Catherine Moloney Books in Order
Explore Catherine Moloney books in order, with concise summaries, Detective Markham series background, and clear guidance on where to start reading.
Last updated: July 14, 2026
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Catherine Moloney books in publication order
23 books
A Walking Shadow / Crime in the Choir
by Catherine Moloney
2018
Two skeletons in the grounds of St Mary's Choir School are wearing modern clothes, and foul play is clear. In his first case, DI Gilbert Markham and DS Noakes face local hostility, corruption, and a killer who threatens Olivia.
A Mind Diseased
by Catherine Moloney
2019
Patients have vanished from the Newman Hospital, and the discovery of a body suggests its secrets may be lethal. Markham and Noakes meet a wall of silence while probing a psychiatric facility where powerful people want questions to stop.
Blood Will Have Blood
by Catherine Moloney
2019
When teacher Ashley Dean is brutally murdered at Hope Academy, Markham refuses to accept the idea of a random intruder. With Olivia teaching at the school, the investigation becomes personal as staff, students, and local power players close ranks.
Crime in the Ballet
by Catherine Moloney
2019
As Bromgrove Ballet prepares its Christmas production of *The Nutcracker*, choreographer George Baranov is found murdered in a Rat King costume. Markham enters a competitive world of dancers, backstage rivalries, and carefully guarded artistic grudges.
Crime in the Gallery
by Catherine Moloney
2019
Murders at Bromgrove's art gallery reveal that the town's respectable public face hides dangerous private lives. With Olivia's help, Markham and his team search through jealousies, secrets, and the tensions surrounding the gallery's ambitious circle.
Night's Black Agents
by Catherine Moloney
2019
A series of killings shatters the peace around St Cecilia's Church, where Olivia worships. Markham and Noakes uncover fraud, buried family history, and old hatreds as the murderer turns a place of faith into a place of fear.
Crime At Home
by Catherine Moloney
2020
New College Close seems safely ordinary until two women are found asphyxiated beneath a luxury mattress. A badge from a local academy is the only clue, sending Markham into a case where old connections carry deadly consequences.
Crime in the Ballroom
by Catherine Moloney
2020
Dance school owner Shirley Bastin is found drowned in a water butt, and everyone assumes it was a tragic accident. Markham notices details that do not fit, then enters a close-knit dance community full of hidden resentment.
Crime in the Book Club
by Catherine Moloney
2020
Michael Dominguez, Calder Vale's wealthy literary golden boy, is beaten to death in a vintage train carriage. A page from his reading group is attached to the body, drawing Markham into a gated community where envy and ambition run high.
Crime In The Heat
by Catherine Moloney
2020
In the middle of a heatwave, English teacher Rebecca Shawcross is found strangled and hidden in a refrigerator at a community centre doctor's office. Markham and Noakes follow a trail of professional and personal grudges to the killer.
Crime in the College
by Catherine Moloney
2021
Markham returns to his old Oxford college for what should be a restful weekend. When builders uncover a skeleton beneath a crumbling staircase, a long-hidden identity and the college's old loyalties draw him into a dangerous investigation.
Crime in the Crypt
by Catherine Moloney
2021
At London's Theresian Club, receptionist Julia Porter is found strangled in her room with her own tights. She appears to have welcomed her killer inside, leaving Markham to investigate the private lives behind the club's calm, religious facade.
Crime in the Kitchen
by Catherine Moloney
2021
Beloved teacher Jayne Padgett is found dead at her kitchen counter, strangled and forced to drink bleach. As Markham investigates, the careful staging of the crime points to someone with a troubling reason to erase the evidence.
Crime in the Spa
by Catherine Moloney
2021
Celebrity weight-loss doctor Nariman is murdered in his clinic, leaving behind patients, rivals, and fans with reasons to resent him. Markham must sort through the bitter fallout of a public career to find who struck the fatal blow.
Crime in Carton Hall
by Catherine Moloney
2022
A cleaner finds a dead man among the tapestries at grand Carton Hall, his face frozen in agony. Markham follows the scent of revenge through the hall's history, priceless collections, and the people determined to protect its image.
Crime in Oxford
by Catherine Moloney
2022
A quiet museum visit in Oxford turns horrific when DI Gilbert Markham finds a battered body displayed in a glass case. To identify the killer, he must uncover why someone turned a cultural institution into a stage for murder.
Crime in Retirement
by Catherine Moloney
2022
Former ballerina Andrée Clark is found strangled at the genteel Rosemount Retirement Home, with a favourite doll beside her bed. Markham must find a killer hiding among the home's residents, staff, and carefully maintained comforts.
