Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London Books in Order (2025 Edition)

Looking for the best guide to read Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London books in order? If so, this article will help you read all the novels in the correct order!

The Rivers of London series is one of the best urban fantasy series out there, which takes you on a magical adventure with detectives thrown into the mix. Reading the books is like discovering a hidden side of London, filled with magic, mystery, and witty detective adventures.

Ideal for fans who love to read stories that blend supernatural elements with police procedural storytelling, the series revolves around Peter Grant, an ordinary London police officer whose life takes an extraordinary turn when he becomes an apprentice wizard.

Reading the books in order is highly recommended to fully appreciate Aaronovitch’s immersive storytelling. The series intricately builds on itself, developing rich lore and deepening character relationships with every book.

You may feel a bit confused as the author has written many books in the series, including novellas and short stories.

So, in this article, I will guide you through the best order to read Rivers of London books, including the novellas and short stories you shouldn’t miss! Following the chronological order allows you to experience Peter Grant’s magical journey and witness how he evolves alongside his mentor, Nightingale.

And, good news for fans of the urban fantasy genre, the 10th book in the series, Stone and Sky, is also releasing this year, in July 2025!

How to Read Rivers of London Series in Order?

1. Rivers of London (2011)

Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. It is too bad that his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he’ll face is a paper cut.

But Peter’s prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost.

Peter’s ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other uncanny manifestations.

Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic.

2. Moon Over Soho (2011)

Body and Soul. The song. That’s what London constable and sorcerer’s apprentice Peter Grant first notices when he examines the corpse of Cyrus Wilkins, part-time jazz drummer and full-time accountant, who dropped dead of a heart attack while playing a gig at Soho’s 606 Club.

The notes of the old jazz standard are rising from the body – a sure sign that something about the man’s death was not at all natural but instead supernatural.

Body and soul – they’re also what Peter will risk as he investigates a pattern of similar deaths in and around Soho. With the help of his superior officer, Nightingale, the last registered wizard in England, and the assistance of beautiful jazz aficionado Simone Fitzwilliam, Peter will uncover a deadly magical menace – one that leads right to his own doorstep and to Richard “Lord” Grant – otherwise known as Peter’s dear old dad.

3. Whispers Under Ground (2012)

In Tufnell Park, North London, a set of railway tracks runs under a school playground, leading to and from King’s Cross. Wet, filthy, dangerous. Lovely place. And one Sunday before Christmas, Abigail Kamara, one of my endless brood of cousins, dragged me and my long-suffering colleague Lesley May down there to look for a ghost.

We found one. And that was that, I thought come Monday.

First case of the day: Person Unknown has been stabbed to death on the tracks at Baker Street Underground. Magic may have been involved. But Person Unknown turns out to be the son of a US senator, so before you can say “international incident”, FBI agent Kimberley Reynolds and her firmly held religious beliefs are on my case.

And down in the dark, in the Tube tunnels of London, along with the buried rivers and remnants of Victorian sewer systems, I’m hearing some strange things!

4. Broken Homes (2013)

A mutilated body in Crawley. Another killer on the loose. The prime suspect is Robert Weil, an associate of the twisted magician, the Faceless Man?

Before PC Peter Grant can get his head around the case, a town planner going under a tube train, and a stolen grimoire are adding to his case load.

But then Peter gets word of something very odd happening in Elephant and Castle, on a housing estate designed by a nutter, built by charlatans and inhabited by the truly desperate.

Is there a connection? And if there is, why did it have to be South of the River?

5. Foxglove Summer (2014)

Peter Grant is stepping out of his comfort zone. He goes out of London to a small village in Herefordshire, where the local police are reluctant to admit that there might be a supernatural element to the disappearance of some local children.

But while you can take the London copper out of London, you can’t take the London out of the copper.

Travelling west with Beverley Brook, Peter soon finds himself caught up in a deep mystery and having to tackle local cops and local gods. And what’s more, all the shops are closed by 4 PM!

6. The Hanging Tree (2016)

Suspicious deaths are not usually the concern of Police Constable Peter Grant or the FollyLondons police department for supernatural cases, even when they happen at an exclusive party in one of the flats of the most expensive apartment blocks in London.

But the daughter of Lady Ty, influential goddess of the Tyburn river, was there, and Peter owes Lady Ty a favor!

Plunged into the alien world of the super-rich, where the basements are bigger than the houses, where the law is bought and sold on the open market, a sensible young copper would keep his head down and nose clean.

7. Lies Sleeping (2018)

Martin Chorley, aka the Faceless Man, wanted for multiple counts of murder, fraud, and crimes against humanity, has been unmasked and is on the run. Peter Grant now plays a key role in an unprecedented joint operation to bring Chorley to justice.

But even as the unwieldy might of the Metropolitan Police bears down on its foe, Peter uncovers clues that Chorley, far from being finished, is executing the final stages of a long-term plan. A plan that has its roots in London’s two thousand bloody years of history, and could literally bring the city to its knees.

To save his beloved city, Peter will need help from his former best friend and colleague, Lesley May, who brutally betrayed him and everything he thought she believed in. And, far worse, he might even have to come to terms with the malevolent supernatural killer and agent of chaos known as Mr Punch!

8. False Value (2020)

Peter Grant is facing fatherhood and an uncertain future with equal amounts of panic and enthusiasm. Rather than sit around, he takes a job with émigré Silicon Valley tech genius Terrence Skinner’s brand new London start-up – the Serious Cybernetics Company.

Drawn into the orbit of Old Street’s famous ‘silicon roundabout’, Peter must learn how to blend in with people who are both civilians and geekier than he is. Compared to his last job, Peter thinks it should be a doddle. But magic is not finished with Mama Grant’s favourite son.

Because Terrence Skinner has a secret hidden in the bowels of the SCC—a technology that stretches back to Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage, and forward to the future of artificial intelligence, and just as magical as it is technological!

9. Amongst Our Weapons (2022)

The London Silver Vaults—for well over a century, the world’s largest collection of silver for sale. It has more locks than the Bank of England and more cameras than a paparazzi convention.

Not somewhere you can murder someone and vanish without a trace—only that’s what happened.

The disappearing act, the reports of a blinding flash of light, and memory loss amongst the witnesses all make this a case for Detective Constable Peter Grant and the Special Assessment Unit.

Alongside their boss, DCI Thomas Nightingale, the SAU find themselves embroiled in a mystery encompassing London’s tangled history, foreign lands, and, most terrifyingly, the North!

Peter must solve this case soon because, back home, his partner Beverley is expecting twins any day now. But what he doesn’t know is that he’s about to encounter something—and somebody—that nobody ever expects!

10. Stone and Sky (2025)

Peter Grant is north of the border—but don’t worry, he isn’t in Scotland alone. It’s the summer holidays, so everybody has traveled up with him: Dr. Walid, Thomas Nightingale and his latest apprentice, Abigail Kamara; Peter’s beloved Beverley Brook, the twins, and Peter’s mum and dad. Since Aberdeen has its own small but vibrant jazz scene, it would be criminal if there weren’t some gigs while they’re in town, so the band is also driving up.

What could go wrong, right? Stupid question, really.

When a man with gills is found dead on a boulevard, Police Scotland reluctantly avails itself of Peter’s expertise. Between keeping his dad, the band, and a pair of hyperactive twins out of trouble, Peter has to discover who the victim was, who killed him, and why.

To solve this, Peter Grant and Beverley Brook will have to risk getting out of their depth—literally.

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