Below is the complete list of Rhys Dylan books in order. For each series, the chronological reading order is the same as the order of publication.
Publication Order of DCI Evan Warlow / Black Beacons Books
Publication Order of Detective Anna Gwynne Books
as Dylan Young
Publication Order of The Hipposync Archives Books
as D.C. Farmer
- Every Little Evil (2016)
Every Little Evil was published in 2016 and is listed as book #1 in the The Hipposync Archives series. 
Publication Order of Artefact Books
as Rhys A. Jones
Publication Order of Merryweathers Mysteries Books
as Rhys A. Jones
Publication Order of Standalone Books
- The Operation (2020)
(As: Dylan Young)
Published in 2020, The Operation is listed as book #2 in the Standalone series. 
About Rhys Dylan
Rhys Dylan is a Welsh crime writer best known for the DCI Evan Warlow novels, a long-running series of police procedurals set amid the mountains, coastal paths, reservoirs, farming communities, and former industrial landscapes of west and mid Wales. Rhys Dylan is one of several names used by an author who has written crime, psychological suspense, children’s fiction, and fantasy. The name is most closely associated with the Black Beacons murder mysteries and their combination of regional atmosphere, methodical investigation, dark humor, and character-driven storytelling.
Raised in a mining village in South Wales, Dylan left for university in London at eighteen and pursued a long career in the National Health Service. He spent much of that career as a consultant ophthalmologist before retiring from medicine. He began writing seriously in his thirties and published three dark psychological thrillers with Random House during the late 1990s, two of which were adapted for television by the BBC. In later years, he published in several genres and under different pen names before returning decisively to Welsh crime fiction.
The Rhys Dylan name became established with The Engine House, the first DCI Evan Warlow novel. The story introduces Warlow as a former detective chief inspector whose retirement is disrupted when a landslip on the Pembrokeshire coast reveals the remains of two people who disappeared during one of his unresolved investigations. Called back to assist the police, Warlow is forced to confront both the old case and the personal reasons he withdrew from active service. The premise supplies a natural foundation for the books that follow: an experienced investigator returns to work carrying unfinished business, professional doubts, and an intimate knowledge of the region.
Across the series, Warlow investigates murders throughout the Dyfed-Powys area, a territory encompassing a large and predominantly rural part of Wales. Isolated houses, disused mines, wooded valleys, reservoirs, coastal settlements, and exposed uplands give the novels a strong geographical identity. The landscape can conceal evidence and complicate police work, but it also represents communities shaped by agriculture, tourism, industry, Welsh history, and economic change. Dylan treats these places as inhabited environments rather than picturesque scenery placed around a conventional investigation.
Warlow’s appeal lies partly in his maturity. He is neither a reckless newcomer nor an invulnerable detective whose private difficulties exist only to add color. His experience enables him to recognize evasions and understand institutional pressures, while his vulnerabilities prevent the investigations from becoming mechanical puzzles. The wider police team develops across the series, allowing professional relationships, loyalties, disagreements, and personal consequences to accumulate alongside the individual cases.
Dylan’s medical background is more directly visible in some work published under other names, particularly psychological and medical thrillers, but it also supports his disciplined attention to evidence, injury, professional procedure, and human behavior. His prose favors accessible pacing and clear investigative movement, balanced by Celtic noir atmosphere and flashes of dry humor. Violence provides the immediate mystery, yet the stories frequently turn upon older resentments, family divisions, concealed histories, and the damage caused when communities protect the wrong people.
Readers approaching the complete bibliography should distinguish the Rhys Dylan books from titles issued under his other writing identities. The DCI Evan Warlow novels form the principal body of work attached to this name and are best understood as a continuing character series, even though each volume presents a separate central investigation. Other pseudonyms lead to different detectives, stand-alone psychological thrillers, children’s adventures, and fantasy. That varied publishing history explains the breadth of his career, while the Warlow series remains its clearest expression of place: contemporary Welsh crime fiction grounded in landscape, procedural experience, and the complicated loyalties of small communities.