Crime in the Boutique
by Catherine Moloney
2022
Gino Everard, the flamboyant owner of Bromgrove bridal boutique The Confetti Club, is found dead in a dress cupboard. Markham investigates a glamorous workplace where staff tensions, old grudges, and public image all complicate the case.
Crime in the Allotment
by Catherine Moloney
2023
Headteacher Catherine Leckie is found strangled in her potting shed at Beauclair Drive Allotments. Markham and his team dig into the plot holders' rivalries and secrets, discovering that even a peaceful vegetable patch can hide violence.
Crime in the High Street
by Catherine Moloney
2023
Sheila Craven is found smothered in her armchair with one of her Liberty cushions. Markham and the team trace her final connections through Bromgrove's high street, including the Italian restaurant she loved to visit.
Crime in the Salon
by Catherine Moloney
2024
A Saturday morning at Bromgrove's Mane Event turns grim when a stylist finds her boss slumped dead in a barber's chair. Markham investigates the salon's friendships, workplace rivalries, and the enemies hidden behind a polished image.
Crime in the Tower
by Catherine Moloney
2024
A curator researching the Princes in the Tower is brutally murdered inside the Tower of London. Called in to help, Markham must cut through historic legends, jealous rivalries, and guilty secrets before another life is put at risk.
Crime In The Garden
by Catherine Moloney
2025
A body is discovered in the tropical Palm House at Hollingrove Park, laid across ancient stones surrounded by sinister folklore. As further violence follows, Markham faces a killer using the garden's history to disguise a very modern motive.
Where to start with Catherine Moloney
For the full introduction: A Walking Shadow / Crime in the Choir → Blood Will Have Blood → Night's Black Agents → A Mind Diseased
For mysteries set in the arts: Crime in the Ballet → Crime in the Gallery → Crime in Oxford
For later Bromgrove cases: Crime in the High Street → Crime in the Allotment → Crime in the Salon
For historic and atmospheric settings: Crime in the Crypt → Crime in the Tower → Crime In The Garden
Catherine Moloney sub-series and character series
Detective Markham Mystery books in order
Explore this series
A Walking Shadow / Crime in the Choir
by Catherine Moloney
2018Detective Markham Mystery, Book 1
A Mind Diseased
by Catherine Moloney
2019Detective Markham Mystery, Book 4
Blood Will Have Blood
by Catherine Moloney
2019Detective Markham Mystery, Book 2
Crime in the Ballet
by Catherine Moloney
2019Detective Markham Mystery, Book 5
Crime in the Gallery
by Catherine Moloney
2019Detective Markham Mystery, Book 6
Night's Black Agents
by Catherine Moloney
2019Detective Markham Mystery, Book 3
Crime At Home
by Catherine Moloney
2020Detective Markham Mystery, Book 8
Crime in the Ballroom
by Catherine Moloney
2020Detective Markham Mystery, Book 9
Crime in the Book Club
by Catherine Moloney
2020Detective Markham Mystery, Book 10
Crime In The Heat
by Catherine Moloney
2020Detective Markham Mystery, Book 7
Crime in the College
by Catherine Moloney
2021Detective Markham Mystery, Book 11
Crime in the Crypt
by Catherine Moloney
2021Detective Markham Mystery, Book 14
Crime in the Kitchen
by Catherine Moloney
2021Detective Markham Mystery, Book 12
Crime in the Spa
by Catherine Moloney
2021Detective Markham Mystery, Book 13
Crime in Carton Hall
by Catherine Moloney
2022Detective Markham Mystery, Book 16
Crime in Oxford
by Catherine Moloney
2022Detective Markham Mystery, Book 15
Crime in Retirement
by Catherine Moloney
2022Detective Markham Mystery, Book 17
Crime in the Boutique
by Catherine Moloney
2022Detective Markham Mystery, Book 18
Crime in the Allotment
by Catherine Moloney
2023Detective Markham Mystery, Book 20
Crime in the High Street
by Catherine Moloney
2023Detective Markham Mystery, Book 19
Crime in the Salon
by Catherine Moloney
2024Detective Markham Mystery, Book 21
Crime in the Tower
by Catherine Moloney
2024Detective Markham Mystery, Book 22
Crime In The Garden
by Catherine Moloney
2025Detective Markham Mystery, Book 23
Detective Markham Mystery books in chronological order

A Walking Shadow / Crime in the Choir
by Catherine Moloney
2018Detective Markham Mystery, Book 1
Blood Will Have Blood
by Catherine Moloney
2019Detective Markham Mystery, Book 2
Night's Black Agents
by Catherine Moloney
2019Detective Markham Mystery, Book 3
A Mind Diseased
by Catherine Moloney
2019Detective Markham Mystery, Book 4
Crime in the Ballet
by Catherine Moloney
