Rivers of London (book series)

(American title: Midnight Riot)

The novel centres on the adventures of Peter Grant, a young officer in the Metropolitan Police; who, following an unexpected encounter with a ghost, is recruited into the small branch of the Met that deals with magic and the supernatural.

Peter Grant, having become the first English apprentice wizard in over seventy years, must immediately deal with two different but ultimately inter-related cases. In one he must find what is possessing ordinary people and turning them into vicious killers, and in the second he must broker a peace between the two warring gods of the River Thames and their respective families.[3]

Following the events of Rivers of London Police Constable and apprentice wizard Peter Grant is called in to help investigate the brutal murder of a journalist in the downstairs toilet of the Groucho Club in London's Soho district. At the same time Peter is disturbed by a number of deaths of amateur and semi-professional jazz musicians that occurred shortly after they performed. Despite the apparently natural causes of death each body exhibits a magical signature which leads Peter to believe that the deaths are far from natural.[4]

The son of a US senator is stabbed to death, and magic involvement is suspected. An FBI agent is involved with DC Grant's case. Meanwhile, in the sewers near the tunnels of London's Underground, something is happening.

Another killer is on the loose, and the prime suspect could be an associate of the twisted magician known as the Faceless Man. A town planner goes under a tube train, and a grimoire has been stolen. And when Peter gets word of something very odd happening in Elephant and Castle, he has to investigate whether there is a connection.

Leaving London, Peter goes to a small village in Herefordshire, where there appears to be a supernatural element to the disappearance of two local girls. Having to cope with local cops, as well as local gods, Peter finds the mystery deepens.

Back in London, Peter faces the legacy of London's hangings. Investigating suspicious murders in the world of the super-rich, Peter is in a different world to the one he is used to investigating.

In this novella, published in September 2017, Peter needs to deal with commuting ghosts, forgetful commuters, and deciphering a ghost's urgent message.

Published in November 2018, Peter continues the investigations into Martin Chorley.

Published in June 2019. Tobias Winter, the only apprentice in the "Abteilung komplexe und diffuse Angelegenheiten" (KDA) (Department for Complex and Diffuse Matters – the German equivalent of the Folly) investigates a suspicious death in a vineyard near the Moselle. His local colleague is Vanessa Sommer, who is going to join the KDA in the end as well.

Peter Grant is facing fatherhood, and an uncertain future, with equal amounts of panic and enthusiasm. Rather than sit around, he takes a job with émigré Silicon Valley tech genius Terrence Skinner's new London start-up: the Serious Cybernetics Company. The book was released on 20 February 2020.[5][6]

Tales from the Folly, a short story collection, was published in November 2020.[7]

What Abigail Did That Summer is a novella set at the same time as Foxglove Summer. In the series chronology it will be the first novella, taking place before The Furthest Station.[8]

• Hardback: ISBN 9781473224346, First edition 18 March 2021
• eBook: ISBN 9781473224360, First edition 18 March 2021

This novel, the ninth in the series, was released on 7 April 2022.[9] Peter Grant, now an expecting father, is tasked to investigate a suspicious magical death in London's silver vaults and uncover a centuries' old mystery.

Winter's Gifts is a novella set after Lies Sleeping,[10] published in June 2023. It follows FBI Agent Kimberley Reynolds, introduced in Whispers Underground, who has subsequently become an ally of the Folly.

The Rivers of London graphic novel series each tell a separate story arc in individual comics that when finished are collected and sold in electronic form as well as hardback and softback bound editions.

Body Work – Starting with a car on a killing spree, with no driver, Peter investigates a Bosnian refugee and a seemingly-harmless wooden bench with the darkest of paths...[11]

• Hardback: ISBN 9781785853647, First edition March 2016
• Softback: ISBN 9781782761877, First edition March 2016

• Set between Broken Homes and Foxglove Summer[1]
• Originally released as five monthly issues.

Night Witch - Russian Oligarch's daughter is kidnapped and he thinks kidnapping Nightwitch Varvara Sidorovna will help the situation.[12]

• Hardback: ISBN 9781785853647, First edition November 2016
• Softback: ISBN 9781785852930, First edition December 2016

• Set between Foxglove Summer and The Hanging Tree[1]
• Originally released as five monthly issues.

Black Mould – Sahra Guleed joins Grant in determining the source of Black Mould invading the suburbs while Nightingale takes on a haunted ice cream van.[13]

• Hardback: ISBN 9781785863851, First edition June 2017
• Softback: ISBN 9781785855108, First edition July 2017

• Set between Night Witch and The Hanging Tree (Although the readers guide at the back of Black Mould places this story after The Hanging Tree,[1] a brief reference is made in The Hanging Tree to the events in this story[14])
• Originally released as five monthly issues.

Detective Stories - Peter is trying to make Detective which is a bit complicated when your exam proctor is 90% sure you are crazy or a practical joke!

• Softback: ISBN 9781785861710, First edition December 2017 TBC

• Set between The Hanging Tree and Cry Fox.
• Originally released as four monthly issues.

Cry Fox – Reynard is up to his tricks again and this time it involves some old Russian friends.

• Softback: ISBN 9781785861727, First edition June 2018

• Set between Detective Stories and Water Weed.
• Originally released as four monthly issues.

Water Weed – When Chelsea and Olympia decide to earn a few quid on the side, Peter and Bev find themselves confronting London's new queenpin of crime – the brutal and beautiful Hoodette!

• Softback: ISBN 9781785865459, First Edition December 2018

• Originally released as four monthly issues, June 2018 – September 2018.

Action At A Distance – Nightingale searches for a serial killer in 1957 London.

• Softback: First Edition: November 2019

The Fey and the Furious – Peter investigates illegal street racing in Essex and ends up... somewhere else.

• Softback: First Edition: November 2020
• Set after the events of Lies Sleeping

Monday, Monday – A routine undercover operation leads to a Swedish werewolf.[15]

• Softback: ISBN 9781787736269, First edition November 2021

• Follows on from The Fey and the Furious and is set after the events in Lies Sleeping[15]
• Originally released as four monthly issues between July and October 2021

Listed below are forthcoming titles, as confirmed on Ben Aaronovitch's blog.

Aaronovitch has also announced several works within the same fictional universe, but set outside the chronology of the main series. These works include a short story entitled 'Cock of The Wall' focusing on Petrus Aelius Bekemetus,[10] who Aaronovitch describes as a "temple official/Londinium wideboy" – i.e. set in Roman London which Peter Grant briefly visited in the first book of the series.[16] Also planned is an untitled Novella focusing on Peter's mentor Thomas Nightingale.[10]

On 1 May 2019 it was announced that a television adaptation of Rivers of London would be produced by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's production company, Stolen Picture.[17] However, according to Aaronovitch, the series is "still in the same state of permanent pre-pre-production".[18] On 7 July 2022, another TV adaptation of the book series, produced by Pure Fiction Television, See-Saw Films and Unnecessary Logo, Aaronovitch's production company, was announced.[19]

At Dragonmeet convention in London, on 30 November 2019, it was announced that a role-playing game based on the book series would be published by Chaosium.[20] The game was released in PDF version on 30 November 2022, pending book version.