For mystery lovers, there’s nothing better than the feeling of discovering a new series to sink your teeth into. But with so many incredible mystery book series out there, it’s easy to overlook some truly incredible examples — hidden gems that any mystery fan will love. If you’re in danger of running low on great mysteries to read, have no fear! Here are some of the best series in no particular order that you might have slept on.
1. Tommy & Tuppence Mystery Series - Agatha Christie
This particular series deserves way more attention that it receives. This is the shortest Agatha Christie detective series with four novels and a collection of short stories. We follow the stories of this young couple who returned from war and are hungry for some excitement.
Their full names are Thomas Beresford and his wife Prudence. They start their own business as The Young Adventurers and are hired for a job leading to many dangerous events. This series is best read in order as it follows this couple through their early twenties to them being married and in seventies.
2. Peter Wimsey Series - Dorothy L. Sayers
This is a 15 book series following Lord Peter Wimsey, a young bachelor of wit and charm. Together with loyal manservant Bunter and Inspector Parker of Scotland Yard, he sets off to solve some of the most intriguing mysteries set in Denver, Norfolk. The first book in this series involves a dead body in a tub, which further appears to have been shaved.
At the same time a person happens to have gone missing. Can both cases be corelated? Filled with witty dialogues and suspence, this series will be a delight to the fans of Agatha Christie.
3. Barker and Llewelyn Series - Will Thomas
This historical mystery series, features Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn, England's premiere private enquiry agents. When a student bearing similarities to Jesus Christ is murdered by nothing other than crucifixion, private detective Barker hires an assistant to help him solve the sinister case. They investigate murder and intrigue in Victorian London's highest echelons of royal and political power, and in the lowest depths of its criminal underworld.
4. Southern Sisters Mystery Series - Anne George
Meet Patricia Anne "Mouse" who is a perfect example of genteel Southern womanhood and Mary Alice "Sister", the bold one. The series starts off with Murder on a Girl's Night Out where Sister has plans of buying a pub. Mouse, being the sensible one doesn't agree.
Then of course they find a strangled and stabbed dead body hanging in the pub's wishing well. Filled with witty and entertaining dialogue between the two, this mystery series will be your favorite to read in cozy evenings!
5. Medicus Investigation Series - Ruth Downie
Set in Britain under Roman rule, it tells the story of a Roman doctor/detective character. Gaius Petreius Ruso has recently arrived in a cold and rainy Britannia. He is recently divorced and has suffered bad news about the death of his father, which has left him with a great deal of debt and an extended family to support.
Then there is the injured and possibly dying slave girl, Tilla, that he buys to rescue her from her abusive master. Each novel is a mystery, where Ruso is reluctantly dragged to solve murders no one else wants to take a close look at.
6. Feathering Mystery Series - Simon Brett
Our protagonists here are Carole Seddon and her more laid-back neighbour Jude. The Body on the Beach is the first of the Feathering mysteries, named for their setting, the seaside town of Feathering, England. In this book Carole meets her new bohemian neighbor, Jude who becomes her partner in solving crimes as a dead body on the beach bearing two wounds on its neck is discovered. We follow this entertaining duo in 18 more novels!
7. Homer Kelly Mysteries - Jane Langton
This 18 book series features Homer Kelly, a detective turned professor. The series starts with A Transcendental Murder. At a meeting of the town’s intellectuals, Ernest Goss produces a collection of love letters written by the men and women of the transcendentalist sect.
Although Homer chortles at the idea that Louisa May Alcott and Ralph Waldo Emerson might have had a fling, Goss insists the letters are real. He never gets a chance to prove it. Soon after he is found killed by a musket ball and it's upto Kelly to set things straight.
8. Inspector Lynley Series - Elizabeth George
Detective Inspector Thomas "Tommy" Lynley, 8th Earl of Asherton and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers are with New Scotland Yard. The first book follows a three hundred year old legend in which the frightened Yorkshire villagers smothered a crying babe in Keldale Abbey, where they'd hidden to escape the ravages of Cromwell's raiders. In the present day, Roberta Teys has been found in her best dress, an axe in her lap, seated in the old stone barn beside her father's headless corpse.
Her first and last words were "I did it. And I'm not sorry." Now follow Inspector Lynley along with the Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers works towards the solution of this savage mystery.
9. Joona Linna Series - Lars Kepler
A mystery series featuring Detective Inspector Joona Linna known for his knack for seeing things that others miss. Even though his approach often leads him and those close to him into danger, in the end Joona always turns out to be right. The series starts with The Hypnotist which revolves around a triple homicide.
Together with Dr. Erik Maria Bark, he resolves to get to the bottom of this chilling mystery. This series is known to be an ultimate page turner which will keep you by the edge of your seat.
10. Francis Pettigrew Series - Cyril Hare
Meet Francis Pettigrew, barrister and amateur sleuth. He is often featured with Inspector Mallett, another popular character by Cyril Hare who has a series of his own - The Inspector Mallett Series. We are first introduced to Mallett in Tenant for Death where a corpse is discovered in an inventory and a tenant goes missing; and we meet Pettigrew in The Tragedy of Law where a judge receives threatening letters and a poisoned box of chocolates. These two series are interwined together and are highly enjoyable.
11. Vera Stanhope Series - Ann Cleeves
Vera Stanhope's first appearance was in The Crow Trap, where three women come together to complete an environmental survey - Rachael, Bella and Grace. When Rachael arrives at the cottage, however, she is horrified to discover the body of her friend Bella. The death appears to be a suicide but Rachael refuses to accept that. When the next death occurs, that's when our heroine enters the picture who must piece together the truth from these women's tangled lives.
12. Susan Ryeland Series - Anthony Horowitz
This is actually duology featuring the editor for the Atticus Pünd mystery novels, Susan Ryeland. This is a story within a story where Susan recieves a manuscript of Alan Conway’s latest novel featuring Atticus, who solves mysteries disturbing sleepy English villages. But as she continues reading the pages, there seems to be another story hidden in the manuscripts which she must unravel.
13. Maisie Dobbs Series - Jacqueline Winspear
Featuring a young housemaid who works her way into college at Cambridge and works as a nurse when World War I breaks out. After the War, she sets up on her own as a private investigator but her first case appears to link her to a darker web of secrets where she is forced to revisit her events of the war. We follow this unique character through a span of 15 books and an upcoming one is awaited as well.
So, these are 13 mystery series which we think are very enjoyable reads. There must be plenty of other series which are equally great but we have missed out in this list, be sure to let us know in the comments if you have any suggestions for us? Also don't forget to share, subscribe and drop a response below if this article was helpful to you! Happy reading!