2019Detective Markham Mystery, Book 5
Crime in the Gallery
by Catherine Moloney
2019Detective Markham Mystery, Book 6
Crime In The Heat
by Catherine Moloney
2020Detective Markham Mystery, Book 7
Crime At Home
by Catherine Moloney
2020Detective Markham Mystery, Book 8
Crime in the Ballroom
by Catherine Moloney
2020Detective Markham Mystery, Book 9
Crime in the Book Club
by Catherine Moloney
2020Detective Markham Mystery, Book 10
Crime in the College
by Catherine Moloney
2021Detective Markham Mystery, Book 11
Crime in the Kitchen
by Catherine Moloney
2021Detective Markham Mystery, Book 12
Crime in the Spa
by Catherine Moloney
2021Detective Markham Mystery, Book 13
Crime in the Crypt
by Catherine Moloney
2021Detective Markham Mystery, Book 14
Crime in Oxford
by Catherine Moloney
2022Detective Markham Mystery, Book 15
Crime in Carton Hall
by Catherine Moloney
2022Detective Markham Mystery, Book 16
Crime in Retirement
by Catherine Moloney
2022Detective Markham Mystery, Book 17
Crime in the Boutique
by Catherine Moloney
2022Detective Markham Mystery, Book 18
Crime in the High Street
by Catherine Moloney
2023Detective Markham Mystery, Book 19
Crime in the Allotment
by Catherine Moloney
2023Detective Markham Mystery, Book 20
Crime in the Salon
by Catherine Moloney
2024Detective Markham Mystery, Book 21
Crime in the Tower
by Catherine Moloney
2024Detective Markham Mystery, Book 22
Crime In The Garden
by Catherine Moloney
2025Detective Markham Mystery, Book 23
Author bio
Catherine Moloney was born in Ikom, Nigeria, where her parents were missionaries. She comes from a Liverpool medical family, though she took a different path. Medicine was never going to be her field.
Her first degree was in Jurisprudence at Jesus College, Oxford. She later trained for the Bar and was called at Gray's Inn in 2005. Law gave her a close view of argument, evidence, institutions, and the gaps between what people say and what they hide.
But English was always the subject she cared about most. Moloney went on to earn a PhD in English Literature from Birkbeck College, University of London. Her doctoral work examined tuberculosis in nineteenth-century writing, especially the work of George Eliot and Henry James. It was a serious subject, though she has joked about managing to avoid the hypochondria that might come with so much reading about illness.
Before turning fully to crime fiction, she published and lectured on literature, medicine, religion, and the professions. In 2002, her essay on William and Henry James received the Oleg Zinam Award for Best Essay from the Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies. Her academic work often returned to the ways people explain suffering, responsibility, belief, and social pressure.
Those concerns found a new home in crime novels. Moloney began the Detective Markham series with A Walking Shadow in 2018, later reissued as Crime in the Choir. The book introduces DI Gilbert Markham, a gifted but guarded detective working in Bromgrove CID, and DS George Noakes, his blunt, dishevelled, unexpectedly perceptive partner.
The series uses murders to open up the hidden tensions inside familiar places. Schools, churches, hospitals, theatres, galleries, clubs, retirement homes, and local businesses all become settings where reputations matter and secrets have had time to grow. Markham's relationship with English teacher Olivia Mullen gives the books an important personal thread, while his difficult past and his clashes with publicity-minded superiors add pressure beyond each individual case.
Moloney has also made room for a wider team. Kate Burton is ambitious and highly capable, even when she is trying too hard to prove herself. Noakes can be rude, scruffy, and deeply resistant to office polish, but his loyalty to Markham makes him central to the investigations. Their partnership is a big part of the appeal.
Later books such as Crime in the Ballet, Crime in the Book Club, Crime in Oxford, and Crime in the Tower move Markham through worlds shaped by art, learning, history, and local status. Each case has its own setting and suspects, but the ongoing relationships reward readers who follow the series in order.
Moloney's author profile lists Crime in the Garden as the twenty-third Detective Markham novel. Her route from law and Victorian literary research to police mysteries may look unusual on paper, but it makes sense on the page. She is interested in people, institutions, and the stories communities tell themselves.
Edited by
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