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LM Krier Books in Order

Find L M Krier's books in order, with Ted Darling reading order, short summaries, series background, and practical where-to-start tips for new readers.

Last updated: July 5, 2026

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18 books

Baby's Got Blue Eyes

by LM Krier

2015

Bodies are turning up on DI Ted Darling's patch, and the steady Stockport detective is forced into a relentless hunt for a killer who stays one step ahead. As leads collapse and the case turns personal, Ted's calm method is tested hard.

Two Little Boys

by LM Krier

2015

Investigating the murder of a young boy, Ted is dragged toward buried memories and a web of influence that may reach far above him. More deaths follow, pressure builds at work, and the case starts to strain his life with Trevor.

When I'm Old and Grey

by LM Krier

2015

A killer seems to be targeting elderly residents in care homes, and Ted cannot ignore the ugly pattern. As family secrets surface and a difficult new team member adds friction, the case edges alarmingly close to home.

Only the Lonely

by LM Krier

2016

Promoted into a bigger role, Ted barely has time to settle before facing a cynical murder and a second case tied to brutal attacks on dating-site users. With two killers possibly in play, he has to fight for the truth on several fronts.

Shut Up and Drive

by LM Krier

2016

Young women are being abducted from supermarket car parks by a knife-wielding attacker who seems trained, fearless, and dead-eyed. Tight resources and rising danger turn Ted's manhunt into a nerve-racking race against time.

Wild Thing

by LM Krier

2016

A string of seemingly unrelated murders may point to one cold-blooded killer, while animal-cruelty investigations raise unsettling links nearby. Ted can sense the darkness, but proving it in a way that will hold up is far harder.

Preacher Man

by LM Krier

2017

A badly injured teenager is found wandering naked and repeating scripture, and Ted's team learns he vanished months earlier. With similar victims emerging and Ted trapped in a separate court battle, time is running out before the abductor strikes again.

The First Time Ever

by LM Krier

2017

In this prequel, Ted leaves firearms work for CID and walks into the brutal murder of a teenage girl. His new boss wants a quick result, but Ted doubts the obvious suspect and starts to wonder if he has wrecked his career before it begins.

Walk On By

by LM Krier

2017

Ted is handling part of a major operation after a woman is robbed and stabbed in a car park, but the real danger may come from above. A senior officer with a grudge and a troubling face from Ted's past make a hard case worse.

Cry for the Bad Man

by LM Krier

2018

What looks like a straightforward suicide quickly turns into one of Ted's trickiest cases, full of suspects who neatly protect one another. A shake-up in police leadership and a summons to a dying man's bedside make the enquiry even harder to crack.

Every Game You Play

by LM Krier

2018

Ted is already under scrutiny over an earlier unsolved case when a woman disappears and the clock starts ticking. A second missing person, a body, and disturbing echoes from recent investigations pull his team into a tense, connected search.

Down Down Down

by LM Krier

2019

A rash of signature arsons and the scattered discovery of human remains push Ted into a grim game with a suspect who seems to enjoy the attention. To win, he may have to bend principles he normally refuses to touch.

Where the Girls Are

by LM Krier

2019

Young girls are vanishing while chasing fame and opportunity, and Ted takes the case as an older disappearance starts to haunt him. Then a chance encounter abroad puts him face to face with a presumed abductor, with dangerous consequences.

Dirty Old Town

by LM Krier

2020

Now heading serious crime, Ted is confronted by the scale of domestic violence on his patch when an apparent murder-suicide refuses to sit right. As one of his own becomes deeply drawn into the investigation, the emotional cost climbs.

The Cuckoo is a Pretty Bird

by LM Krier

2020

A suspicious death leaves Ted looking hard at a young woman with special needs, but the case soon opens into something darker and more cynical. At the same time, Trevor is forced to revisit a historic assault, putting extra strain on their marriage.

