🎯 Where Should I Start?
ⓘ About Elly Griffiths
A child comes up missing. When a child’s bones are found on a beach, the Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson asks Ruth Galloway for help to determine if these bones are the final remains of a missing little girl by the name of Lucy Downey. This little girl has been missing for ten years and since her disappearance, Detective Nelson has been receiving weird letters. These weird letters are about the little girl and about sacrifice and rituals. However, Ruth Galloway soon finds out these remains are actually two-thousand-years-old. Although they are not the remains of the missing little girl, Galloway is intrigued by the letters and the details about the girl’s disappearance and starts helping Detective Nelson to either find her dead or alive.
All Book Series by Elly Griffiths
The Little Book of Shakespeare and Food
Series opener · book 1 of 8 · published 2001 Pen name · Domenica de Rosa
Ruth Galloway and the Ghost of Max Mephisto
Single-title series · published 2023
Killer Women Crime Club Anthology #2
Series opener · book 1 of 4 · published 2017
Murder in Harrogate: Stories inspired by the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival
Book 3 of 4 · published 2024
Playing Dead: Short Stories by Members of the Detection Club
Latest in the series · book 4 of 4 · published 2025
? Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Elly Griffiths?
A child comes up missing. When a child’s bones are found on a beach, the Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson asks Ruth Galloway for help to determine if these bones are the final remains of a missing little girl by the name of Lucy Downey. This little girl has been missing for ten years and since her disappearance, Detective Nelson has been receiving weird letters.
Which Elly Griffiths series should I start with?
The best place to start is the Brighton Mysteries series, the earliest of Elly Griffiths's multi-book series: it opens with The Little Book of Shakespeare and Food (2001) and runs to 8 books across 2001–2023, ending with The Great Deceiver (2023). Elly Griffiths's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.
How many books has Elly Griffiths written?
Elly Griffiths has 43 books catalogued in this guide, published between 2001 and 2027. 37 of them belong to 5 named series — the largest being the Ruth Galloway series with 17 books — and 6 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.
In what order should Elly Griffiths's series be read?
Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Elly Griffiths's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Brighton Mysteries (2001–2023, 8 books), Ruth Galloway (2009–2023, 17 books) and Harbinder Kaur (2018–2024, 4 books), plus 2 more.
How are Elly Griffiths's books organised into series?
This guide splits Elly Griffiths's 43 books into 5 named series and 6 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Ruth Galloway (17 books, 2009–2023); Brighton Mysteries (8 books, 2001–2023); Ali Dawson (4 books, 2025–2027); Harbinder Kaur (4 books, 2018–2024); Justice Jones (4 books, 2019–2022).