Unhuman Books in Order

Unhuman is Wilkie Martin's comic mystery series about what happens when a very ordinary Cotswold town turns out to be less ordinary than it looks. The books are set mainly in Sorenchester, a fictional town shaped by the feel of Cirencester, and they follow police cases that begin like cosy mysteries before slipping into something much stranger. Robberies, suspicious deaths, missing animals, blackmail, floods, and local schemes all appear, but so do creatures and instincts that do not fit neatly into everyday police work.

The stories are told by Andy Caplet, and that choice matters. Andy is a struggling local reporter, not a born hero. He is clumsy, anxious, and often more interested in comfort than courage. When he gets dragged into Inspector Hobbes's orbit, he becomes our guide to everything odd in Sorenchester. Hobbes himself is huge, gruff, powerful, and plainly not quite human, though the books wisely never hurry to explain him away. Around them are Mrs Goodfellow, the unsettlingly capable housekeeper with a gift for food, and Dregs, the delinquent dog who adds even more chaos.

That lineup tells you a lot about the tone.

These books work as case-by-case mysteries, but the real thread is Andy's slow change. In Inspector Hobbes and the Blood, he stumbles into Hobbes's world almost by accident. By later books like Inspector Hobbes and the Bones and Inspector Hobbes and the Common People, he is still blundering, but he is also braver, more loyal, and more willing to act when people are in trouble. Hobbes is not just a detective. He becomes a kind of father figure, someone frightening, stubborn, and oddly protective. Their relationship gives the series its heart.

Martin keeps the fantasy element on a short leash, which is part of the appeal. The setting looks like a recognisable English market town and countryside, with pubs, police work, nosy locals, food, rain, and local politics. Then the strange stuff leaks in. Some residents are unhuman. Some dangers are much older than the crime at hand. Even when the books wander to places like the Blacker Mountains, or briefly much farther afield, the pull of Sorenchester stays strong. It is the kind of series where the town feels lived in, and where the reader gradually learns which corners are safest and which definitely are not.

And yes, the food matters.

If you like cosy mysteries but want them a bit weirder, Unhuman hits a nice balance. The books have puns, slapstick, and very dry humour, but they are not weightless. Under the comedy there are real stakes, including corruption, grief, identity, community tensions, and questions about who gets to belong. Best of all, the series does not depend on a giant fantasy rulebook. You can simply start with Inspector Hobbes and the Blood and follow Andy as he learns, slowly and nervously, that the world is larger, stranger, and hungrier than he thought.