Deryn Lake

Deryn Lake is the pseudonym of a historical fiction author Dinah Lampitt, best known for the "John Rawlings Mysteries", a series of novels that made her one of the leading names in detective historical fiction. In addition to her John Rawlings mysteries she is also the author of "Pour the Dark Wine", "Sutton Place" and "The Kings Women" series of novels. Deryn was born in a small town of England known as Ilford in Essex.

The best place to start is the John Rawlings series, the earliest of Deryn Lake's multi-book series: it opens with Death in the Dark Walk (1994) and runs to 17 books across 1994–2022, ending with Death on the River Thames (2022). Deryn Lake's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Deryn Lake has 34 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1994 and 2025. 20 of them belong to 2 named series — the largest being the John Rawlings series with 17 books — and 14 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Deryn Lake's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are John Rawlings (1994–2022, 17 books) and Reverend Nick Lawrence Mystery (2010–2015, 3 books).

This guide splits Deryn Lake's 34 books into 2 named series and 14 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: John Rawlings (17 books, 1994–2022); Reverend Nick Lawrence Mystery (3 books, 2010–2015).