Elly Griffiths Books in Order

If you enjoy reading archaeological mysteries, Elly Griffiths with her Ruth Galloway archaeological mystery series is an author to start reading. Her series has often been compared to that of Amelia Peabody by Elizabeth Peters and the Gideon Oliver series by Aaron Elkins.

Besides the popular Ruth Galloway books, Elly Griffiths has also written several other series including the Stephens & Mephisto series, with ahistorical setting taking takes place in the years past WWII, in the 1950s, followed by the Harbinder Kaur whodunit series, the Girl Called Justice children’s series, and her newest Ali Dawson time travel mystery series to be released in 2025 with The Frozen People.

In addition, we also list the Elly Griffiths books written under her real name, Domenica de Rosa.

Here are the Elly Griffiths books in order for her series and her short story collections and anthologies. The book list is updated regularly.

New Elly Griffiths Books

The Last Word, (Harbinder Kaur #42), 2024

The Man in Black: And Other Stories, 2024

Ruth Galloway Books in Order

1. The Crossing Places, 2009
2. The Janus Stone, 2010
3. The House at Sea’s End, 2011
4. A Room Full of Bones, 2011
5. A Dying Fall, 2012
6. The Outcast Dead, 2014
7. The Ghost Fields, 2015
8. The Woman in Blue, 2016
9. The Chalk Pit, 2017
10. The Dark Angel, 2018
11. The Stone Circle, 2019
12. The Lantern Men, 2020
13. The Night Hawks, 2021
14. The Locked Room, 2022
15. The Last Remains, 2023

Ruth Galloway Short Stories

• Ruth’s First Christmas Tree (Ruth Galloway #4.5), 2012

The Brighton Mysteries Books in Order

aka the Stephens and Mephisto series

1. The Zig Zag Girl, 2014
2. Smoke and Mirrors, 2015
3. The Blood Card, 2016
4. The Vanishing Box, 2017
5. Now You See Them, 2019
6. The Midnight Hour, 2021
7. The Great Deceiver, 2023

Harbinder Kaur Books in Order

1. The Stranger Diaries, 2018
2. The Postscript Murders, 2020
3. Bleeding Heart Yard, 2022
4. The Last Word, 2024

Girl Called Justice Books in Order

children’s books

1. A Girl Called Justice, 2019
2. The Smugglers’ Secret, 2020
3. A Ghost in the Garden, 2021
4. The Spy at the Window, 2022

Ali Dawson Mystery Books in Order

1. The Frozen People, 2025

Short Story Collections and Anthologies in Publication Order

• Killer Women Crime Club Anthology 2, 2017
• Exit Wounds: Nineteen Tales of Mystery from the Modern Masters of Crime, 2019 (edited by Paul Kane and Marie O’Regan)
• Marple: Twelve New Mysteries, 2022
• The Man in Black: And Other Stories, 2024

Books Written As Domenica de Rosa

Standalone Novels

• The Italian Quarter, 2004
• The Eternal City, 2005
• Villa Serena, 2007
• Summer School, 2008

Non-Fiction Books

• The Little Book of Shakespeare and Food, 2001

Elly Griffiths Biography

The British crime mystery author Elly Griffiths was born in 1963, in London, as Domenica de Rosa. The family lived in London until Domenica was 5, around the time when the y moved to Brighton. She started writing at the young age of 11 when he crafted her first novel, which was a murder mystery set in Rottingdean, close to the village she is living in. She attended local state schools, and later she went to King’s College in London where she majored in English.

After graduating from university, she started working in a library and then for a magazine. Later on, she moved on to work in publishing as an editorial director for children’s books at HarperCollins. She didn’t begin writing until she was on maternity leave in 1998, at the age of 35. Before publishing her first novel, she did have several unpublished manuscripts which included that crime novel she wrote as a child, a story set in the publishing world, and a saga about Italian racing drivers.

When starting the dr Ruth Galloway series starting with The Crossing Places, the author published it under the pseudonym Elly Griffiths, a name that stuck for the rest of the series and her Stephens & Mephisto series, as well as some of her standalone novels. The pen name comes from her grandmother who had the same name, Ellen Griffiths. However, the publisher wanted her to change Ellen to Elly as it sounded younger.

Initially, she intended for The Crossing Places to be a standalone novel, but after readers wanting more of Ruth, she continued with a second book, turning the Ruth Galloway mysteries into the internationally bestselling series it is today.

In an interview, she mentioned that Ruth Galloway is a combination of several strong women in Elly’s life, such as her two older sisters and her aunt. Ruth is witty, fun to be around, has wry humor, and loves sequins, even though that is just in secret. She is a stout atheist, and this comes from the author being very interested in their points of view. She is not without self-perceived faults, though. She has a weight problem and she often is clumsy. Sometimes she even feels insecure about herself.

She is not only a forensic archaeologist that teaches at a Norfolk university, but she is also quite the sleuth. She is also in a very complicated relationship with a police officer, DCI Harry Nelson, with whom she has a daughter, Kate. Ruth lives on the edge of Saltmarsh, a bleak marshland. While the actual name of the place is not real, it is loosely modeled after the North Norfolk coast.

