Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Think of Death | 1947 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 2 | I Want to Go Home | 1948 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 3 | Spin Your Web, Lady | 1949 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | N/A |
| 4 | Spin Your Web, Lady! | 1949 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 5 | Foggy, Foggy Death | 1950 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 6 | A Client is Cancelled | 1951 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 7 | Death by Association / Trial by Terror | 1952 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 8 | Stand Up And Die | 1953 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 9 | Death and the Gentle Bull / Killer in the Straw | 1954 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 10 | Burnt Offering | 1955 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 11 | Let Dead Enough Alone | 1955 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 12 | Practice to Deceive | 1957 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 13 | Practise to Deceive | 1957 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | N/A |
| 14 | Accent on Murder | 1958 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 15 | Show Red For Danger | 1960 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 16 | With One Stone / No Dignity in Death | 1961 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 17 | First Come, First Kill | 1963 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 18 | The Distant Clue | 1963 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 19 | Murder Can’t Wait | 1964 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 20 | Murder Roundabout | 1966 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 21 | With Option to Die | 1967 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 22 | A Risky Way to Kill | 1970 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 23 | Inspector’s Holiday | 1971 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 24 | Not I Said The Sparrow | 1973 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 25 | Dead Run | 1976 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 26 | The Tenth Life | 1977 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 27 | Dead Run | 2018 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
The Captain Heimrich series follows Merton Heimrich, a state police detective based in Putnam County, New York. Heimrich is a large, deliberate man who investigates murders in the small towns and country estates north of New York City. His method is patient and unhurried. He sits, he listens, and he waits for things to fall into place. His signature phrase is “Now I’ll tell you what I think happened.”
The series began in 1947 with Think of Death, while the Lockridges were also producing their popular Mr. and Mrs. North novels. The Heimrich books have a quieter, more rural feel. Murders happen at horse farms, country houses, and lakeside cottages. Heimrich is assisted by Sergeant Forniss, and later in the series he marries Susan Faye, a widow who becomes a recurring character.
Richard and Frances Lockridge wrote the Heimrich novels together through the early 1960s. After Frances died in 1963, Richard continued the series on his own, eventually promoting Heimrich to Inspector. The later books maintain the same pastoral setting and careful investigative style. The final entry, The Tenth Life, was published in 1977.