Rivers of London reading order

Do not start with a novella. Do not start with the comics. Do not start with The Masquerades of Spring because it is earlier in Nightingale’s life. That book is a 1920s jazz-age side story. It will not teach you the Folly as a modern police job.

The series is still growing. Novellas, comics, and a short-story collection sit between the numbered novels and confuse first-timers more than the novels do.

The Peter Grant novels

Publication order is the first-read path.

Aaronovitch’s own British-editions page, when opened, listed through The Masquerades of Spring and had not yet added Stone and Sky. Gollancz published that tenth novel in July 2025. If a shop page is stale, trust the most recent Gollancz/DAW novel, not the merch grid.

Novellas (optional, not extra novels)

These are real books. They are not Peter Grant #6.5 in the spine sense. Read them after the novel they followed into shops, or save them for later.

Aaronovitch’s chronology page interleaves novels, novellas, shorts, and comics. It is useful as a map of when stories sit, not as a first-read syllabus. It also still looks pre–Stone and Sky. Publication order for the novels remains the honest on-ramp.

The Home Crowd Advantage is set during the 2012 Olympics. The author has said it contains anachronisms because the series chronology had not firmed up. Do not use it to “fix” the timeline.

Shorts and comics

Tales from the Folly (2020) collects shorts with author notes that say which novel each one sits beside. Use it as a cleanup volume after you already like the voice. Do not open the series with it.

The comics (Body Work, Night Witch, Black Mould, and the later graphic novels) are canon enough that the author’s chronology lists them among the books. They are still optional. A first-time reader who only does the novels will not be lost. A first-time reader who starts with Body Work will be starting in the middle of Peter’s job.

Common mistakes

• Starting with The Masquerades of Spring or The October Man because they look like gentler on-ramps.
• Treating Midnight Riot as a different series. Same first novel, US title.
• Numbering every novella into the Peter Grant count.
• Reading the comics first because they are shorter.
• Using the author’s chronology page as book one through thirty-eight.

What to read next

1. Discworld — City Watch (Terry Pratchett) — If the pleasure was a copper learning that the city is the case. Ankh-Morpork has no Thames gods; it has paperwork and dragons.
2. The Dresden Files (Jim Butcher) — If you want another long wizard-for-hire ladder, with the warning that book one is a porch and the institution shows up later.
3. Cormoran Strike (Robert Galbraith) — If you want the police-adjacent London casework without the magic, and a partnership that accumulates book by book.
4. The Laundry Files (Charles Stross) — If the Folly’s bureaucratic magic was the hook: IT, secrecy, and entities that arrive as paperwork.
5. Jack Reacher (Lee Child) — If you want the investigator without the river gods: a long run that looks interchangeable until a four-book chain appears.

FAQ

Do I need the novellas?
No. They add other desks (Abigail, Winter, Reynolds, 1920s Nightingale) and one Metropolitan-line case. The novels carry Peter’s job.

Which title do I search in the US?
Midnight Riot or Rivers of London. Same book one.

Is The Masquerades of Spring a prequel on-ramp?
It is earlier. It is not an on-ramp.

Where do the comics go?
Optional, after you already know Peter’s job.

Sources

• Ben Aaronovitch, British editions — official British novel and novella list. Opened 2026-09-13.
• Ben Aaronovitch, chronology — story-time map, not a first-read syllabus. Opened 2026-09-13.