Rhys Bowen Books in Order: Molly Murphy & Her Royal Spyness

By Anna Marie CarrollMystery

Rhys Bowen is the pen name of Janet Quin-Harkin, and her books cover cozy village mysteries, historical mysteries, royal sleuthing, and standalone historical novels.

If you’re trying to read Rhys Bowen books in order, I’d start by series. The Constable Evans, Molly Murphy, and Her Royal Spyness books all work best when you follow publication order, while the standalone novels can be read in any order you like.

Jump to:

Rhys Bowen Books by Series

Constable Evans Series

Constable Evan Evans is new to the Northern Welsh village of Llanfair, but he soon discovers the small town is full of humor, charm, and the occasional mystery. As the only constable in town, it falls onto his plate to placate the locals and solve the crime before chaos runs rampant. This series is complete, so you can read straight through from beginning to end.

  1. Evans Above (1997)
  2. Evan Help Us (1998)
  3. Evanly Choirs (1999)
  4. Evan and Elle (2000)
  5. Evan Can Wait (2001)
  6. Evans to Betsy (2002)
  7. Evan Only Knows (2003)
  8. Evan’s Gate (2004)
  9. Evan Blessed (2005)
  10. Evanly Bodies (2006)

Molly Murphy Series

The next series Rhys Bowen wrote is the Molly Murphy series, following an Irish immigrant in early twentieth-century New York. Several later books are written with Bowen’s daughter, Clare Broyles.

*Those titles are marked below with an asterisk.

Each mystery wraps up by the end of the book, but Molly’s life changes a lot as the series goes on. I’d read these in publication order, which is also the simplest chronological order.

This series introduces Molly Murphy as she must flee Ireland to evade hanging from the gallows for the crime of murder in self-defense. She embarks for New York eager for the promise of freedom, but crime and murder follow her to the distant shores. Molly must now prove her innocence to this new crime before her past comes back to haunt her.

  1. Murphy’s Law (2001)
  2. Death of Riley (2002)
  3. For the Love of Mike (2003)
  4. In Like Flynn (2005)
  5. Oh Danny Boy (2006)
  6. In Dublin’s Fair City (2007)
  7. Tell Me, Pretty Maiden (2008)
  8. In a Gilded Cage (2009)
  9. The Last Illusion (2010)
  10. Bless the Bride (2011)
  11. Hush Now, Don’t You Cry (2012)
  12. The Family Way (2013)
  13. City of Darkness and Light (2014)
  14. The Edge of Dreams (2015)
  15. Away in a Manger (2015)
  16. Time of Fog and Fire (2016)
  17. The Ghost of Christmas Past (2017)
  18. Wild Irish Rose (2022) *
  19. All That Is Hidden (2023) *
  20. In Sunshine or in Shadow (2024) *
  21. Silent as the Grave (2025) *
  22. Vanished in the Crowd (2026) *
  23. A Whiff of Scandal (2027) *

Molly Murphy Short Stories

Rhys Bowen has also written several short stories connected to the Molly Murphy series.

The Amersham Rubies is a prequel that looks back at Molly’s upbringing in Ireland. The Face in the Mirror takes place between Hush Now, Don’t You Cry and The Family Way. Through the Window takes place between The Family Way and City of Darkness and Light.

  1. The Amersham Rubies (2011)
  2. The Face in the Mirror (2013)
  3. Through the Window (2014)

Her Royal Spyness Series

Next Rhys Bowen began another mystery series with a lighter, more comical tone.

Her Royal Spyness follows the life of Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, more commonly known as Georgie. While she is a cousin to King George V of England, Georgie is also penniless and struggling to survive in London during the 1930s.

The hilarity that ensues as the 34th in line to the throne tries to survive as an ordinary person reaches new heights when Her Majesty the Queen asks Georgie to spy for her.

