Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Caroline Minuscule | 1982 | Andrew Taylor | Buy |
| 2 | Waiting for the End of the World | 1984 | Andrew Taylor | Buy |
| 3 | Our Fathers’ Lies | 1985 | Andrew Taylor | Buy |
| 4 | An Old School Tie | 1986 | Andrew Taylor | Buy |
| 5 | Freelance Death | 1987 | Andrew Taylor | Buy |
| 6 | Blood Relation | 1990 | Andrew Taylor | Buy |
| 7 | The Sleeping Policeman | 1992 | Andrew Taylor | Buy |
| 8 | Odd Man Out | 1993 | Andrew Taylor | Buy |
The William Dougal series was Andrew Taylor’s first sequence of novels, beginning with the award-winning Caroline Minuscule in 1982. The books follow William Dougal, a postgraduate history student who stumbles into a world of crime, fraud, and occasionally murder. Unlike most detective series protagonists, Dougal is not a cop or a private investigator. He is clever but not always honest, and his moral compass tends to wander.
The series ran for eight books over eleven years, taking Dougal from his student days through a variety of increasingly complex situations. Caroline Minuscule won the CWA John Creasey Award for best first crime novel, establishing Taylor as a writer worth watching. As the series progresses, Dougal becomes entangled with a cast of recurring characters, and the books grow darker in tone while keeping their dry, sardonic wit.
These early novels show Taylor developing the craft that would later produce his acclaimed historical fiction. Readers who enjoy British crime with flawed, unpredictable protagonists will find the William Dougal books a strong starting point for exploring Taylor’s wider body of work.