MJ Lee Books in Order
See MJ Lee books in order, with guides to the Jayne Sinclair, DI Ridpath and Inspector Danilov series, plus summaries, background and where to start.
Last updated: January 12, 2026
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Publication Order
21 books
When the Night Ends
by MJ Lee
2022
After a man dies in a Manchester police cell, the city erupts in anger. Asked to investigate before the inquest, Ridpath finds broken CCTV, missing officers and layers of lies, and realises the truth could destroy more than one career.
The Missing Father
by MJ Lee
2022
Alice Taylor was adopted during the Second World War and has spent decades not knowing who she really is. Jayne Sinclair digs into bomb damaged records to uncover Alice’s birth parents and the fate of the father who disappeared.
When the Guilty Cry
by MJ Lee
2021
Three embalmed hands are discovered in a derelict Victorian house that once held a children’s home. As Ridpath links the gruesome find to a long missing teenager and a vanished social worker, he has just days to unearth decades of abuse.
When the Evil Waits
by MJ Lee
2021
The body of a young boy is found in a field by the River Mersey, stirring grim echoes of past child murders. Back at work and fighting PTSD, Ridpath races to stop a calculating predator before another child disappears.
Where the Innocent Die
by MJ Lee
2020
A detainee dies in an immigration removal centre, and the official word is suicide. Ridpath spots inconsistencies in the reports and battles indifference from the system as he uncovers abuse, cover ups and a very human cost behind the paperwork.
When the Past Kills
by MJ Lee
2020
Years after the Beast of Manchester was supposedly caught, people connected to that investigation start to die. Forced to revisit the case that made his name, Ridpath hunts a killer who is using old mistakes as fuel for fresh revenge.
The Christmas Carol
by MJ Lee
2020
When an antique dealer produces a signed first edition of A Christmas Carol, Jayne Sinclair has three days to uncover the story behind its Victorian inscription. Her search through old Manchester records reveals a forgotten family and a very personal Dickens connection.
Where the Silence Calls
by MJ Lee
2019
A block of flats goes up in flames, leaving a single dead man in his armchair. As more burned bodies appear around Manchester with eerie messages sprayed nearby, Ridpath follows a trail into the murky world of youth football in the 1990s.
Where The Dead Fall
by MJ Lee
2019
Trying to rebuild his life, Ridpath witnesses a horrific motorway incident that nobody else seems to have seen clearly. His stubborn pursuit of an answer uncovers a web of corruption and pushes Manchester toward an eruption of violence.
The Sinclair Betrayal
by MJ Lee
2019
Jayne Sinclair finally turns her skills on her own family when she learns the father she thought dead is alive, in prison for murder. Following a trail back to wartime espionage and a betrayed agent, she must decide how much truth she can live with.
The Merchant's Daughter
by MJ Lee
2019
After a DNA test shows actress Rachel Marlowe has West African ancestry, she asks Jayne Sinclair to explain a result her aristocratic family tree cannot. Jayne’s investigation uncovers links to the slave trade and fortunes built on Caribbean sugar estates.
Where The Truth Lies
by MJ Lee
2018
Once a rising star in Manchester CID, DI Thomas Ridpath is now recovering from serious illness and clinging to his job at the coroner’s office. When new murders echo the work of a jailed serial killer, he must question his own past case.
The Vanished Child
by MJ Lee
2018
On her deathbed, Freda Duckworth confesses she once gave up an illegitimate baby to a children’s home and never saw him again. Jayne Sinclair tracks the missing brother through lies, lost records and a shameful chapter of child migration schemes.
The Silent Christmas
by MJ Lee
2018
A label, a silver button and a scrap of leather hidden in an attic lead Jayne Sinclair back to the Christmas Truce of 1914. As she unravels the story behind the relics, she hopes to bring comfort to a boy stuck in hospital.
The Killing Time
by MJ Lee
2018
In 1932, tensions in Shanghai are close to boiling over when children begin to vanish from its crowded streets. As their bodies are displayed in public with chilling messages, Danilov and his assistant Strachan race to stop a murderer exploiting a city on the brink.
The Somme Legacy
by MJ Lee
2017
A young teacher asks Jayne Sinclair to investigate a mysterious medal and a sketch of a woman linked to his family. The trail leads from modern Manchester into the carnage of the Somme and a long buried dispute over a substantial inheritance.
