Best long-running mystery and detective book series

We do love a good, long crime series. There is no better feeling than when you’ve just discovered a new one and know there are plenty more for you to dive into already. We can’t help but feel there’s something satisfying about getting to know a character, following them from book to book and seeing how they develop.

With that in mind, we’ve picked out eleven of our favourite long crime series. Which will you be diving into?

Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot series

Agatha Christie’s first ever murder mystery featured a small, impeccably turned out Belgian detective called Hercule Poirot. A great crime institution was born and luckily for readers he had a long life.

‘He was hardly more than five feet four inches but carried himself with great dignity. His head was exactly the shape of an egg, and he always perched it a little on one side. His moustache was very stiff and military. Even if everything on his face was covered, the tips of moustache and the pink-tipped nose would be visible.’

Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta series

From Postmortem to Rapid and Fatal, Patricia Cornwell has kept her heroine Dr. Kay Scarpetta – a medical examiner – extremely busy.

Blonde, Italian, an incredibly hard worker and a complete perfectionist, Scarpetta was inspired by former Virginia Chief Medical Examiner Marcella Farinelli Fierro, MD. Cornwell’s novels have been hugely influential and are thought to be responsible for an increased appreciation of forensics in fiction – both in books and on TV, in shows such as CSI.

Ian Rankin’s John Rebus series

Ian Rankin is something of a Scottish crime legend, often dubbed the ‘King of Tartan Noir’.

Detective Inspector John Rebus joined the Lothian and Borders Police after resigning from the SAS and suffering a nervous breakdown. Set in Edinburgh, the books show us a darker side of Scottish society. Throughout the series, Rebus battles with crime and corruption as well as internal politics within the force and his own personal problems. It’s compelling stuff.

Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series

Detective Hieronymus ‘Harry’ Bosch of the LAPD first appeared in The Black Echo, published in 1992. Bosch is a hard, troubled detective with a difficult background – a quintessential anti-hero who is relentless in his pursuit for the truth.

Bosch is an amalgamation of several real police officers Connelly knew as a police reporter, as well as aspects of fictional detectives that he has loved – including Philip Marlowe, Lew Archer, Dirty Harry Callahan and Frank Bullit.