SeriesStack

Lady Hardcastle Books in Order

13 books so far (book 14 is due January 19, 2027) and 1 novella. They run from A Quiet Life in the Country (2014) to Murder on the Rocks (2026). Rated 4.6 across 31,972 listener reviews.

Next Lady Hardcastle book

The Quarry Mystery

Book 14 · out January 19, 2027 · preorder now

Reading order

  1. A Quiet Life in the Country

    Book 1 2014 4.3 (8.7k)

    Lady Emily Hardcastle is an eccentric widow with a secret past. Florence Armstrong, her maid and confidante, is an expert in martial arts. The year is 1908 and they’ve just moved from London to the country, hoping for a quiet life.

  2. In the Market for Murder

    Book 2 2016 4.5 (4.3k)

    Spring, 1909, and Lady Hardcastle, amateur sleuth and all-round eccentric, is enjoying a well-deserved rest. But a week after a trip to the cattle market, Spencer Caradine, a local farmer, turns up dead in the pub, face-down in his beef…

  3. Death Around the Bend

    Book 3 2017 4.7 (3.3k)

    September 1909, and Lady Hardcastle and her maid, Florence, have been invited to Lord Riddlethorpe’s country estate for a week of motor racing and parties. They both agree that it sounds like a perfectly charming holiday.

  4. Christmas at The Grange

    Novella 3.5 2018 4.6 (2k)

  5. A Picture of Murder

    Book 4 2018 4.7 (2.6k)

    Late October 1909, and the season of ghouls and things that go bump in the night has descended on the village of Littleton Cotterell.

  6. The Burning Issue of the Day

    Book 5 2019 4.7 (2.2k)

    January 1910. A journalist has been killed in a suspicious blaze. Everything points to a group of suffragettes, but the apparent culprit insists she is innocent.

  7. Death Beside the Seaside

    Book 6 2019 4.8 (2.1k)

    July 1910. Lady Hardcastle and her tireless sidekick Flo have finally embarked on a long-overdue seaside break. But just as they’re wavering between ice creams and donkey rides, their fellow guests start to go missing - and the duo find…

  8. The Fatal Flying Affair

    Book 7 2020 4.8 (1.7k)

    August 1911. Emily Hardcastle and her inimitable lady’s maid Florence Armstrong are enjoying a fine summer until Harry, Lady H’s brother, turns up out of the blue with a mystery for them to solve.

  9. Rotten to the Core

    Book 8 2022 4.8 (1.5k)

    Summer 1911. A scorching heatwave engulfs the quiet town of Littleton Cotterell and brings about an unusually early harvest.

  10. An Act of Foul Play

    Book 9 2022 4.7 (1.1k)

    November 1911. Lady Emily Hardcastle is celebrating her birthday by seeing a play at the Duke’s Theatre in Bristol with her maid and confidante, the inimitable Flo. Act One is a triumph. Then Act Two opens with a body on stage—a real one.

  11. A Fire at the Exhibition

    Book 10 2023 4.8 (667)

    May 1912. After the previous year’s deadly heatwave, it’s been an uneventful spring in Littleton Cotterell. Though for Lady Hardcastle and her fiercely loyal lady’s maid Flo, at least there are the provincial delights of the village’s…

  12. An Assassination on the Agenda

    Book 11 2024 4.8 (736)

    They’re hoping this visit is a return journey—but it might be a one-way ticket to murder. July 1912. Lady Hardcastle and her tenacious lady’s maid, Florence Armstrong, are enjoying a convivial gathering at the home of their dear friends,…

  13. The Beast of Littleton Woods

    Book 12 2025 4.8 (701)

    They’re used to solving murders. But until now the killer has always been human… October 1912. The inhabitants of Littleton Cotterell emerge from their homes after a week of torrential storms to the gruesome news that one of Sid Hyde’s…

  14. Murder on the Rocks

    Book 13 2026 4.8 (412)

    February 1913. Lady Hardcastle and her diminutive but brave lady’s maid, Flo, have been invited by their friend JB McIntyre to spend the weekend at his recently renovated Tudor fort on a remote island off the Devonshire coast.

  15. The Quarry Mystery

    Book 14 Out January 19, 2027

    A buried fossil, a birthday party and… a murder? June, 1913. Lady Hardcastle and her intrepid lady’s maid, Florence, are looking forward to attending wealthy quarry owner Josiah McRory’s seventy-fifth birthday celebration.

About this reading order

Books are listed in the series' own numbering, which for Lady Hardcastle is also the best order to read them in. Novellas and short stories sit between the novels they follow, numbered the way the publisher numbers them (3.5 comes after book 3). They are optional — you can skip them without missing the main story. Years are first publication where we could confirm it, and otherwise the first audiobook release.