JW Wells and Co Books in Order
Part ofTom Holt Books in OrderBrowse the J. W. Wells & Co. series by Tom Holt in order, with summaries, world-building notes and guidance on where to start in this office-meets-magic comedy.
Last updated: June 7, 2026
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Publication Order
8 books
The Portable Door
by Tom Holt
2003
Nervous graduate Paul Carpenter lands a job at mysterious firm J. W. Wells & Co. and quickly realises the company specialises in magic, not accountancy. As he and fellow intern Sophie hunt a missing door that opens anywhere, office life turns dangerously surreal.
In Your Dreams
by Tom Holt
2004
Back at J. W. Wells & Co., Paul finds that the firm’s latest project involves exploiting people’s dreams as a route for the fair folk to infiltrate reality. Keeping his job, his sanity and his relationship with Sophie intact may require rewriting the small print.
Earth, Air, Fire and Custard
by Tom Holt
2005
Back in the world of J. W. Wells & Co., the elemental departments are misbehaving and reality is starting to leak at the edges. Junior staff must juggle office politics, eldritch hazards and a suspicious amount of custard to keep the company—and the world—intact.
You Don't Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But it Helps
by Tom Holt
2006
Colin Hollinghead’s father plans to save their failing widget business by signing a very favourable labour deal—with Hell. As demonic fine print threatens to swallow the company, Colin turns to his dubious contacts at J. W. Wells & Co. for help.
The Better Mousetrap
by Tom Holt
2008
Frank Carpenter owns a Portable Door and uses it for a neat insurance scam: he travels back in time to stop disasters before they happen. When things go predictably wrong, he and the people around him discover that rewriting history is a very risky business model.
May Contain Traces of Magic
by Tom Holt
2009
Sales rep Chris Popham chats to the satnav in his company car, only to discover the navigation system contains an imprisoned demon. Once it starts talking back, he’s pulled into a struggle between occult regulations, rogue entities and dangerously enchanted consumer products.
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Sausages
by Tom Holt
2011
Polly, a real‑estate solicitor, notices her coffee vanishing, her work doing itself and even her dry cleaner’s disappearing. Her brother Don acquires a ring that twists reality, and soon pigs, chickens and parallel worlds are tangled in a farcical battle over who controls the universe.
The Eight Reindeer of the Apocalypse
by Tom Holt
2023
Christmas meets corporate apocalypse as a J. W. Wells–adjacent caper tangles Santa’s reindeer with magical contracts, end‑times prophecies and office politics. Expect festive chaos, arguing ungulates and an uncomfortable amount of responsibility resting on one overworked team.
Series background & context
The J. W. Wells & Co. books answer a simple question: what if the sinister firm you just joined turned out to be a very old‑fashioned magical business hiding behind a perfectly ordinary London office?
It begins in The Portable Door, when shy graduate Paul Carpenter stumbles into a job at J. W. Wells & Co. and slowly realises that his employers are sorcerers, his filing cabinets bite, and his fellow intern Sophie has more to her than anxious small talk. Later novels follow Paul, Sophie and other harassed employees as they deal with temperamental goblins, infernal contracts, demonic HR policies and a board of directors whose idea of strategic planning runs to pacts with Hell.
Each book takes a different corner of modern life and lets magic loose in it. Dreams become a beachhead for fairy invasions, the elements are handled through a catastrophically mismanaged department, and a struggling family firm signs what looks like a normal outsourcing deal only to discover that the other party specialises in eternal damnation. Behind the gags is a persistent joke about corporate culture: middle management is at least as frightening as any demon, and the small print is always worse than it looks.
The tone is brisk and conversational, full of sideways references to myth, folklore and classic fantasy, but the emotional through-line is surprisingly sturdy. Paul and Sophie grow from terrified temps to people who know how the machinery of J. W. Wells really works, and later books widen the cast to show how ordinary lives get warped when magic becomes just another line on a balance sheet.
If you enjoy workplace comedies, British fantasy or stories where office politics are literally a matter of life, death and afterlife, J. W. Wells & Co. is an easy series to slip into and a hard one to shelve when you’re done.
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