If you have finished the Rivers of London series and find yourself quite bereft, then you have come to the right place. For there exist other stories of magic hiding in plain sight, of detectives who chase both criminals and creatures, and of cities that harbour secrets older than memory itself.
Allow us, if you will, to serve as your guides through these enchanted pages.
1. The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
Across the great Atlantic, in the city of Chicago, there dwells a wizard named Harry Dresden—the only such professional listed in the telephone directory, which is rather brave of him when you think about it. Like our dear Peter Grant, Harry finds himself caught between the mundane world of police work and the rather more exciting business of battling dark forces.
The books are told with such wit and warmth that one hardly notices the danger until it is already upon you. The series has grown to magnificent proportions, and Twelve Months, released in January 2026, proves the adventures show no signs of diminishing.
2. Alex Verus Series by Benedict Jacka
Now here is something particularly delightful for those who adored London as a character in Aaronovitch’s tales. Benedict Jacka sets his twelve-book series in Camden Town, where a mage named Alex Verus runs a magic shop that most passersby assume is merely eccentric.
Alex possesses the gift of divination—he sees the threads of possibility stretching before him. This makes him wonderfully clever at avoiding trouble, though trouble does seem frightfully determined to find him regardless. The series concluded in 2021, which means you may devour the entire thing without waiting.
3. London Falling by Paul Cornell
If Rivers of London were to have a darker, more unsettling cousin, it would surely be London Falling. Paul Cornell conjures a tale of police officers who accidentally gain “the Sight” whilst investigating a mobster’s peculiar death. What they see transforms everything they thought they knew about their city.
Ben Aaronovitch himself called it “an irresistible blend of guns, gangsters, cops and monsters.” The Shadow Police series is grittier, certainly more disturbing, but rewards the brave reader with London Gothic of the highest order.
4. The Rook by Daniel O’Malley
Picture, if you dare, waking in a park surrounded by bodies, with no memory of who you are or how you arrived there. Your only clue is a letter in your pocket addressed “To You.” This is the predicament facing Myfanwy Thomas, who discovers she is a Rook, a high-ranking official in a secret British organisation called the Checquy.
The Checquy battles supernatural threats to the Crown, and many of its members possess rather extraordinary abilities. The book earned the 2012 Aurealis Award, and a television adaptation followed in 2019, proving that some stories are simply too marvellous to remain solely on the page.
5. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Long before Peter Grant discovered the hidden magical society of London, Neil Gaiman revealed to us London Below—a shadow city existing beneath the familiar streets above. Richard Mayhew, an ordinary young man with an ordinary life, tumbles into this realm after helping an injured young woman named Door.
The book began as a BBC television serial in 1996, but Gaiman’s novelisation has become the definitive version of this dark and wondrous tale. One hears whispers of a sequel called The Seven Sisters, which Gaiman has reportedly begun writing.
6. The Laundry Files by Charles Stross
What if, one wonders, magic were simply a branch of mathematics? And what if solving certain equations could accidentally summon Lovecraftian horrors? Bob Howard discovered this the hard way and now works for “the Laundry”—Britain’s occult secret service.
Charles Stross blends spy thriller, Lovecraftian horror, and the particular misery of office bureaucracy into something uniquely entertaining. The series has won multiple Hugo Awards and grows increasingly apocalyptic as it progresses—rather like real life, one might observe.
7. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
In Thursday Next’s world, literature is serious business—deadly serious. She works as a LiteraTec, a special operative who investigates literary crimes, in an alternate 1985 where the Crimean War never ended and pet dodos are common.
When a villain kidnaps Jane Eyre from the original manuscript, Thursday must literally enter the pages of Brontë’s novel to set things right. It is wildly inventive, thoroughly British, and has been compared to “Monty Python crossed with Terry Pratchett.” Higher praise would be difficult to imagine.
8. Sixty-One Nails by Mike Shevdon
Niall Petersen suffers a heart attack on the London Underground—or so he believes. The mysterious woman who revives him reveals that he is not entirely human, but carries the blood of the Feyre, creatures of myth who dwell alongside us, unseen.
The Courts of the Feyre series has been called “Neverwhere’s faster, smarter brother,” which is saying something rather remarkable. Mike Shevdon draws upon the deep wells of English folklore to create a hidden world that feels ancient and true.
9. The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne
Atticus O’Sullivan appears to be a twenty-one-year-old tattoo-covered fellow running an occult bookshop in Arizona. In truth, he is a two-thousand-year-old Druid—the last of his kind—hiding from rather a lot of angry gods.
The series spans nine novels of witty, action-packed adventure across multiple mythologies. Kevin Hearne chose to set his tales in the American Southwest because a desert on the far side of the world seemed an excellent place to hide from the Fae.
10. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
The Apocalypse approaches, but the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley have grown rather fond of Earth over the millennia. They would very much like to prevent the end of all things, if only they could locate the Antichrist—who happens to be a perfectly nice eleven-year-old boy.
This 1990 collaboration between two masters of British fantasy remains a treasure. The television adaptation starring Michael Sheen and David Tennant brought new generations to this most delightful tale of the end times.
11. The Vinyl Detective by Andrew Cartmel
While not strictly fantasy, the Vinyl Detective series shares Rivers of London‘s wit, London setting, and twisty plotting. Our unnamed hero hunts rare vinyl records rather than supernatural criminals, but the mysteries he stumbles into prove equally dangerous.
Ben Aaronovitch praised the series as “hilarious and thrilling”—hardly surprising, as Cartmel co-writes the Rivers of London graphic novels with Aaronovitch himself. The books offer the same clever voice and deep love of London.
12. The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
In N.K. Jemisin’s vision, great cities eventually awaken, their souls manifesting through human avatars. When New York City begins this transformation, five ordinary people—one for each borough—must unite against a Lovecraftian threat determined to consume the newborn city.
The three-time Hugo Award winner crafts a love letter to New York that pulses with the same urban magic that courses through Rivers of London. TIME Magazine named it one of the 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time.
13. A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
Kell is one of the last Antari, rare magicians who can travel between four parallel versions of London: Grey (our mundane world), Red (where magic flourishes), White (where power struggles have bled everything dry), and Black (which no one speaks of, for it was consumed by magic long ago).
V.E. Schwab creates a dazzling multiverse where London exists in infinite variations. The trilogy combines swashbuckling adventure with genuine emotional depth, and film rights have been acquired by Sony Pictures.
Bonus: Kraken by China Miéville
When a preserved giant squid vanishes from the Natural History Museum, curator Billy Harrow finds himself plunged into a London teeming with squid-worshipping cults, magical crime lords, and union-organising familiars.
China Miéville’s standalone novel won the 2011 Locus Award for Best Fantasy. It is stranger, more challenging, and more gloriously weird than most urban fantasy—a dark comedy about the apocalypse that takes its squid deity entirely seriously.
And so, dear reader, you have before you a feast of enchantments. Whether you seek police procedurals with supernatural flair, love letters to London and its secrets, or simply more clever British fantasy to devour, these books await your discovery. May your reading hours be long and your adventures many.
