Inspector Henrietta Mallin Books in Order

Inspector Henrietta Mallin, usually called Hen, is one of Peter Lovesey’s strongest late-career detectives. She first crosses paths with Peter Diamond in The House Sitter, then takes the lead in The Circle and The Headhunters. Her cases are based around the Sussex and Chichester area, which gives the books a different feel from Diamond’s Bath investigations.

Hen is brisk, observant, and hard to fool.

The Mallin stories often begin with groups of ordinary people who think they understand the little worlds they belong to. Then a death cracks the surface. In The Circle, a van driver and jingle writer joins the Chichester Writers’ Circle, expecting literary snobbery and maybe a bruised ego. Instead, arson and murder pull the group into a case where every member seems to have secrets, ambitions, and a manuscript to defend.

The Headhunters starts with a joke that should have stayed a joke. Two women on a double date talk about a mutual murder society, then bodies begin turning up. The deaths by drowning could be coincidence, but Hen has to decide how much danger is hiding behind flirtation, resentment, and workplace grievance.

These books are not hardboiled. They are clever, social mysteries with a sharp eye for embarrassment. Lovesey is interested in clubs, circles, dinner conversations, seaside routines, and the awkward things people say before they realize a crime has changed everything. Hen’s job is to cut through that chatter without missing the small human details that point to motive.

The setting matters. Chichester, Selsey, and the Sussex coast offer a quieter stage than Bath, but not a simpler one. Lovesey uses beaches, writing groups, workplaces, and local respectability the way he uses Bath’s history in the Diamond books. They become part of the puzzle.

Hen also works well because she is not a clone of Diamond. She is less theatrical, more contained, and often more willing to let others underestimate her. That gives the series its own rhythm.

Start with The House Sitter if you want her first major appearance alongside Diamond. If you want Hen as the central detective, begin with The Circle, then read The Headhunters.