Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blackstone’s Pursuits | 1996 | Quintin Jardine | N/A |
| 2 | Blackstone’s Pursuits / Dangerous Pursuits | 1996 | Quintin Jardine | Buy |
| 3 | A Coffin for Two | 1997 | Quintin Jardine | Buy |
| 4 | Wearing Purple | 1999 | Quintin Jardine | Buy |
| 5 | Screen Savers | 2000 | Quintin Jardine | Buy |
| 6 | On Honeymoon with Death | 2001 | Quintin Jardine | Buy |
| 7 | Poisoned Cherries | 2003 | Quintin Jardine | Buy |
| 8 | Poisoned Cherries (Oz Blackstone series, Book 6): Murder and intrigue in a thrilling crime novel | 2003 | Quintin Jardine | N/A |
| 9 | Unnatural Justice | 2003 | Quintin Jardine | Buy |
| 10 | Alarm Call | 2004 | Quintin Jardine | Buy |
| 11 | For the Death of Me | 2005 | Quintin Jardine | Buy |
The Oz Blackstone series is Quintin Jardine’s second major crime fiction sequence. Oz is an Edinburgh-based investigator with a sharp sense of humor and a habit of getting pulled into dangerous situations. The series started with Blackstone’s Pursuits in 1996 and ran for nine novels through For the Death of Me in 2005. The books are lighter in tone than Jardine’s Bob Skinner police procedurals, with Oz narrating in a first-person, slightly irreverent style.
Over the course of the series, Oz’s life changes considerably. He goes from small-time private work to brushes with the entertainment industry, and his personal relationships (particularly his marriage to Primavera) are a recurring thread. The settings range from Edinburgh to continental Europe, and the mysteries often involve con artists, corporate fraud, and murder. Fans of Jardine’s Bob Skinner books who want something a bit less procedural and more character-driven will find a lot to like here. After the main series ended, Jardine also published several Oz Blackstone short stories and novellas.