Year (2008)
• ITV3 Crime Thriller Hall of Fame (2012)
• Honorary Doctorate, University of Dundee (2015)
• In the Cold Dark Ground – Dead Good Reader Award for Darkest Moment (2016)
• Honorary Doctorate, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen (2017)

Nominations and Shortlists

• Cold Granite – International Thriller Writers Award for Best First Novel (2006)
• Cold Granite – Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year (2007)
• Dying Light – Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel (2007)
• Dying Light – Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year (2008)
• Broken Skin – Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year (2009)
• Dark Blood – Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year (2011)
• Birthdays for the Dead – Specsavers Bestseller Dagger (2012)
• Birthdays for the Dead – Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year (2013)
• In the Cold Dark Ground – McIlvanney Prize (2016)
• The Missing and the Dead – Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year (2016)
• In the Cold Dark Ground – McIlvanney Prize (2016)
• Logan McRae series – Dead Good Reader Award for Best Series (2016)
• All That’s Dead – McIlvanney Prize (2019)
• The Coffinmaker’s Garden – McIlvanney Prize (2021)

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