DCI Lomond Books in Order

The DCI Lomond novels follow John Lomond, a senior detective with Police Scotland who fronts the Major Investigations Team in Glasgow. The series blends procedural detail with a strong sense of place, switching between city tenements, suburban streets, and the wild beauty of the Scottish Highlands and islands.

The journey starts with The Bonnie Dead, where Lomond is dragged back into the hunt for a notorious child killer known as the Sandman. Years earlier, that investigation ended in personal tragedy and professional failure. When a new child is abducted in a way that mirrors the old crimes, Lomond’s obsession and guilt collide with the need to stay clear headed enough to save a life.

Later books keep that emotional core but change the shape of the mysteries. In The Shortlist, Lomond investigates the murder of legendary crime writer William MacRae. The trail leads to a Highlands crime festival, a remote country house, seven bestselling authors with tangled histories, and a storm that cuts everyone off from the outside world. It is part locked room mystery, part portrait of the crime writing scene, and all about how old grudges surface when people are trapped together.

The Bloody, Bloody Banks widens the canvas. A dismembered banker washes up on the shores of Loch Lomond with a message carved into his skin, matched by a second killing on the east coast. The case pits Lomond’s team against a vigilante with a taste for spectacle, while a joint operation with an Edinburgh unit led by Lomond’s ex-partner forces him to confront the messier parts of his own past.

In Cold Open, the discovery of a young woman’s remains beside the new Govan-Partick Bridge appears to close one of the oldest cases from Lomond’s early career. A retired detective, once his boss, insists it is only the tip of something much larger. What follows pulls Lomond into decades of unsolved murders and an alleged cover up involving senior police and legal figures, asking how far he is willing to push back against the system he serves.

The Long Dark takes the series into the world of television, with a murder on the set of a hit Scottish detective show. The victim, Jack Beattie, is a legendary former detective who advises the production. As Lomond picks at Beattie’s spotless reputation he finds uncomfortable links to his own superiors, all while managing a brash new recruit and the glare of the press.

Across the series, Lomond is driven, sharp, and often his own worst enemy. Each book works as a standalone case, but his history, relationships, and clashes with authority carry forward, building a larger portrait of a detective who cares too much and cannot walk away. Forthcoming titles, including The Ferryman, promise to keep raising the stakes for Lomond, his team, and the city he is sworn to protect.