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DCI Harry Grimm Books in Order

Part ofDavid J Gatward Books in Order

Browse the DCI Harry Grimm books in order by David J Gatward, with short summaries, series background, and help choosing the best place to start.

Last updated: July 4, 2026

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Publication Order

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25 books

1

Best Served Cold

by David J Gatward

2020

Harry Grimm is still adjusting to Dales life when a crushed farmer turns out not to be an accident victim. A second death and an old wound in the village suggest someone has waited years to strike back.

2

Corpse Road

by David J Gatward

2020

A savaged body on the moors looks straightforward at first, until Harry Grimm spots signs of planning and a far longer trail of victims. The hunt becomes personal, tense, and frighteningly methodical.

3

Grimm Up North

by David J Gatward

2020

Sent from Bristol to rural Wensleydale, scarred ex-paratrooper Harry Grimm expects boredom and exile. Instead, a missing teenager drags him into a grim case that shows the Dales can hide very modern evil.

4

Blood Sport

by David J Gatward

2021

Harry Grimm uncovers signs of an illegal gambling ring after a brutal crime in a remote part of the Dales. A feud between gamekeepers offers suspects, but the violence suggests something worse is moving underneath.

5

Cold Sanctuary

by David J Gatward

2021

A farmer's death in a hay-baler looks like a terrible accident until the post-mortem says otherwise. Harry Grimm's team follows a trail of threats, family strain, and disappearance through one of the series' darker cases.

6

Death's Requiem

by David J Gatward

2021

When a celebrated singer is found hanging from a church tower, Harry Grimm is pulled into a case full of performance, obsession, and staged evil. Satanic symbols point one way, but the truth is messier and deadlier.

7

Restless Dead

by David J Gatward

2021

A widower says his dead wife is haunting the house, and Harry Grimm expects grief, not murder. But after a fire and a shocking discovery, the case turns into a dark hunt through family secrets and fear.

8

Shooting Season

by David J Gatward

2021

A famous author's launch party ends in murder, leaving Harry Grimm with a crowd of suspects and plenty of grudges. Under media pressure, he has to work out which secret was worth killing for.

9

Blood Trail

by David J Gatward

2022

When vigilantes start patrolling the Dales, Harry Grimm is already worried. Then blood-soaked scenes start appearing with no bodies, followed by human remains tied to a grisly local tradition.

10

Fair Game

by David J Gatward

2022

A poacher dies in a carefully laid trap just as Harry Grimm is settling into his new home. What looks like one ugly feud soon widens into a revenge trail that threatens to turn the countryside into a hunting ground.

11

One Bad Turn

by David J Gatward

2022

A decomposed body pulls Harry Grimm back from a break, and the crime scene explodes before he can gather all the evidence. As more bodies appear, old patterns point toward a criminal he thought was finished.

12

Unquiet Bones

by David J Gatward

2022

Harry Grimm's new house becomes a nightmare when a mutilated corpse is found in his living room. The markings drag him back toward Afghanistan, forcing him to chase a killer while his own past closes in.

13

Dark Harvest

by David J Gatward

2023

A newly wealthy young couple vanish after sharing too much of their lives online, leaving behind an abandoned camper and a growing media storm. Harry Grimm's search turns urgent when one of his own team disappears.

14

Dead Man's Hands

by David J Gatward

2023

A property developer is found dead without his hands, and almost nobody in the village seems sorry to see him gone. Harry Grimm faces a long suspect list shaped by housing pressures, resentment, and hidden grudges.

15

Silent Ruin

by David J Gatward

2023

An elderly detectorist's strange claims and a missing young couple seem unrelated until a battered corpse links the cases. Harry Grimm must decide which clues are confusion, and which point straight to murder.

16

The Dark Hours

by David J Gatward

2023

A murder mystery weekend becomes the real thing when a body turns up in a storm-bound house. Cut off by blizzard conditions, Harry Grimm must sort suspects, stranded guests, and rising danger before the night turns even worse.

17

Ashes of Betrayal

by David J Gatward

2024

A warehouse fire uncovers a charred body and sends Harry Grimm after missing workers, missing owners, and a motive that reaches beyond Yorkshire. The case sprawls fast, with fresh deaths and betrayal at its core.

