Hi! I’m Alex Smith, the author of the DCI Robert Kett novels, which to date include Paper Girls, Bad Dog, Three Little Pigs, Whip Crack, Run Rabbit Run, Stone Cold Dead, Every Mother’s Son, Sweet Briar Rose, Jaw Breaker, Knock Knock, King Rat, Knuckle Bones, Lucky Number Seven, Unholy Saints, Truly Madly Deadly, Every Last Devil, Red Line, Cold Iron Kills, Tin Soldiers and Until Death, which is out soon—as well as the free novella Cry Baby. I’m also the author of the Softley Softley books and Six Days, Six Hours, Six Minutes, which are all set in the Robert Kett universe.
My brand-new series, starring DI Harrison Baird, is out now! You can read A Long-Dead Thing and Open Wounds, and preorder the third book, Mad Dogs, here.
I also write books for children and teenagers under the name Alexander Gordon Smith, and you can check out my other site here!
If you’d like to know anything about my books, feel free to get in touch, or sign up to my mailing list.
And whatever you do, don’t let DI Porter make the tea…
THE DCI ROBERT KETT THRILLERS
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The DI Harrison Baird Thrillers
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Latest News
17th January 2026
TIN SOLDIERS is out now!
The 19th Kett book is out today! I am so excited to share it with you. Hopefully it contains all the thrilling action, gory crimes and dark hilarity that you’ve come to expect from DCI Kett and the Extreme Crime Task Force.
If you’re also reading the DI Baird books, then check below for a recommended reading order!
War is coming…
It has been months since DCI Robert Kett’s world was almost shattered by the murderous syndicate known as Hollenbeck, and he’s still picking up the pieces. What he wants now is a slow return to the job, and a handful of easy cases.
What he gets, though, is a dead woman in a park, her eyes replaced with molten tin.
And this body is only the first. As Norwich burns in an unseasonably hot spring, a series of brutal attacks leaves the Extreme Crime Task Force reeling.
With a vicious serial killer targeting random victims, a ruthless gang terrorising the streets, and a city close to self-destruct, Kett knows only one thing for sure.
This time, he’s at war.
21st November 2025
DI Harrison Baird is back!
My brand new series is out now, set in the world of DCI Kett. Kett plays a pretty huge role in these books, although not for the reason you might think…
Read A Long-Dead Thing and the sequel Open Wounds now!
It may be heaven on earth, but now hell has broken loose...
When a botched raid on a gang of people smugglers in Aberdeen goes wrong, impulsive Police Scotland detective DI Harrison Baird faces the worst punishment imaginable: relocation to England.
Posted in the sleepy seaside town of Southwold, and partnered with the apparently hapless DC Connie Connell, Baird finds himself in a world that’s totally different to the gritty Scottish streets he’s used to. Here, the biggest problem seems to be what topping to put on his ice cream, and how to avoid eating DI Henry Crump’s awful fish pie.
But beneath the surface, the Suffolk coast hides a terrifying darkness. One night, a body is washed ashore—a long-dead thing—and in its eye is a silver coin.
When more bodies follow, each murdered more brutally than the last, Baird realises that he’s arrived just in time to face a ruthless serial killer—one who seems to be targeting members of a powerful local crime family.
It’s clear that things down south are not always what they seem. And sometimes, even in the most peaceful of places, you need to play hardball.
The first in a brand new series from multi-million copy bestseller Alex Smith, author of the DCI Kett books, A Long-Dead Thing has all the compulsive mystery, gripping action and hilarious comedy readers have come to love. Welcome to Southwold!
Reading Order
DCI Kett and DI Baird share a world, and there’s a story running through both series that will make more sense if you read them in order. If Baird isn’t your cup of tea, though, don’t worry! You don’t have to read the Baird books for Kett’s story to make sense.
If you’re enjoying both the DCI Robert Kett series and the DI Harrison Baird books, this is the best order in which to read them:
DCI Robert Kett: Books 1-17
DCI Robert Kett, Book 18: Cold Iron Kills
DI Harrison Baird, Book 1: A Long-Dead Thing
DI Harrison Baird, Book 2: Open Wounds
DCI Robert Kett, Book 19: Tin Soldiers
DCI Harrison Baird, Book 3: Mad Dogs
DCI Robert Kett, Book 20: Until Death
A free kett novella
DCI Robert Kett is about to have the worst day of his life.
The city is a Furnace, nine million people losing their minds in an unprecedented heatwave. Somebody is strangling young men on London's buses and trains, and Kett must find the killer before the capital descends into chaos.
But that’s not all he has to worry about. An old enemy is out for revenge, and with a price on his head, danger is everywhere.
London is burning, but if Kett’s not careful then it’s his life—and the lives of those he loves most—that's about to go up in flames…
Discover the events that led to PAPER GIRLS in this official DCI Kett Novella, free to read on BookFunnel.