Inspector Carlyle Books in Order
Part ofJames Craig Books in OrderSee the Inspector Carlyle books in order by James Craig, with quick summaries, reading order, series background, and the best place to start.
Last updated: July 12, 2026
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Inspector Carlyle books in publication order
22 books
London Calling
by James Craig
2011
During a general election, members of an elite London club tied to the political establishment start dying. Carlyle knows the motive before he knows the killer, and the city gets dirtier the deeper he digs.
Buckingham Palace Blues
by James Craig
2012
A lost girl near Buckingham Palace sends Carlyle after her identity and into a child-trafficking ring. The trail runs from North London gangsters to the edges of aristocratic power.
Never Apologise, Never Explain
by James Craig
2012
A kidnapped boy, a baffling murder, and political nerves collide in Carlyle's second case. What starts as a domestic crime grows into something far wider, with old injustices and high-level pressure closing in.
The Enemy Within
by James Craig
2012
In strike-torn Yorkshire in 1984, young constable John Carlyle is sent to the picket lines and stumbles into a murder case. A dead political activist, local pressure, and watchful security services make it a brutal first test.
The Circus
by James Craig
2013
The body of journalist Duncan Brown is found in a rubbish truck, pointing Carlyle toward corruption linking police, politics, and a powerful media empire. To solve it, he has to face his old enemy Trevor Miller.
The Hand of God
by James Craig
2013
In 1986, veteran cop Walter Callender and rookie John Carlyle investigate the murder of a journalist and his wife. To stop a rogue Secret Service agent, they turn to the then-new promise of DNA testing.
Then We Die
by James Craig
2013
Carlyle's family life implodes just as he walks into the execution of a wealthy businessman in a London hotel. The trail leads to a ruthless Israeli hit squad and a case that quickly turns personal.
What Dies Inside
by James Craig
2013
After the Brighton bombing, constable John Carlyle joins the hunt for an IRA suspect in west London. The chase exposes bitter rivalries inside the security services and a killer with secrets worth murdering for.
A Man of Sorrows
by James Craig
2014
Carlyle hunts a predatory priest just as London braces for a papal visit and powerful people want scandal buried. Add an armed robbery and a scare at home, and the pressure keeps piling up.
Shoot to Kill
by James Craig
2014
When gangster Tuco Martinez threatens Carlyle and his family, the inspector is forced into hiding and into an uneasy reliance on Dominic Silver. It is a personal fight, and the cost keeps climbing.
Nobody's Hero
by James Craig
2015
Career petty criminal Seymour Eriksson cannot stay out of trouble, or out of Carlyle's way. As a tabloid journalist circles, what looks like one more nuisance case starts to feel much riskier.
Sins of the Fathers
by James Craig
2015
A man is shot in front of his son in a London park, and the obvious suspect is his estranged wife. Her alibi looks solid, but Carlyle refuses to let the easy answer stand.
Acts of Violence
by James Craig
2017
In booming China, fixer Michael Nicholson survives by doing favors for rich and powerful clients. An affair with the wife of a party official turns his useful life into a deadly trap.
All Kinds of Dead
by James Craig
2017
When a stash of uncut diamonds is stolen by soldiers, Carlyle teams up with Military Police officer Daniel Hunter. The thieves are dangerous, organized, and not about to let either man interfere twice.
This is Where I Say Goodbye
by James Craig
2018
As his father's final days unfold, Carlyle is dragged into an East London turf war when a drug dealer winds up dead. At the same time, he must identify a badly beaten young woman with no obvious past and no easy answers.
Dying Days
by James Craig
2019
While Carlyle waits for his terminally ill father to die, an elderly professor is found dead in a Bloomsbury flat under very odd circumstances. The case soon turns from quiet heart attack to money, deceit, and murder.
Into the Valley
by James Craig
2020
Promoted to Commander, Carlyle is buried in meetings just as a journalist starts digging into his links with Dominic Silver. With his new boss leaning on him and his past closing in, the job he wanted may cost him everything.
Circus Games
by James Craig
2021
A dead film producer, a runaway actor, and complaints against Carlyle would be enough trouble already. Then a headless corpse turns up in a shuttered police station, pulling him into a case tied to old secrets.
The Taste of Blood
by James Craig
2022
A badly beaten woman arrives at A&E, is arrested as an illegal immigrant, then escapes and starts leaving bodies behind. Carlyle has to work out whether she is prey, predator, or both before more people die.
