Michael Innes

Michael Innes was a Scottish novelist, born John Innes Mackintosh Stewart on September 30, 1906. He passed away in 1994, at age 88. Innes was educated at Edinburgh Academy and then Oriel College, Oxford.

The best place to start is the Inspector Appleby series, the earliest of Michael Innes's multi-book series: it opens with Death at the President's Lodging / Seven Suspects (1936) and runs to 32 books across 1936–1986, ending with Appleby and the Ospreys (1986). Michael Innes's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Michael Innes has 108 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1936 and 2023. 60 of them belong to 7 named series — the largest being the Inspector Appleby series with 32 books — and 48 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. Michael Innes's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Inspector Appleby (1936–1986, 32 books), Inspector Appleby Collections (1954–2010, 6 books) and J.I.M. Stewart Short Story Collections (1969–2011, 5 books), plus 3 more.

This guide splits Michael Innes's 108 books into 7 named series and 48 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Inspector Appleby (32 books, 1936–1986); Inspector Appleby Collections (6 books, 1954–2010); Staircase In Surrey (5 books, 1975–1979); J.I.M. Stewart Short Story Collections (5 books, 1969–2011); Charles Honeybath (4 books, 1974–1983), plus 2 further series.