The Inspector Barnaby Novels
Midsomer Murders is adapted from Caroline Graham's Chief Inspector Barnaby series. She wrote just seven novels between 1987 and 2004 — the first five became the basis for the show's earliest episodes, after which the series moved to original scripts.
The Killings at Badger's Drift
The novel that became the pilot episode. A beloved village spinster dies suddenly, and her best friend refuses to accept it was natural causes. Won the Macavity Award and was named one of the Crime Writers' Association's Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time.
Only seven Barnaby novels exist, and Caroline Graham hasn't published a new one since 2004 — so once you've read them, you've read them all. That's part of why fans go looking for read-alikes.
If You've Read All Seven...
Same English village charm, same "how many bodies can one small town produce" spirit.
Village-adjacent charm with a retirement-community twist. If you love Midsomer's gentle mix of humour and murder, start here.
Start Reading →A Thames-side English town, amateur sleuths, and a serial killer hiding in plain sight — very much in the Midsomer spirit.
Start Reading →The template Caroline Graham herself was compared to. Start with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
Start Reading →A vicar-turned-detective in 1950s Cambridgeshire — gentler than Midsomer, same postwar English village texture.
Start Reading →Explore More
More hand-picked recommendations from the editors of British TV Hub.
More charming villages, clever detectives, and unforgettable mysteries in the same gentle spirit — this is where to start.
Read Guide →
The template every village mystery is still measured against. Your complete guide to streaming and buying every adaptation.
Read Guide →
Just as fond of an English village body count, but funnier. Here's where to begin with the Thursday Murder Club.
Read Guide →