John Rawlings Books in Order

Fresh from his apprenticeship, apothecary John Rawlings finds a murdered girl in Vauxhall Gardens and is briefly treated as the prime suspect. Clearing his name only places him deeper inside his first investigation.

During a performance at Drury Lane, the leading actor crashes to his death on stage. John Rawlings and Sir John Fielding dig into backstage rivalries, bruised egos, and private obsessions to find out who turned drama into murder.

Celebrating at the Devil's Tavern, John Rawlings comes across a corpse fished from the Thames and recognizes him as a missing bridegroom. The dead man's tangled family soon gives John more suspects than answers.

Called to a patient near the lonely Romney Marsh, John Rawlings stumbles into espionage as well as murder. A dead French spymaster, a coded paper, and a circle of local suspects make this one of his most atmospheric cases.

A summer swim ends in shock when John Rawlings discovers a woman's body hidden in the Peerless Pool. The trail leads him from London's pleasure grounds to darker places, including child theft and private madhouses.

An outbreak of food poisoning at a livery dinner leaves one apothecary dead and others under suspicion. Because John Rawlings knows the trade from the inside, he is perfectly placed to uncover vendettas and poison close to home.

On honeymoon in Devon, John Rawlings and Emilia expect romance and travel, not a battered corpse hanging from a ship's figurehead. A missing young man, local legend, and coastal secrets turn the trip into a grim inquiry.

At Sir John Fielding's investiture, a nobleman falls down the great staircase at St. James's Palace and dies. John Rawlings must investigate a killing that unfolded in front of a crowd, with the blind magistrate as the key witness.

A terrified wine merchant begs John Rawlings for help, convinced an obsessive former lover means to kill him. When the danger proves real, John is pulled into a case of jealousy, old secrets, and fatal fixation.

John Rawlings's settled family life is shaken when his wife joins a performance at Gunnersbury House. A guest is murdered at the royal entertainment, and John finds suspicion falling squarely on himself.

Recently widowed, John Rawlings travels to Cornwall with his daughter and his old flame Elizabeth, hoping for a change of scene. The disappearance of a local child turns the trip into a mournful and deeply personal investigation.

John Rawlings goes undercover to investigate Sir Francis Dashwood and the scandalous Hellfire Club. Aristocratic excess soon gives way to murder, and the deeper he goes, the harder it becomes to separate performance from real danger.

On a coach journey west, John Rawlings falls in with prizefighter Jack Beef, known as the Black Pyramid, and a suspicious group of fellow travellers. A killing at an inn traps everyone in a tense search for the murderer.

John Rawlings heads to Devon to see Elizabeth and their newborn twins, only to find celebration turning to slaughter at a society wedding. With Rose's eerie warning hanging over events, the case grows darker by the hour.

A wealthy Bristol man suspects that the stepson who has returned to claim an inheritance is an impostor and asks John Rawlings to prove it. Then a fatal fall turns the identity puzzle into a murder investigation.

John Rawlings reaches Boston in 1773 after shipwreck, delay, and political unrest. When a fellow traveller is found dead after the Tea Party, he must investigate in a city already close to open rebellion.

Back in London after his American venture, John Rawlings buys a house beside the Thames and expects a quieter life. Instead, a child's claim that she was pushed and a theatre-side death pull him into another tangled Georgian murder case.