18

Blood Fountain

by David J Gatward

2024

A decapitated body found near Harry Grimm's favorite local pub shatters the calm of Wensleydale. With another death at a famous beauty spot, he suspects local resentment has tipped into serial murder.

19

See No Evil

by David J Gatward

2024

Ill, short-handed, and already stretched, Harry Grimm is called to a field where a corpse has been posed as a scarecrow. Another death follows, and he has to keep the case moving before sickness and confusion do the killer's work.

20

Bad Deeds

by David J Gatward

2025

A troubling road accident and a poisoning in Muker convince Harry Grimm that someone is nudging village life toward disaster on purpose. He has to uncover the hidden hand behind a campaign of malice before it turns fully lethal.

21

How Grimm Saved Christmas

by David J Gatward

2025

A blizzard hits Wensleydale just as thefts begin to spread through Hawes, from the market hall to the food bank. Harry Grimm takes on a smaller but deeply personal mystery during a Christmas that could change his life.

22

Stone Cold

by David J Gatward

2025

Harry Grimm wakes up trapped in a cave with no clear idea who took him or why. While his team searches desperately, a separate murder in the Dales suggests his disappearance may be part of something much larger.

23
New

Close to Home

by David J Gatward

2026

Newly married and long settled in the Dales, Harry Grimm is pulled back toward Bristol by family ties and fresh violence. It promises a case where the old life he left behind refuses to stay buried.

24
New

Four of Hearts

by David J Gatward

2026

Harry and Grace plan a quiet double wedding, but nothing in Hawes stays small for long. This warm novella leans into community, celebration, and a small thread of unease from Harry's past.

25
New

Left for Dead

by David J Gatward

2026

A body hanging from a viaduct looks wrong from the first moment Harry Grimm sees it. When more deaths follow in bleak, isolated places, he faces a case built from old connections and carefully staged violence.

Series background & context

The DCI Harry Grimm books begin with Grimm Up North, and that title tells you a lot about the series straight away. Harry Grimm is a Bristol detective, an ex-paratrooper, and a man carrying damage from both family life and military service. When he is pushed out of the city and sent to Wensleydale in North Yorkshire, he treats the move like exile. He expects sheep, silence, and career stagnation.

He gets murder instead.

What makes the series work is the contrast between Harry and the place he lands in. Wensleydale is full of market towns, farms, moorland roads, old churches, village grudges, and people who know far more about one another than they let on. Gatward uses that setting well. The Yorkshire Dales are never just a pretty backdrop. They shape the stories. Weather, distance, isolation, and local history all matter, whether the case starts with a missing girl, a body on the moors, a hanging in a church tower, or a corpse displayed to make a point.

Harry himself is not a cozy village detective with a nice line in tea-time observations. He is blunt, wounded, suspicious, and often happiest when people leave him alone. Early on, he clashes with the rhythm of country life and with the people around him. But this is not a series about one gloomy man stomping through endless bodies. Over time, the books become just as much about belonging as detection. Harry starts to put down roots. His team becomes more than a set of colleagues. Friendships deepen. Love sneaks in. The Dales stop feeling like punishment and start feeling like home.

That slow change gives the series its backbone. Each novel has its own central case, so you can enjoy the individual mysteries, but there is a clear emotional thread running through the books as Harry builds a life he never expected to want. His past is never far away, whether that means old trauma, old enemies, or the kind of family damage that does not stay neatly boxed up. The later books matter more because the stakes are not only professional. Threats to the community are also threats to Harry's hard-won place inside it.

The tone lands in a useful middle ground. These are proper police procedurals with crime scenes, interviews, forensics, and teamwork, but they are not dry. The murders can be ugly, sometimes very ugly, yet the books make room for humor, food, local habits, and the small rhythms of daily life. That mix keeps the series dark without becoming miserable.

If you like detective fiction with strong recurring characters, clearly rooted settings, and a lead who has to learn, slowly and painfully, how to trust the people around him, DCI Harry Grimm delivers exactly that. Start at Grimm Up North if you can. Watching Harry go from outsider to part of the fabric is one of the real pleasures of the whole run.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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