Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Four Last Things | 1997 | Andrew Taylor | Buy |
| 2 | Fallen Angel | 2014 | Andrew Taylor | Buy |
| 3 | The Judgement of Strangers | 1997 | Andrew Taylor | Buy |
| 4 | The Office of the Dead | 1999 | Andrew Taylor | Buy |
| 5 | Requiem for an Angel | 2002 | Andrew Taylor | Buy |
The Roth series by Andrew Taylor is a group of interconnected novels exploring guilt, obsession, and violence within and around a clergy family. The core of the sequence is often called the Roth Trilogy: The Four Last Things, The Judgement of Strangers, and The Office of the Dead. These three novels are told in reverse chronological order, with each book moving further back in time to reveal the roots of the family’s troubles.
The trilogy’s structure is one of its most striking features. The Four Last Things is set in the present day, but The Judgement of Strangers steps back to the 1950s, and The Office of the Dead goes back further still. Reading them in publication order means that each book reframes what you thought you understood about the characters and their motivations. Fallen Angel and Requiem for an Angel are companion volumes that approach the same events from different angles.
Taylor’s writing in these books is among his most psychologically intense. The cathedral town settings, the complicated web of clergy politics, and the slow revelation of buried secrets create a growing sense of dread. The Roth novels are a good choice for readers who like their crime fiction layered with moral complexity and an unusual narrative structure.