MS Morris Books in Order
Find MS Morris books in order, with Bridget Hart and DCI Tom Raven reading lists, short summaries, series background, and where to start.
Last updated: 11 new books added
Coming soonNext book: The Chapel in the Rock (2027) · Pre-order on Amazon
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MS Morris books in publication order
21 books
The Red Room
by MS Morris
2018
Jane's quiet Yorkshire life begins to crack when a letter forces her to re-examine a buried trauma. This standalone psychological thriller turns on memory, identity and how far trust can stretch.
Aspire to Die
by MS Morris
2019
Newly promoted DI Bridget Hart investigates the brutal death of a wealthy Oxford student in her college room. Ambition, desire and privilege close ranks around a killer who may not be finished.
A Darkly Shining Star
by MS Morris
2020
Near Christmas, an Oxford ghost tour ends with a real murder. Pulled between family and work, Bridget Hart follows a trail of old wrongs before the festive season turns deadlier.
Do No Evil
by MS Morris
2020
Bridget Hart returns to her old Oxford college for a reunion, only for a gruesome murder to make her a suspect. Shut out of the inquiry, she starts asking dangerous questions of her own.
In Love And Murder
by MS Morris
2020
A country-house party ends in suspicious death, and Bridget Hart finds a government minister among the guests. The case leads through favours, corruption and private deals where nobody is easy to trust.
Killing by Numbers
by MS Morris
2020
Artist Gabriel Quinn is shot outside an Oxford gallery, leaving only a strange code as a clue. Bridget Hart enters the high-stakes art world while her ex-husband's arrival complicates the case.
Preface to Murder
by MS Morris
2021
At the Oxford Literary Festival, DI Bridget Hart is assigned to protect controversial author Diane Gilbert after a death threat. When murder follows, Bridget must follow clues tied to a book about arms deals and secretive agencies.
Toll for the Dead
by MS Morris
2021
A funeral in Hambledon-on-Thames turns into a murder scene when the churchwarden is found beaten to death. Bridget Hart and her team dig through village feuds before old grudges claim another victim.
Beneath Cold Earth
by MS Morris
2022
Flash floods uncover a skeleton at a beauty spot, while DS Becca Shawcross questions a death at a nursing home. DCI Tom Raven must connect two troubling cases before buried secrets become deadly.
The Landscape of Death
by MS Morris
2022
A body washes up on the North Yorkshire coast, drawing DCI Tom Raven back to Scarborough after decades away. The case points toward an old friend and the past Raven tried to leave behind.
Days Like Shadows Pass
by MS Morris
2023
A blood-drained body at Whitby Abbey draws DCI Tom Raven into a murder investigation marked by a dragon symbol. As vampire stories complicate the search for a killer, his daughter Hannah becomes entangled in the danger.
Deep into that Darkness
by MS Morris
2023
A colleague’s death in Scarborough harbour echoes the unsolved murder of DCI Tom Raven’s mother. While investigating what the victim uncovered, Raven also confronts nighttime attacks on women and cryptic clues that suggest a deeper connection.
The Dying of the Year
by MS Morris
2023
Sam Earnshaw awakens after a year in a coma and claims the collision that injured him was deliberate. DCI Tom Raven investigates the alleged attempted murder, but further deaths turn an old incident into an urgent threat.
Stained with Blood
by MS Morris
2024
An MP is shot during a Civil War reenactment at Scarborough Castle. Sidelined by counterterrorism officers, DCI Tom Raven follows threatening letters and powerful suspects as the killing raises fears of an attack on democratic institutions.
Vigil for the Dead
by MS Morris
2024
A burned body near a Bronze Age burial mound leads DCI Tom Raven toward military secrets. As evidence connects the murder to a nearby base, his own army past complicates an investigation into a dangerous conspiracy.
A Dying Echo
by MS Morris
2025
A rock concert links a missing singer from an old American tour to a new performer’s collapse. DCI Tom Raven investigates the band’s troubled history while journalist Liz Larkin’s personal involvement makes the case increasingly difficult.
The Foaming Deep
by MS Morris
2025
A young woman’s body is discovered in a cave at Robin Hood’s Bay, with footprints pointing toward a youth hostel. DCI Tom Raven investigates while a fresh clue reopens questions about his mother’s fatal collision.
