Anne Perry Books in Order: Complete List + Pitt & Monk

By Anna Marie CarrollMystery

Anne Perry (1938–2023) was a British historical mystery author best known for the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt and William Monk series. This guide to the Anne Perry books in order covers her Victorian mysteries, historical novels, fantasy books, Christmas novellas, short fiction, collaborations, nonfiction, and other published work.

Perry wrote across several periods and genres, from Victorian London and the First World War to 1930s espionage and the Byzantine Empire. Her long-running mysteries focus as much on social conflict, justice, and the lives of recurring characters as they do on solving crimes.

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Where to Start with Anne Perry

The simplest place to start depends on which setting interests you most. The Charlotte and Thomas Pitt and William Monk books are separate Victorian mystery series, so you can begin either one without reading the other. I recommend following publication order within each series because the characters’ relationships, careers, and personal histories develop from book to book.

The Daniel Pitt books follow Charlotte and Thomas Pitt’s adult son, so they work best after the original Pitt series. The Christmas novellas tell self-contained mysteries about secondary characters from the Pitt and Monk books, but reading the parent series first gives you more context. The Tathea, World War I, Timepiece, and Elena Standish series are independent, and Perry’s standalone novels can be read in any order.

You may see different totals for Anne Perry’s bibliography because some lists count omnibus editions, anthology reprints, books she edited, and writing videos as if they were new works. This guide separates those categories and counts each original story or book once.

Anne Perry Books by Series

Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Books

The Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series begins in Victorian London, where police inspector Thomas Pitt investigates crimes that often reach into the city’s wealthiest households. Charlotte uses her social connections and curiosity to uncover information that Thomas can’t always obtain through official channels. Read the 32 novels in publication order.

  1. The Cater Street Hangman (1979)
  2. Callander Square (1980)
  3. Paragon Walk (1981)
  4. Resurrection Row (1981)
  5. Rutland Place (1983)
  6. Bluegate Fields (1984)
  7. Death in the Devil’s Acre (1985)
  8. Cardington Crescent (1987)
  9. Silence in Hanover Close (1988)
  10. Bethlehem Road (1990)
  11. Highgate Rise (1991)
  12. Belgrave Square (1992)
  13. Farriers’ Lane (1993)
  14. The Hyde Park Headsman (1994)
  15. Traitors Gate (1995)
  16. Pentecost Alley (1996)
  17. Ashworth Hall (1997)
  18. Brunswick Gardens (1998)
  19. Bedford Square (1999)
  20. Half Moon Street (2000)
  21. The Whitechapel Conspiracy (2001)
  22. Southampton Row (2002)
  23. Seven Dials (2003)
  24. Long Spoon Lane (2005)
  25. Buckingham Palace Gardens (2008)
  26. Treason at Lisson Grove (2011)
  27. Dorchester Terrace (2012)
  28. Midnight at Marble Arch (2013)
  29. Death on Blackheath (2014)
  30. The Angel Court Affair (2015)
  31. Treachery at Lancaster Gate (2016)
  32. Murder on the Serpentine (2017)

Optional companion: Charlotte and Thomas Pitt: A Mysterious Profile (2022) is a brief series and character profile. It is not the 33rd Pitt novel.

Daniel Pitt Series

Daniel Pitt is the adult son of Charlotte and Thomas Pitt. His series begins in London in 1910, where Daniel works as a lawyer and investigates cases with Miriam fford Croft, a scientist with expertise in forensic medicine. I recommend reading the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series first because Daniel’s books continue the family story.

Death Times Seven was published after Anne Perry’s death. Victoria Zackheim completed the manuscript and is credited as co-author of the seventh and final Daniel Pitt novel.

  1. Twenty-One Days (2018)
  2. Triple Jeopardy (2019)
  3. One Fatal Flaw (2020)
  4. Death with a Double Edge (2021)
  5. Three Debts Paid (2022)
  6. The Fourth Enemy (2023)
  7. Death Times Seven with Victoria Zackheim (2026)

William Monk Series

The William Monk mysteries are set earlier in the Victorian period. Monk begins the series as a police detective who has lost his memory after a coach accident, forcing him to investigate both his assigned case and his own past. Hester Latterly, a nurse who served in the Crimean War, and attorney Oliver Rathbone become central to the series. Read the 24 books in publication order.

A Breach of Promise was first published in the UK as Whited Sepulchres in 1997. The list below uses the U.S. title and first U.S. publication year.

