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A festive route across three worlds
Begin with When a Child Is Born and move down the year-by-year list if you want to follow the development of Jodi Taylor’s festive companions. This is a Christmas reading list rather than a complete novel chronology. The stories often assume that their recurring cast is already familiar, so a new reader should use each placement marker alongside the main series guide.
The year column follows the author’s chronology where it supplies one, with later pieces matched to their linked release listings. Reissued editions can carry newer dates. Two stories in the same year are not a promise of an official combined reading sequence: St Mary’s, the Time Police and Frogmorton Farm each have their own route. Choose one family at a time if you want to keep the relationships clear.
Choose a collection without buying duplicates
The Long and the Short of It includes When a Child Is Born, Christmas Present and My Name Is Markham among its earlier St Mary’s stories. Long Story Short includes Christmas Past, And Now for Something Completely Different and Little Donkey. These are useful entry points for a seasonal reread, but each collection contains other material too. Check its full contents before assuming that every piece belongs to the same point in the series.
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year gathers Why Is Nothing Ever Simple?, The Ordeal of the Haunted Room, The Toast of Time, Santa Grint and Joy to the World, with the extra St Mary’s scene A Storm in a Teacup. It crosses from the historians to the timeline’s police and the Farm. The bonus scene remains separately labelled on the bookshelf; it is not another full-length adventure.
What is coming for Christmas 2026?
Twelfth Night is the announced St Mary’s Christmas story, with ebook and downloadable audiobook editions listed by Headline for 25 December 2026. Publisher-listed date; may change. It is a short story, while Well, That Could Have Gone Better is the separate fifteenth novel. For the latest edition details, use the Twelfth Night book page and the single release-news guide.
Short on Time is announced for 2027 and lists Christmas Pie, Murder at Martingale Manor and Twelfth Night alongside non-Christmas pieces. Its collection date should not be mistaken for those stories’ individual release years. The contents links above show where a story appears in a published collection or an announced one.
Text, audio and a comfortable reread
You can use this list for reading or listening. The formats column links to existing edition listings; it does not assume that a print collection has an equivalent audio collection. When an audiobook has a narrator different from the familiar series performer, check that exact edition before buying. The audio guide separates individual readings and collection recordings.
For a low-pressure festive reread, pick a story whose characters you already know and keep the rest as optional visits. Mark completed pieces in your bookshelf so that next December you can find an unread adventure without rebuilding the list from scratch.