Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shift Work | 2017 | H. Claire Taylor | Buy |
| 2 | Same Old Shift | 2018 | H. Claire Taylor | Buy |
| 3 | Shift Out of Luck | 2020 | H. Claire Taylor | Buy |
| 4 | Deep Shift | 2021 | H. Claire Taylor | Buy |
The Kilhaven Police series is H. Claire Taylor’s mystery-comedy sequence. Shift Work (2017) introduces the small-town police department, and the series continues through Same Old Shift (2018), Shift Out of Luck (2020), and Deep Shift (2021). Taylor brings her comic sensibility to the police procedural format, finding humor in the mundane realities of small-town law enforcement.
The running “shift” pun in every title sets the tone. These books play the police procedural straight enough to work as mysteries while keeping the comedy front and center. The Kilhaven department is full of characters who take their jobs seriously even when the situations they find themselves in are absurd.
Taylor published the series over four years, and the books should be read in order since character relationships develop across the full run. Readers who like Janet Evanovich’s blend of mystery and comedy will find a similar energy here, just set in a small-town squad room rather than New Jersey.