SeriesStack

Kurt Wallander Books in Order

by Henning MankellMystery, Thriller & Suspense

11 books and 1 novella from The Pyramid (2009) to The Troubled Man (2011). Rated 4.2 across 14,342 listener reviews.

Reading order

  1. The Pyramid

    Book 0 2009 4.3 (946)

    This collection of five stories traces the growth of Swedish Inspector Kurt Wallander into a first-rate detective, from rookie cop to young father to middle-aged divorcé, illuminating new facets of a now-canonical character.

    Kindle Paperback Audiobook

  2. Faceless Killers

    Book 1 2001 4.0 (2.6k)

    It was a crime of senseless violence. On a cold night in a remote Swedish farmhouse, an elderly farmer was bludgeoned to death, his wife left to die with a noose around her neck.

    Kindle Paperback Audiobook

  3. The Dogs of Riga

    Book 2 2006 4.1 (1.4k)

    In this case, it is Detective Kurt Wallander’s obstinate desire to see that justice is done that brings the truth to light. On the Swedish coastline, two bodies, victims of grisly torture and cold execution, are discovered in a life raft.

    Kindle Paperback Audiobook

  4. The White Lioness

    Book 3 2006 4.2 (1.3k)

    The execution-style murder of a Swedish housewife looks like a simple case, except that there is no obvious suspect. Wallander follows a lead on a determined stalker, but when his alibi turns out to be airtight, Wallander begins to realize…

    Kindle Paperback Audiobook

  5. The Man Who Smiled

    Book 4 2005 4.3 (1.2k)

    A disillusioned Inspector Kurt Wallander is thrown back into the fray as both hunter and hunted in this fourth adventure from Sweden’s master of crime and mystery.

    Kindle Paperback Audiobook

  6. Sidetracked

    Book 5 1999 4.3 (1k)

    Detective Kurt Wallander is called to a nearby rapeseed field where a teenage girl has been loitering all day long. He arrives just in time to watch her douse herself in gasoline and set herself aflame.

    Kindle Paperback Audiobook

  7. The Fifth Woman

    Book 6 2008 4.2 (1.7k)

    In an African convent, four nuns and an unidentified fifth woman are brutally murdered, and the death of the unknown woman is covered up by the local police.

    Kindle Paperback Audiobook

  8. One Step Behind

    Book 7 2007 4.4 (1.2k)

    On Midsummer’s Eve, three role-playing teens dressed in eighteenth-century garb are shot in a secluded Swedish meadow. When one of Inspector Kurt Wallander’s most trusted colleagues, someone whose help he hoped to rely on to solve the…

    Kindle Paperback Audiobook

  9. Firewall

    Book 8 2008 4.4 (1.1k)

    A body is found at an ATM, the apparent victim of heart attack. Then two teenage girls are arrested for the brutal murder of a cab driver. The girls confess to the crime, showing no remorse whatsoever. Two open-and-shut cases.

    Kindle Paperback Audiobook

  10. Before the Frost

    Book 9 2009 4.0 (815)

    In this latest atmospheric thriller, Kurt Wallander and his daughter, Linda, join forces to search for a religious fanatic on a murder spree.

    Kindle Paperback Audiobook

  11. An Event in Autumn

    Novella 9.5 2014 4.4 (258)

    Kindle Paperback Audiobook

  12. The Troubled Man

    Book 10 2011 4.3 (964)

    The much-anticipated return of Henning Mankell’s brilliant, brooding detective, Kurt Wallander. On a winter day in 2008, Håkan von Enke, a retired high-ranking naval officer, vanishes during his daily walk in a forest near Stockholm.

    Kindle Paperback Audiobook

About this reading order

Books are listed in the series' own numbering, which for Kurt Wallander is also the best order to read them in. Novellas and short stories sit between the novels they follow, numbered the way the publisher numbers them (9.5 comes after book 9). They are optional — you can skip them without missing the main story. Years are first publication where we could confirm it, and otherwise the first audiobook release.

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