Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mr. and Mrs. North | 1936 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 2 | The Norths Meet Murder | 1940 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 3 | Murder Out of Turn | 1941 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 4 | A Pinch of Poison | 1941 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 5 | Death on the Aisle | 1942 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 6 | Hanged for a Sheep | 1942 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 7 | Death Takes a Bow | 1943 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 8 | Killing the Goose | 1944 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 9 | Payoff for the Banker | 1945 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 10 | Death of a Tall Man | 1946 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 11 | Murder Within Murder | 1946 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 12 | Untidy Murder | 1947 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 13 | Murder Is Served | 1948 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 14 | The Dishonest Murderer | 1949 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 15 | Murder in a Hurry | 1950 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 16 | Murder Comes First | 1951 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 17 | Dead as a Dinosaur | 1952 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 18 | Death Has a Small Voice | 1952 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 19 | Curtain for a Jester | 1953 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 20 | A Key to Death | 1954 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 21 | Death of an Angel | 1955 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 22 | Voyage Into Violence | 1956 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 23 | The Long Skeleton | 1958 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 24 | Murder Suggested / Murder is Suggested | 1959 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 25 | The Judge is Reversed | 1960 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 26 | Murder Has Its Points | 1961 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
| 27 | Murder by the Book | 1963 | Richard & Frances Lockridge | Buy |
The Mr. and Mrs. North series started as a collection of lighthearted sketches Richard Lockridge wrote for The New Yorker magazine in the 1930s. These early pieces were simply about the everyday life of a married couple in Manhattan, with no murders in sight. Frances Lockridge suggested turning the Norths into mystery protagonists, and the result was The Norths Meet Murder in 1940, which kicked off one of the most popular mystery series of the mid-twentieth century.
Pam North is the real star of the books. She has a habit of making seemingly random observations that turn out to be key to solving the case, and her scattered way of talking drives everyone around her slightly crazy. Jerry is more grounded but usually a step behind his wife when it comes to figuring out whodunit. Their friend Lieutenant Bill Weigand of the NYPD handles the official police work, but it is almost always Pam who spots the crucial detail.
The series was popular enough to generate a Broadway play, a 1942 MGM film, a radio show, and a TV series that ran from 1952 to 1954. The Lockridges kept the books coming at a pace of roughly one per year through the early 1960s. Frances died in 1963, and the final book, Murder by the Book, was published that same year.