Ann Granger Books in Order (Mitchell and Markby, Fran Varady, Ben Ross, Campbell & Carter)
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All of Ann Granger’s Books in Order!
Who is Ann Granger?
After working in British embassies in various parts of the world, Ann Granger started writing historical romances under the nom de plume Ann Hulme. But after her return to England in 1991, she became a crime novelist with the Mitchell and Markby series.
Since then, Patricia Ann Granger wrote more than 35 books in multiple crime series like the Fran Varady mysteries, the Ben Ross & Lizzie Martin series, and the Campbell & Carter mysteries.
Ann Granger Books in Order:
This list is only about the crime novels published under the name Ann Granger, not about the historical romances by Ann Hulme.
The Mitchell and Markby Series
Set in the fictitious town of Bamford somewhere in the Cotswolds, this mystery series began when civil servant Meredith Mitchell came home after many years abroad and reinvent herself into an amateur sleuth. A murder put her on Chief Inspector Alan Markby’s path as they started working investigations, each one with their own style.
For more information, go to our Mitchell and Markby reading order.
- Say It with Poison (1991)
- A Season For Murder (1991)
- Cold in the Earth (1992)
- Murder Among Us (1992)
- Where Old Bones Lie (1993)
- Flowers For His Funeral (1994)
- A Fine Place For Death (1994)
- Candle For a Corpse (1995)
- A Touch of Mortality (1996)
- A Word After Dying (1996)
- Call the Dead Again (1998)
- Beneath these Stones (1999)
- Shades of Murder (2000)
- A Restless Evil (2002)
- That Way Murder Lies (2004)
- An Unfinished Murder (2018) A Campbell & Carter Mystery featuring Mitchell & Markby!
The Fran Varady Series
- Asking For Trouble (1997) – Fran Varady is insolvent, unemployed and, though for the moment she’s got the leaky roof of the squat she shares in Jubilee Street over her head, she’ll very soon be homeless thanks to the council eviction department. Her dreams of becoming an actress, nurtured when her father and grandmother were still alive, seem a long way off. But Fran is a survivor … which her former housemate, Terry, found hanging from the ceiling of her room, clearly is not.
- Keeping Bad Company (1997) – Buying a coffee for down-and-out ‘Alkie’ Albie at Marylebone Station is Fran Varady’s good deed for the day. But when the grateful Albie takes her into his confidence, Fran suddenly finds herself launched on her second investigation. For Albie, though obviously fond of a drink and none too familiar with soup and water, is absolutely clear about one thing – he claims to be the only witness to the violent abduction of a young girl.
- Running Scared (1998) – Aspiring actress and part-time private investigator Fran Varady knew there would be maximum disruption when her friend Ganesh decided to modernise his uncle’s newsagents, starting with the washroom. But she isn’t prepared for the nightmare that begins when an agitated passer-by asks to use it: hours later, he’s found stabbed to death, leaving a message for Fran to meet him, and a mysterious roll of film hidden behind the old pipes…
- Risking It All (2001) – When Fran Varady is approached by Private Investigator Clarence Duke, she mistrusts him on instinct. But she can’t ignore what he has to tell her. Her mother, Eva, who walked out on Fran when she was only seven years old, has hired Clarence to find her daughter. And for good reason. Eva is dying. Within days, Fran is reunited with the mother she hasn’t seen for fifteen years, and is soon to lose again. But the biggest bombshell is still to come. Eva has another child – a daughter she gave up soon after her birth – and she wants Fran to find her.
- Watching Out (2003) – Fran Varady fell into private detective work by accident rather than design. Now she’s got a ‘real’ job at a trendy pizzeria, she’s back on track with her acting ambitions, and she’s even found a nice flat to rent. But things aren’t as straightforward as they seem. But Fran has rashly undertaken to help a young boy, illegally in the country, find an elusive people trafficker called Max. When the trail Fran is following is suddenly and tragically interrupted by a horrifying death, she finds herself up against dangerous men and a ruthless organization.
