Most Recommended Books

Track reading, wishlists & new-book alerts

Get
Skip to content
Share:

Tony J Forder Books in Order

Browse Tony J Forder books in order, with quick summaries, series guides, and easy starting points for DI Bliss, Mike Lynch, Royston Chase, and more.

Last updated: July 2, 2026

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases (at no extra cost to you).

View

Publication Order

Sort:

21 books

Bad to the Bone

by Tony J Forder

2017

When human remains are found in woodland and two retired officers are murdered, DI Jimmy Bliss and Penny Chandler uncover signs of a police cover-up. The deeper they dig in Peterborough, the more dangerous the case becomes.

Degrees of Darkness

by Tony J Forder

2017

Ex-detective Frank Rogers learns his daughter has been abducted after his family is attacked by a serial killer. To save her, he must think like the predator and risk losing himself in the process.

Scream Blue Murder

by Tony J Forder

2017

Mike Lynch witnesses a killing at a roadside stop and escapes in the victim's car, only to find a nanny and child hiding in the back. Protecting them drags him into a brutal and fast-moving nightmare.

Cold Winter Sun

by Tony J Forder

2018

When Mike Lynch agrees to help trace a missing young man, the trail pulls him and Terry Cochran from California to New Mexico. Fake cops, shifting loyalties, and a bigger conspiracy make every answer harder to trust.

If Fear Wins

by Tony J Forder

2018

A charred body makes the authorities think terrorism, but Bliss is not convinced. As MI5 circles and organised crime edges into view, he and Chandler race to stop a killer before more lives are lost.

The Scent of Guilt

by Tony J Forder

2018

Twelve years after leaving Peterborough, Jimmy Bliss returns to lead a serial murder case while Penny Chandler investigates linked rapes. A clue pointing to California turns the hunt into a far wider and riskier pursuit.

The Death of Justice

by Tony J Forder

2019

Two shootings, a missing head, and another headless corpse tell Bliss he is hunting a spree killer. With more names on the target list, the Major Crimes Unit has little time and nowhere safe to hide.

The Reach of Shadows

by Tony J Forder

2019

The stabbing of a young woman looks like a stalker's attack, until more suspects crowd the frame. While Bliss fights questions about his own past, his team must solve the murder before the body count climbs.

Bliss Uncovered

by Tony J Forder

2020

Fresh out of uniform, young DC Jimmy Bliss goes undercover with a gang planning a safe job. When the target changes and his cover feels shaky, he must stay alive long enough for help to find him.

Endless Silent Scream

by Tony J Forder

2020

After Bliss stops teenage Molly from jumping off a roof, he learns she is trapped in a drugs network. A second case involving a murdered journalist piles on the pressure as danger closes in from several sides.

Fifteen Coffins

by Tony J Forder

2020

FBI agent Sydney Merlot returns to her northern California hometown to settle her late father's PI affairs and walks into the aftermath of a school shooting. As she asks questions, threats, surveillance, and old loyalties crowd in.

Slow Slicing

by Tony J Forder

2020

Body parts found across the country lead Bliss to an old London murder and a trail of torture, gangland history, and revenge. As the case grows uglier, a leak to the media threatens to wreck the investigation.

The Autumn Tree

by Tony J Forder

2021

A strangled woman is found carrying one of Bliss's old business cards, but she is not who he expects. That small clue opens a disturbing case tied to trafficking, exploitation, and predators with few limits.

The Huntsmen

by Tony J Forder

2021

DS Royston Chase is told to wrap up a fatal crash quietly, until the dead girl's DNA links her to a child missing for twenty years. Chase and Claire Laney soon find powerful people blocking the truth.

Darker Days to Come

by Tony J Forder

2022

An apparent suicide and an abandoned vehicle seem unrelated until Bliss's team uncovers three missing people behind them. As the hours pass, a journalist, a mother, and a child become the center of a desperate search.

The Lightning Rod

by Tony J Forder

2022

Bliss arrives at what looks like a murder-suicide and quickly sees the scene has been staged. With no clear motive and almost no evidence, the Major Crimes Unit faces a killer who keeps striking without warning.

