DI Munro and DS West Books in Order
Part ofPete Brassett Books in OrderSee the DI Munro and DS West books in order by Pete Brassett, with short summaries, series background, and a clear guide to where to begin.
Last updated: June 7, 2026
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Publication Order
13 books
Avarice
by Pete Brassett
2017
A body in a remote glen pulls retired DI Munro back into police work in Inverkip. With locals holding back and Charlie West joining the case, the pair must work through small-town secrets before the truth hardens into rumor.
Duplicity
by Pete Brassett
2017
A foreign worker calmly confesses to killing a local businessman, but Munro and West do not buy the simple answer. Money, desire, and a tangle of false leads turn the case into a much knottier puzzle.
Enmity
by Pete Brassett
2017
When a young woman is murdered, the evidence seems to point neatly to one man. Munro and West soon suspect the real killer is planting clues, framing innocents, and staying a step ahead of the investigation.
She
by Pete Brassett
2017
DI James Munro and new sergeant Charlie West think they are handling a routine missing person case in London. Then a body turns up, a serial killer emerges, and the search for a woman at the crime scene becomes urgently personal.
Terminus
by Pete Brassett
2017
After a hit and run leaves Munro bruised, a separate complaint about a tampered will lands on the police desk. The two strands collide when witnesses start dying and a baffling attempted murder becomes a full murder case.
Perdition
by Pete Brassett
2018
A bank employee is found dead in his car beside a loch, with enough painkillers in his system to muddy the cause. Charlie West follows the trail into finance, drugs, and class tension, with Munro stepping back in to help.
Rancour
by Pete Brassett
2018
A schoolgirl dies on Goat Fell in brutal weather, and the story does not add up. As Charlie West uncovers signs of drugging and another young woman is found dead, a charming suspect draws dangerous attention.
Talion
by Pete Brassett
2018
A boy discovers a body on a deserted beach, and Charlie West must shoulder the case while Munro is missing. A cliff death, a drug ring, and reluctant suspects make this one of their trickiest investigations.
Penitent
by Pete Brassett
2019
A murdered young woman, a known stalker, and a confession that seems almost too tidy give Charlie West an apparently easy case. Then a vanished pensioner and other odd threads suggest the wrong person may be in custody.
Turpitude
by Pete Brassett
2019
Charlie West is already dealing with inept moped robberies when three severed fingers turn up at a dump. A jeweller's murder and a maze of unrelated-looking clues force Munro to find the pattern everyone else keeps missing.
Hubris
by Pete Brassett
2020
A stranded fishing boat holds a gruesome corpse, and Charlie West quickly realizes the obvious suspect may not be the right one. Then a local girl goes missing, pulling the case into even darker and stranger waters.
Penury
by Pete Brassett
2021
Property developer Rebecca Barlow is found trussed up like a scarecrow, and the case soon tangles with an assault and a missing person. Charlie West and retired Munro must sort through superstition, drugs, and a deeply odd murder.
Ruse
by Pete Brassett
2022
Tam McDonnell thinks a scheme to pack his struggling pub might save his future, until a barmaid is found murdered in the toilets. Charlie West's team must connect that killing to a string of strange high-end robberies in Ayr.
Series background & context
The DI Munro and DS West books are Scottish police procedurals with a strong partnership at the center. The series begins with She, where James Munro, a blunt, experienced Scottish detective, is paired with Charlotte West, a younger sergeant who is smart, sharp-edged, and tired of being underestimated. What starts in London as a missing person case turns grim very quickly, and that first novel sets the pattern for what follows, careful investigation, dry humor, and killers who are rarely as simple as they first seem.
Munro is the old hand. He is stubborn, skeptical, and hard to fool, the kind of detective who notices what everyone else walks past. He has little patience for ego or fuss, and even when he is officially retired he keeps getting dragged back into cases because he cannot leave a puzzle alone. He can be gruff, but he is never just there to bark orders. Much of the series' appeal comes from watching him teach by refusing to make things easy.
West is the spark that keeps the books moving. Early on she is dealing with personal strain and the bruises left by a difficult professional life in London. Munro sees her ability before she fully trusts it herself, and their partnership slowly shifts from friction to loyalty. As the series goes on, West stops being the junior officer learning on the job and becomes a leader in her own right. Later books like Perdition, Turpitude, Hubris, and Ruse give her more room to carry the investigation while Munro circles nearby, retired in theory and useful in practice.
The setting matters here. After the London opening, the books settle mostly into the west coast of Scotland, especially Ayrshire and nearby communities, with visits to places like Inverkip and Arran. These are not generic crime backdrops. The coastline, glens, pubs, hills, boats, and tight local networks all shape the cases. Brassett is good at showing how small places remember everything and still manage to keep quiet when it counts.
So the crimes tend to grow out of ordinary lives rather than grand conspiracies. A body in a glen in Avarice. A killer framing innocent people in Enmity. A dead man on a beach in Talion. A schoolgirl's fatal climb in Rancour. A bizarre scarecrow death in Penury. The puzzle changes from book to book, but the series stays rooted in patient police work, team dynamics, and the awkward fact that suspects, witnesses, and victims usually know one another.
That is really the hook. These are not flashy thrillers built on gadgets or nonstop action. They are witty, atmospheric mysteries with a solid procedural spine and a detective relationship that deepens as the books go on. Many of them work well as standalones, but reading in order lets you watch West grow, Munro soften around the edges, and the wider world of the series start to feel lived in.
Edited by
Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.
Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.
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