  1. The Face of a Stranger (1990)
  2. A Dangerous Mourning (1991)
  3. Defend and Betray (1992)
  4. A Sudden, Fearful Death (1993)
  5. The Sins of the Wolf (1994)
  6. Cain His Brother (1995)
  7. Weighed in the Balance (1996)
  8. The Silent Cry (1997)
  9. A Breach of Promise (1998)
  10. The Twisted Root (1999)
  11. Slaves of Obsession (2000)
  12. Funeral in Blue (2001)
  13. Death of a Stranger (2002)
  14. The Shifting Tide (2004)
  15. Dark Assassin (2006)
  16. Execution Dock (2009)
  17. Acceptable Loss (2011)
  18. A Sunless Sea (2012)
  19. Blind Justice (2013)
  20. Blood on the Water (2014)
  21. Corridors of the Night (2015)
  22. Revenge in a Cold River (2016)
  23. An Echo of Murder (2017)
  24. Dark Tide Rising (2018)

Tathea Books

The Tathea books are a fantasy duology about a deposed empress who travels across her kingdom after a coup. The story follows her search for truth as she confronts questions of power, faith, consequence, good, and evil. Read the two books in order.

  1. Tathea (1999)
  2. Come Armageddon (2003)

World War I Books

Also known as the Reavley Family series, these five historical novels follow members of one English family from the assassination in Sarajevo in 1914 through the end of the First World War. Each book advances the family story by one year while combining wartime history with an ongoing conspiracy and individual mysteries. Read them in publication order.

  1. No Graves As Yet (2003)
  2. Shoulder the Sky (2004)
  3. Angels in the Gloom (2005)
  4. At Some Disputed Barricade (2007)
  5. We Shall Not Sleep (2007)

Christmas Murder Mystery Novellas

Anne Perry’s Christmas novellas feature secondary characters from the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt or William Monk series. The mysteries are designed to stand on their own, but the parent-series labels below will help you place familiar characters and avoid reading their later lives before meeting them in the main books.

A Christmas Journey was published in the UK as Journey Towards Christmas. Omnibus editions combine novellas already listed here and are not additional stories.

  1. A Christmas Journey (2003) (Pitt-related)
  2. A Christmas Visitor (2004) (Monk-related)
  3. A Christmas Guest (2005) (Pitt-related)
  4. A Christmas Secret (2006) (Pitt-related)
  5. A Christmas Beginning (2007) (Monk-related)
  6. A Christmas Grace (2008) (Pitt-related)
  7. A Christmas Promise (2009) (Pitt-related)
  8. A Christmas Odyssey (2010) (Monk-related)
  9. A Christmas Homecoming (2011) (Pitt-related)
  10. A Christmas Garland (2012) (Pitt-related)
  11. A Christmas Hope (2013) (Monk-related)
  12. A New York Christmas (2014) (Pitt-related)
  13. A Christmas Escape (2015) (Monk-related)
  14. A Christmas Message (2016) (Pitt-related)
  15. A Christmas Return (2017) (Pitt-related)
  16. A Christmas Revelation (2018) (Monk-related)
  17. A Christmas Gathering (2019) (Pitt-related)
  18. A Christmas Resolution (2020) (Monk-related)
  19. A Christmas Legacy (2021) (Pitt-related)
  20. A Christmas Deliverance (2022) (Monk-related)
  21. A Christmas Vanishing (2023) (Pitt-related)

Timepiece Books

Timepiece is a young adult historical fiction series about Rosie, a girl who travels into different periods of British history. The four books are short, accessible adventures and should be read in order. The years below are the original UK publication years because I could not verify separate U.S. first editions.

  1. Tudor Rose (2011)
  2. Rose of No Man’s Land (2011)
  3. Blood Red Rose (2012)
  4. Rose Between Two Thorns (2012)

Elena Standish Books

The Elena Standish series is set in the 1930s as fascism spreads across Europe. Elena is a photographer whose family connections and personal history draw her into British intelligence work. Read the five novels in publication order.

  1. Death in Focus (2019)
  2. A Question of Betrayal (2020)
  3. A Darker Reality (2021)
  4. A Truth to Lie For (2022)
  5. The Traitor Among Us (2023)

Anne Perry Standalones

Anne Perry’s standalone fiction ranges from Revolutionary France to the Byzantine Empire. These books are not connected to one another and can be read in any order. A Dish Taken Cold is a novella rather than a full-length novel.

  1. Fashionable Funeral (1992)
  2. The One Thing More (2000)
  3. A Dish Taken Cold (Novella) (2001)
  4. The Sheen on the Silk (2010)

Anne Perry Collaborative Novels

These are round-robin novels written by multiple mystery authors, with each contributor writing part of the story. They are separate from Perry’s solo novels and short fiction.

  1. Naked Came the Phoenix with Various Authors (2001)
  2. I’d Kill for That with Various Authors (2004)

Anne Perry Short Stories and Novellas

Many of Anne Perry’s shorter works first appeared in multi-author anthologies, and several were later reprinted in other collections or as small standalone editions. The list below follows the first identified publication of each story and does not count later reprints as new works.