The dr Ruth Galloway series is an archeological mystery, and while Elly Griffiths has no hands-on experience in the field, her husband is an actual archaeologist. His giving up work in the city as a banker and picking up archaeology was also a gentle push that led to the creation of the author’s popular series.

The author’s debut novel was The Italian Quarter, published under her real name, Domenica de Rosa. While a fictional story, it was loosely based on the author’s dad’s life, who was an Italian immigrant living in Clerkenwell, London’s Italian quarter. The books written under her real name are not mysteries, but all the books under her pseudonym are.

When she writes her books, Elly usually begins with an outline of each of the chapters directly typed on the computer. Later on, she fleshes all those chapters out to full-fledged novels. Although her husband, Andy, is an archaeologist, she doesn’t ask him too many questions about the craft. Instead, he connected her with fellow archaeologists who can help her with expert answers to her questions.

These days, the author writes around two books every year, especially since she started her Stephens & Mephisto series, writing one book a year in each series – or one book in a series and a standalone novel, which happened in 2018.

Unlike the dr. Ruth Galloway series, the Stephens & Mephisto set of books  is a historical mystery series set in the 1950s featuring a policeman, Edgar Stephens, and a magician, Max Mephisto, who served together in the army and they now work together to catch killers. The series has an inspiration the World War II Magic Gang, with one member Jasper Maskelyne who was also working with the author’s granddad who was a music hall comedian. Max Mephisto’s career is loosely based on that of Jasper Maskelyne’s. Unlike the Ruth Galloway that takes place in Norfolk, the Stephens and Mephisto series takes place in Brighton, where the author herself has been living from the age of 5. Of course, modern Brighton is not quite the same as the Brighton of the 1950s.

The Stranger Diaries, a standalone novel published in 2018, is a Gothic murder mystery featuring Clare Cassidy, a teacher of Literature at Talgarth High, who is also writing the biography of R.M. Holland, whose house is the basis for the Talgarth High school. Holland has a chilling short story titled The Stranger, one that Claire finds fascinating. The entire house is quite spooky too. When a colleague is murdered within the school, there is a line from Holland’s book next to the body.

Elly Griffiths received the 2011 Mary Higgins Clark Award for The Crossing Places, and the author got several starred reviews from places like RT Book reviews, Library Journal, and Kirkus Reviews.

Currently, the author lives near Brighton her husband and two teenage children and is working on developing her next novel. When she is not writing her Ruth Galloway series or the Stephens & Mephisto series, she is teaching creative writing and enjoys horse riding and swimming, which she loves doing between April and October. She also enjoys reading books and going on walks with her family.

Elly Griffiths Awards and Nominations

Over the years, Elly Griffiths has received several awards and was often nominated for awards such as the below

• The Crossing Places was shortlisted for the 2010 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year
• The House at Sea’s End was nominated for the 2012 Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel
• Dying Fall was shortlisted for the 2014 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year
• The Outcast Dead was shortlisted for the 2015 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year
• The author received the CWA Dagger in the Library Award in 2016
• Smoke and Mirrors was nominated for the 2016 CrimeFest: Last Laugh Award
• The Ghost Fields was shortlisted for the 2016 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year
• The Chalk Pit was shortlisted for the 2018 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year
• The Dark Angel was shortlisted for the 2019 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year
• The Stranger Diaries received the Edgar Award for Best Novel in 2020
• The Postscript Murders was nominated for the 2021 CrimeFest: Last Laugh Award and shortlisted for the 2021 CWA Gold Dagger
• The Lantern Men was shortlisted for the 2021 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year
• The Night Hawks was shortlisted for the 2022 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year
• The Spy at the Window was nominated for the 2023 CrimeFest: Best Crime Fiction Novel for Children
• The Locked Room was shortlisted for the 2023 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and nominated for the 2023 CrimeFest: Last Laugh Award
• The Great Deceiver was nominated for the 2024 CrimeFest: Last Laugh Award
• The Last Remains was shortlisted for the 2024 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year

Praise for the Elly Griffiths Books

I refuse to apologise for being in love with Dr Ruth Galloway and DCI Harry Nelson. (Val McDermid)

Griffiths supplies proof that thrillers can increase the pulse rate while tackling more serious issues (Guardian)

Ruth Galloway is one of the most engaging characters in modern crime fiction (Kate Mosse)

Elly Griffiths writes ever-more ingenious detective stories with a powerful sense of place and a varied cast of sympathetic and unusual characters. Her heroine is a winner (The Times)

Compelling, intelligent and increasingly mesmerising (Peter James on The Stranger Diaries)

At once a homage to the Gothic thriller, and a re-imagining, it is goose-bump spooky, smart, and haunting, in every sense. I loved this book! And you will too (Louise Penny on The Stranger Diaries)

References

• Elly Griffiths official website
• the author’s Wikipedia page
• UK literary agent

Books Reading Order » Crime Mystery Authors » Elly Griffiths Books in Order