The Lesson
by James Craig
2024
A young police officer's night out turns ugly when fellow cops dump her in the countryside and leave her to fend for herself. What follows is a murky Inspector Carlyle case about abuse of power, silence, and institutional cover-up.
Declared Dead
by James Craig
2025
Out of the Met and under a cloud, John Carlyle becomes a private investigator for Dominic Silver's widow. The job sends him to Florida, where old loyalties and fresh danger wait.
I Live by the River
by James Craig
2026
Retired but restless, Carlyle returns to London when the mysterious death of a glamorous neighbor leads him to the Tower of London. Missing ravens, bodies in the Thames, and the crown jewels make it his kind of trouble.
Inspector Carlyle books in chronological order

London Calling
by James Craig
2011Inspector Carlyle, Book 1
Never Apologise, Never Explain
by James Craig
2012Inspector Carlyle, Book 2
Buckingham Palace Blues
by James Craig
2012Inspector Carlyle, Book 3
The Enemy Within
by James Craig
2012Inspector Carlyle, Book 4
The Circus
by James Craig
2013Inspector Carlyle, Book 5
What Dies Inside
by James Craig
2013Inspector Carlyle, Book 6
Then We Die
by James Craig
2013Inspector Carlyle, Book 7
The Hand of God
by James Craig
2013Inspector Carlyle, Book 8
A Man of Sorrows
by James Craig
2014Inspector Carlyle, Book 9
Shoot to Kill
by James Craig
2014Inspector Carlyle, Book 10
Sins of the Fathers
by James Craig
2015Inspector Carlyle, Book 11
Nobody's Hero
by James Craig
2015Inspector Carlyle, Book 12
Acts of Violence
by James Craig
2017Inspector Carlyle, Book 13
All Kinds of Dead
by James Craig
2017Inspector Carlyle, Book 14
This is Where I Say Goodbye
by James Craig
2018Inspector Carlyle, Book 15
Dying Days
by James Craig
2019Inspector Carlyle, Book 16
Into the Valley
by James Craig
2020Inspector Carlyle, Book 17
Circus Games
by James Craig
2021Inspector Carlyle, Book 18
The Taste of Blood
by James Craig
2022Inspector Carlyle, Book 19
The Lesson
by James Craig
2024Inspector Carlyle, Book 20
Declared Dead
by James Craig
2025Inspector Carlyle, Book 21
I Live by the River
by James Craig
2026Inspector Carlyle, Book 22
Series background & context
Inspector John Carlyle is the kind of detective who feels like he already existed before page one. When the series opens with London Calling, he is a Metropolitan Police inspector working out of Charing Cross, and he is already worn down enough to know how the city works. He is sharp, stubborn, often bad-tempered, and very far from glamorous. That is the point. These books are built around a cop who keeps going even when the job, his bosses, and half of London seem determined to make that impossible.
London is not just wallpaper here.
Craig uses the city in a very hands-on way. The action moves through Covent Garden, the West End, Buckingham Palace, Bloomsbury, hotels, parks, back streets, and offices where money and influence quietly change hands. Because Carlyle works so close to the center of power, his cases rarely stay small for long. A murder can lead to a political scandal. A lost child can open onto trafficking. A dead journalist can expose links between police, media, and government.
That mix of street crime and institutional rot is what holds the series together. Books like Buckingham Palace Blues, The Circus, Shoot to Kill, and The Taste of Blood throw Carlyle up against gangsters, aristocrats, journalists, church figures, and officials who would prefer awkward truths to stay buried. The plots move quickly, but they are less about clever twists than about pressure. Carlyle is always juggling competing loyalties, public embarrassment, and people with more power than him.
He is not a lone wolf in the usual thriller sense.
Family life matters here, and so do long, messy relationships. Carlyle is a husband and father, and the series keeps returning to the way police work bleeds into home life. He also has connections that complicate everything, especially his link to Dominic Silver, a criminal who is too useful, too dangerous, and too bound up with Carlyle's past to ignore. Friends, colleagues, exasperating bosses, and crooked operators all keep pulling at him from different sides.
As the books go on, the scale shifts a little. Carlyle moves through different stages of his career, and later novels widen the frame around him. Into the Valley and Circus Games show how even promotion can feel like a trap, while later books keep testing what happens when a detective who prefers actual police work is pushed into roles that are more political, more public, and sometimes more lonely. Even then, the heart of the series stays the same.
What should you expect? Fast, smart London crime novels with a strong sense of place, a hero who is decent without being saintly, and cases that keep rubbing private damage against public power. If you like police procedurals that are more interested in people, systems, and consequences than in neat solutions, this is very much Craig's lane.
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