It's Oh So Quiet

by LM Krier

2021

A body at the foot of a waterfall looks like an accident until the post-mortem says otherwise. Press pressure, a missing farmer, and the mystery of a place called the Stones turn a quiet rural case into a knotty murder investigation.

The End of the Line

by LM Krier

2021

A break in Wales turns into work when Ted encounters a sudden death that may leave his mother homeless. Back home, his team is battling a brutal child murder, and a mole may be feeding information to the wrong people.

A Woman's Heart

by LM Krier

2022

Ted is told to rebuild women's trust in the police, then is hit with the most demanding sexual assault case of his career. A second, seemingly separate discovery gives Jo Rodriguez her own problem, until both cases begin threatening the team itself.

Where should I start?

For the full Ted Darling story in timeline order: The First Time EverBaby's Got Blue EyesTwo Little Boys
If you want to start where readers first met Ted: Baby's Got Blue EyesTwo Little BoysWhen I'm Old and Grey
If you like connected cases and rising pressure: Preacher ManCry for the Bad ManEvery Game You Play
If you want later Ted, bigger responsibilities, and darker themes: Dirty Old TownThe End of the LineIt's Oh So QuietA Woman's Heart

Author bio

L M Krier is the crime-fiction name of Lesley Tither, a writer born in Cheshire and raised in Stockport. That background matters, because Stockport and the wider Greater Manchester area became the home turf of her best-known detective, Ted Darling. After school she trained in journalism at Harris College in Preston, then joined a local weekly paper in Greater Manchester as a general reporter. She stayed in journalism for several years, including close-up work in courts and at coroner's inquests.

She got her first commercial writing success absurdly early, selling a television storyline at sixteen.

Journalism came first for the long haul. Tither spent years around the practical side of crime, law, and ordinary human mess, which helps explain why her novels care about procedure as much as drama. Later she also worked for the Crown Prosecution Service as a case tracker, and for a time she stepped away from writing to run a holiday riding centre on a wet, windy plateau in Wales. It is not the standard route into crime fiction, which may be part of why her books do not feel standard either.

France brought the next big turn. She moved there to help care for her elderly mother, who had vascular dementia, and worked as a freelance copywriter while building a new life. After her mother's death, she turned that experience into the Sell the Pig travel memoir books, writing about family, confusion, bureaucracy, and the odd humor that can sit right next to grief. Those books came from lived experience, not from a tidy reinvention.

Crime fiction, though, was the itch that stayed. She has said Ted Darling arrived after a vivid dream on Christmas Eve 2014, complete with a storyline and a detective who would not leave her alone. The next day she wrote a first chapter and sent it to a trusted reader in Italy, who wanted more. The result was Baby's Got Blue Eyes, and later The First Time Ever, a retrospective prequel written because readers wanted to know how Ted moved from firearms work into CID.

That mix of procedural detail and character weight runs through the Ted books. Two Little Boys, Preacher Man, Dirty Old Town, and A Woman's Heart all show how interested Krier is in vulnerable people, institutional blind spots, and the pressure big cases put on private lives. Readers who stay with the series tend to like Ted himself, his relationship with Trevor, and the sense that the team around him has a real shared history. The crimes are dark, but the books never lose sight of the human beings carrying them.

She has not kept to one lane, either. Under the name Tottie Limejuice she has written memoir, and under L M Kay she has written children's fiction, including The Dog with the Golden Eyes. Across those different books, there is a steady interest in place, plain speaking, and people trying to cope when life suddenly gets more complicated. She seems drawn to characters who have to keep going, even when the day has already gone wrong before breakfast.

These days she has spoken about living in central France and enjoying the outdoor side of life, walking rescued border collies, gardening, camping, reading, and writing. She has also spoken about becoming a French citizen, which fits the larger shape of her work. Her books often come back to questions of home, belonging, and what it means to rebuild a life without pretending the hard parts never happened.

Ted clearly still has more to say.

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.

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