- Mixing with Murder (2005) – Fran Varady isn’t keen to help seedy club owner Mickey Allerton track down Lisa, a dancer who’s done a bunk. But since Mickey’s holding Fran’s dog Bonnie hostage till the job’s done, she doesn’t have much choice. She quickly locates Lisa and they arrange to meet – but when Fran gets there early, the first thing she sees is a body floating in the river. It’s Ivo, one of Mickey’s nastier bouncers.
- Rattling the Bones (2007) – Edna, the dotty bag lady who Fran Varady used to see living in a churchyard with only feral cats for company, has crossed her path again. Now Edna is staying in a hostel, spending her days roaming as before. But Fran begins to see a method to her madness and, even though no one will believe her, she is certain Edna is being followed. Who could be interested in a harmless old lady?
The Ben Ross & Lizzie Martin Series
A historical crime series, Ann Granger’s Inspector Ben Ross series is set in the heart of Victorian London.
- A Rare Interest in Corpses (2006) – It is 1864 when Lizzie Martin takes up the post of companion to a wealthy widow who is also a slum landlord. Lizzie is intrigued to learn that her predecessor as a companion had disappeared, supposedly having run off with an unknown man. But when the girl’s body is found in the rubble of one of the recently demolished slums around the prestigious new railway station at St Pancras, Lizzie begins to wonder exactly what has been going on. She has re-made the acquaintance of a childhood friend, now Inspector Benjamin Ross, and with his help starts to investigate.
- A Mortal Curiosity (2008) – Lizzie Martin, lady’s companion, has been sent from London to the New Forest to comfort a young woman whose baby has tragically died. A sad enough task, but things take an even darker turn when a rat-catcher is found murdered in the garden, and the young woman is discovered beside the body, crying and covered in blood. Not knowing where else to turn, Lizzie calls upon her friend Inspector Ben Ross from Scotland Yard to solve the horrific crime.
- A Better Quality of Murder (2010) – As Inspector Ben Ross of Scotland Yard walks homeward one Saturday night in late October 1867, the fog that swirls around him is like a living beast. By the time it has lifted next morning, a woman lies murdered in Green Park. Allegra Benedict was the beautiful Italian wife of an art dealer in Piccadilly. But what had she been doing in London that afternoon, and why had she been selling her brooch in the Burlington Arcade just hours before her death? As Ben begins his investigation, his wife Lizzie looks into Allegra’s private life and uncovers more than one reason why someone might want her dead…
- A Particular Eye for Villainy (2012) – When Mr. Thomas Tapley is found bludgeoned to death in his sitting room, his neighbor Inspector Benjamin Ross of Scotland Yard is immediately summoned. Little is known about the elusive gentleman until Mr. Jonathan Tapley, QC, hears of the news and the truth about his cousin’s tragic past slowly begins to emerge.
- The Testimony of the Hanged Man (2014) – When Inspector Ben Ross is called to Newgate Prison by a man condemned to die by the hangman’s noose he isn’t expecting to give any credence to the man’s testimony. But the account of a murder he witnessed over seventeen years ago is so utterly believable that Ben can’t help wondering if what he’s heard is true.
- The Dead Woman of Deptford (2016) – On a cold November night in a Deptford yard, dock worker Harry Parker stumbles upon the body of a dead woman. Inspector Ben Ross is summoned from Scotland Yard to this insalubrious part of town, but no witness to the murder of this well-dressed, middle-aged woman can be found. Even Jeb Fisher, the local rag-and-bone man, swears he’s seen nothing.
- The Murderer’s Apprentice (2019) – It is March 1870. London is in the grip of fog and ice. But Scotland Yard’s Inspector Ben Ross has more than the weather to worry about when the body of a young woman is found in a dustbin at the back of a Piccadilly restaurant. Ben must establish who the victim is before he can find out how and why she came to be there. His inquiries lead him first to a bootmaker in Salisbury and then to a landowner in Yorkshire.
