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P.D. James Books in Order

Find every P.D. James book in order, including standalone titles and complete series reading orders with publication years.

Updated 2026-07-11 / 54 books / 7 series

British author P.D. James is best known for her acclaimed Inspector Adam Dalgliesh mystery series. A master of literary crime fiction, her novels have sold millions worldwide and earned numerous awards, including the CWA Diamond Dagger. This page presents the P.D. James books in order, covering both chronological publication and the Dalgliesh series reading sequence.

All P.D. James Books in Chronological Order

1955 A Good Man Is Hard To Find(By: Flannery O'Connor) POoFSB / 1 Buy
1962 Cover Her Face POoADB / 1 Buy
1963 A Mind to Murder POoADB / 2 Buy
1967 Unnatural Causes POoADB / 3 Buy
1968 The Inner Room(By: Robert Aickman) POoFSB / 2 Buy
1971 The Maul and The Pear Tree(With: T.A. Critchley) POoNB / 1 Buy
1971 Shroud for a Nightingale POoADB / 4 Buy
1972 An Unsuitable Job for a Woman POoCGB / 1 Buy
1975 The Black Tower POoADB / 5 Buy
1977 Death of an Expert Witness POoADB / 6 Buy
1980 Innocent Blood / Innocent House POoSN / 1 Buy
1982 The Skull Beneath the Skin POoCGB / 2 Buy
1982 Daughters of Passion(By: Julia O'Faolain) POoFSB / 3 Buy
1983 Giacomo Joyce(By: Richard Ellmann) POoFSB / 4 Buy
1986 A Taste for Death POoADB / 7 Buy
1989 Homeland(By: Barbara Kingsolver) POoFSB / 5 Buy
1989 Devices and Desires POoADB / 8 Buy
1992 The Children of Men POoSN / 2 Buy
1994 Original Sin POoADB / 9 Buy
1997 Shanti(By: Vikram Chandra) POoFSB / 6 Buy
1997 A Certain Justice POoADB / 10 Buy
1998 Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine(By: Thom Jones) POoFSB / 7 Buy
1999 Time To Be In Earnest POoNB / 2 Buy
2001 Death in Holy Orders POoADB / 11 Buy
2003 The Murder Room POoADB / 12 Buy
2005 The Part-Time Job POoSS / 1 Buy
2005 The Lighthouse POoADB / 13 Buy
2008 The Private Patient POoADB / 14 Buy
2009 Talking About Detective Fiction POoNB / 3 Buy
2009 An Elegy for Easterly(By: Petina Gappah) POoFSB / 8 Buy
2011 The Shielding of Mrs Forbes(By: Alan Bennett) POoFSB / 9 Buy
2012 Death Comes to Pemberley POoSN / 3 Buy
2012 The Cheater's Guide to Love(By: Junot D’az) POoFSB / 10 Buy
2014 Mrs Fox(By: Sarah Hall) POoFSB / 11 Buy
2014 Mostly Hero(By: Anna Burns) POoFSB / 12 Buy
2016 The Mistletoe Murder POoSSC / 1 Buy
2016 Mr Salary(By: Sally Rooney) POoFSB / 13 Buy
2017 Sleep No More POoSSC / 2 Buy
2017 P.D. James in Her Own Words POoNB / 4 Buy
2019 Come Rain or Come Shine(By: Kazuo Ishiguro) POoFSB / 14 Buy
2019 The Victim POoFSB / 15 Buy
2019 Dante and the Lobster(By: Samuel Beckett) POoFSB / 16 Buy
2019 Paradise(By: Edna O'Brien) POoFSB / 17 Buy
2019 Cosmopolitan(By: Akhil Sharma) POoFSB / 18 Buy
2019 The Lydia Steptoe Stories(By: Djuna Barnes) POoFSB / 19 Buy
2019 Mary Ventura and The Ninth Kingdom(By: Sylvia Plath) POoFSB / 20 Buy
2019 Terrific Mother(By: Lorrie Moore) POoFSB / 21 Buy
2019 The Country Funeral(By: John McGahern) POoFSB / 22 Buy
2019 The Forester's Daughter(By: Claire Keegan) POoFSB / 23 Buy
2019 Three Types of Solitude(By: Brian W. Aldiss) POoFSB / 24 Buy
2019 A River in Egypt(By: David Means) POoFSB / 25 Buy
2019 Fairy Tales(By: Marianne Moore) POoFSB / 26 Buy
2019 Ghostly Stories(By: Celia Fremlin) POoFSB / 27 Buy
2019 Intruders(By: Adrian Tomine) POoFSB / 28 Buy

