Reading Order
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Start with Holy Island and continue through all 20 books in the listed reading order.
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Start with Holy Island
Book 1 by LJ Ross • Published 2015
On enforced leave after a traumatic case, DCI Ryan retreats to remote Holy Island, hoping for peace. When a young woman is ritualistically murdered among the priory ruins, he must work with local expert Dr Anna Taylor...
Complete List
Dci Ryan reading order
Ends with Death Rocks
- 1
Book 1:Holy Island
LJ Ross • 2015
On enforced leave after a traumatic case, DCI Ryan retreats to remote Holy Island, hoping for peace. When a young woman is ritualistically murdered among the priory ruins, he must work with local expert Dr Anna Taylor...
- 2
Book 2:Sycamore Gap
LJ Ross • 2015
Months after the Holy Island case, a skeleton is discovered sealed inside Hadrian’s Wall at Sycamore Gap, killed a decade earlier on the summer solstice. As Ryan confronts the resurfacing cult known as The Circle, the...
- 3
Book 3:Heavenfield
LJ Ross • 2016
Suspended from duty, Ryan is alone at a remote church when a man is found dead and every piece of evidence points to him. To clear his name, he must stop whoever is murdering members of the Circle before he becomes th...
- 4
Book 4:Angel
LJ Ross • 2016
Over Easter weekend, a killer stalks Newcastle’s cemeteries, burying red‑haired women in shallow graves and posing them as macabre angels. With panic rising and bodies mounting, Ryan and his team race to decode the mu...
- 5
Book 5:High Force
LJ Ross • 2017
Notorious serial killer The Hacker escapes custody and abducts one of Ryan’s closest colleagues, dragging the team back into the nightmare they thought they’d survived. Hunting him across the wild Durham Dales, Ryan m...
- 6
Book 6:Cragside
LJ Ross • 2017
Spending the summer at the grand Cragside estate, Ryan and Anna expect quiet wedding planning, not murder. When a staff murder‑mystery party ends with a real corpse, Ryan must uncover long‑buried secrets inside a clos...
- 7
Book 7:Dark Skies
LJ Ross • 2017
Thirty years after a secret camping trip at Kielder reservoir left a boy missing, his body rises from the depths and stirs an old evil. Returning from honeymoon, Ryan faces a killer who knows the forest—and a powerful...
- 8
Book 8:Seven Bridges
LJ Ross • 2018
As Ryan prepares to leave Newcastle to chase a fugitive, the iconic Tyne Bridge explodes, plunging the city into terror. With further attacks threatened, he must face past failures while hunting a bomber determined to...
- 9
Book 9:The Hermitage
LJ Ross • 2018
When an elderly man is murdered inside the ancient hermitage at Warkworth Castle, Ryan’s team investigate without their chief. Ryan is in Italy, tracking dangerous thriller writer Nathan Armstrong, and the trail soon...
- 10
Book 10:Longstone
LJ Ross • 2018
A Viking treasure hoard discovered off the North Sea coast draws historian Dr Anna Taylor into a world of rival divers and salvage politics. When a diver washes up dead near Seahouses, Ryan must learn who is prepared...
- 11
Book 11:The Infirmary
LJ Ross • 2019
Set before Holy Island, this prequel follows Ryan’s first major case with Northumbria CID as a sadistic killer dubbed The Hacker stalks Newcastle in a suffocating heatwave. New to the team and still an outsider, he ha...
- 12
Book 12:The Moor
LJ Ross • 2019
When a ten‑year‑old girl turns up on Ryan’s doorstep claiming she has witnessed a murder, he can’t ignore her. With a travelling circus camped on Newcastle’s Town Moor, the team must look past bright lights and illusi...
- 13
Book 13:Penshaw
LJ Ross • 2019
In a former mining village under the shadow of Penshaw Monument, an old man dies in a brutal house fire that looks anything but accidental. As Ryan uncovers decades‑old betrayals, rumours of a mole inside CID threaten...
- 14
Book 14:Borderlands
LJ Ross • 2019
After uncovering corruption in his own force, Ryan hopes for a quiet summer—until a young woman is shot on a remote army range in Northumberland National Park. Linked attacks at historic sites and a cryptic symbol poi...
- 15
Book 15:Ryan's Christmas
LJ Ross • 2019
A freak snowstorm forces Ryan and his colleagues off the road and into England’s most haunted castle during a "Candlelit Ghost Hunt" event. When a guest is found dead in seemingly impossible circumstances, they must s...
- 16
Book 16:The Shrine
LJ Ross • 2020
A colleague is shot dead on her own doorstep just as an explosion rocks Durham Cathedral, leaving one of St Cuthbert’s relics missing. Under intense pressure and unable to trust everyone locally, Ryan’s team hunt both...
- 17
Book 17:Cuthbert's Way
LJ Ross • 2020
The world believes Ryan safely returned St Cuthbert’s jeweled cross to Durham Cathedral—but he knows the relic on display is a fake. When something even more precious is stolen, he follows an ancient trail across the...
- 18
Book 18:The Rock
LJ Ross • 2021
When a fishing boat wrecks off Marsden Rock and a young woman’s body washes ashore, Ryan uncovers a smuggling route using desperate people as cargo. Tracking survivors through Tyneside’s underworld, his team confronts...
- 19
Book 19:Bamburgh
LJ Ross • 2022
After Ryan’s wife discovers the body of a cantankerous villager in Bamburgh, another corpse appears among the sand dunes below the castle, making coincidence unlikely. At the same time, DC Melanie Yates’s hunt for her...
- 21
Book 21:Death Rocks
LJ Ross • 2024
A photographer’s body is found on the jagged rocks below Dunstanburgh Castle, but none of the suspects seems to have a motive. When further unexplained deaths follow, Ryan and his team hunt for the hidden link between...
Quick Answers
Dci Ryan FAQ
What is the best order to read the Dci Ryan series?
The recommended reading order is the numbered order shown on this page, starting with Holy Island.
How many books are in the Dci Ryan series?
There are 20 books currently listed in the Dci Ryan series on GurusReads.
Where should I start with the Dci Ryan series?
New readers should start with Holy Island, the first book in the reading order.
Is the Dci Ryan series complete?
Based on the publication years we have, the series appears possibly ongoing and spans releases from 2015 to 2024.