Arnold Landon Books In Order

Publication Order of Arnold Landon Books

Roy Lewis is the author of the Arnold Landon series of books. In addition to the Arnold Landon series, he was also the author of the Inspector John Crow series and the Eric Ward Mystery series.

Lewis was born in Rhondda and then went on to attend Bristol, Exeter and Durham Universities. He graduated from each which qualified him for a chartered company secretary and was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple. Roy also served as the Chairman of the Association of Law Teachers. He was also once the International President of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries.

The author taught law from ten years before moving on when he was appointed as One of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Further & Higher Education. His success in that endeavor lead to him being appointed as Principal of Wigan College of Technology. In addition to his novel, Lewis is also the author of author of several law texts. In his fiction writing career he published sixty-eight novels in her career. Most of his novels were set in the north of England where he lived in his life.

Murder in the Barn, previously titled A Gathering of Ghosts, was the first book in the Arnold Landon series. The story takes place in a gloomy and godforsaken place called Rampton Farm, Northumberland. The area has since been set for demolition as an amusement park is set to go in the space in the name of progress. The only thing standing between the building is Arnold Landon, the Planning Officer who must glean the lie of the land. Landon is a big fan of medieval architecture and his knowledge of it leads him to discover the Old Wheat Barn. It is a true classic piece of medieval architecture and now he sets out to save it from the developers. That won’t be easy as the amusement park stands to bring in a lot of money and he is meant with a lot of resistance. Soon, that becomes the least of his problems as a dead body is found in the straw in the old barn. The barn proves to have a dark history and Arnold wonders what others crimes may lay hidden within it. He won’t stop until he finds out.

The series continues with Most Cunning Workmen. This is an interesting book of Arnold Landon who is an avid collector of old antique pieces. He has taken a break from his work because of various reasons which are not exactly under his control. He therefore befriends John Torrance who an ageing conglomerate. He is planning to put up a huge business consortium based on a new computer chip material which he believes will be revolutionary. As they move ahead they come across a stunning and secret tunnel in the kitchen. Once they start exploring the tunnel they are in for some surprises and also shocks. It leads them to many discoveries and the power struggle and stabbing behind the back that is going on in the conglomerate.

It also leads them to knowing more about the mysterious murder of Keith Enright the engineer. However, things take some weird twists and turns and Torrence suffer a near fatal heart attack. It is only then that Landon becomes alert. He starts taking a proactive role and makes his presence felt when the final merger is about to take place. He throws a spanner into the merger process. Lewis has take lot of care to go back to the medieval past of Landon. He also portrays very nicely the in human aspects of big business and things that happen in the board room behind the scenes. It is a book which is quite big but nonetheless makes very enjoyable reading.

The Devil Is Dead is another wonderful depiction of the character of Arnold Landon. Shy and introvert by nature, he is making a living working for the Northumberland Planning Office. However, knowingly or unknowingly he often falls into trouble because of his main passion and interest in life. He wants to know more about the wood structure and ancient stone works of the District. He is working towards uncovering this mystery and has an arrogant professor Brandling to assist him. He also has another assistant by the name Cy Robinson to assist him. However, his quest is not easy and he has to pick up fights and tiffs along the way. He has to fight with the gypsies who have occupied the land legally.

He also has a tough time handling local farmers who are trying to push them away from the town. Then he has to find out ways to move forward when there is a bitter conflict between the gypsies and the farmers over a gypsy who is found lying in a church area which is not used regularly. This standoff between these two communities becomes tough to handle when Cy Robinson is taken hostage. Shockingly he is later found dead stabbed brutally. From here on the story takes many twists and turns which eventually leads to its logical conclusion. The conversations are old fashioned and might sound boring for the modern readers and some of the characters are also brute, coarse and unrefined. Hence, it is likely that the characters in particular and the book in general will go well only with those who have special likes and dislikes.

At the end of the day, there is no doubt that Roy Lewis has his one unique and wonderful style of writing. His rustic language and the typical countryside banter are very much evident in almost all his books. However, one thing is clear. Each of his work is totally different from the other and therefore readers can be sure that they will be coming across new situations and new circumstances. This will certainly go a long way in making each and every work highly interesting and captivating. That is perhaps the reason why he continues to be popular even many years of his death.

5 Responses to “Arnold Landon”

1. Warren: 2 years ago

   Please add the new titles that they have been republished under. Thanks.

   Reply
   • Graeme: 2 years ago

     Thanks for the heads up Warren – didn’t realize the rest had been released with the new titles. Updated.

     Reply
2. M. Diane Rogers: 2 years ago

   More of Roy Lewis’s Arnold Landon mystery series have been reissued (Joffe Books) – with new titles. My favourite mystery series.

   Reply
3. C S SCHULZ: 3 years ago

   The Roy Lewis Arnold Landon series seems to have two names for each book. Those listed here are not the same as those listed on Amazon, so it is still not easy to follow the list in order. Is there a list somewhere that shows both names for each book? Thanks!

   Reply
   • Graeme: 3 years ago

     Yep of course – added the alternate titles. Sorry we missed those originally.

     Reply