Below is the complete list of Faith Martin’s DI Hillary Greene books in order. For this series, the chronological reading order is the same as the order of publication.
Publication Order of DI Hillary Greene Books
About DI Hillary Greene
Detective Inspector Hillary Greene has spent decades investigating murder in Oxfordshire, developing a reputation for persistence, sharp observation, and an instinctive understanding of human behaviour. Living aboard a narrowboat on the Oxford Canal, she leads an unconventional personal life while remaining deeply committed to police work. Faith Martin’s DI Hillary Greene series combines traditional British detective fiction with carefully constructed mysteries, complicated professional relationships, and the changing fortunes of an experienced investigator.
Hillary is a woman in her fifties who has worked her way through the ranks of Thames Valley Police. Her experience makes her a capable detective, but her professional life has also been affected by personal difficulties, departmental politics, and the consequences of her late husband’s criminal activities.
Her narrowboat provides a peaceful refuge from the pressures of investigating violent deaths. The canals and surrounding Oxfordshire countryside become recurring features of the novels, contrasting their tranquil appearance with the secrets uncovered during Hillary’s investigations.
The series begins with Murder on the Oxford Canal (2004), originally published as A Narrow Escape. When a young woman’s body is discovered in the canal, Hillary and her team must determine how she died and why someone wanted her dead. The investigation introduces her methodical approach to evidence and her ability to recognise inconsistencies in apparently straightforward cases.
In Murder at the University, originally On the Straight and Narrow, the investigation moves into Oxford’s academic environment. The contrast between prestigious institutions and concealed wrongdoing establishes a recurring concern of the series: respectable surroundings provide no guarantee of innocence.
Subsequent novels take Hillary into villages, country houses, family homes, and workplaces across Oxfordshire. Each investigation exposes relationships shaped by jealousy, financial pressure, resentment, or secrets that have remained hidden for years.
The series also develops the relationships within Hillary’s investigative team. Her colleagues possess different personalities and professional ambitions, creating tensions that sometimes complicate their work. Hillary must balance her responsibilities as a detective with the challenges of managing officers whose loyalties and judgment cannot always be taken for granted.
Unlike investigators who rely on dramatic confrontation or unconventional forensic discoveries, Hillary succeeds primarily through patience, experience, and careful questioning. Her understanding of ordinary human weaknesses frequently proves more useful than a suspect’s apparent respectability or social standing.
An important turning point occurs when Hillary is forced into early retirement. Although she has dedicated much of her adult life to policing, circumstances beyond her control bring her formal career to an end.
Rather than abandoning investigative work, she returns as a civilian consultant, helping examine unresolved murders. Murder Never Retires, originally A Narrow Return, marks this phase of her professional life.
The transition changes the dynamics of the series. Hillary no longer exercises the same authority as a serving detective inspector, but her experience and knowledge remain valuable. Cold cases require her to reconsider old assumptions, locate witnesses whose circumstances have changed, and recognise connections overlooked during earlier investigations.
This development also allows Martin to explore the passage of time. Memories become unreliable, evidence deteriorates, and suspects may have spent years constructing respectable lives around concealed crimes.
Hillary’s Final Case (2016), originally A Narrow Trajectory, appeared to conclude the character’s investigative career. However, Martin returned to her in Hillary’s Back! (2020), continuing the series with further mysteries.
Later instalments include Murder Now and Then, Murder in the Parish, Murder on the Train, and Murder Under the Sun. The twenty-third novel, Murder Most Final (2026), extends Hillary’s investigations and the continuing development of her professional and personal circumstances.
The series has an unusual publishing history. Its first seventeen novels originally appeared under titles containing variations of the word “narrow.” When Joffe Books republished them in revised editions, they received new titles, generally beginning with “Murder.” These are alternative editions of the same stories rather than additional instalments.
Throughout the novels, Oxfordshire provides a distinctive atmosphere. The contrast between historic university buildings, quiet villages, picturesque waterways, and violent criminal behaviour reinforces the idea that dangerous motives can exist behind ordinary appearances.
The DI Hillary Greene series is distinguished by its mature protagonist and sustained attention to professional change. Hillary’s experience, resilience, and occasional vulnerability make her more than a conventional detective solving successive murders. Through her investigations and eventual transition into cold-case work, Martin portrays a woman whose commitment to uncovering the truth remains undiminished even when the circumstances of her career change dramatically.