Detective Grace McKenna Scottish Murder Mystery Books in Order

The Grace McKenna books follow a former detective who has stepped away from the police and is trying to build something smaller, more personal, and maybe more survivable: the Portobello Detective Agency. Grace works out of Edinburgh, with Portobello Beach and the city's quieter corners close at hand. She is smart, capable, and bruised by a hard year, so the series begins with her rebuilding as much as investigating.

She does not work alone. Hannah and Jean are part of the agency, and Harvey, Grace's loyal dog, is never far away. That matters because the series has warmth even when the cases turn grim. These are mysteries with real danger, but they are not cold books. The team backs each other up and keeps going when the police, or life, make things difficult.

Portobello gives the series its heartbeat.

In Murder by the Seaside, Grace takes on the suspicious death of a famous psychic and soon finds herself tracing a second murder through Edinburgh. In Murder at Castle Traprain, a missing Faberge egg, a wealthy household, and a possible stalker pull her into a more gothic kind of case. In Murder at Whiteadder House, a missing woman leads Grace and Hannah to a remote clinic that promises miracle cures while hiding something much darker. The jobs vary, but each one pushes Grace into places where money, status, and secrecy have been protecting the wrong people.

The setting shifts nicely from beaches and cafes to private estates and wild, isolated corners of Scotland. Baldwin uses those contrasts well. A peaceful morning swim can sit right beside a murder plot. A seemingly cozy agency can end up facing corruption, stalking, and people with far more power than they first appear to have.

Grace is not solving puzzles from a safe distance.

What links the series is her voice and the sense of recovery underneath the crimes. Grace is building a new working life, figuring out whom she can trust, and carrying personal history into every investigation. There is also a thread of emotional complication around the people closest to her, including her ex-husband Brodie, which keeps the stories human without drowning them in melodrama. If you like private-detective mysteries with a seaside Scottish setting, a steady cast, and stakes that keep rising, this series is an easy one to sink into.