The Predators

by Tony J Forder

2023

A frozen female hiker on the downs gives Royston Chase, Claire Laney, and Alison May a murder case that keeps getting worse. Missing witnesses and linked abductions turn a single death into a far bigger hunt.

What Dies Inside Us

by Tony J Forder

2023

A homeless veteran says he witnessed a murder, but with no body the police cannot act until he turns up dead. As retirement nears, Bliss tackles that case and another grim investigation into a vulnerable family.

Something More to Say

by Tony J Forder

2024

Now retired from the force, Jimmy Bliss returns as a civilian Senior Investigating Officer while also leading an unsolved cases team. A 1999 murder and a violent county lines feud give him two battles at once.

The Honourable Rogue

by Tony J Forder

2025

A violent murder committed by cowboy builders sends Bliss after four men who scatter fast and leave more damage behind them. At the same time, fresh prison intel reopens a cold case with ugly local roots.

The Stonemason's Song

by Tony J Forder

2025

When human remains are found with an antique chisel buried in the skull, Bliss sees echoes of an earlier ritualistic killing. A second thread, a murdered private investigator searching for a missing child, pulls him back to London.

Where should I start?

If you want the core Tony J Forder experience: Bad to the BoneThe Scent of GuiltIf Fear Wins
If you want Bliss from the very beginning: Bliss UncoveredBad to the BoneThe Scent of Guilt
If you prefer action-heavy thrillers: Scream Blue MurderCold Winter Sun
If you want a newer police duo: The HuntsmenThe Predators
If you'd rather try a standalone first: Degrees of DarknessFifteen Coffins

Author bio

Tony J Forder was born in London and spent the first 29 years of his life there before moving to Peterborough. That city later became the backdrop for much of his crime fiction, especially the DI Bliss novels, with their grounded sense of place and working-police feel.

He started writing young. As a child he wrote short stories, and years later a national competition judged by a Pan Books editor gave him his first real break when his story Gino's Bar and Grille was chosen for publication in Dark Voices II. More short fiction followed in Dark Voices IV, FEAR, and A Rattler's Tale.

A conversation with horror writer Brian Lumley helped convince him that he belonged in the writing world. He spent a while working through dark fantasy and horror, learning as he went, before crime fiction gradually became the place where his ideas felt most at home.

For a long time, writing ran alongside ordinary working life. Forder has said he worked as a business manager and business owner, and spent more than twenty years as an IT network engineer and manager in education. Ill health slowed things down for a stretch, and he has spoken openly about living with Meniere's disease.

Then things shifted.

After being made redundant in 2016, and with encouragement from his wife, he returned to his novels in earnest. In 2017 Bad to the Bone introduced DI Jimmy Bliss, while Degrees of Darkness and Scream Blue Murder quickly showed that he was not interested in sticking to just one lane.

Most readers know him best for the long-running Bliss books, which begin in Peterborough and follow a prickly, stubborn detective who keeps pushing at cases other people would rather leave alone. Titles like The Scent of Guilt, The Autumn Tree, and What Dies Inside Us mix hard cases, team banter, and the strain that police work puts on private lives. Readers who click with these books often seem to like that blend of grit and warmth.

But his range is wider than one detective. The Huntsmen opens the DS Royston Chase series in rural Wiltshire, while Cold Winter Sun follows Mike Lynch into a more action-heavy, cross-border thriller. Then there is Fifteen Coffins, which heads to northern California for a tense standalone about grief, local power, and buried truth. Even when the settings change, his fiction keeps returning to pressure, loyalty, and the cost of doing the right thing.

He writes dark books, but they are rarely cold ones.

These days Forder is a full-time author living in West Sussex with his wife and their Yorkie, Reggie. Music still matters, too, he grew up playing guitar and has talked about his love of vinyl, which feels fitting for a writer whose books often move with the rhythm of a good crime drama.

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.

Comments

Did we miss something? Have feedback?

Help us improve this page by sharing your thoughts

We only use your email to notify you about replies.

All comments are moderated.

Discover and track your reading on the go

Track your reading, manage wishlists, and get notified when new books are added.