  1. Her Royal Spyness (2007)
  2. A Royal Pain (2008)
  3. Royal Flush (2009)
  4. Royal Blood (2010)
  5. Naughty in Nice (2011)
  6. The Twelve Clues of Christmas (2012)
  7. Heirs and Graces (2013)
  8. Queen of Hearts (2014)
  9. Malice at the Palace (2015)
  10. Crowned and Dangerous (2016)
  11. On Her Majesty’s Frightfully Secret Service (2017)
  12. Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding (2018)
  13. Love and Death Among the Cheetahs (2019)
  14. The Last Mrs. Summers (2020)
  15. God Rest Ye, Royal Gentlemen (2021)
  16. Peril in Paris (2022)
  17. The Proof of the Pudding (2023)
  18. We Three Queens (2024)
  19. From Cradle to Grave (2025)
  20. To Crown It All (2026)

Royal Spyness Short Stories

Similarly to Molly Murphy, Rhys Bowen has also written a prequel short story for Her Royal Spyness. This short story takes place after Georgie’s first season out in society during a ball in which nothing is as it seems.

  1. Masked Ball at Broxley Manor (2012)

Red Dragon Academy Series

Before they teamed up on the later Molly Murphy books, Rhys Bowen and her daughter Clare Broyles wrote Dreamwalker, a middle grade fantasy story.

This series follows seven children with seven special powers up against one enemy. Addy, the main character, is sent to a strange boarding school in Wales following the death of her mother.

Then she finds that the entirely different universe of Gallia is accessible through a hallway in her new school. Suddenly her vivid dreams have much more power and make her the enemy of Grymur, the ruler of Gallia.

  1. Dreamwalker (2014)

Rhys Bowen Standalone Books

If you prefer to read standalones, Rhys Bowen has several historical novels that sit outside her ongoing mystery series.

Her first standalone, In Farleigh Field, is a World War II mystery in which a soldier falls to his death after a failed parachute drop on Lord Westerham’s estate. MI5 operative and family friend Ben Cresswell has to find out whether the man was a German spy.

These standalones often mix mystery, family secrets, wartime danger, class, love, and self-discovery. You can read them in any order, but publication order is easiest if you want to follow Bowen’s work over time.

  1. In Farleigh Field (2017)
  2. The Tuscan Child (2018)
  3. The Victory Garden (2019)
  4. Above the Bay of Angels (2020)
  5. The Venice Sketchbook (2021)
  6. Where the Sky Begins (2022)
  7. The Paris Assignment (2023)
  8. The Rose Arbor (2024)
  9. Mrs. Endicott’s Splendid Adventure (2025)
  10. The Castle in the Glen (2026)

Rhys Bowen Short Stories and Anthologies

Bowen has also published short fiction in anthologies, magazines, and Kindle Singles. Some of these are tied to her series, while others stand on their own.

  1. The Seal of the Confessional (2000) (in Unholy Orders)
  2. Doppelganger (2003) (in Blood on Their Hands)
  3. Voodoo (2004) (in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Presents Fifty Years of Crime and Suspense)
  4. Please Watch Your Step (2007) (in The Strand Magazine)
  5. Low School (2012) (in An Apple for a Creature)
  6. What Child Is This? (2018)

Who is Rhys Bowen?

Rhys Bowen is the pen name of Janet Quin-Harkin. Before writing as Bowen, she published children’s and young adult books under the name Janet Quin-Harkin.

Bowen was born in Bath, England, and now divides her time between California and Arizona. Before becoming a published author, she worked at the BBC as a drama studio manager.

Her first mystery series, Constable Evans, was inspired by time spent in Wales during her childhood. She later drew from a trip to New York City to create Molly Murphy, the fiery Irish immigrant sleuth at the center of her second mystery series.

Her third mystery series is Her Royal Spyness, a lighter historical mystery series that pokes fun at the British class system while following Georgie, a penniless royal cousin with a talent for getting pulled into trouble.

Bowen has won and been nominated for several major mystery awards, including Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards.

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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