Reading order
Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries reading order
- Whose Body?1923
- Clouds of Witness1926
- Unnatural Death1927
- The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club1928
- Strong Poison1930
- Five Red Herrings1931
- Have His Carcase1932
- Murder Must Advertise1933
- The Nine Tailors1934
- Gaudy Night1935
- Busman's Honeymoon1937
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11- 11 volumes
- Volumes
- 1923–1937
- Published
- about 70 h
- Reading time
- Completed
- Status
- Classics#30
- Genre
Quick answer
Publication order
11 volumes1923–1937Completed
- Each novel is a self-contained mystery, so you can start anywhere — but the four Harriet Vane books are a continuous story with an order of their own: Strong Poison (1930), Have His Carcase, Gaudy Night, Busman's Honeymoon.
- Chronologically the series opens with Whose Body?
- (1923).
A plan for the whole series
11 volumes, 3,738 pages, about 70 hours. At 45 min a day that is about 3 months.
Share of volume 1’s readers who reach the last volume. Chance of reaching the last volume: medium
Stages
4 stages, with 3 short books from outside the series between them. You finish around February 20, 2027, about 3 weeks later than in one go.
- Stage 119 habout 4 weeksby November 23, 2026
- BreakMaus · Art Spiegelman · 295 pp. · score 9.0
- Stage 219 habout 4 weeksby December 29, 2026
- BreakBorn a Crime · Trevor Noah · 304 pp. · score 8.9
- Stage 313 h17 daysby January 24, 2027
- Short breakThe Fire Next Time · James Baldwin · 120 pp. · score 8.8
- Stage 417 habout 3 weeksby February 20, 2027
- The end of the series
We count 1.1 min per page, the pace of an average novel reader. Faster? Move the slider.
Does the series hold up
Shape of the series: it gets better. Readers scored the opening (7.4) below the ending (7.8). After the first volume you do not yet know how good this series is.
Best volume: Strong Poison (7.8, 67 ratings). Weakest: Whose Body? (7.4). The series is complete; you can read it start to finish with no waiting. The last volume (7.8) scores close to the series average or above it.
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
Order checked by hand · Order and years: Wikidata (CC0). Spotted an error? Tell us. · Data updated October 29, 2026
Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries books ranked, best to worst
- 1.Strong PoisonBook 5 · 19307.8
- 2.The Unpleasantness at the Bellona ClubBook 4 · 19287.7
- 3.Unnatural DeathBook 3 · 19277.6
- 3.Clouds of WitnessBook 2 · 19267.6
- 5.Whose Body?Book 1 · 19237.4
Extras, short stories and spin-offs
Not needed to follow the main story — read them after the series or skip them.
- Lord Peter Views the Body1928
- The Incredible Elopement of Lord Peter Wimsey1931
- The Image in the Mirror1933
- Striding Folly1972
- Lord Peter1972
- Thrones, Dominations1998
- Hangman's Holiday
- In the Teeth of the Evidence
- The Wimsey Papers
- The Wimsey Family
Frequently asked questions
Which Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries book is the best?
By reader score, Strong Poison (7.8/10). The lowest-rated is Whose Body? (7.4/10).
Which Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries book is the longest?
“Gaudy Night” is the longest at 483 pages; the shortest is “Whose Body?” with 212 pages.
What should I read after Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries?
After the main series: Lord Peter Views the Body, The Incredible Elopement of Lord Peter Wimsey, The Image in the Mirror, Striding Folly.