Where Should You Start Reading Chris Dolley?
Because Chris Dolley writes across distinct genres (steampunk comedy, hard science fiction, cozy police procedurals, and non-fiction memoirs), your starting point depends entirely on what type of story you enjoy:
- For Comedy and Steampunk: Start with What Ho, Automaton!. This begins his signature Reeves & Worcester Steampunk Mysteries series, which lovingly channels P.G. Wodehouse with a Sherlock Holmes mystery style.
- For Hard Science Fiction: Start with his debut novel Resonance. This mind-bending, paranoia-laced techno-thriller was the first manuscript pulled from Baen Books' electronic slush pile.
- For Real-Life Humor: Start with French Fried. This laugh-out-loud memoir chronicling his move to rural France and an unexpected encounter with an identity thief became a New York Times bestseller.
- For Cozy Mystery: Start with An Unsafe Pair of Hands, a quirky British crime mystery set in rural England featuring the eccentric police administrator Peter Shand.
Reeves & Worcester Steampunk Mysteries Reading Order
This series takes place in an alternate 1903 where an augmented Queen Victoria is still on the throne and steam-powered automata are a part of daily life. The stories follow Reggie Worcester, an amateur consulting detective, and Reeves, his steam-powered automaton valet who keeps him out of trouble. To follow their adventures and the underlying character development, it is highly recommended to read them in publication order:
- What Ho, Automaton! (2011) – Introduces Reggie and Reeves, and details how they met. It also includes the novella Something Rummy This Way Comes involving missing debutantes in London.
- Reggiecide (2012) – Reggie and Reeves get caught up in a plot involving anarchist plots and high-society sabotage.
- The Aunt Paradox (2014) – A comedic dive into time travel and family dynamics where Reggie must save his aunts without unraveling his own existence.
- The Unpleasantness at Baskerville Hall (2016) – A full-length novel parodying Arthur Conan Doyle's famous Sherlock Holmes mystery, featuring family curses and the dark Grimdark Mire.
- Deja Vu Halloo (2020) – The fifth installment which continues the duo's investigations with mind-bending temporal comedy and steampunk sleuthing.
Note: The first four stories are also collected in an omnibus edition titled What Ho, Automata.
Chris Dolley's Standalone Novels
If you prefer self-contained stories, Dolley has written several standalone novels spanning multiple genres. They can be read in any order:
- Resonance (2005) – A mind-bending science fiction thriller following an obsessive-compulsive protagonist who discovers reality is shifting around him.
- Shift (2007) – A futuristic sci-fi murder mystery following astropsychologist Nick Stubbs, who becomes the prime suspect in a series of murders and must escape into higher-dimensional space to clear his name.
- French Fried (2010) – A humorous non-fiction expat memoir about moving to a French farmhouse, dealing with too many animals, and solving a real-life identity theft crime.
- Medium Dead (2011) – A lighthearted urban fantasy novel featuring Brenda Steele and a "Vigilante Demon" named Brian who team up to solve supernatural crimes.
- An Unsafe Pair of Hands (2011) – A quirky, character-driven British murder mystery about a police administrator trying to solve a crime in rural England.
Short Stories, Memoirs, and Companion Pieces
For readers looking for shorter pieces, Dolley has published a variety of novellas and short stories:
- Magical Crimes: Twenty-Four Inches From Tulsa (2009) – A humorous urban fantasy novelette featuring psychic profiler Seb Kemp.
- International Kittens of Mystery (2010) – A quirky, fun novella containing color photographs of kittens who act as international secret agents saving the planet.
- Glampire (2012) – A humorous fantasy short story taking a playful poke at vampire tropes.
- Free Cornish Army (2019) – A short non-fiction memoir detailing the author's real-life teenage publicity stunt in 1974 where he convinced the UK media that Cornwall had declared independence.
- Mad Science Café (2016) – A collection of short speculative fiction and sci-fi pieces.