DCI Andy Gilchrist Books in Order: How to read T. F. Muir’s series?
Murders in St. Andrews, Scotland.
What is the DCI Andy Gilchrist series about?
Also published in the US under the author name T. Frank Muir, T. F. Muir is a crime writer from Scotland and the author of the popular DI Gilchrist series.
The series follows DCI Andy Gilchrist’s–and his partner, DS Jessie Janes–investigations in the Scottish town of St. Andrews, uncovering murderous trails, criminal plots, and dark truths.
How to read the DCI Andy Gilchrist Books in Order?
Every book in the DI Gilchrist series works as a standalone story, but the lives of the different characters evolve from one novel to the other.
- Eye for an Eye (2007)
- Hand for a Hand (2009)
- Tooth for a Tooth (2012)
- Life For A Life (2013)
- “A Christmas Tail” (Short Story, 2013)
- The Meating Room (2014)
- Blood Torment (2016)
- The Killing Connection (2017)
- Dead Catch (2019)
- Dead Still (2020)
- The Murder List (2021)
- Dead Find (2022)
- The Killing Mood (2023)
What is the plot of the DCI Andy Gilchrist stories?
For more information about the books in the DCI Andy Gilchrist series by T. F. Muir, you’ll find below the official synopsis for all the books:
Eye for an Eye – Six corpses have appeared in the cobbled back streets of St. Andrews in recent times, all known spousal abusers who suffered the same gruesome fate: stabbed to death in the left eye. But with no new leads left to explore, Det. Andy Gilchrist is forced off the case. What is the significance of the left eye? Gilchrist can’t seem to focus on anything else. And with his career and his reputation on the line, he vows to catch the killer-even if it means he must do it alone…
Hand for a Hand – Murder. It’s the only word in a note clutched by the dismembered hand found on the lush green of a golf course in St. Andrews, Scotland. When DCI Andy Gilchrist learns the note is addressed to him, he realizes the thing he feared most has come to pass: a killer is deliberately targeting him. Though Gilchrist is no new hand at solving murders, this time he is overwhelmed by the flood of seemingly unconnected crises-the note clutched in the hand, his son’s missing girlfriend, his ex-wife’s failing health, and his boss’s decision to pair Gilchrist up with a scumbag detective from his past, who in turn is hiding evidence. Worse, the hand turns out to be just the beginning, and soon he’s faced with a relentless parade of body parts.
Tooth for a Tooth – When a woman’s skeleton is discovered in a shallow grave, DCI Andy Gilchrist is tasked with finding her murderer. But a psychic’s warnings and markings on a rusted cigarette lighter found among the rotted remains take Gilchrist on a journey into his own past that brings him closer to discovering the identity of his brother’s killer from a hit-and-run case some thirty-five years before. Dental records from an extracted tooth force Gilchrist to confront the unthinkable-that his brother might have been her killer. He keeps his fears to himself, only to be suspended on suspicion of destroying evidence.
Life For A Life – The middle of winter in St Andrews. When a young woman’s half-naked body is found on Fife’s Coastal Path, frozen and with remnants of a rope manacle around her wrist, DCI Andy Gilchrist is given the case. Gilchrist’s investigation uncovers a bloody trail of shootings and executions that lead him to the heart of a trafficking war. Links to Scotland’s foremost criminal family, the Home Office, and a killer intent on expanding his territory, pull Gilchrist deeper into this murderous web until he comes face to face with the most dangerous man he has ever met.
“A Christmas Tail” (Short Story, 2013) – When Isabelle McLaren is given the devastating news that her ten-year-old son, Thomas, has only months to live, she decides to take him to St Andrews to see Hamish McHamish, the town’s famous cat who Thomas believes can cure him, if only he gets to stroke him. But Hamish is missing, and when Thomas’ health takes a sudden turn for the worse, Isabelle asks DCI Andy Gilchrist for help-find Hamish, and give her son his final wish. But in the season of goodwill to all men, will it take a cat to prove that miracles can still happen?
The Meating Room – When Thomas Magner’s business partner is found dead in his car on the outskirts of St. Andrews, all evidence points to suicide. Meanwhile, Magner, a wealthy property developer, is under investigation for a series of alleged rapes almost thirty years ago. In total, eleven women are prepared to go to court to testify against him, but one by one they withdraw their complaints until only six remain. With the procurator fiscal now reconsidering her case, one of the remaining accusers is found brutally murdered in her home. Even though Magner’s alibi is rock solid, DCI Andy Gilchrist is convinced he is somehow responsible.
Blood Torment – When a three-year-old girl is reported missing, DCI Andy Gilchrist is assigned the case. But Gilchrist soon suspects that the child’s mother – Andrea Davis – may be responsible for her daughter’s disappearance, or worse, her murder. The case becomes politically sensitive when Gilchrist learns that Andrea is the daughter of Dougal Davis, a former MSP who was forced to resign from Scottish Parliament after being accused of physically abusing his third wife.
The Killing Connection – A woman’s body is washed up on the rocks by the castle ruins in St Andrews with evidence of strangulation, and no ID. Two days into the case, a call from another woman claiming to be the victim’s friend could be DCI Andy Gilchrist’s first solid lead. But when she fails to turn up for an interview, Gilchrist fears the worst. The next day, they find her battered body.
Dead Catch – When Joe Christie’s fishing boat is swept onto Tentsmuir beach during a fierce storm, a man’s mutilated body is found in the hold. DCI Andy Gilchrist of St Andrews CID is called in to investigate. But his murder investigation deepens when he learns that Joe Christie and his boat have been missing for three years.
Dead Still – When a man’s preserved body is discovered in a whisky ageing cask in the local Gleneden Distillery, DCI Andy Gilchrist and his partner, DS Jessie Janes, are assigned to the investigation. But when the dead man is identified as Hector Dunmore, the once heir-apparent of Gleneden Distillery, their investigation takes a dramatic turn, for Dunmore was reported missing 25 years earlier when his Land Rover was found abandoned on the outskirts of Mallaig, almost two hundred miles away on the Scottish west coast.
The Murder List – When an elderly woman’s naked body is found in her home, crucified to the floor, DCI Andy Gilchrist and his associate, DS Jessie Janes, find themselves in a hunt for a brutal serial killer. As the body count rises, suspicion falls on Tap ‘Dancer’ McCrear, a career criminal recently released from prison after serving fifteen years for a murder he swore he never committed.
Dead Find – Renovation works on the famous Old Course golf course uncovers the remains of a body in a shallow grave – two bullet holes in the skull. DNA confirms the victim as Rab Shepherd, the missing brother of Scotland’s late crime patriarch, Jock Shepherd. But Rab pulled out of the family business over twenty years ago, and moved to Australia where he allegedly lived an honest and wealthy life. This body confirms otherwise.
What should you read if you like the DCI Andy Gilchrist novels?
If you like reading T.F. Muir’s DCI Andy Gilchrist stories, you may be interested in the Inspector McLean series or the Bob Skinner series, for example.