- The Truth-Seeker’s Wife (2021) – It is Spring 1871 when Lizzie Ross accompanies her formidable Aunt Parry on a restorative trip to the south coast. Lizzie’s husband, Ben, is kept busy at Scotland Yard and urges his wife to stay out of harm’s way. But when Lizzie and her aunt are invited to dine with other guests at the home of wealthy landowner Sir Henry Meager, and he is found shot dead in his bed the next morning, no one feels safe.
- The Old Rogue of Limehouse (2023) – It is the summer of 1871 when Scotland Yard’s Inspector Ben Ross pays a visit to Jacob Jacobus, the old rogue of Limehouse: infamous antiquarian, friend to villains and informer to the police. Ben hopes to glean information about any burglaries that might take place now that the wealthiest echelons of society are back in London for the Season. Little does he realise that an audacious theft has already occurred – a priceless family heirloom, the Roxby emerald necklace, has been stolen from a dressing table in the Roxby residence, and the widowed Mrs Roxby is demanding its immediate return.
The Campbell and Carter Series
- Mud, Muck and Dead Things (2009) – When the body of a young woman is discovered in the cowshed of Cricket Farm, the tranquility of the British countryside is shattered. Inspector Jess Campbell is on the case, but with few leads, a grumbling partner, and the new superintendent Ian Carter piling on the pressure, she’s beginning to wonder why she chose to be a detective in the first place.
- Rack, Ruin and Murder (2011) – When old Monty discovers a dead body in his drawing-room, it’s up to Inspector Jess Campbell to get to the bottom of the mystery. Monty is a recluse, holed up in his crumbling manor house being generally unpleasant to everyone, even those relatives he actually likes. When his family and locals claim they’ve never seen the murder victim before Campbell smells a lie.
- Bricks and Mortality (2013) – A body is discovered inside of the smoldering ruins of Key House. The crumbling Cotswold manor has long been empty, but rumor has it that the owner, Gervase Crown, was seen lurking around just before the fire. Inspector Jess Campbell and Superintendent Ian Carter pin Gervase as a prime suspect, but was he the murderer, or the target? It seems that his sudden reappearance has stirred up animosity long thought forgotten.
- Dead In The Water (2015) – As Christmas approaches in the sleepy English village of Weston Saint Ambrose, the rains bring the wettest winter on record and the farmer’s fields are submerged. The water uncovers all manner of things, however, including a dead body, dredged up from its watery grave. Snagging on the jetty of Isolde Evans, the reclusive writer is shocked to recognize the victim. And she’s not the only one. When Inspector Jess Campbell investigates, she recognizes the body of Courtney Higson, a local barmaid with a doting, ex-con father, Terry.
- Rooted In Evil (2017) – When the body of a man killed by a point-blank shot to the head is found in Crooked Man Woods, it appears to be a suicide. But when Inspector Jess Campbell and Superintendent Ian Carter begin to investigate, it soon becomes clear that not all is as it seems.
- An Unfinished Murder (2018) – A Campbell & Carter Mystery featuring Mitchell & Markby! As young children, Josh Browning and his sister, Dilys, stumbled across a dead body while playing on the outskirts of their Cotswold village. Terrified by what they’d seen, neither of them told a soul. Now, twenty years later, Josh finds the dead woman’s charm bracelet among his sister’s possessions. Who better to tell than his trusted friend, the man he gardens for, retired Superintendent Alan Markby? As Markby listens to Josh’s confession, alarm bells start to ring. The dates and details tie in with a missing person case that was never solved.
- A Matter of Murder (2020) – Two years ago, Miff Ferguson chose to opt-out of the rat race. Since then he’s been living rough and happily so. That is until now. While looking for shelter, Miff stumbles across the dead body of a young woman inside a dilapidated warehouse. Despite his best efforts to lie low, trouble seems to follow him, and when another dead body is discovered at a local farm, it’s clear Miff is not free from danger. With the clock ticking, Inspector Jess Campbell and Superintendent Ian Carter must join forces once again with the team of police at Bamford to piece together the puzzle before another innocent life is lost…
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