Doing Time

Name: Doing Time
Author: Jodi Taylor
ISBN: 9781472266774

Time Police · Novel 1 · 2019

Jane, Luke and Matthew join an organisation with a formidable reputation and an unusually difficult job: preventing people from changing history.

Book 1 of 6 in The Time Police

AI-generated illustration inspired by Doing Time; not a book cover.

What it’s about

Jane, Luke and Matthew join an organisation with a formidable reputation and an unusually difficult job: preventing people from changing history. Once knowledge of time travel became widespread, the damage nearly ended the world.

The Time Police emerged to protect the timeline, but their victory in the Time Wars has not settled every question about their future. Into this institution come three recruits whose suitability is far from obvious.

Doing Time introduces their place in a system that values authority and discipline, while leaving open whether its least promising newcomers might be precisely the people it needs. The starting point is recruitment, rather than an established team taking another assignment.

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Can I start here?

Yes. This series begins here.

Reader questions

Do I need to read St Mary's before Doing Time?

No. Doing Time is the first Time Police novel, so it is a workable starting point. Jodi Taylor’s own series guide introduces the organisation and Jane, Luke and Matthew here. The St Mary’s books share its universe; reading them first adds context, but this is a separate opening to follow.

Source: joditaylorbooks.com

Where this fits

Start the Time Police sequence here, then move to Hard Time. This novel is the first of the six novels listed in this series. St Mary’s shares its fictional world, but this opening establishes the new recruits’ own starting point.

Our recommended route is to follow their numbered books in publication order before adding the shorter Santa Grint adventure.

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Why readers love it

Our view

the contrast between a powerful institution and three doubtful recruits is the strongest reason to choose this opening novel. It offers a different angle on Taylor’s time-travel world: readers can approach history through the people responsible for stopping interference.

The premise should particularly suit anyone who likes workplace adventures where belonging and competence are separate questions. Jane, Luke and Matthew give a newcomer three people to follow, rather than requiring an immediate grasp of a long-running cast.

Their uncertain prospects also make this a more inviting entry point than a later mission with established loyalties.

Listening notes

Zara Ramm reads the listed unabridged UK recording, which lasts twelve hours and twenty-eight minutes. That is a full-length starting commitment rather than a short introduction.

If you are choosing between the two linked series in audio, begin with this recording for Jane, Luke and Matthew’s recruitment; choose Just One Damned Thing After Another for Max’s introduction to St Mary’s.