  1. Digby’s First Case (Short Story) (1988), published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine
  2. The Blackmailer (Short Story) (1996), published in Murder for Love
  3. The Profiteer (Short Story) (1996), published in Murder for Love
  4. The Escape (Short Story) (1996), published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine
  5. The Watch Night Bell (Short Story) (1996), published in Holmes for the Holidays
  6. The Case of the Santo Niño (Short Story) (1998), published in Crime Through Time II
  7. Brodie and the Regrettable Incident of the French Ambassador (Short Story) (1998), published in Murder, They Wrote II
  8. Daisy and the Silver Quaich (Short Story) (1998), published in Midnight Louie’s Pet Detectives
  9. Madame President (Short Story) (1999), published in First Lady Murders
  10. An Affair of Inconvenience (Short Story) (1999), published in First Cases, Volume 3
  11. Heroes (Short Story) (1999), published in Murder and Obsession; winner of the 2000 Edgar Award for Best Short Story
  12. The Christmas Gift (Short Story) (1999), published in More Holmes for the Holidays
  13. The Case of the Bloodless Sock (Short Story) (2001), published in Murder in Baker Street
  14. The End of Innocence (Short Story) (2002), published in The Mighty Johns
  15. A Tale of One City (Short Story) (2004), published in Death by Dickens
  16. The Judgment (Short Story) (2004), published in Powers of Detection
  17. Sing a Song of Sixpence (Short Story) (2005), published in Death Dines In
  18. Hostages (Novella) (2005), published in Transgressions
  19. Sneaker Wave (Short Story) (2005), published in Dangerous Women
  20. My Object All Sublime (Short Story) (2010), published in Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop
  21. The Scroll (Novella) (2012)
  22. Monster (Short Story) (2013), published in Impossible Monsters

Anne Perry Edited Anthologies

The books in this section are multi-author anthologies that Anne Perry presented, edited, or co-edited. They should not be counted as collections of Perry’s own stories, although several include a contribution from her.

  1. Malice Domestic 6 (1997)
  2. A Century of British Mystery and Suspense (2000)
  3. Death by Horoscope edited with Martin H. Greenberg (2001)
  4. Much Ado About Murder (2002)
  5. Death by Dickens (2004)
  6. Thou Shalt Not Kill (2005)
  7. Odd Partners (2019)

Anne Perry Nonfiction and Writing Media

Perry also published a collection of letters and created instructional material about writing. The two writing titles below are media programs rather than conventional nonfiction books.

  1. Letters from the Highlands (2004)
  2. Put Your Heart on the Page: An Introduction to Writing (2014) (DVD)
  3. Plotting to Enrich Your Back Story (2015) (Instructional Program)

Anne Perry Book-to-Screen Adaptations

The 1998 television movie Inspector Pitt Mysteries: The Cater Street Hangman is the only completed screen adaptation of an Anne Perry novel. Based on The Cater Street Hangman, it follows Scotland Yard inspector Thomas Pitt as he investigates the murders of several young women near the Ellison family’s home and meets Charlotte during the case. Eoin McCarthy stars as Thomas Pitt, Keeley Hawes plays Charlotte Ellison, and Sarah Hellings directed the movie.

The adaptation preserves the novel’s central mystery and the beginning of Thomas and Charlotte’s relationship, although it changes some details and part of the ending. None of Perry’s William Monk, Daniel Pitt, Elena Standish, or other series received a completed screen adaptation. The movie Heavenly Creatures dramatizes the real-life Parker-Hulme murder case, while the documentary Anne Perry: Interiors examines Perry’s life and writing career, but neither is based on one of her books.

About Anne Perry

Anne Perry was born Juliet Marion Hulme on October 28, 1938, in Blackheath, London. After serious childhood illnesses, she lived in the Bahamas and New Zealand before returning to the United Kingdom. Her first published novel, The Cater Street Hangman, appeared in 1979 and began a writing career that lasted more than four decades.

When she was 15, Hulme and her friend Pauline Parker were convicted of the 1954 murder of Parker’s mother in Christchurch, New Zealand. Both served five-year prison sentences. Perry later adopted her stepfather’s surname and built her career under the name Anne Perry. Her identity became widely known in 1994 after the case was dramatized in the movie Heavenly Creatures.

Perry became best known for historical mysteries that examine class, justice, loyalty, and social change. Along with the Pitt and Monk novels, she wrote fiction set during the First and Second World Wars, fantasy, young adult time-travel stories, Christmas novellas, and standalone historical novels. She died in 2023.

Looking for similar books in order?

If you want more mystery authors and reading-order guides like this one, start with my Mystery Books in Order index.

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