Top 16 Best Detective Series Books Updated 04 /2024

There isn't anything better than a good detective book, with its smart leads and exciting stories. With excitement and intrigue, they'll pull you along. Good luck trying to figure out who did it before the end.

We've put together a list of some of the best detective book series of all time. You can read many of these at once, and you can spend a lot of time getting to know the people in them.

Sherlock Holmes

Most people think Sherlock Holmes is the most well-known detective of all time. You might know him from the books, TV shows, or even the great Sherlock board game for one person. It's true that Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novels are better than any other books out there.

Obsessively logical: Sherlock is able to figure out almost anything with his skills of deduction, thanks to his friend and biographer John Watson, who is also his best friend.

Sherlock Holmes is one of the best books ever written, whether it's about a detective or not. It's set in the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

Cormoran Strike

Author Robert Galbraith wrote Cormoran Strike, which is one of the best-selling books of all time. As long as you don't know the name, you'll be fine. J. K. Rowling is the author of the Harry Potter books, and this is her pseudonym.

Strike is a private investigator who uses a lot of research and the help of his friend Robin to solve problems.

Strike is an interesting character because he has to deal with the consequences of leaving the military, and his relationship with Robin is a good storyline.

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency was first published in 1998, and the series was named after that book. It didn't get a lot of attention at first. So why do the books now sell so many copies?

Mma Precious Ramotswe is the main character in this book. She lives in Botswana. She thinks that a good detective should be able to get to know people so that solving their problems is easy. This is what makes the show so good.

Hercule Poirot

If there's one person you want to be around when things start to go wrong, it's Hercule Poirot. Bring your Belgian charm to the meeting. Use your little gray cells to figure out the case.

Agatha Christie wrote more than 50 books about Poirot. You can read them in any order you want. They're short and easy to understand. Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile are two of the best. You can't go wrong with any of them.

Inspector Maigret

It's clear that Georges Simenon never took a break during his long life. Jules Maigret, the main detective in 75 novels and 28 short stories, was the subject of all of them. Each one is as fun as the last one.

Simenon said that Maigret was "a large, powerfully built gentleman with a pipe, a bowler hat, and a thick overcoat." He's a French detective who likes to work with a small group of policemen to help bring people to justice.

Harry Bosch

Michael Connelly came up with the idea for Harry Bosch. He is a police homicide detective with the LAPD. He has a strong sense of right and wrong, which usually causes him to disagree with his coworkers, which makes him angry.

While some detectives try to be fair and please, Bosch is only interested in getting the truth. The series has also been turned into a great show for Amazon Prime Video.

Miss Marple

One more detective from Agatha Christie, this time in the form of a white-haired old woman named Miss Marple. In this case, it works out well because she's not very noticeable, so people don't suspect her of being involved in a crime while she's knitting a sweater.

Miss Marple was first shown in The Tuesday Night Club, a short story written in 1927. She went on to appear in 12 full-length novels. These and the other 20 short stories need your attention.

The Dublin Murder Squad

Each book in the series, The Dublin Murder Squad, is about a different police detective and their case. Even so, if you read through the series in order, you'll notice that the lead of the next one is always in the previous one.

The series is often dark and scary, not based on tropes, and written very well. If you want to read a book and not be able to put it down, this is the book for you.

Harry Hole

There are detectives who are live wires. That's especially true of Harry Hole, though. He's a great crime solver, but the way he solves them can be a little weird.

HARRY HOLE is written by the Norwegian author Jo Nesb. One of the books was made into a movie with Michael Fassbander in it, but you should avoid it. The book is better than the movie.

Kinsey Millhone

Sue Grafton came up with Kinsey Millhone, a former police officer who now works as a private investigator. Millhone is a little weird and fussy, but she gets the job done, so it doesn't matter.

Each book in this series is named after a letter of the alphabet. This makes it easier for people to remember which book comes first. Grafton died before he finished the last book for the letter Z. When it comes to her family, "Y is the last letter of the alphabet."

IQ

By Joe Ide

IQ is an amateur sleuth who has a powerful intellect that he uses to solve crimes that the police can't or won't get involved in. He charges his clients only what they can afford, which helps people in one of the most dangerous parts of Los Angeles. This Edgar Award-nominated book by Joe Ide is the first in a long-running series about IQ, a rap mogul who may be in danger. Readers met the mysterious charitable person in this book, which was nominated for an Edgar Award.

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