So you’re interested in tea-drinking, crime-solving dragons collaborating with women of a certain age in The Beaufort Scales Cozy Mysteries (with dragons) series? Or more intrigued by the idea of a snarky feline PI and his scruffy human sidekick in The Gobbelino London, PI series?
Perhaps you’d prefer a detective sergeant discovering there’s more to the world (and bridges) than her training has prepared her for? Or simply a collection of truly odd tales to dip your toes into?
But where to start?
Well. Allow me to help. Let me just grab my tour guide hat …
Which series comes first?
Whichever one you prefer. While Beaufort and Gobbelino inhabit the same world, they occupy very different parts of it. You can read either series without worrying about spoilers for the other. And while the DI Adams prequel takes place before the events of the first Beaufort book, there’s no spoilers there, either. In fact, What Happened in London can be read entirely as a standalone.
Do I have to read them in order?
Eh. Not really, but I’d still recommend it. While each book is as much a standalone as I’ve been able to make it, they build on the preceding ones as the characters develop and the world grows. So if you want to really know the characters and the nuances of the world, I’d read them in order.
The only exception to this is the last Gobbelino book – if you read that without reading the others, you’re going to have a lot of questions, mostly regarding cats, custard, and baby ghouls.
Are the series complete?
As of August 2023, the Gobbelino London series is finished. You can grab all seven books (and their accompanying short stories) and devour to your strange little heart’s content without waiting for painfully slow authors to deliver the next instalment.
The Beaufort Scales series is ongoing, and I expect to do one new book a year on that one for the foreseeable future. This will hopefully keep it shiny and interesting to write, and will allow time for writing other things too. But it does mean a bit of wait …
The DI Adams series (What Happened in London) will be kicking off in 2024, and while I think it will be a five-book series, I have little to no control over my characters. So don;t hold me to that.
Fine. So how do I know what order to read them in?
Well, as it so happens, here’s something I prepared earlier …
The Beaufort Scales books in order
The Gobbelino London books in order
Wait, so where does the DI Adams prequel fit in, then?
What Happened in London takes place before the events of the Beaufort series, and is the story of why a London detective sergeant decided to head north (spoiler alert: she did not factor dealing with Women’s Institutes and dragons into this decision. She might have stayed if she’d known). It doesn’t contain any actual spoilers for the Beaufort series, though, so you can read it at any point. There will be more DI Adams books coming next year, too.
And the short stories?
The first volume of Oddly Enough is available now, and there will be at least one more to come. They are strange little snippets that have been precursors to stories, or offshoots, or strange growths that have surfaced in the night. They can also be read whenever you fancy.
What about free stuff?
Oh, we can do that too.
For a taste of the world of Beaufort Scales, grab The Tales of Beaufort Scales.
Or discover the secret lives of cats in The Cat Did It.
Plus every book has some bonus material, be it short stories or recipes (because how can one solve mysteries without cake?).
Or you can check out some short stories right here on the website, as well as a selection of recipes.
Hey, I’ve got a book club! Do you have a reading guide for that?
Well, sort of? I don’t know. Look, book clubs scare me, but I would love for my books to be featured in yours! So I have a made a list of some suggested questions, should you like to do that, and you can download them below:
And if you’d like me to get involved at all – to feature your club on social media or in my newsletter, or if you’d like to ask me any questions directly – please ask away in the contact form below!
And that is all for this little whirlwind tour, lovely people. Should you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch using the form below.
Happy reading!