JD Kirk Books in Order: DCI Logan Series Guide & More

By Anna Marie CarrollMystery

If you’re looking for JD Kirk books in order, I’d start with the DCI Logan books and then branch into the wider Logan universe. Kirk’s crime novels overlap more than a typical detective series, with Robert Hoon, Heather Filson, and Tyler Neish all moving in and out of the same world.

The books do include enough reminders to help you catch up, but the best experience is still publication order. You’ll get the character arcs, running jokes, grudges, team changes, and recurring troublemakers the way Kirk built them.

These are dark, fast-paced Scottish crime thrillers with plenty of black humor. If you like tartan noir, sharp dialogue, messy detectives, and cases that get ugly quickly, this is exactly where to start.

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JD Kirk Books by Series

If you prefer to stay with one lead character at a time, read JD Kirk by series. Start with DCI Logan, then move into Robert Hoon, DI Heather Filson, and the Tyler Neish novella when you want more of the same world.

DCI Logan

DCI Jack Logan is the center of Kirk’s Scottish crime universe. The cases are dark, violent, and often grim, but the books also have the sarcastic humor and team banter that make this series so addictive.

I’d read these in publication order. Also, a quick content note: the first book includes animal cruelty involving a cat, so check content warnings if that’s a hard no for you.

  1. A Litter of Bones (2019)
  2. Thicker Than Water (2019)
  3. The Killing Code (2019)
  4. Blood and Treachery (2019)
  5. The Last Bloody Straw (2020)
  6. A Whisper of Sorrows (2020)
  7. The Big Man Upstairs (2020)
  8. A Death Most Monumental (2020)
  9. A Snowball’s Chance in Hell (2020)
  10. Ahead of the Game (2021)
  11. An Isolated Incident (2021)
  12. Colder Than The Grave (2021)
  13. Come Hell or High Water (2021)
  14. City of Scars (2022)
  15. Here Lie the Dead (2022)
  16. One For the Ages (2023)
  17. In Service of Death (2023)
  18. A Dead Man Walking (2023)
  19. Where the Pieces Lie (2024)
  20. A Killer of Influence (2024)
  21. A Rock and a Hard Place (2025)
  22. Better the Devil (2026)

Constable Tyler Neish

Tyler Neish begins as a younger officer in the Logan world, and First Among the Dead gives him a prequel case of his own. It’s a novella, so it’s shorter than the main Logan books, but it’s still worth including if you want the wider universe.

  1. First Among the Dead (2025) (Novella)

Robert Hoon

Robert Hoon is rougher, louder, and far less filtered than Logan. His books are still crime thrillers, but the tone leans harder into violence, profanity, revenge, and dark comedy.

  1. Northwind (2021)
  2. Southpaw (2022)
  3. Westward (2022)
  4. Eastgate (2022)
  5. Stateside (2024)

DI Heather Filson

Heather Filson’s books stay connected to the Logan universe, but they have a different feel. They’re still dark and twisty, just less like a straight police procedural than the main Logan books.

  1. The One That Got Away (2023)
  2. This Little Piggy (2024)

JD Kirk Books in Chronological Order

This is the mixed-universe order for Logan, Hoon, Filson, and Tyler Neish. I’ve marked the non-Logan entries so you can see where the spin-off books fit.

First Among the Dead comes first because it’s a Tyler Neish prequel. After that, the list follows the author’s recommended Logan-universe order, with Better the Devil placed after the previous DCI Logan book.

  1. First Among the Dead (Tyler Neish)
  2. A Litter of Bones
  3. Thicker Than Water
  4. The Killing Code
  5. Blood and Treachery
  6. The Last Bloody Straw
  7. A Whisper of Sorrows
  8. The Big Man Upstairs
  9. A Death Most Monumental
  10. A Snowball’s Chance in Hell
  11. Ahead of the Game
  12. An Isolated Incident
  13. Northwind (Robert Hoon)
  14. Colder Than The Grave
  15. Come Hell or High Water
  16. Southpaw (Robert Hoon)
  17. City of Scars
  18. Westward (Robert Hoon)
  19. Here Lie the Dead
  20. Eastgate (Robert Hoon)
  21. One For the Ages
  22. The One That Got Away (DI Heather Filson)
  23. In Service of Death
  24. A Dead Man Walking
  25. This Little Piggy (DI Heather Filson)
  26. Where the Pieces Lie
  27. Stateside (Robert Hoon)
  28. A Killer of Influence
  29. A Rock and a Hard Place
  30. Better the Devil

JD Kirk Psychological Thrillers

Kirk also writes psychological thrillers outside the Logan universe. These are separate from DCI Logan, Hoon, and Filson, so you can read them whenever you want.

  1. My Daughter Is Missing (2025)
  2. The Woman Downstairs (2025)

JD Kirk Audible Originals

These are standalone audio-first thrillers. HIM began as an Audible Original and later received a text edition, while Recall is another Audible Original. They don’t need to be read with the Logan universe.

  1. HIM (2025) (Audible Original)
  2. Recall (2026) (Audible Original)

JD Kirk Comics and Anthologies

There are a couple of smaller JD Kirk-related pieces worth tracking if you want a fuller checklist. The Bone House is a horror comic, while Everyday Kindness is a charity anthology that includes a JD Kirk contribution.

  1. Everyday Kindness: A Collection of Uplifting Tales to Brighten Your Day (2021) (Anthology contribution)
  2. The Bone House (2025) (Comic book)

Who Is JD Kirk?

JD Kirk is the crime-fiction pen name of Scottish author Barry Hutchison. Before writing tartan noir, Hutchison wrote children’s books and comedy science fiction, then moved into self-published crime fiction with the DCI Logan series.

That background helps explain why the books move so fast. The mysteries are dark, but the dialogue is sharp and often funny. Kirk’s Highlands setting also gives the series a strong sense of place, especially when the bleak weather and remote communities become part of the pressure around a case.

If you like Scottish crime fiction with a lot of personality, DCI Logan is the natural starting point. From there, Hoon, Filson, and Tyler Neish give the same world a few different angles.

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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