P.D. James Book Series Reading Orders / browse all ->

01 Cover Her Face 1962 Buy
02 A Mind to Murder 1963 Buy
03 Unnatural Causes 1967 Buy
04 Shroud for a Nightingale 1971 Buy
05 The Black Tower 1975 Buy
06 Death of an Expert Witness 1977 Buy
07 A Taste for Death 1986 Buy
08 Devices and Desires 1989 Buy
09 Original Sin 1994 Buy
10 A Certain Justice 1997 Buy
11 Death in Holy Orders 2001 Buy
12 The Murder Room 2003 Buy
13 The Lighthouse 2005 Buy
14 The Private Patient 2008 Buy
01 An Unsuitable Job for a Woman 1972 Buy
02 The Skull Beneath the Skin 1982 Buy
01 The Part-Time Job 2005 Buy
01 The Maul and The Pear Tree(With: T.A. Critchley) 1971 Buy
02 Time To Be In Earnest 1999 Buy
03 Talking About Detective Fiction 2009 Buy
04 P.D. James in Her Own Words 2017 Buy
01 A Good Man Is Hard To Find(By: Flannery O'Connor) 1955 Buy
02 The Inner Room(By: Robert Aickman) 1968 Buy
03 Daughters of Passion(By: Julia O'Faolain) 1982 Buy
04 Giacomo Joyce(By: Richard Ellmann) 1983 Buy
05 Homeland(By: Barbara Kingsolver) 1989 Buy
06 Shanti(By: Vikram Chandra) 1997 Buy
07 Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine(By: Thom Jones) 1998 Buy
08 An Elegy for Easterly(By: Petina Gappah) 2009 Buy
09 The Shielding of Mrs Forbes(By: Alan Bennett) 2011 Buy
10 The Cheater's Guide to Love(By: Junot D’az) 2012 Buy
11 Mrs Fox(By: Sarah Hall) 2014 Buy
12 Mostly Hero(By: Anna Burns) 2014 Buy
13 Mr Salary(By: Sally Rooney) 2016 Buy
14 Come Rain or Come Shine(By: Kazuo Ishiguro) 2019 Buy
15 The Victim 2019 Buy
16 Dante and the Lobster(By: Samuel Beckett) 2019 Buy
17 Paradise(By: Edna O'Brien) 2019 Buy
18 Cosmopolitan(By: Akhil Sharma) 2019 Buy
19 The Lydia Steptoe Stories(By: Djuna Barnes) 2019 Buy
20 Mary Ventura and The Ninth Kingdom(By: Sylvia Plath) 2019 Buy
21 Terrific Mother(By: Lorrie Moore) 2019 Buy
22 The Country Funeral(By: John McGahern) 2019 Buy
23 The Forester's Daughter(By: Claire Keegan) 2019 Buy
24 Three Types of Solitude(By: Brian W. Aldiss) 2019 Buy
25 A River in Egypt(By: David Means) 2019 Buy
26 Fairy Tales(By: Marianne Moore) 2019 Buy
27 Ghostly Stories(By: Celia Fremlin) 2019 Buy
28 Intruders(By: Adrian Tomine) 2019 Buy
01 The Mistletoe Murder 2016 Buy
02 Sleep No More 2017 Buy
Standalone Books in Reading Order 3 books / 1980-2012
01 Innocent Blood / Innocent House 1980 Buy
02 The Children of Men 1992 Buy
03 Death Comes to Pemberley 2012 Buy

Where to start with P.D. James

What is the best order to read P.D. James books?

Publication order is usually the safest place to start. If a book belongs to a series, follow the numbered series reading order shown on this page.

Are standalone books and series both included?

Yes. Standalone titles appear in the full chronological bibliography, and series are broken out separately with reading-order links when catalog data is available.

More authors

Maggie Hartley -> L.J. Sellers -> Marius Gabriel -> Daniel Palmer ->

Source note: Sequencebooks organizes author, book, and series records from its catalog data. Publication years and series order are shown when available.