Order of Alan Hunter Books

Alan Hunter (1922-2005) was a British crime fiction writer best known for his prolific Inspector George Gently series. Hunter left his formal education behind at age 14 to help with the family farming operation, where he discovered his passion for writing through contributing poetry and nature observations to local newspapers.

Hunter first appeared in print in 1944 with a poetry collection titled The Norwich Poems, though this work has since become unavailable. His transition to crime fiction proved remarkably successful when he launched his detective series in 1955 with Gently Does It. What followed was an impressive literary output spanning over four decades, during which Hunter maintained an almost annual publishing schedule, ultimately completing 46 novels before concluding the series with Gently Mistaken in 1999.

Hunter's dedication to his fictional detective George Gently was unwavering—every novel he published belonged to this single series, demonstrating both his commitment to the character and his ability to sustain reader interest across nearly half a century of storytelling.

Several of Hunter's titles were published under alternative names: Gently North-West appeared as Gently in the Highlands, Gently in Trees was also called Gently Through the Woods, Fields of Heather became Death on the Heath, Amorous Leander was known as Death on the Broadlands, and The Unhanged Man was alternatively published as Unhung Man.