What do you think?
Rate this book
The Lord John Series
Diana Gabaldon, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Outlander series, delivers captivating tales of history, intrigue, and suspense that feature one of her most popular characters: Lord John Grey. This thrilling eBook collection—featuring three novels and one collection of novellas—follows Lord John as he defends his country, ferrets out spies, and unravels a haunting family mystery.
LORD JOHN AND THE PRIVATE MATTER
London, 1757. Lord John Grey, a nobleman and a high-ranking officer in His Majesty’s army, has just witnessed something shocking. But his efforts to avoid a scandal are interrupted when the Crown appoints him to investigate the brutal murder of a comrade-in-arms. Obliged to pursue two inquiries at once, Major Grey finds himself ensnared in a web of betrayal that touches every stratum of English society—and threatens all he holds dear.
LORD JOHN AND THE HAND OF DEVILS
A Collection of Novellas
In Lord John and the Hellfire Club, Lord John glimpses a stranger at a gentleman’s club—and is drawn into a maze of political treachery and a dangerous underground society. In Lord John and the Succubus, English soldiers in combat are rattled by a lethal creature that appears at night, and Lord John is called to investigate. In Lord John and the Haunted Soldier, Lord John is thrust into a baffling case that forces him to confront the prospect that a traitor is among the ranks of His Majesty’s armed forces.
LORD JOHN AND THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE BLADE
It’s been seventeen years since Lord John’s father was found dead, accusations of his role as a Jacobite agent staining the family’s name. Now, Lord John’s brother has mysteriously received a page of their father’s lost diary, convincing John that someone knows the Greys’ secrets. So he turns to the only man he can trust: the Scottish Jacobite Jamie Fraser. But when Jamie yields the missing piece of an astounding puzzle, Lord John must decide whether his family’s honor is worth his life.
THE SCOTTISH PRISONER
London, 1760. Paroled prisoner Jamie Fraser has sworn off politics, fighting, and war. Until Lord John Grey shows up with documents that expose a damning case of corruption against a British officer. But they also hint at a more insidious danger. Soon Lord John and Jamie are companions on the road to Ireland, a country whose dark castles hold dreadful secrets, and whose bogs hide the bones of the dead.
LORD JOHN AND THE PRIVATE MATTER
London, 1757. Lord John Grey, a nobleman and a high-ranking officer in His Majesty’s army, has just witnessed something shocking. But his efforts to avoid a scandal are interrupted when the Crown appoints him to investigate the brutal murder of a comrade-in-arms. Obliged to pursue two inquiries at once, Major Grey finds himself ensnared in a web of betrayal that touches every stratum of English society—and threatens all he holds dear.
LORD JOHN AND THE HAND OF DEVILS
A Collection of Novellas
In Lord John and the Hellfire Club, Lord John glimpses a stranger at a gentleman’s club—and is drawn into a maze of political treachery and a dangerous underground society. In Lord John and the Succubus, English soldiers in combat are rattled by a lethal creature that appears at night, and Lord John is called to investigate. In Lord John and the Haunted Soldier, Lord John is thrust into a baffling case that forces him to confront the prospect that a traitor is among the ranks of His Majesty’s armed forces.
LORD JOHN AND THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE BLADE
It’s been seventeen years since Lord John’s father was found dead, accusations of his role as a Jacobite agent staining the family’s name. Now, Lord John’s brother has mysteriously received a page of their father’s lost diary, convincing John that someone knows the Greys’ secrets. So he turns to the only man he can trust: the Scottish Jacobite Jamie Fraser. But when Jamie yields the missing piece of an astounding puzzle, Lord John must decide whether his family’s honor is worth his life.
THE SCOTTISH PRISONER
London, 1760. Paroled prisoner Jamie Fraser has sworn off politics, fighting, and war. Until Lord John Grey shows up with documents that expose a damning case of corruption against a British officer. But they also hint at a more insidious danger. Soon Lord John and Jamie are companions on the road to Ireland, a country whose dark castles hold dreadful secrets, and whose bogs hide the bones of the dead.
1946 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2011
926 people are currently reading
1546 people want to read
About the author
Diana Gabaldon
232 books181k followersDiana Jean Gabaldon Watkins grew up in Flagstaff, Arizona and is of Hispanic and English descent (with a dash of Native American and Sephardic Jew). She has earned three degrees: a B.S. in Zoology, a M.S. in Marine Biology, and a Ph.D in Ecology, plus an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Glasgow, for services to Scottish Literature.
She currently lives in Scottsdale, Arizona .
She currently lives in Scottsdale, Arizona .
