How to read the Inspector Lynley novels in order ...Middle East

New BBC crime drama Lynley is now available to stream in full on BBC iPlayer, and it stars Leo Suter and Sofia Barclay as mismatched detectives Tommy Lynley and Barbara Havers.

Of course, this isn't the first time we have seen Lynley and Havers on screen - another BBC series, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, brought the characters to life in the 2000s, with Nathaniel Parker and Sharon Small in the central roles.

But is the series of murder mysteries based on a series of novels? And if so, how can you read them all in order, and will more of them be adapted?

Read on for everything you need to know about how to read the Inspector Lynley novels in order.

Is Lynley based on a series of books?

Yes – the television series is based on the Inspector Lynley series, a long-running collection of books featuring the title character, who is played here by Leo Suter.

The first book was published in 1988 and the series is still going to this day. It is written by Elizabeth George, an American author who is a noted Anglophile.

The books were previously adapted as The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, another BBC series that starred Nathaniel Parker and Sharon Small and ran between 2001 and 2008.

Speaking to RadioTimes.com ahead of its premiere, Suter and his co-star Sofia Barclay said that it was important for them to honour the literary roots and previous adaptations while also putting their own stamp on the Lynley universe.

"When you’re doing a new version of something, it’s important to respect the previous version, but also to know that you’re doing your own thing and bringing your own stamp to it," Suter said.

"If you try to imitate what was so brilliant before, you’ll fail. Inevitably, you have to do your own thing and trust your instincts, so I actually felt quite calm early on about doing that."

Meanwhile, Barclay added: "Both of us did the same first thing — we read and watched A Great Deliverance [the first novel] — but then very quickly realised that Steve [Thompson, creator]’s world, the original world, and the Nathaniel Parker and Sharon Small world are all so different that they’re completely separate timelines. In a multiverse, they’re all different versions of the Lynley and Havers duo."

Suter said: "I remember early on reading our script and thinking, ‘This is very different,’ and realising that ours is based on different books."

How many books are there in the Inspector Lynley series?

There are currently 22 books in the Inspector Lynley series, with the most recent being released on 25th September 2025.

Here's the full list of Inspector Lynley novels in order.

The first season of Lynley adapts four of them, but in a very different order than they were originally released. The first episode is based on book 12, the second on book 16, the third on book 15 and the fourth on book 13.

Will the BBC series adapt more of the books?

We don't yet know whether Lynley will adapt more of Elizabeth George's novels, but there is certainly scope for it to do so. As noted above, only four of the 22 novels have so far been adapted, leaving 18 stories left to be told on screen.

Whether the drama is renewed for season 2 will likely depend on viewership, both in the UK on BBC One and in the US on BritBox, where the series debuted in September of last year.

For now, we will have to wait and see whether Lynley and Havers will be back to tackle more mysteries in East Anglia and Cambridgeshire.

Lynley will premiere on BBC One on Monday 5th January at 8:30pm, while all four episodes are available to stream now on BBC iPlayer.

Add Lynley to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.

Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.

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