The Raven's Call
by MS Morris
2025
A cocktail-bar owner is shot during a winter light show, drawing DCI Tom Raven into a crime family’s business. When he is framed and suspended, he works outside official channels as danger closes in on his daughter.
The Caldey Island Murders
by MS Morris
2026
A woman is found dead at a church altar on isolated Caldey Island. DI Carys Morgan investigates monks, residents, and pilgrims, but a second body and apparent religious symbolism suggest a killer pursuing a ritual purpose.
The House of Silent Bones
by MS Morris
2026
A skeleton hidden behind a cellar wall in Tenby reopens a disappearance dating to Halloween 1995. DI Carys Morgan follows the secrets of five former school friends while a new killer threatens those connected to the past.
The Chapel in the Rock
by MS Morris
2027
Musician Heloise Rickson returns to Pembrokeshire and is found dead at St Govan’s Chapel beside a smashed guitar. DI Carys Morgan must untangle conflicting accounts before an army exercise cuts off access to the crime scene.
Where to start with MS Morris
For Oxford police mysteries: Aspire to Die → Killing by Numbers → Do No Evil → In Love And Murder.
For North Yorkshire crime thrillers: The Landscape of Death → Beneath Cold Earth.
For a standalone psychological thriller: The Red Room.
For later Bridget Hart cases: A Darkly Shining Star → Preface to Murder → Toll for the Dead.
MS Morris sub-series and character series
Bridget Hart books in order
Explore this seriesBridget Hart books in chronological order
DCI Tom Raven books in order
Explore this seriesDCI Tom Raven books in chronological order
Standalone MS Morris books
Author bio
MS Morris is the shared pen name of Margarita Morris and Steve Morris, a husband-and-wife writing team who write crime fiction, police procedurals and psychological thrillers. Margarita comes from Yorkshire, Steve from Wales, and both have kept a strong pull toward the places they came from. That sense of place is one of the quiet engines in their books.
Margarita was born and grew up in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, a Victorian spa town she has said she appreciated more after leaving it. She studied Modern Languages at Jesus College, Oxford, including a year abroad in Mainz, Germany. Steve studied Physics at University College, Oxford, and the two met as students before building a life together.
Oxford stuck.
After university, Margarita moved to Windsor and worked in computing for many years. Steve worked in the nuclear industry, then became a dot com entrepreneur. Their paths into fiction started separately: Margarita wrote historical novels shaped by twentieth-century Europe, including Oranges for Christmas, Goodbye to Budapest and A Long Way From Warsaw, while Steve wrote science fiction and thrillers, including the Lycanthropic books.
Then they began writing together.
The fit makes sense. Both had already spent years thinking about how a setting can shape a plot, whether that setting is Cold War Berlin, a Victorian cemetery, a seaside town, or a modern English college. In the MS Morris books, location is rarely just scenery. It decides who knows whom, who has power, and which secrets stay hidden.
As MS Morris, they first reached many mystery readers through the Bridget Hart books, beginning with Aspire to Die. The series follows an Oxford detective inspector through cases that make good use of colleges, galleries, literary events, country houses and nearby villages. Readers who like these books tend to enjoy the mix of a clear puzzle, a working police team and enough personal life to make Bridget feel like more than a job title.
The DCI Tom Raven books moved the action north, to Scarborough and the North Yorkshire coast. The Landscape of Death sends Raven back to his hometown after many years away, and Beneath Cold Earth builds on the same mix of present-day murder, old secrets and local memory. The landscape matters here. Harbours, beaches, moors and weather all press against the investigations.
Their standalone thriller The Red Room shows another side of the partnership, more psychological and domestic, with a woman whose settled life is shaken by a letter from the past. Across the books, MS Morris often returns to damaged trust, buried histories, clever clues and the way respectable places can hide very messy truths.
Today Margarita and Steve live in Oxfordshire, close to the Oxford setting that runs through Bridget Hart and not too far in spirit from the Yorkshire coast that feeds Tom Raven. Margarita has also written about swimming, singing and reading when she isn't writing. The partnership works because their interests overlap, but not completely, one eye on place and history, the other on pace, threat and consequence.
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 shape MRB and its growth.

































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