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
August 9, 2017
Couldn't finish the first book, much less the series. After reading the first "Outlander," I was curious to see what Gabaldon would do with a gay main character (especially in light of how heteronormative the Outlander books are, with gay characters being portrayed as either pedophiles, rapists, or torturers - or all three). The answer was, apparently, nothing special. The book had none of the pizzazz or excitement of the Outlander books, and minus one of two subtly suggestive scenes, it's just a boring police investigation into a murder. On a positive note, the gay main character didn't appear to be a pedophile, rapist, or torturer - but then again, I never finished the book, so who knows. Really need to find better LGBTQ romance.
September 18, 2015
Diana Gabaldon's writing never fails to enthral me. I enjoyed getting to know Lord John and his entourage better in these stories, having encountered them in the Outlander novels. It was a joy to get to know Tom Byrd, who is quite underplayed. And Neil Stapleton's nom de guerre is the best naming of a character I've ever come across!
July 8, 2019
I recommend reading these stories in chronological order. I read them in order of interest and then by presentation before I realized that they are not in chronological order. While they are supposedly stand alone books, they read better when you have the nitty gritty details tucked away for reference, otherwise you'll be disappointed in the "big reveal" of the tantalizing tidbits of scandal that the author harps on to an annoying degree all for the sake of drumming up tension and suspense. Also I got caught up in catching chronological inconsistencies in the story details.
It seems like everyone in Gabaldon's world is half in love with Jamie Fraser. On the one hand, who can blame them? On the other hand, it comes to a point where you ask yourself, surely there are more characters out there in need of love and drama. Right now the score is four women to three men who have tried to "seduce" Jamie. That's a fairly large number for a main lead who is NOT ( for lack of a better term) a "womanizer" (or bisexual for that matter).
While Jack Randall was a guy you loved to hate, and the Duke of Sandringham a comical anectdote, that leaves Lord John a bit more lovable, but less plausible. Especially when you consider the kind of entrance his character had in the series. Lord John's character development really came about during Voyager, at which time it was revealed he was gay. I just had a hard time reconciling a scappy teenager intent on saving an English woman's virtue with a young man inexplicably in love with said woman's "captor". I guess we'll chalk that one up to my heteronormative preconceptions. AND I thought it a bit odd that he compares all of his lovers to Jamie but not to Hector, who actually was a former lover.
The Lord John series is bit like a subdued Sherlock Holmes knock off set in an Outlander time frame. The plot tends to meander until you get to an info dump of "this is how it happened" at the very end. The only problem is that you never really care about the people about whom the mystery is being solved.
It seems like everyone in Gabaldon's world is half in love with Jamie Fraser. On the one hand, who can blame them? On the other hand, it comes to a point where you ask yourself, surely there are more characters out there in need of love and drama. Right now the score is four women to three men who have tried to "seduce" Jamie. That's a fairly large number for a main lead who is NOT ( for lack of a better term) a "womanizer" (or bisexual for that matter).
While Jack Randall was a guy you loved to hate, and the Duke of Sandringham a comical anectdote, that leaves Lord John a bit more lovable, but less plausible. Especially when you consider the kind of entrance his character had in the series. Lord John's character development really came about during Voyager, at which time it was revealed he was gay. I just had a hard time reconciling a scappy teenager intent on saving an English woman's virtue with a young man inexplicably in love with said woman's "captor". I guess we'll chalk that one up to my heteronormative preconceptions. AND I thought it a bit odd that he compares all of his lovers to Jamie but not to Hector, who actually was a former lover.
The Lord John series is bit like a subdued Sherlock Holmes knock off set in an Outlander time frame. The plot tends to meander until you get to an info dump of "this is how it happened" at the very end. The only problem is that you never really care about the people about whom the mystery is being solved.
March 2, 2016
Lovely side series to get you through to the next installment of Outlander
I really enjoyed the novels in this anthology, the novellas were less entertaining but over all added some fabulous context to characters we see in the later Outlander novels. The Scottish Prisoner and The Brotherhood of the Blade get 5 stars but I'm giving the anthology 4 since I thought the novellas were a little boring.
I really enjoyed the novels in this anthology, the novellas were less entertaining but over all added some fabulous context to characters we see in the later Outlander novels. The Scottish Prisoner and The Brotherhood of the Blade get 5 stars but I'm giving the anthology 4 since I thought the novellas were a little boring.
