DCI Sophie Allen Books In Order

Publication Order of DCI Sophie Allen Books

The DCI Sophie Allen book series is a widely popular series of crime fiction, thriller, mystery, and British Literature novels. It is written by a reputed English novelist named Michael Hambling. This series consists of seven books in total released between 2013 and 2018. Author Hambling has described mysterious stories revolving around police procedurals and has done the setting of each of the books in Dorset. Every novel features the chief protagonist in the role of Detective Chief Inspector Sophie Allen. In the first novel of the series, Michael Hambling has created the persona of Sophie Allen as an over-intellectual detective, who thinks she is too clever and capable of solving any mystery. However, this is not the truth about her. A lot more is revealed in the stories about Sophie Allen when the character goes into flashback and learns some dark secrets about her past. In the later books, Sophie is seen having personal problems that she goes through while carrying out her duty as a DCI. Most parts of the stories take place in Dorset county. As the series progresses further, Sophie’s team features many detectives, who come and go, but Sophie Allen remains. Her family relationships are also seen developing with the progress of the series.

After major developments seen in Sophie’s characters in the first two books, the later novels show different aspects of her upbringing and childhood. As the series begins, Sophie Allen is introduced as a forty two year old, expert detective on violent and murder crime. She resides i Wareham with her husband and the younger of her two daughters. Sophie’s elder daughter lives in London for her higher studies. Sophie Allen holds a bachelor’s degree in law and a master’s degree in criminal psychology. She is brilliant in her work and has a high success rate in catching criminals and culprits. In addition to Sophie Allen, the other major character seen in the stories is Detective Sergeant Barry Marsh. Barry supports Sophie in all her investigations. He is based at the Swanage police station. Author Hambling has described Barry Marsh as a methodical, dedicated, and quiet man. He seems to be the perfect partner for Sophie, given her hidden fragility. Besides the intriguing mysteries and violent crimes depicted by Michael Hambling, the stories also feature the beautiful landscape of Dorset county. There are also descriptions of the stunning English coastline.

Michael Hambling is a noteworthy writer famous for writing mystery, detective fiction, thriller, and crime fiction stories. He is particularly famous for creating the protagonist Sophie Allen in his successful novel series, DCI Sophie Allen. All his novels are widely popular and have earned him a lot of praise from one and all. Hambling says that he has always been an avid reader. He was so fascinated by the idea of reading when he was a child that he used to visit the local library multiple times in a single day. Hambling resides in Salisbury, the lovely cathedral city, however he likes to set his stories in the neighboring Dorset county. He owns a flat in the coastal town of Dorset called Swanage, where he likes to spend quality time with his family. Author Hambling says that he likes to write because he keeps creating scenes, imaginary conversations, people, unusual situations in his head quite often. And he has been doing this since he has a child. Hambling finds great joy in using the English language’s richness and giving words to his thoughts. Whenever he finishes the first draft of a story, he likes to go through it over and over again to make sure that it is perfect in every sense. And when things turn out as per his expectations, Hambling feels he has done justice to his talent.

Michael Hambling has always been inspired by a number of fellow authors throughout his career. Some of his favorite authors include Hilary Mantel, Dorsi Lessing, David Mitchell, Philip Pullman, Charity Norman, etc. Besides these prolific authors, he also likes the crime fiction work of Kate Atkinson, Val McDiarmid, Mo Hayder, Colin Dexter, and Ian Rankin. Hambling believes that he can never become as great as these authors, but always tries to come up with something unique to offer to his fans. And his wide success in the last few years is a proof that he has done some great work in his career. Hambling likes to interact with the readers and take important suggestions from them for making his future stories much better. He hopes to keep entertaining his fans for many more years to come and wishes that they keep supporting and liking his work the way have done so far.

The debut book of the DCI Sophie Allen series written by author Michael Hambling is entitled ‘Dark Crimes’. It was published by the Joffe Books publication in 2013. This book features Barry Marsh and Sophie Allen in the lead roles. At the book’s start, the dead body of a young woman is found on a less crowded footpath at night in a seaside town of Dorset. The woman was stabbed through her heart and murdered. At first, the crime appears to be a simple one for Sophie Allen. She hopes to solve it easily with the assistance of her team. But, when the mother of the victim is discovered strangled in her house the next day, Sophie realizes that there is much more in the case that what can be seen with the naked eyes. As Sophie investigates further, she learns that the victims had some secret histories that involved intimidation and violence. All the clues point one obvious suspect, but Sophie is not convinced. She thinks that the real killer is still roaming freely on the streets. She decides to see the case from different angles and work out every possible theory to make sure the real culprit is caught and no other innocent life is lost.

Another gripping story written in the series is called ‘Evil Crimes’. It was also released by Joffe Books in 2017. At the novel’s beginning, it is mentioned that a man’s body is found floating in the sea in Dorset. Speculations start making rounds that the man might have slipped in the forceful winds and fallen. Some others think that there might be a more sinister reason behind the man’s death. While investigating this case, Sophie Allen gets her hands on an important link with suicide case that had happened at the same place around 6 months earlier. The two cases are further connected by an attractive female student. As Sophie’s team continues probing further, more alarming facts are found. Sophie wonders if the young woman is actually an evil or someone is manipulating her? As the pressure to solve the mystery keeps mounting on her, Sophie races against the clock to unravel the dark secrets and prevent any more killings.

3 Responses to “DCI Sophie Allen”

1. Judy jennings: 2 years ago

   Have nothing to read right now. Sure hope there are more Sophie alien books. Love the story line

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2. Olive Collinson: 2 years ago

   I have enjoyed every one of the ten Sophie Allen books. Hope there is to be another book. I think the story lines are brilliant. I feel as if I know the team Sophie works with. Her family as well. Thank you.

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3. Michael Rochester: 3 years ago

   I’m enjoying every one of this series but am irked by the introduction of the LGBT sub-text which seems to me at least to be an attempt to be an overt attempt to be seen to be on-message, right-on, inclusive and PC at the expense of an otherwise entirely excellently constructed set of plots with believable main-players. I fear that the tail is attempting to wag the dog.

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