DI Hillary Greene

DI Hillary Greene is the Detective Inspector protagonist of Joyce Cato's long-running Hillary Greene series — an Oxford-based investigator who navigates the complicated politics of the Thames Valley Police while consistently delivering results on difficult cases. Greene is one of British crime fiction's more resilient and resourceful female detectives, operating in the shadow of her late husband's corruption scandal while building her own reputation on her own terms.

The Oxford and Thames Valley setting gives the series a specific regional atmosphere — different from the city procedurals that dominate British crime fiction, rendering the specific landscape of the Thames Valley and its communities with local knowledge. Greene's relationships with her colleagues, her superiors, and the various colleagues and romantic interests who pass through the series give it personal dimension beyond the casework.

The series is notable for its longevity — Cato has maintained the character and her world across many volumes with consistent quality, building a readership that appreciates both the procedural competence and the character development that accumulates across an extended series.

Begin with Written in Blood and read in order.