Best Susan Hill Books
Susan Hill occupies a rare position in British fiction — equally at home conjuring dread and dissecting the procedural. The Woman in Black is her landmark achievement, a ghost story of almost unbearable atmospheric tension that reads like the English countryside itself has turned malevolent. Her Simon Serrailler crime series, beginning with The Various Haunts of Men, is quieter but no less unsettling — Hill writes police work with a melancholy realism, more interested in the weight grief places on communities than in puzzle mechanics. Her prose is lean and weather-worn, every scene saturated with place. Readers who want cozy crime will find Serrailler too bleak; readers who want pure horror will find it too restrained. That in-between space is exactly where Hill excels — and where her most loyal readers live.
Where to Start with Susan Hill
- Best entry point → The Various Haunts of Men
- Best standalone → The Woman in Black
- Start the Simon Serrailler #8.6 series → Hero: A Simon Serrailler Short Story
- What readers keep coming back to → The Pure in Heart
- Highest rated by readers → The Soul of Discretion (Simon Serrailler #8)
Best Susan Hill Books
- 1
The Soul of Discretion
Simon Serrailler • Book 8
by Susan Hill
More about this pick
Lafferton's new Chief Constable gives Simon Serrailler a case demanding complete discretion, but the detective discovers that some secrets are too dangerous to keep quiet.
★ 4.17 Goodreads (5.0K ratings) - 2
The Woman in Black
by Susan Hill, John Lawrence
More about this pick
Young solicitor Arthur Kipps travels to a remote estate to settle a client's affairs and encounters the malevolent Woman in Black. Hill crafts a classically structured ghost story with genuine psychological terror.
★ 3.76 Goodreads (83.2K ratings) - 3
The Shadows in the Street
Simon Serrailler • Book 5
by Susan Hill
More about this pick
Hill's detective comes back to two murdered prostitutes, but the case explodes when a cathedral dean's wife vanishes and another respectable woman disappears.
★ 4.00 Goodreads (6.6K ratings) - 4
The Vows of Silence
Simon Serrailler • Book 4
by Susan Hill
More about this pick
Random sniper attacks on young women challenge DCS Simon Serrailler to determine if one gunman or two are stalking victims. Hill's police procedural examines pattern recognition under pressure.
★ 4.00 Goodreads (6.3K ratings) - 5
A Question of Identity
Simon Serrailler • Book 7
by Susan Hill
More about this pick
Detective Simon Serrailler faces murders marked by a dead killer's signature, forcing him to question whether someone's copying old crimes or if he missed something fundamental about the original case.
★ 3.99 Goodreads (6.1K ratings) - 6
The Risk of Darkness
Simon Serrailler • Book 3
by Susan Hill
More about this pick
When child abduction meets a grieving husband's descent into obsessive violence, reserved detective Simon Serrailler faces threats on multiple fronts. Personal and professional boundaries blur in this psychological thriller.
★ 3.96 Goodreads (7.0K ratings) - 7
The Pure in Heart
Simon Serrailler • Book 2
by Susan Hill, Yolande Ligterink
More about this pick
A snatched schoolboy, a severely disabled woman hovering near death, and an ex-convict's impossible rehabilitation weave together in this character-driven crime exploration.
★ 3.92 Goodreads (8.3K ratings) - 8
The Betrayal of Trust
Simon Serrailler • Book 6
by Susan Hill
More about this pick
Flooding in Lafferton uncovers a skeleton identified as teenager Harriet Lowther, missing for sixteen years, opening wounds the town thought had healed.
★ 3.95 Goodreads (6.6K ratings) - 9
The Various Haunts of Men
Simon Serrailler • Book 1
by Susan Hill
More about this pick
Hill launches her Simon Serrailler series with multiple disappearances in a quiet cathedral town. The atmospheric mystery focuses as much on character development as crime solving.
★ 3.84 Goodreads (15.2K ratings) - 10
A Change of Circumstance
Simon Serrailler • Book 11
by Susan Hill
More about this pick
DCS Serrailler discovers that drug traffickers have infiltrated peaceful Lafferton, forcing him into unfamiliar territory where his usual methods may not suffice.
★ 4.01 Goodreads (3.6K ratings) - 11
The Comforts of Home
Simon Serrailler • Book 9
by Susan Hill
More about this pick
Recovering on a remote Scottish island, Simon Serrailler gets drawn into investigating a popular newcomer's mysterious death before returning to Lafferton to face an arsonist. Hill balances intimate island dynamics with urban crime.
★ 3.97 Goodreads (4.4K ratings) - 12
The Small Hand
by Susan Hill
More about this pick
Bookseller Adam Snow's wrong turn leads him to a derelict mansion where he feels the unmistakable grip of a ghostly child's hand, beginning a haunting obsession.
★ 3.47 Goodreads (7.6K ratings) - 13
A Breach of Security
Simon Serrailler #8.5 • Book 8
by Susan Hill
More about this pick
Detective Serrailler investigates neo-fascist violence against a pride march while anonymous threats target a soldier memorial service he's protecting.
★ 3.62 Goodreads (1.4K ratings) - 14
Hero: A Simon Serrailler Short Story
Simon Serrailler #8.6
by Susan Hill
More about this pick
What happens when the 'heroic' act that launched your career was actually reckless and deadly? Hill excavates the moral complexity beneath police heroism in this haunting Simon Serrailler reflection.
★ 3.67 Goodreads (902 ratings) - 15
Printer's Devil Court
by Susan Hill
More about this pick
A country doctor's hidden manuscript reveals the disturbing events that haunted him from his training days in London's Fleet Street neighborhood, where the past refuses to stay buried.
★ 3.21 Goodreads (2.4K ratings)