The Recommended Reading Path for DS Imogen Grey
When starting Katerina Diamond's gritty police procedural series, the best path forward is simple: read the books in publication order. While each installment features a self-contained, pulse-pounding murder investigation, the personal lives, trauma-battered pasts, and complicated chemistry of partners DS Imogen Grey and DS Adrian Miles build sequentially from book to book. Furthermore, key recurring figures—such as the complex vigilante Parker—appear across multiple novels, meaning you will miss crucial character arcs and spoilers if you jump around the series.
To get the complete experience, you should also insert the promotional short story, The Stalker (categorized as Book 2.5), right after reading the second novel, The Secret. This quick read sets the stage for the evolving partnership between the two leads before they face the intense trials of the later books.
DS Imogen Grey Series in Order
Here is the complete breakdown of the DS Imogen Grey books in their recommended reading sequence, including details for each entry:
1. The Teacher (2016)
The debut novel that started it all introduces readers to the dark underbelly of Exeter. When a headteacher is found dead under gruesome circumstances at an exclusive school, DS Imogen Grey and DS Adrian Miles are forced to team up. As they uncover a historic web of systemic abuse and institutional corruption, they realize the killer is playing a dark, moral game. This book sets the tone for the series' graphic intensity and psychological depth.
2. The Secret (2016)
The second novel plunges Imogen into a deeply personal case. When a woman named Bridget Reid is kidnapped and held captive in a locked room, the investigation uncovers dark secrets that mirror Imogen's own hidden past. As Adrian and Imogen race to track down the perpetrator, they must deal with the harrowing reality that some secrets refuse to remain buried.
2.5 The Stalker (2017)
This quick, addictive short story acts as a bridge between the second and third novels. When Adrian’s neighbor, Lucy, suspects that someone is secretly entering her flat while she is away, Adrian starts to investigate. Imogen remains highly skeptical of the situation, but the case leads to a classic, wicked twist that challenges the detectives' instincts.
3. The Angel (2017)
When a teenager is accused of a brutal murder, Imogen fights tirelessly to prove their innocence. The investigation soon exposes a wider network of exploitation, abuse, and cover-ups within Exeter. As the partners dig deeper, they realize that those in power will go to any lengths to keep their dark secrets hidden from the light.
4. The Promise (2018)
A relentless serial killer is targeting vulnerable women on the streets of Exeter. With very few clues to go on, Imogen is forced to place herself in extreme danger, acting as bait to draw the predator out. The investigation tests the physical and emotional limits of both Imogen and Adrian, cementing their reliance on one another.
5. Truth or Die (2019)
At Exeter University, a professor is found brutally murdered in his private office. Imogen and Adrian's investigation leads them into the middle of a sinister game where academics blackmail students into committing dangerous stunts and crimes. Complicating matters, a figure from their past—the serial killer Parker—reappears to enact his own brand of vengeance, placing the detectives in a complex moral dilemma.
6. Woman in the Water (2019)
After Adrian pulls a young woman from an icy, fast-flowing river, the detectives find themselves handling a bizarre mystery: the victim refuses to identify herself or explain what happened to her, and she soon vanishes from her hospital bed. The search leads them to a local couple with a deeply disturbing history of abuse and missing acquaintances, testing the detectives' resolve to its absolute limits.
7. Trick or Treat (2021)
On Halloween, six-year-old Marcus Carlyle is kidnapped. However, when Imogen Grey arrives to investigate, the boy's parents claim it was all a misunderstanding and deny that he is missing. Sensing a cover-up, Imogen and Adrian work against the clock to expose the family's dark secrets and find the boy before it is too late.
Chronological Order vs. Publication Order
Fortunately, Katerina Diamond has written the DS Imogen Grey series in chronological sequence. The events of each book flow directly into the next. The only detail to watch out for is the short story, The Stalker. Although it was published in early 2017 (around the same time as The Angel), it is set chronologically between the events of The Secret (Book 2) and The Angel (Book 3). Following the numerical sequence—1, 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7—will give you the perfect narrative continuity.
What to Know Before You Start: Tone and Setting
Before diving into this series, readers should prepare for a dark, intense, and often graphic journey. Katerina Diamond does not shy away from heavy themes, including systemic corruption, domestic abuse, sexual violence, and visceral crime scenes. Her style has been widely compared to authors like Karin Slaughter and Angela Marsons, making it a perfect fit for fans of hard-edged, psychologically complex crime fiction.
The series is set in Exeter, Devon, UK. The deceptively quiet, historic city serves as a stark, atmospheric backdrop to the horrific crimes that Imogen and Adrian investigate, adding a strong sense of place and localized dread to every page.
Katerina Diamond's Standalone Thrillers
If you finish the DS Imogen Grey series and want more of Diamond's tense plotting, she has written several standalone psychological thrillers. These include The Heatwave (2020) and The Silence (2023). It is important to note that these books are set in entirely different universes, featuring new characters and independent storylines. You can read them at any point without worrying about spoiling the cases or relationships of Imogen Grey and Adrian Miles.