Ann Sutton Books in Order
Browse Ann Sutton books in order, with Dodo Dorchester, Percy Pontefract, Saffron Weald, and more, plus summaries, series background, and where to start.
Last updated: July 9, 2026
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Publication Order
25 books
Murder at Farrington Hall
by Ann Sutton
2020
When Dodo and her sister arrive at a glittering country house party, a theft turns into murder. Dodo's eye for people and refusal to stay quiet launch the series in classic Golden Age style.
Murder at the Races
by Ann Sutton
2020
A royal day at Ascot goes wrong when one of Dodo's party is murdered in the private box. The case brings Chief Inspector Blood back into her orbit and tangles clues with class, history, and romantic confusion.
Murder is Fashionable
by Ann Sutton
2020
Working for Renee Dubois, Dodo moves between London and Paris and lands at a spring fashion showing just as a model is killed. The case mixes couture, romance, and the sharper edges of the fashion world.
Murder in Limehouse
by Ann Sutton
2021
Dodo thinks a slum murder is none of her business until Rupert Danforth's sister is arrested for it. To clear Beatrice, she trades drawing rooms for the rougher streets of Limehouse and follows the case into dangerous territory.
Murder on Christmas Eve
by Ann Sutton
2021
Dodo spends Christmas with Rupert's family expecting rest, then his grandmother dies at dinner under suspicious circumstances. Festive warmth quickly gives way to old grudges, hidden secrets, and a murder no one wants to face.
Murder on the Moors
by Ann Sutton
2021
Heartbroken Dodo escapes to Dartmoor for quiet, only to find a vanished guest, sabotaged phone lines, and fog trapping everyone in place. It is a smart country house mystery with moody moorland atmosphere.
Death at a Christmas Party
by Ann Sutton
2022
Percy Pontefract expects only holiday cheer at her annual gathering of old friends until she trips over a corpse in the kitchen. Ordered to stay put, she slowly realizes everyone in the house has something to hide.
Murder on the Med
by Ann Sutton
2022
Dodo and Rupert join the Dorchesters on a Greek holiday, only for a murdered expat to turn their tourist party into a suspect list. Sunshine, travel, and buried secrets make this one of Dodo's most globe trotting cases.
Murder Spoils the Fair
by Ann Sutton
2022
At the 1924 British Empire Fair, Dodo is helping dress a beauty exhibit when one of the models is murdered. With the fair's success at stake, she has to untangle ambition, image, and very public scandal.
The Mystery at Wentworth Park
by Ann Sutton
2022
Chief Inspector Blood finally gets center stage in this spin off novella, where his feelings for Dodo Dorchester run up against the hard class rules of 1923. It is a short, character driven mystery with romantic tension and a quieter Scotland Yard edge.
Death is a Blank Canvas
by Ann Sutton
2023
Percy is drawn into a second case when her cousin is killed at the opening of his first modern art exhibition. Family tensions, eccentric aristocrats, and the London art world make this a stylish closed circle puzzle.
Murder Goes Jazz
by Ann Sutton
2023
Dodo heads to a secret East End jazz party to hear a famous New Orleans band, then watches the night collapse into murder. Jazz age glamour and shadowy motives give this case a lively, dangerous edge.
Murder in New Orleans
by Ann Sutton
2023
Invited to Louisiana by jazz singer Lucille Bassett, Dodo arrives ready for adventure and walks into a baffling murder. Gangsters, crooked police, and real danger raise the stakes far beyond a holiday puzzle.
Murder Takes a Swing
by Ann Sutton
2023
Rupert's polo world looks polished from the outside, until one of his teammates is found murdered after a big win. Dodo must sort through money, loyalty, and private grudges without wrecking the relationship she is trying to build.
Book Clubs Can Be Murder
by Ann Sutton
2024
A winter storm batters Saffron Weald just as a new book club loses one of its members in suspicious circumstances. The twins dig past the official explanation and uncover secrets stretching back to wartime London.
Church Choirs Can Be Murder
by Ann Sutton
2024
Theft from the church vault looks bad enough, then murder turns the scandal into a full case. Imogen and Ophelia, helped by their dog Tiger, follow clues through village history and hidden resentments.
Murder Midst The Diamonds
by Ann Sutton
2024
Just as Dodo and Rupert prepare to announce their engagement, a visit to the jeweler turns deadly and the ring becomes evidence. High society sparkle, criminal intrigue, and old feelings around Chief Inspector Blood complicate everything.
The Case of the Deadly Dinner
by Ann Sutton
2024
Kitchen maid Maggie Malone is trying to keep her head down at Longfellow Hall when a dinner guest dies at table. Armed with only her wits and an enchanted amulet, she starts digging through the household's secrets.
Village Fetes Can Be Murder
by Ann Sutton
2024
Twins Imogen and Ophelia arrive in Saffron Weald to start retirement and instead find a young journalist murdered at the village fete. A notebook full of village secrets gives them every reason to keep asking questions.
Amateur Dramatics Can Be Murder
by Ann Sutton
2025
Dress rehearsal becomes a real crime scene when someone dies before the village play can open. With four possible intended victims and plenty of gossip, the sisters face one of their trickiest cases yet.
Murder Crashes The Christmas Wedding
by Ann Sutton
2025
Days before Dodo and Rupert's Christmas wedding, the village vicar turns up dead. With snow falling and time running short, Dodo has to uncover hidden identities and old sins before they ruin far more than the ceremony.
Murder Topples The Trip
by Ann Sutton
2025
A Mediterranean getaway with Dodo's family becomes deadly after murder strikes during an excursion to ancient ruins. Blackmail, stolen antiquities, and long buried secrets pull her into the darker side of Riviera society.
Touring Europe Can Be Murder
by Ann Sutton
2025
Imogen and Ophelia take a village tour group to Venice hoping for culture and good food, then find a dead fiance in the hotel. Among restless travelers and secretive guests, the sisters have to solve the case far from home.
Murder In Cavendish Square
by Ann Sutton
2026
Newly married Dodo finally has the husband and London townhouse she wanted, until a young kitchen maid is found strangled in the garden. One dead servant and eight houseguests turn domestic bliss into a maze of lies.
The Mystery of Lady Sedgewick's Butler
by Ann Sutton
2026
Widowed photographer Gwen Hartwell takes a promising aristocratic commission and finds the family butler murdered mid session. With Inspector Will Slaughter and her assistant Penny, she turns her camera and keen eye on a house full of secrets.
Where should I start?
If you want the full Dodo arc: Murder at Farrington Hall → Murder is Fashionable → Murder at the Races
If you like stylish 1920s travel mysteries: Murder on the Med → Murder Goes Jazz → Murder in New Orleans
If you want a village cozy with older sleuths: Village Fetes Can Be Murder → Church Choirs Can Be Murder → Book Clubs Can Be Murder
If you prefer a reluctant amateur detective: Death at a Christmas Party → Death is a Blank Canvas
If you want a cozy with a fresh postwar heroine: The Mystery of Lady Sedgewick's Butler
Author bio
Ann Sutton is the pen name Julie Matern uses for her historical cozy mysteries, and the road to those books starts with a ten year old reader falling hard for Agatha Christie. She has said Christie opened the door to reading for her, and once that happened she tore through every mystery she could find. That early love of puzzle plots still sits at the heart of her fiction.
She was born and raised in Greater London, then studied French and Education at the University of Exeter. During a year abroad in France, she taught English and met the Californian who would become her husband. They married in London, moved to the United States after her graduation, and went on to raise a large family while moving from place to place.
England never really left the page.
Even after settling in America, she kept returning to her home country in fiction, especially its villages, country houses, drawing rooms, and uneasy social rules. In time she and her family settled in the mountains, and that distance seems to have sharpened her feeling for the England she wanted to write about. Her books are full of English settings, but they are written with the affection of someone remembering as well as imagining.
Writing did not arrive all at once. Sutton had dabbled for years while raising children, but she became more serious when the youngest were older and school was no longer a full time job in itself. One of her first big steps was a middle grade World War II story inspired by a real family shadow, a bomb that hit her grandmother's street during the Blitz and came close enough to change later generations. That manuscript placed in a local contest, which gave her the nudge many writers need, the sense that this private habit might actually turn into books.
That small vote of confidence mattered.
Before Ann Sutton became her mystery name, Julie Matern wrote in other lanes too, including Regency romance and historical fiction for younger readers. She learned a lot through independent publishing, much of it the hard way. Then the Covid lockdowns gave her both time and urgency, and she turned fully toward cozy crime. The result was Murder at Farrington Hall, the first Dodo Dorchester novel, followed by a quick run of books that helped establish her voice in the genre.
What readers tend to like about Sutton's fiction is easy to see. Murder at Farrington Hall, Murder on the Med, and Murder in New Orleans mix classic whodunits with fashion, travel, and 1920s sparkle. Death at a Christmas Party shifts to a more reluctant sleuth and a tighter house party setup. Village Fetes Can Be Murder brings in older twin sisters and a village full of gossip, while The Mystery of Lady Sedgewick's Butler adds a widowed photographer whose camera becomes part of the investigation. Across the series, certain things keep returning, sharp women, layered family secrets, English settings, class tensions, and the idea that people reveal plenty if you watch them closely enough.
These days she still writes under both names, Ann Sutton for the mysteries and Julie Matern for her romances. Off the page, she has talked about enjoying sewing, photography, travel, and pickleball, which may be one of the more cheerful hobby lists you will find on an author bio. She lives in the mountains, but a good part of her imagination still seems to wander through London, country lanes, and old English houses.
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