Rhys Bowen Books in Order (Her Royal Spyness, The Venice Sketchbook, In Farleigh Field)

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Thanks!

Rhys Bowen is the pseudonym used by Janet Quin-Harkin, as a writer of mystery novels for adults. Born in Bath, Somerset, she worked as a drama teacher, a dance teacher, in the drama department of the BBC in London and, later, for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Sydney, Australia. She moved to the United States when she married John Quin-Harkin. She published her first books during the 1980s mostly romance for young adults, under her name Janet Quin-Harkin (those books are not listed below). She started writing under the name Rhys Bowen in the 1990s.

She published three series under this name: one featuring the Welsh police constable Evan Evans; another featuring British aristocrat Lady Georgiana in 1930s England; and a third featuring Irish immigrant Molly Murphy living in early 1900s New York City. She and been nominated and won multiple awards, including the Agatha and Macavity Awards.

How to read Rhys Bowen’s Books in Order?

Reading The Constable Evan Evans Series in Order

Evan Evans is a young police constable who has traded city life for that of Llanfair–an idyllic Welsh village. It is a cozy little town filled with unforgettable characters–and of course, a hint of murder. For more details, go to our guide to the Constable Evan Evans series.

  1. Evans Above (1997)
  2. Evan Help Us (1998)
  3. Evanly Choirs (1999)
  4. Evan and Elle (2000)
  5. Evan Can Wait (2001)
  6. Evans to Betsy (2002)
  7. Evan Only Knows (2003)
  8. Evan’s Gate (2004)
  9. Evan Blessed (2005)
  10. Evanly Bodies (2006)

Reading Her Royal Spyness (or Lady Georgiana “Georgie” series) in Order

Her Royal Spyness is a humorous historical series about the penniless cousin of King George V of England in 1932 who is acting as a spy for the queen. Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, daughter to the Duke of Atholt and Rannoch, is flat broke. And when her brother cuts off her allowance, she leaves Scotland for London where she has been summoned by the Queen to spy on her playboy son. Soon, this amateur sleuth starts to solve crimes. For more details, go to the article dedicated to Her Royal Spyness.

  1. Her Royal Spyness (2007)
  2. A Royal Pain (2008)
  3. Royal Flush (2009)
  4. Royal Blood (2010)
  5. Naughty in Nice (2011)
  6. The Twelve Clues of Christmas (2012)
  7. Heirs and Graces (2013)
  8. Queen of Hearts (2014)
  9. Malice at the Palace (2015)
  10. Crowned and Dangerous (2016)
  11. On Her Majesty’s Frightfully Secret Service (2017)
  12. Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding (2018)
  13. Love and Death Among the Cheetahs (2019)
  14. The Last Mrs. Summers (2020)
  15. God Rest Ye, Royal Gentlemen (2021)
  16. Peril in Paris (2022)
  17. The Proof of the Pudding (2023)

Lady Georgiana’s short stories

Molly Murphy Books in Order

Reading The Molly Murphy Series in Order

Molly Murphy is a spirited redhead who grew up a peasant on the coast of Ireland. She has crossed the Atlantic and, after being accused of a crime she didn’t commit, she became a private investigator in New York City, often working with NYPD Detective Daniel Sullivan. You can find out more about the Molly Murphy Series in our article dedicated to it.

  1. Murphy’s Law (2001)
  2. Death of Riley (2002)
  3. For the Love of Mike (2003)
  4. In Like Flynn (2005)
  5. Oh Danny Boy (2006)
  6. In Dublin’s Fair City (2007)
  7. Tell Me, Pretty Maiden (2008)
  8. In a Gilded Cage (2009)
  9. The Last Illusion (2010)
  10. Bless the Bride (2011)
  11. Hush Now, Don’t You Cry (2012)
  12. The Family Way (2013)
  13. City of Darkness and Light (2014)
  14. The Edge of Dreams (2015)
  15. Away in a Manger (2015)
  16. Time of Fog and Fire (2016)
  17. The Ghost of Christmas Past (2017)
  18. Wild Irish Rose (2022)
  19. All That Is Hidden (2023)
  20. In Sunshine or in Shadow (2024)

Molly Murphy’s short stories

Reading The Red Dragon Academy Series

A middle-grade fantasy series that Bowen Rhys writes with her daughter Clare Broyles.

  1. Dreamwalker (2014) – Addy is a normal California surfer girl until her mother dies and her British aunt sends her to Red Dragon Academy-a strange boarding school in the mountains of Wales. There Addy meets an assortment of kids who seem to have been lured to the school for some purpose. This place is ruled by a terrifying being who controls minds. Addy has always had vivid dreams and now it seems that she is a Dreamwalker-a power most feared by the ruler who calls himself THE ONE.

