Most Recommended Books

Track reading, wishlists & new-book alerts

Get
Skip to content
Share:

Inspector McLean Books in Order

Part ofJames Oswald Books in Order

See the Inspector McLean books in order by James Oswald, with short summaries, series background, and a quick guide to where this Edinburgh crime series starts.

Last updated: July 1, 2026

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases (at no extra cost to you).

Publication Order

Sort:

14 books

1

Natural Causes

by James Oswald

2012

A young girl’s mutilated body is found in a sealed room decades after her death, while fresh killings shake Edinburgh. DI Tony McLean becomes convinced the cases are linked, even if the answer points somewhere deeply unsettling.

2

The Book of Souls

by James Oswald

2012

Twelve years after Tony McLean's fiancée was the last victim of Edinburgh’s Christmas Killer, a new body appears in the same chilling style. To stop the murders, he must reopen the case that wrecked his life.

3

Dead Men's Bones

by James Oswald

2014

When a powerful politician appears to have murdered his family and himself, Tony McLean is sent to Fife for the fallout. The case grows stranger when it links to another brutal death and people who want the truth buried.

4

The Hangman's Song

by James Oswald

2014

A string of apparent suicides, each marked by a strange note, pulls Tony McLean into a darker pattern. With a trafficking investigation already on his desk, he soon realizes something far more deliberate is stalking Edinburgh.

5

Prayer for the Dead

by James Oswald

2015

A missing journalist leads Tony McLean to a sealed chamber in Gilmerton Cove and a body staged in a ritual purification. With almost no forensic trail to follow, he must hunt a killer driven by fanatic belief.

6

The Damage Done

by James Oswald

2016

After a vice squad raid goes badly wrong, Tony McLean is forced back toward a case he thought was long buried. As gruesome deaths mount, the trail leads into Edinburgh’s wealthy circles and his own past.

7

Written in Bones

by James Oswald

2017

A body discovered high in a tree sends Tony McLean after the history of a disgraced cop turned crime boss turned public benefactor. The investigation winds through Edinburgh’s underworld and old wounds the city would rather forget.

8

The Gathering Dark

by James Oswald

2018

A devastating truck crash in central Edinburgh looks like a terrible accident until Tony McLean spots too many things that do not fit. As he digs deeper, a missing boy and a widening cover-up raise the stakes fast.

9

Cold as the Grave

by James Oswald

2019

A young woman is found hidden in a cold basement room that seems untouched for years. Tony McLean expects a cold case, but the truth is far stranger, and far more dangerous, than anyone first believes.

10

Bury Them Deep

by James Oswald

2020

When a Police Scotland staffer disappears and her burned-out car turns up in remote woodland, Tony McLean’s team races to find her alive. The search soon uncovers older vanishings and a darkness rooted deep in the hills.

11

What Will Burn

by James Oswald

2021

The charred body of an elderly woman is found in a hidden gamekeeper’s cottage, and the killing feels anything but random. As more fire deaths follow, Tony McLean begins to see a ritual pattern in the smoke.

12

All That Lives

by James Oswald

2022

An archaeological dig uncovers a body buried seven hundred years ago, then another victim laid to rest in the same disturbing way. Tony McLean is pulled between modern drug violence and a mystery that reaches deep into Edinburgh’s past.

13

For Our Sins

by James Oswald

2024

A church collapse exposes the body of an ex-con whose death seems natural, until another man turns up murdered and branded with a cross. Recently retired Tony McLean is drawn back into an investigation stalking Edinburgh’s forgotten corners.

14

The Rest Is Death

by James Oswald

2025

A routine break-in at a biotech start-up with powerful political ties lands Tony McLean in a baffling case. When unexplained deaths follow and a small wooden box keeps surfacing, he realizes something larger and deadlier is in motion.

Series background & context

The Inspector McLean books begin with Natural Causes, where Detective Inspector Tony McLean is drawn to the decades-old murder of a young girl found in a sealed room while fresh killings unsettle Edinburgh. That opening is a good guide to the whole series. These are police procedurals with interviews, forensics, office politics and stubborn detective work, but they also leave space for older, stranger forces that may or may not be pushing at the edges of the case.

Edinburgh matters here.

Oswald uses the city as more than scenery. The books move through basements, graveyards, Georgian streets, hidden chambers, caves, wooded outskirts and old churches, and the feeling is always the same: history is close, and it is rarely quiet. Whether McLean is dealing with serial murders, apparent suicides or bodies that turn up in impossible places, the city seems to hold on to every bad thing that has ever happened in it.

Tony McLean is the right detective for that atmosphere. He is smart, decent and very stubborn, the kind of officer who keeps pulling at a loose thread long after everyone above him wants the file closed. He is not flashy, and he is not especially good at playing internal politics. What he does have is persistence, empathy for victims, and a refusal to shrug off the details that do not fit. Around him, recurring characters like Grumpy Bob Laird and later Janie Harrison help give the series a lived-in feel, while a few more unusual figures remind him that not every truth arrives in a neat police report.

Across the books, the cases stay varied. There are trafficking investigations, ritual crime scenes, corrupt elites, missing people, buried bodies, arson deaths and cold cases that are not as cold as they first appear. Again and again, the tension comes from the same question: are these horrors entirely human, or has something darker found a way to feed on them? Oswald never forgets that ordinary greed, cruelty and obsession are frightening enough on their own, which is one reason the eerie touches land so well.

That uneasy blend is the hook.

If you like crime fiction that is grounded enough to satisfy as a procedural but strange enough to make the hairs lift on the back of your neck, this series does that very well. The books can be read one at a time, but they work best in publication order because McLean's career changes, his team grows and shifts, and the personal fallout carries forward. Start with Natural Causes, then The Book of Souls and The Hangman's Song, and let the series pull you deeper into its damp, dark Edinburgh mood.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

Comments

Did we miss something? Have feedback?

Help us improve this page by sharing your thoughts

We only use your email to notify you about replies.

All comments are moderated.

Discover and track your reading on the go

Track your reading, manage wishlists, and get notified when new books are added.