The Murder Game
by MJ Lee
2017
A woman covered in countless knife cuts staggers through Shanghai’s streets screaming for Inspector Danilov, then dies. Soon more bodies appear, each arranged as part of a taunting puzzle. Danilov must solve the game before the killer’s messages turn fatal for him.
The American Candidate
by MJ Lee
2017
Jayne Sinclair is hired to vet the ancestry of a charismatic American with his eye on the presidency. When the British politician who commissioned her is assassinated, Jayne races between London and wartime Europe to expose the candidate’s hidden past.
The Irish Inheritance
by MJ Lee
2016
An adopted American billionaire wants Jayne Sinclair to find his real father, armed only with a birth certificate, an old photograph and a stolen book. Her search uncovers a link to a 1921 killing in Ireland and the turmoil of revolution.
City Of Shadows
by MJ Lee
2016
A Chinese family is found slaughtered in their Shanghai home even as a fellow officer is shot dead across town. Danilov’s instincts link the two cases, drawing him into conspiracy at the heart of the concessions and putting those closest to him at risk.
Death In Shanghai
by MJ Lee
2015
In 1928 Shanghai, the mutilated body of a blonde woman washes up on the notorious Beach of Dead Babies with the Chinese character for justice carved into her chest. Inspector Danilov hunts a relentless killer in a city seething with crime and politics.
Where should I start?
If you want historical mysteries about family secrets: The Irish Inheritance → The Somme Legacy → The American Candidate.
If you prefer modern Manchester crime: Where The Truth Lies → Where The Dead Fall → Where the Silence Calls.
If you like darker historical police work: Death In Shanghai → City Of Shadows → The Murder Game → The Killing Time.
If you enjoy shorter, seasonal stories: The Silent Christmas → The Christmas Carol.
If you already know Jayne Sinclair and want later cases: The Vanished Child → The Sinclair Betrayal → The Merchant's Daughter → The Missing Father.
Author bio
MJ Lee is the pen name of British writer Martin Lee, a novelist who blends crime, history and family secrets into series that move between modern Manchester, wartime Europe and 1920s Shanghai.
Before turning to fiction, he spent years writing in other guises. He worked as a university researcher in history, a social worker with Vietnamese refugees, and later as a creative director in advertising, crafting everything from television commercials to the back of a cereal box.
Those jobs took him far from his roots in the north of England. Over more than two decades he lived and worked in cities such as London, Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore, Bangkok and Shanghai, picking up awards along the way and getting a close look at very different ways of life.
Shanghai in particular left its mark. Walking the old quarters of the city, with their layered histories and crowded streets, helped spark the idea for Inspector Pyotr Danilov, the Russian detective who polices a volatile, multicultural Shanghai in Death In Shanghai, City Of Shadows, The Murder Game and The Killing Time.
Back home, his long standing interest in archives and family history became the seed for the Jayne Sinclair Genealogical Mysteries. In books like The Irish Inheritance, The Somme Legacy and The American Candidate, Jayne, a former detective turned genealogical investigator, uses records, letters and DNA results to connect modern clients to events such as the Easter Rising, the Battle of the Somme and the Second World War.
For readers who prefer a contemporary police setting, the DI Thomas Ridpath novels follow a Manchester detective whose promising career has been knocked off course by serious illness. Starting with Where The Truth Lies and Where The Dead Fall, the series balances investigations into serial killers, corrupt officers and cold cases with the pressures of Ridpath’s family life and his work alongside the coroner’s office.
Lee also writes straight historical fiction under his own name, including novels inspired by the diaries of Samuel Pepys. Across all of his work he tends to return to the same questions, how ordinary people are shaped by large events, and how secrets can echo down through families and cities.
When he is not drafting another case for Ridpath or hunting through the past with Jayne Sinclair, he splits his time between the UK and Asia. Away from the desk he enjoys playing with his daughter, digging into his own family tree and, as he likes to joke, practising downhill ironing and doing his bit to reduce the French wine lake.
His mix of grounded character work, careful research and strong sense of place has won him a loyal following among readers who like their crime fiction with history in its bones.
Edited by
Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.
Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.
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