November 16, 2023
I have never read the Outlander series, and luckily I didn't need to know much of anything about them to enjoy these books. These are much shorter stories of Diana's, and not the huge tombs she normally writes. The series is done (as far as I'm aware) The last books shares two narrators; I assume the same person who does Outlander for Jamie's stories, and that took a while to get into it as I had grown accustom of Jeff's for the previous 3 books. An enjoyable history piece, that if you read Outlander or familar with the Jacobite uprising, may find more enjoyable as having more context information than not, however is not required to enjoy.
May 28, 2019
Not a bad stopgap
I'd re-read the first five Outlander novels to set myself up for the next few I hadn't read. But then I'd read those too, and was out of all my Outlander books (until this summer, I guess.) Unacceptable!
Realized I hadn't read all the Lord John books, though. And he is delightful. Though the stories that feature Jamie as well have more zest than the others. His character brings a chemistry to the page, and to Lord John himself, that isn't there otherwise-- though the other stories are still fun and worth a read.
I'd re-read the first five Outlander novels to set myself up for the next few I hadn't read. But then I'd read those too, and was out of all my Outlander books (until this summer, I guess.) Unacceptable!
Realized I hadn't read all the Lord John books, though. And he is delightful. Though the stories that feature Jamie as well have more zest than the others. His character brings a chemistry to the page, and to Lord John himself, that isn't there otherwise-- though the other stories are still fun and worth a read.
March 21, 2019
Ties in well
I definitely have some answers about loose points in the other books. I’ve now read all of the Outlander and Lord John books and short stories. I hope for more. I haven’t watched the show. Maybe some day, but as books are usually better than the movies I assume this is the same. I like to form my own mental images before I watch a movie or television series based on a book.
I definitely have some answers about loose points in the other books. I’ve now read all of the Outlander and Lord John books and short stories. I hope for more. I haven’t watched the show. Maybe some day, but as books are usually better than the movies I assume this is the same. I like to form my own mental images before I watch a movie or television series based on a book.
August 9, 2019
Scottish Prisoner
This was a slow for me. It was a “filler” to the series I love. I really hope book 9 Bees comes soon. While parts of this story O did enjoy, I found it less intriguing than the main series. I also wanted it to go to the time when Jamie leaves Helwater and Lord John has guardianship of William. I’d like to know both of their perspectives during that time and how Jamie begins the printing press business from his POV.
This was a slow for me. It was a “filler” to the series I love. I really hope book 9 Bees comes soon. While parts of this story O did enjoy, I found it less intriguing than the main series. I also wanted it to go to the time when Jamie leaves Helwater and Lord John has guardianship of William. I’d like to know both of their perspectives during that time and how Jamie begins the printing press business from his POV.
October 11, 2019
Diana gabaldons series has become my most interesting reading for some tjme. The highlander series was so good and now the Lord John series was certainly a plus , I wish there were more follow up of the same characters.
I would certainly recommend Diana gabaldon to anyone who loves books about the countries of Scotland and England in their long ab
who
Spellbinding past.
I would certainly recommend Diana gabaldon to anyone who loves books about the countries of Scotland and England in their long ab
who
Spellbinding past.
December 15, 2022
I have read all 9 Outlander books, twice. This series flushes out John Grey. It increased me empathy for living (being) homosexual in the past. Realize it remains very difficult throughout world societies but some progress (understanding) has been made. What I really enjoyed is thinking about the conditions of life and love 200 years ago - and living a life in service to others is so rewarding.
February 1, 2025
I had a hard time rating this one, as I really enjoyed some and didn't really care for others in this collection. Below are my individual ratings, but overall, I loved the majority of this book due to loving the longest stories included.
Lord John and the Hellfire Club 3/5
Lord John and the Private Matter 4/5
Lord John and the Succubus 3/5
Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade 5/5
Lord John and the Haunted Soldier 3/5
The Scottish Prisoner 5/5
Lord John and the Hellfire Club 3/5
Lord John and the Private Matter 4/5
Lord John and the Succubus 3/5
Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade 5/5
Lord John and the Haunted Soldier 3/5
The Scottish Prisoner 5/5
May 30, 2020
I REALLY enjoyed The Scottish Prisoner.
Obviously, it's taken me forever to get through all of this, but part of the reason was trying to get into the story. I feel as a character I know Lord John now, but it wasn't until he had interactions with another well-known character that I felt involved.
Will be going back to read My Own Hearts Blood now I think.
Obviously, it's taken me forever to get through all of this, but part of the reason was trying to get into the story. I feel as a character I know Lord John now, but it wasn't until he had interactions with another well-known character that I felt involved.
Will be going back to read My Own Hearts Blood now I think.
