Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | O Mistério da Casa do Relógio | 1973 | John Bellairs | N/A |
| 2 | The House with a Clock in Its Walls | 1973 | John Bellairs | Buy |
| 3 | The Figure in the Shadows | 1975 | John Bellairs | Buy |
| 4 | The Letter, the Witch and the Ring | 1976 | John Bellairs | Buy |
| 5 | The Ghost in the Mirror | 1993 | John Bellairs | Buy |
| 6 | The Vengeance of the Witch-Finder | 1993 | John Bellairs | Buy |
| 7 | The Doom of the Haunted Opera | 1995 | John Bellairs | Buy |
| 8 | Spectre from the Magician’s Museum | 1998 | John Bellairs | N/A |
| 9 | The Specter from the Magician’s Museum | 1998 | John Bellairs | Buy |
| 10 | Beast Under The Wizard’s Bridge | 2000 | John Bellairs | N/A |
| 11 | The Beast Under the Wizard’s Bridge | 2000 | John Bellairs | Buy |
| 12 | The Tower at the End of the World | 2001 | John Bellairs | Buy |
| 13 | The Whistle, the Grave, and the Ghost | 2003 | John Bellairs | Buy |
| 14 | The House Where Nobody Lived | 2006 | John Bellairs | Buy |
| 15 | The Sign of the Sinister Sorcerer | 2008 | John Bellairs | Buy |
The Lewis Barnavelt series is John Bellairs’ most famous creation, beginning with “The House with a Clock in Its Walls” (1973). Lewis is an orphaned boy who goes to live with his Uncle Jonathan, a good-natured wizard, in a creepy old house that once belonged to a dark sorcerer. The house contains a clock hidden somewhere in its walls, ticking down to an unknown catastrophe. Lewis, Jonathan, and their neighbor Mrs. Zimmerman (also a witch) must stop it.
The series continued with “The Figure in the Shadows” (1975) and “The Letter, the Witch and the Ring” (1976), the three books Bellairs wrote himself. After his death, Brad Strickland completed his unfinished manuscripts and added new entries, extending the series to fifteen books through “The Sign of the Sinister Sorcerer” (2008). The original three books, with Edward Gorey’s illustrations, are considered classics of children’s gothic fiction.