Reading order

Adam Dalgliesh reading order

P. D. James

  1. Cover Her Face1962
  2. Unnatural Causes1962
  3. A Mind to Murder1963
  4. Shroud for a Nightingale1971
  5. The Black Tower1975
  6. Death of an Expert Witness1977
  7. A Taste for Death1986
  8. Devices and Desires1989
  9. Original Sin1994
  10. A Certain Justice1997
  11. Death in Holy Orders2001
  12. The Murder Room2003
  13. Every volume in order (14) ↓
7.57.5 / 10
80 ratings
Score
14 volumes
Volumes
1962–2008
Published
about 100 h
Reading time
Completed
Status

Quick answer

Cover Her Face
Start withCover Her Face1962

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Publication order

14 volumes1962–2008Completed

  • Each book is a closed case — you can start anywhere.
  • Publication order matters only for Dalgliesh's private life, which moves in the background across forty years.
  • From the beginning: Cover Her Face (1962).

A plan for the whole series

14 volumes, 5,586 pages, about 100 hours. At 45 min a day that is about 4 months.

Stages

6 stages, with 5 short books from outside the series between them. You finish around April 8, 2027, about 4 weeks later than in one go.

  1. BreakMaus · Art Spiegelman · 295 pp. · score 9.05 h, by December 4, 2026. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
  2. Short breakThe Fire Next Time · James Baldwin · 120 pp. · score 8.82 h, by December 25, 2026. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
  3. Short breakThe Emperor's Soul · Brandon Sanderson · 96 pp. · score 8.82 h, by January 22, 2027. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
  4. Short breakOn Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century · Timothy Snyder · 128 pp. · score 8.42 h, by February 20, 2027. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
  5. Short breakAnimal Farm · George Orwell · 128 pp. · score 8.32 h, by March 17, 2027. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
  6. The end of the series
    April 8, 2027
In one goMarch 15, 2027about 4 months
In stages, with breaksApril 8, 2027about 5 months · +14 h of other books

We count 1.1 min per page, the pace of an average novel reader. Faster? Move the slider.

How this plan is calculated

The plan comes from the pages and ratings of each volume: we split the series into stages of about three weeks’ reading, size each break to the stage before it, and read the chance of finishing from how many readers rate the last volume compared with the first. How we work out the plan →

Every volume in order

Read: 0 of 14

Order checked by hand · Order and years: Wikidata (CC0). Spotted an error? Tell us. · Data updated October 29, 2026

Frequently asked questions

Which Adam Dalgliesh book is the longest?

“Original Sin” is the longest at 544 pages; the shortest is “Cover Her Face” with 254 pages.