July 10, 2021
Glad to know more about Lord John
The collection of stories was very compelling. If you are an Outlander fan this is a great way to dive into more detail concerning Lord John. It also fills in some backstory of Jamie’s time at Hellwater. It was also good to learn more about Lord John’s brother Hal and his wife Minnie.
The collection of stories was very compelling. If you are an Outlander fan this is a great way to dive into more detail concerning Lord John. It also fills in some backstory of Jamie’s time at Hellwater. It was also good to learn more about Lord John’s brother Hal and his wife Minnie.
March 4, 2025
A must...if you are an Outlander fan
I am such a fan of the Outlander series!! I really enjoyed knowing more about what Jamie, John Gray and his brother got up to while Claire was living her life in the 20th century! Diana Gabaldon is a true artist, blending real history with "her"story...
I am such a fan of the Outlander series!! I really enjoyed knowing more about what Jamie, John Gray and his brother got up to while Claire was living her life in the 20th century! Diana Gabaldon is a true artist, blending real history with "her"story...
May 21, 2018
this book had some funny parts, exciting parts, mysterious parts but all in all it wasn't the type of book i enjoy reading and cant put down (tho once I start i have to finish, no matter what) ~ not what i was expecting, but hey, you don't know till you try ;p
April 18, 2024
Very good story telling
The research into the 1700s gives a fascinating reality to the rip roaring adventures of the characters and the sense of lives people at many levels lived at the time! Magical ride through history!
The research into the 1700s gives a fascinating reality to the rip roaring adventures of the characters and the sense of lives people at many levels lived at the time! Magical ride through history!
May 7, 2018
I honestly got sick of the Outlander series and forced myself to finish it. I wasn't a fan of the short stories to start, but by the end of the Lord John series I really enjoyed it.
October 5, 2019
Lord John is an interesting focal point.
Read
November 1, 2019What's not to like about Lord John.
March 14, 2020
Good read. Not the page turned that the main Outlander series is, but nicely answers a number of questions. Best bit? How Hal met his second wife, Minnie.
February 4, 2021
A great collection by a great writer!
December 3, 2021
Lord John is the most wonderful character. He is humorous. I love the constant dialogue he has in his head. I have enjoyed these books/
April 19, 2022
Great to have some background on Lord John!
January 27, 2023
These books tie in very well to the Outlander series
Read
December 3, 2025Tried to read it, couldn't get into it.
January 17, 2018
What fun. I knew there would be so much more to John, and more we got! Talk about fill in the blanks and add some flesh to this fascinating character! Although a standalone, to really appreciate the depth of John and Jamie's relationship, as well as some fascinating reading; I recommend reading this after book 8. Unless you've seen the television series, a small bit of these might be confusing, but is easily overlooked.
Smart and likeable, John seems to get into as many frays and pickles as Jamie and Claire. He definitely is not a boring character, and the mysteries that follow him around like the mud on his boots; makes for a gripping read.
I'm not really an ereader, but since I caved and bought one ostensibly for the kitchen, I am slowly being drawn into the ability to read books I wouldnt necessarily want on my shelves. If only because my house would turn into a library.
I have purged to only the valuable first editions and sentimental to me tomes.
Smart and likeable, John seems to get into as many frays and pickles as Jamie and Claire. He definitely is not a boring character, and the mysteries that follow him around like the mud on his boots; makes for a gripping read.
I'm not really an ereader, but since I caved and bought one ostensibly for the kitchen, I am slowly being drawn into the ability to read books I wouldnt necessarily want on my shelves. If only because my house would turn into a library.
I have purged to only the valuable first editions and sentimental to me tomes.
September 1, 2021
I’m pretty much counting this book twice since I’ve also marked all the individual books read as well. #notsorry Lord John is my favorite Outlander character. Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade is my favorite of his stories.
May 3, 2022
Nice bundle of stories
This is a nice bundle of stories involving Lord John Grey. However, there were some stories better than others, and at times it seemed that plot or storyline jumped without transitions. Nonetheless, you can clearly read how developed John Grey the character becomes as the story lines go from older to newer.
This is a nice bundle of stories involving Lord John Grey. However, there were some stories better than others, and at times it seemed that plot or storyline jumped without transitions. Nonetheless, you can clearly read how developed John Grey the character becomes as the story lines go from older to newer.
May 18, 2014
I gobbled up this series. I have a crush on Lord John...I know...he's gay... but his character is totally crushable. Lord John is so loyal and loving to his family and intimates, yet he can be fierce and decisive in battle. He truly is a noble soul. His feelings for Jamie, a man he understands he can never have, are touching and heart-wrenching at times. Ending the series with The Scottish Prisoner was the icing on the cake for me.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews