Mitchell and Markby Books in Order: How to read Ann Granger’s series?

From the acclaimed author of the Campbell & Carter Mystery series and the Lizzie Martin historical mysteries comes another beloved crime series—Mitchell & Markby.

After a career in British embassies worldwide, Ann Granger turned to crime fiction, launching the Mitchell & Markby series in 1991. Set in the charming yet murder-prone town of Bamford in the Cotswolds, the series follows civil servant Meredith Mitchell as she returns home after years abroad—only to find herself entangled in a murder investigation. Partnering with the sharp-witted Chief Inspector Alan Markby, she soon becomes an amateur sleuth, solving cases with her own unique approach.

Perfect for fans of classic British mysteries, Mitchell & Markby blends engaging characters, intricate plots, and a picturesque Cotswolds setting.

How do you read the Mitchell and Markby series in order?

While each book in the Mitchell & Markby mystery series can be enjoyed as a standalone, the characters’ lives and relationships develop throughout the series. For the best reading experience, you may want to follow the books in publication order to fully appreciate Meredith Mitchell and Chief Inspector Alan Markby’s evolving partnership and personal journeys.

1. Say It with Poison – Meredith Mitchell returns to England after years abroad and visits her cousin, whose family is preparing for a wedding. When a local woman is found dead under suspicious circumstances, Mitchell crosses paths with Chief Inspector Alan Markby. Together, they uncover long-held secrets in the quiet Cotswold village.
2. A Season For Murder – As Christmas approaches, Meredith is settling into her new life in Bamford when the mysterious death of a young woman shakes the town. Markby suspects foul play, and Meredith once again finds herself drawn into the investigation.
3. Cold in the Earth – When a construction project on farmland near Bamford uncovers human remains, Markby is called in to investigate. But what starts as a cold case quickly turns deadly, and Meredith must navigate small-town politics and long-buried grudges.
4. Murder Among Us – A modern housing development in Bamford stirs up tensions among the locals, and when one of the developers is murdered, Markby must untangle a web of greed and resentment. Meanwhile, Meredith’s keen insights prove invaluable in uncovering the truth.

5. Where Old Bones Lie – What do you do when you think your ex-lover has murdered his wife? That’s the question Ursula Gretton, an archaeologist working on the Saxon burial ground on Bamford Hill, puts to Meredith Mitchell in the hope that Meredith’s friendship with Cotswold Chief Inspector Markby might cast some light on her dilemma. But Markby is dismissive of Ursula’s suspicions concerning the disappearance of Dan Woollard’s wife – until a body is found in the rubbish dump near the site Woollard and Ursula have been excavating.
6. Flowers For His Funeral – A seemingly straightforward case of a man’s death in a car accident turns sinister when new evidence suggests foul play. Markby and Mitchell delve into the secrets of a grieving family, uncovering a tangled web of lies and betrayal.
7. A Fine Place For Death – The murder of a teenage girl in a quiet Cotswold village shocks the community. As Markby investigates, Meredith uncovers hidden connections between the girl and the town’s past. The case takes a darker turn as another life is threatened.
8. Candle For a Corpse – On an unseasonably chilly summer’s day a macabre discovery is made in Bamford’s ancient churchyard. A body, dead some twelve years, is unearthed in the Gresham family plot, too shallowly buried to be a legitimate interment, too recent to be the last Gresham officially laid to rest. Superintendent Alan Markby cannot resist the challenge to solve this twelve-year-old crime and suddenly his long-planned canal-barge holiday with Meredith Mitchell is in serious jeopardy.

9. A Touch of Mortality – A local historian is found dead under suspicious circumstances, and Markby’s investigation leads him to a centuries-old mystery. Meredith’s curiosity gets the better of her as she digs into historical records that may hold the key to solving the present-day murder.
10. A Word After Dying – Meredith is on holiday in a peaceful Cotswold village, but her rest is interrupted when she becomes convinced that a recent death was no accident. As she teams up with Markby once more, they uncover hidden animosities lurking beneath the town’s charming exterior.
11. Call the Dead Again – When Meredith Mitchell picks up a hitchhiker on a lonely road outside Bamford one evening she is left feeling distinctly uneasy. What business can this confident, yet secretive, young woman have at Tudor Lodge, the beautiful old home of Brussels-based lawyer Andrew Penhallow, where she asks to be dropped? Penhallow is constantly toing and froing from the Continent, but that night, unusually, he is at home, and – with his son away and his wife Carla in bed with a migraine – alone. Which is unfortunate, for the next morning he is found murdered in the garden.
12. Beneath these Stones – Two years ago, twelve-year-old Tammy Franklin lost her mother to a long, lingering illness and now the body of the woman her father married in an attempt to replace his wife has been found on a railway embankment close to the Franklin farm. This time the death is murder. As Superintendent Markby, one of the first on the scene, well knows, Tammy now stands to have her father taken from her. But Markby begins to realise that the truth is destined to be far more complex than he ever envisaged…

13. Shades of Murder – In 1889 Cora Oakley died by inhaling a poisonous gas in her sleep, and her husband William was put on trial for her murder. Over a hundred years later, the only remaining members of the family are two elderly sisters who live in the ancestral home. Unable to maintain the mansion, the sisters decide to sell up and live off the proceeds. Then a young Polish man named Jan appears, claiming to be William Oakley’s great-grandson and threatening to ruin the sisters’ plans. When he is found dead, Superintendent Markby must look back at the events of a century ago to find the killer…
14. A Restless Evil – It sends a shiver down Detective Superintendent Alan Markby’s spine when he hears that a rambler has stumbled on human bones in Stovey Woods in the heart of the Cotswolds. Twenty-two years ago, as a fresh-faced young inspector, he had a rare failure in the hunt for a brutal serial rapist preying on local women. After the third rape, the attacker went to the ground, never to be heard from again. Now, with a new investigation prompted by the grisly remains, the trail could be warm once more.
15. That Way Murder Lies – When Meredith Mitchell’s old friend Toby Smythe turns up on leave, she is delighted to see him. But Toby has a problem – or rather his relative Alison Jenner has – and he wants to enlist the help of Meredith’s fiance, Detective Superintendent Alan Markby. Alison has been receiving anonymous hate mail which alludes to the murder of her aunt, Freda Kemp, of which Alison was acquitted when she was just twenty. Who is the writer, and how does he or she know about this secret in Alison’s past?
16. An Unfinished Murder – 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.

17. Deadly Company – Superintendent Alan Markby and his wife Meredith have retired for the night when they are disturbed by a visitor. It’s not the first time someone has called the Old Vicarage in search of a priest, but in this case, having just found a dead body in the churchyard, Callum Henderson needs the police. Accompanying Callum to the graveyard, Alan declares that this has all the hallmarks of a murder scene.

If you enjoy the Mitchell & Markby series, you might also like other British mystery novels that blend small-town intrigue, clever investigations, and engaging character dynamics. Fans of Ann Granger’s storytelling may appreciate Caroline Graham’s Chief Inspector Barnaby series (*the basis for Midsomer Murders), M.C. Beaton’s Agatha Raisin mysteries for a lighter touch, or the Inspector Lynley series by Elizabeth George for more intricate police procedurals. For those who love amateur sleuths, the Miss Marple novels by Agatha Christie or the Kate Shackleton series by Frances Brody offer similarly charming yet suspenseful investigations. No matter which series you choose, there’s no shortage of captivating British crime fiction to explore!