Reading Stand-alone novels by Rhys Bowen

  • In Farleigh Field (2017) – World War II comes to Farleigh Place, the ancestral home of Lord Westerham and his five daughters, when a soldier with a failed parachute falls to his death on the estate. After his uniform and possessions raise suspicions, MI5 operative and family friend Ben Cresswell is covertly tasked with determining if the man is a German spy. The assignment also offers Ben the chance to be near Lord Westerham’s middle daughter, Pamela, whom he furtively loves. But Pamela has her own secret: she has taken a job at Bletchley Park, the British code-breaking facility. As Ben follows a trail of spies and traitors, which may include another member of Pamela’s family, he discovers that some within the realm have an appalling, history-altering agenda. Can he, with Pamela’s help, stop them before England falls?
  • The Tuscan Child (2018) – In 1944, British bomber pilot Hugo Langley parachuted from his stricken plane into the verdant fields of German-occupied Tuscany. Badly wounded, he found refuge in a ruined monastery and in the arms of Sofia Bartoli. But the love that kindled between them was shaken by an irreversible betrayal. Nearly thirty years later, Hugo’s estranged daughter, Joanna, has returned home to the English countryside to arrange her father’s funeral. Among his personal effects is an unopened letter addressed to Sofia. In it is a startling revelation. Still dealing with the emotional wounds of her own personal trauma, Joanna embarks on a healing journey to Tuscany to understand her father’s history.
  • The Victory Garden (2019) – As the Great War continues to take its toll, headstrong twenty-one-year-old Emily Bryce is determined to contribute to the war effort. She is convinced by a cheeky and handsome Australian pilot that she can do more, and it is not long before she falls in love with him and accepts his proposal of marriage. When he is sent back to the front, Emily volunteers as a “land girl,” tending to the neglected grounds of a large Devonshire estate. It’s here that Emily discovers the long-forgotten journals of a medicine woman who devoted her life to her herbal garden. The journals inspire Emily, and in the wake of devastating news, they are her saving grace. As Emily learns more about the volatile power of healing with herbs, the found journals will bring her to the brink of disaster but may open a path to her destiny.
  • Above the Bay of Angels (2020) – Isabella Waverly only means to comfort the woman felled on a London street. In her final dying moments, she thrusts a letter into Bella’s hand. It’s an offer of employment in the kitchens of Buckingham Palace, and everything the budding young chef desperately wants: an escape from the constrictions of her life as a lowly servant. In the stranger’s stead, Bella can spread her wings. Arriving as Helen Barton from Yorkshire, she pursues her passion for creating culinary delights, served to the delighted Queen Victoria herself. Best of all, she’s been chosen to accompany the queen to Nice. What fortune! Until the threat of blackmail shadows Bella to the Riviera, and a member of the queen’s retinue falls ill and dies. Having prepared the royal guest’s last meal, Bella is suspected of the poisonous crime. An investigation is sure to follow. Her charade will be over. And her new life will come crashing down-if it doesn’t send her to the gallows.
  • The Venice Sketchbook (2021) – Caroline Grant is struggling to accept the end of her marriage when she receives an unexpected bequest. Her beloved great-aunt Lettie leaves her a sketchbook, three keys, and a final whisper…Venice. Caroline’s quest: to scatter Juliet “Lettie” Browning’s ashes in the city she loved and to unlock the mysteries stored away for more than sixty years.
  • Where the Sky Begins (2022) – London, 1940. Bombs fall and Josie Banks’s world crumbles around her. Her overbearing husband, Stan, is unreachable, called to service. Her home, a ruin of rubble and ash. Josie’s beloved tearoom boss has been killed, and Josie herself is injured, with nothing left and nowhere to go. Evacuated to the English countryside, Josie ends up at the estate of the aristocratic Miss Harcourt, a reluctant host to the survivors of the Blitz. Awed as she is by the magnificent landscape, Josie sees opportunity. Josie convinces Miss Harcourt to let her open a humble tea shop, seeing it as a chance for everyone to begin again. When Josie meets Mike Johnson, a handsome Canadian pilot stationed at a neighboring bomber base, a growing intimacy brings her an inner peace she’s never felt before. Then Stan returns from the war.

the paris assignment rhys bowen

  • The Paris Assignment (2023) Londoner Madeleine Grant is studying at the Sorbonne in Paris when she marries charismatic French journalist Giles Martin. As they raise their son, Olivier, they hold on to a tenuous promise for the future. Until the thunder of war sets off alarms in France. Staying behind to join the resistance, Giles sends Madeleine and Olivier to the relative safety of England, where Madeleine secures a job teaching French at a secondary school. Yet nowhere is safe. After a devastating twist of fate resulting in the loss of her son, Madeleine accepts a request from the ministry to aid in the war effort. Seizing the smallest glimmer of hope of finding Giles alive, she returns to France. If Madeleine can stop just one Nazi, it will be the start of a valiant path of revenge.
  • The Rose Arbor (coming in 2024)

Short Stories by Rhys Bowen

  • Low School (2012) – Published in the anthology An Apple for a Creature.
  • What Child Is This (2018) – Jack and Maggie Harris are adrift on ravaged streets during the London Blitz. Their home is gone. They have nowhere to go and nothing left to lose. With only the memories of their greatest loss-the death of their child during a Christmas years before-Jack and Maggie settle in a seemingly deserted mansion for the night. Inside they find shelter, warmth, and a bit of cheer. They also discover a surprise. Now, in the darkest of times, the unexpected compassion of strangers will make this Christmas one to remember forever.

If you like our article about the Rhys Bowen reading order, don’t forget to bookmark it! You may also want to check out our guide to Louise Penny’s series, or to Elizabeth Peters’s Amelia Peabody series.

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *