Barnaby Grimes Books in Order

The Barnaby Grimes books by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell are gothic mysteries with a fast-moving young hero. Barnaby is a tick-tock lad, a boy courier who delivers messages across a grimy, unnamed city by racing along rooftops, scrambling over chimneys, and taking routes no carriage could manage.

His work puts him in every part of the city, from wealthy doctors' streets to docks, schools, slums, theatres, and dark alleyways. That makes Barnaby useful when something strange is happening. He notices people, hears rumors, and is brave enough to follow a mystery after sensible people have turned away.

The first book, The Curse of the Nightwolf, begins when Barnaby encounters a huge dog in the street and becomes involved with a suspicious doctor and his strange medicines. In Return of the Emerald Skull, a delivery to a school opens the door to another curse. Legion of the Dead and Phantom of Blood Alley continue Barnaby's run-ins with the city's supernatural and criminal secrets.

The city is always watching.

These are not cozy puzzles. The tone is spooky, with body horror, monsters, graveyards, dangerous experiments, and villains who use respectability to hide terrible behavior. Still, Barnaby is an energetic and likeable guide. His rooftop skills, quick thinking, and refusal to leave people behind keep the stories moving.

The setting has a Victorian or Dickensian feel without being tied to a named historical city. Gaslit streets, crowded neighborhoods, foggy docks, medical offices, and old buildings create a world where superstition and science overlap. A doctor may have an explanation for a horror, but that explanation is not necessarily reassuring.

Chris Riddell's illustrations deepen the atmosphere. They show crooked rooftops, looming buildings, odd machinery, and characters whose faces can be funny one moment and unsettling the next. The pictures suit the books' mix of adventure, grotesque humor, and suspense.

Barnaby is small, but he is never passive.

Start with The Curse of the Nightwolf. Each book tells a complete mystery, but reading in order lets Barnaby's city and reputation grow familiar. The series is a good match for readers who enjoy ghostly tales, detective work, brisk action, and a hero who can cross a whole city before most people have finished breakfast.