Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blood and Guts | 2015 | Ed James | Buy |
| 2 | Tooth and Claw / Snared | 2015 | Ed James | Buy |
| 3 | Flesh and Blood | 2020 | Ed James | Buy |
| 4 | Skin and Bone | 2021 | Ed James | Buy |
| 5 | Guilt Trip | 2022 | Ed James | Buy |
Vicky Dodds is a Detective Sergeant based in Dundee, juggling the demands of serious investigations with the complications of her personal life. The series begins with Blood and Guts and Tooth and Claw / Snared in 2015, establishing the character and the Dundee setting before a five-year gap before Flesh and Blood brought the series back in 2020.
The Dundee setting distinguishes the series from Ed James’s Edinburgh work. The city’s mix of post-industrial neighbourhoods, the university, and the waterfront give the books a specific sense of place, and Dodds’s position as a female DS in a predominantly male environment adds friction to the workplace dynamics.
Skin and Bone (2021) and Guilt Trip (2022) complete the five-book run, with Guilt Trip in particular drawing on Vicky’s personal relationships and history to raise the emotional stakes of the investigation.