The Dales Detective Books In Order

Publication Order of The Dales Detective Books

Dales Detectives series by Julia Chapman
Author Julia Chapman writes the “Dales Detectives” series of cozy mystery novels. The series began publication in the year 2017, when “Date With Death” was released.

The series stars Delilah Metcalfe, who is a young woman that makes a living while running a dating agency. She works with Samson O’Brien, who is a private detective that runs Dales Detective Agency and ends up becoming his partner.

They first meet each other when she decides to take on a tenant and figures he would be as good as any other.

“Date With Death” is the first novel in the “Dales Detectives” series and was released in the year 2017. Samson O’Brien has gotten dismissed from the force, and comes back to his hometown of Bruncliffe in the Yorkshire Dales to form the Dales Detective Agency as he struggles to clear his own name. But the people of Bruncliffe aren’t too welcoming to a guy that they view as being trouble.

At the same time, Delilah Metcalfe struggles to hang onto her business: the Dales Dating Agency above water and attempting to control Tolpuddle, her wayward Weimaraner pooch. Then when Samson gets his very first case, working on the supposed suicide of a local guy, things take a rather unexpected turn, and he quickly finds a series of deaths which lead right to the door of her agency.

As suspicion hangs over somebody that they both care for, these two feuding neighbors quickly realize that they have to work together in order to solve the mystery of these dating deaths. However working together is easier said than done.

“Date With Malice” is the second novel in the “Dales Detectives” series and was released in the year 2017. When Mrs. Shepherd shows up at the Dales Detective Agency one morning in December, convinced that somebody is trying to kill her, and Samson dismisses all her fears as only the ramblings of one confused old lady. After a sequence of disturbing incidents at Fellside Court retirement home, he starts to wonder if there could be something to these claims that she is making after all.

Samson, with Christmas on the way, gets thrown right into a complicated investigation. One that’s going to require he regain the trust of the Dales community that he turned his back on so long ago. Faced without any choice, he enlists the tempestuous Delilah for help.

Against the backdrop of a winter in Yorkshire, they have to work together yet again if they are going to uncover the evil that threatens the elderly residents in Bruncliffe. Could the danger be so perilously close to home?

“Date With Mystery” is the third novel in the “Dales Detectives” series and was released in the year 2018. Samson is just ready to settle down with a nice cup of tea, however it isn’t long before he gets called on to help out with a new case. In order to execute one recent will, Matty Thistlewaite (a solicitor) requires a copy of the death certificate for a young woman that died when Samson was only a child.

It should just be straightforward, however things in Bruncliffe so rarely are. Especially when Matty insists that Delilah, with her own wealth of local knowledge, works with Samson on this sensitive investigation.

While Samson and Delilah combine resources once more, before too long they have become embroiled in untangling this mystery which has lain at the town’s core for decades. It is a mystery that some would much prefer stay buried.

“Date With Poison” is the fourth novel in the “Dales Detectives” series and was released in the year 2019. A young teen has gone missing. Will Delilah and Samson locate him? Spring has come to Bruncliffe. However not everybody is filled with the joys of this season. Samson O’Brien, who has been implicated in the murder of a man in Leeds faces some tough questions from the cops, as Delilah, his business partner, faces some criticism from her friends and family for her loyalty to the black sheep in town.

Then the truth about Samson’s policing past gets exposed brutally and Bruncliffe turns its back on him, which places Delilah in a rather impossible spot. Particularly when Nathan Metcalfe, her nephew, who is accused being under the corrupt O’Brien’s influence has just ran away from home.

With everybody looking frantically for this missing boy and a toxic atmosphere that is tainting the town, only the town vet’s paying any attention to a worrying series of deaths among his dog clientele. The vet, who suspects foul play, shows up at Samson’s door. However when Samson goes to Delilah for help, is she going to be able to overlook all of his transgressions in order to aid him in uncovering the source of the poison that threatens her community? A poison that has got the potential to rip her life apart.

“Date With Danger” is the fifth novel in the “Dales Detectives” series and was released in the year 2019. This time around, Delilah and Samson are on the trail of a sheep rustler turned murderer.

In the center of Yorkshire, the Dales Detective Agency is close to facing its largest challenge yet. A lethal accident at Bruncliffe’s livestock auction mart leads Harry Furness, an auctioneer, to call in the detective duo of Samson and Delilah. However what begins as just a simply safety and health investigation quickly takes a more sinister turn when they find evidence that points to murder.

As their inquiries are still ongoing, Clive Knowles approaches them needing some help: his sheep have been threatened by the gang of rustlers which plagues the Dales. At the same time, Poacher Pete Ferris has chosen to play his hand as well, setting into motion a blackmail plot which is going to ensure Samson gets pulled back into the trouble with Rick Procter, his nemesis.

Once all three of these cases start to converge on each other, Delilah and Samson are going to find that their latest investigation is fraught with some danger. Danger that might leave each of them fighting for their own lives.