The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency vs The Three Investigators
Two crime fiction series side by side, straight from the catalog data: The Three Investigators is the longer series (37 books vs 21 books); The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is the more recent one, starting in 1998. There's no wrong answer — pick the shape that fits your reading appetite, and Shelfmark will keep your place in either (no account needed).
| Statistic | The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency | The Three Investigators |
|---|---|---|
| Author | Alexander McCall Smith | Michael Collins |
| Books | 21 | 37 |
| Published | 1998–2020 | 1964–1979 |
| Books per year | 1.0 | 2.5 |
| Start with | The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (1998) | The Secret of Terror Castle (1964) |
| Reading order | Full The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency order → | Full The Three Investigators order → |
Numbers come from the Shelfmark catalog (Wikidata + Open Library). "Books per year" is catalogued books divided by the publication span — a rough cadence, not a quality score.