Roy Grace Books in Order: How to read Peter James’s series?

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The Roy Grace series, written by renowned British novelist Peter James, transports readers to Sussex, England, and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), home of Detective Superintendent Roy Grace.

Roy Grace, a steady and committed investigator with a sense of humor, successfully negotiates the difficulties of law enforcement. Ten years ago, his life took a devastating turn when his wife unexpectedly vanished, leaving him with unfulfilled expectations of her return. In a touching act of love, he keeps her possessions safe in case she ever reappears.

How to read the Roy Grace Series in Order?

Every entry in the Roy Grace book series may be read as a standalone, yet the lives of the many characters change from one novel to the next.

1. Dead Simple – It was meant to be a harmless stag-night prank. A few hours later Michael Harrison has disappeared and his friends are dead. With only three days to the wedding, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is contacted by Michael’s fiancée, Ashley Harper. Grace discovers that the one man who ought to know Michael Harrison’s whereabouts is saying nothing. But then he has a lot more to gain than anyone realizes…
2. Looking Good Dead – Tom Bryce did what any decent person would do. But within hours of picking up the CD that had been left behind on the train seat next to him, and attempting to return it to its owner, he is the sole witness to a vicious murder. Then his young family are threatened with their lives if he goes to the police. But he bravely makes a statement to the murder enquiry team headed by Roy Grace. And from that moment the killing of the Bryce family becomes a mere formality.
3. Not Dead Enough – On the night Brian Bishop murdered his wife he was 60 miles away, asleep in bed at the time. At least that’s the way it looks to Roy Grace, who is called in to investigate. Grace soon starts coming to the conclusion that Bishop has performed the apparently impossible feat of being in two places at once. Has someone stolen his identity or is he simply a very clever liar?

4. Dead Man’s Footsteps – Amid the tragic unfolding mayhem of the morning of 9/11, failed Brighton businessman and ne’er-do-well Ronnie Wilson sees the chance to shed his debts, disappear and reinvent himself in another country. Six years later the discovery of the skeletal remains of a woman’s body leads Roy Grace on an enquiry spanning the globe, and into a desperate race against time to save the life of a woman.
5. Dead Tomorrow – The body of a missing teenager is dredged from the seabed off the Sussex coast, missing vital organs. Soon after, a further two more bodies are found. As Superintendent Roy Grace investigates the recovered bodies, he unearths the trail of a gang of child traffickers operating from Eastern Europe. Soon Grace and his team will find themselves in a race against time to save the life of a young street kid.
6. Dead Like You – After a heady New Year’s Eve ball, a woman is brutally raped as she returns to her hotel room. A week later, another woman is attacked. Both victims’ shoes are taken by the offender. Roy Grace soon realizes that these new cases bear remarkable similarities to an unsolved series of crimes in the city back in 1997. The perpetrator had been dubbed ‘Shoe Man’. Could this be a copycat, or has Shoe Man resurfaced?

7. Dead Man’s Grip – Carly Chase is still traumatized after being in a fatal traffic accident which kills a teenage student from Brighton University. Then she receives news that turns her entire world into a living nightmare. The drivers of the other two vehicles involved have been found tortured and murdered. Now Roy Grace issues a stark and urgent warning to Carly: She could be next.
8. Not Dead Yet – For the City of Brighton and Hove, the publicity value of a major Hollywood movie being filmed on location is incalculable. For rock superstar Gaia, desperate to be taken seriously as an actor, this is the role that could get her an Oscar nomination. For Roy Grace, it is a nightmare unfolding in front of his eyes. An obsessed stalker is after Gaia.
9. Dead Man’s Time – A vicious robbery at a secluded Brighton mansion leaves its elderly occupant dying. Millions worth of valuables have been stolen. But as Roy Grace rapidly learns there is one priceless item of sentimental value that her powerful family cherish above all else. And they are fully prepared to take the law into their own hands to get it back. Now, Grace is racing against the clock, following a murderous trail that leads him across Europe, and all the way back to the New York waterfront.

10. Want You Dead – When Red Westwood meets handsome, charming and rich Bryce Laurent through an online dating agency, there is an instant attraction. But as their love blossoms, the truth about his past, and his dark side, begins to emerge. Everything he has told Red about himself turns out to be a tissue of lies, and her infatuation with him gradually turns to terror.
11. In the Nick of Time: John Rebus vs. Roy Grace (short story) – In this short story from the thrilling anthology FaceOff, detectives John Rebus and Roy Grace could not be more different. The case that eventually brings them together centers on a crime that happened when Rebus was just a teenager in the 1960s-but it took place in Roy Grace’s stomping grounds in Brighton, England.
12. You Are Dead – Logan Somerville has just driven into the underground car park beneath a block of flats in Brighton. Then she disappeared. That same afternoon, workmen digging up a park in another part of the city, unearth the remains of a woman in her early twenties, who has been dead for 30 years. At first, to Roy Grace and his team, these two events seem totally unconnected. But then another young woman in Brighton goes missing-and yet another body from the past surfaces.
13. Love You Dead – Roy Grace is feeling the pressure from his superiors, his previous case is still giving him sleepless nights, there have been major developments with his missing wife Sandy, and an old adversary is back. But worse than all of this is, he now believes, a Black Widow is operating in his city. And he comes to the frightening realisation he may have underestimated just how dangerous this lady is.

14. Need You Dead – Greg, a married man, has been having an affair for three years with another man’s wife. One evening, after a fight with her at their rented love nest, he storms out. When he returns an hour later she is dead. Roy Grace soon discovers that there is more than one person who had a reason to kill her.
15. Dead If You Don’t – Shortly after Kipp Brown and his teenage son, Mungo, arrive at the stadium for their team’s biggest-ever football game, Mungo disappears. A short while later Kipp receives a text with a ransom demand and a warning not to go to the police if he and his wife want to see their son alive again. But as a massive, covert manhunt for the boy begins, D.S. Roy Grace starts to realize that not all is what it seems.
16. Dead at First Sight – DS Roy Grace is called to investigate the suicide of a woman in Brighton, that is clearly not what it seems. As his investigations continue, a Brighton motivational speaker comes forward. He’s discovered his identity is being used to scam eleven different women, online. The first he knew of it was a phone call from one of them, out of the blue, saying, ‘You don’t know me, but I thought I knew you’. That woman is now dead.

17. Find Them Dead – Ending his secondment to London’s Met Police, Roy Grace gets a tip-off about a county lines drugs mastermind operating out of Brighton. On his first day back in his old job in Sussex, he is called to a seemingly senseless murder. Separately, Meg Magellan finally has her life back together, five years after the car crash that killed her husband and their son.
18. Left You Dead – Niall and Eden Paternoster start their Sunday the same way they always do – with a long drive, a visit to a country house and a quick stop at the local supermarket on the way home. But this Sunday ends differently – because while Niall waits and waits in the car park for Eden to pick up supplies, Eden never returns. She’s not waiting for him at home, and none of their family or friends have heard from her. Gone without a trace, Niall is arrested on suspicion of her murder. When DS Roy Grace is called in to investigate, it doesn’t take long to realize that nothing is quite as it seems – and this might be his most mysterious case yet . . .
19. Wish You Were Dead (a Quick Read short story) – The website promised a grand house, but when they arrive the place is very different from the pictures. And it soon becomes clear that their holiday nightmare is only just beginning. An old enemy of Roy, a lowlife criminal he had put behind bars, is now out of jail – and out for revenge.

20. Picture You Dead – Detective Superintendent Roy Grace finds himself plunged into an unfamiliar and rarefied world of fine art. Outwardly it appears respectable, gentlemanly, above reproach. But beneath the veneer, he rapidly finds that greed, deception and violence walk hand-in-hand.
21. Stop Them Dead – A farmer hears a strange noise in the middle of the night. A break-in is everyone’s worst fear. He does not anticipate that after confronting the invaders, he will find himself laying in a pool of blood. The terrifying reality, though, is not the deed itself, but rather what the offenders were prepared to die for. Detective Superintendent Roy Grace notices a problem at the crime site. The tip of the iceberg of a national crime pandemic, this is more than just a poorly executed heist. A new black market that is thriving in the shadows has been uncovered by ruthless gangs working with military precision. This unfathomable source of income is much more lucrative than narcotics.

If you like our article about the Roy Grace reading order, don’t forget to bookmark it! You may also be interested in the Inspector Banks series or Mark Billingham’s books.