The Ankh-Morpork City Watch Discworld books

Because of the release of Snuff (The Watch #8,Discworld #39) it is time to go back and read through the Ankh-Morpork City Watch books in order.

* An interview with Sir Terry Pratchett by Neil Gaiman (2011-Oct-10) [Boing Boing]
* Terry Pratchett on Snuff (2011-Nov-01) [BoingBoing]

The Ankh-Morpork City Watch
This is an excellent sub-series to start your acquaintance with Discworld. It follows the development of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch from a joke into an effective police force for the Disc’s largest city, and in particular follows the personal journey of Sam Vimes, the Watch commander. The later books in this story arc, particularly ‘Night Watch’, display Terry Pratchett’s writing talents at their very best. Members of the City Watch also make cameo appearances in a number of the other Discworld novels. [HubPages]

Guards! Guards! (1989)
(The Watch #1,Discworld #08)
by Terry Pratchett
The eighth Discworld novel — After this, dragons will never be the same again!
This is where the dragons went. They lie . . . not dead, not asleep, but . . . dormant. And although the space they occupy isn’t like normal space, nevertheless they are packed in tightly. They could put you in mind of a can of sardines, if you thought sardines were huge and scaly. And presumably, somewhere, there’s a key . . . [goodreads]

He nodded to the troll which was employed by the Drum as a splatter [footnote: Like a bouncer, but trolls use more force].
— Nobby takes Carrot for a drink in The Mended Drum
(Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!)

Men at Arms (1993)
(The Watch #2,Discworld #15)
by Terry Pratchett
“Be a MAN in the City Watch! The City Watch needs MEN!”
But what it’s gotincludes Corporal Carrot (technically a dwarf), Lance-constable Detritus (a troll), Lance-constable Angua (a woman…most of the time) and Corporal Nobbs (disqualified from the human race for shoving).
And they need all the help they can get. Because they’ve only got twenty-four hours to clean up the town and this is ANKH-MORPORT we’re talking about… [goodreads]

Feet of Clay (1996)
(The Watch #3,Discworld #19)
by Terry Pratchett
There’s a werewolf with pre-lunar tension in Ankh-Morpork. And a dwarf with attitude, and a Golem who’s begun to think for itself. But Commander Vimes is more concerned about the crime that’s happened. He’s got to find out not only whodunit, but howdunit too. He’s not even sure what they dun. But as soon as he knows what the questions are, he’s going to want some answers. [goodreads]

Slab: Jus’ say “AarrghaarrghpleeassennononoUGH”
— Detritus’ war on drugs (Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay)

Jingo (1997)
(The Watch #4,Discworld #21)
by Terry Pratchett
A new land has surfaced and so have old feuds. And as two armies march, Commander Vimes of Ankh-Morpork City Watch has got just a few hours to deal with a crime so big that there’s no law against it. It’s called “war.” He’s facing unpleasant foes who are out to get him . . .that’s just the people on his side. The enemy might even be worse. And his pocket Dis-organizer says he’s got “Die” under “Things to do today. [goodreads]

The Fifth Elephant (1999)
(The Watch #5,Discworld #24)
by Terry Pratchett
Sam Vimes is a man on the run.
Yesterday he was a duke, a chief of police and the ambassador to the mysterious, fat-rich country of Uberwald. Now he has nothing but his native wit and the gloomy trousers of Uncle Vanya (don’t ask). It’s snowing. It’s freezing.
And there are monsters on his trail . . . [goodreads]

He was aware that a wise man should always respect the folkways of others, to use Carrot’s happy phrase, but Vimes often had difficulty with this idea. For one thing, there were people in the world whose folkways consisted of gutting other people like clams and this was not a procedure that commanded, in Vimes, any kind of respect at all.
— (Terry Pratchett, The Fifth Elephant)

Night Watch (2002)
(The Watch #6,Discworld #29)
by Terry Pratchett
Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch had it all. But now he’s back in his own rough, tough past without even the clothes he was standing up in when the lightning struck…
Living in the past is hard. Dying in the past is incredibly easy. But he must survive, because he has a job to do. He must track down a murderer, teach his younger self how to be a good copper and change the outcome of a bloody rebellion.
There’s a problem: if he wins, he’s got no wife, no child, no future…
A Discworld Tale of One City, with a full chorus of street urchins, ladies of negotiable affection, rebels, secret policemen and other children of the revolution.
Truth! Justice! Freedom! And a Hard-boiled Egg! [goodreads]

The Assassin moved quietly from roof to roof until he was well away from the excitement around the Watch House. His movements could be called cat-like, except that he did not stop to spray urine up against things.
— (Terry Pratchett, Night Watch)

Thud! (2005)
(The Watch #7,Discworld #34)
by Terry Pratchett
Vroom Valley? That was where the trolls ambushed the dwarfs, or the dwarfs ambushed the trolls. It was very far away. It was a long time ago. But if he doesn’t solve the murder of just one dwarf, Command Sam Vimes of Ankh-Morpork City Watch is going to see it fought again, right outside his office. With his beloved Watch crumbling around him and his war-drums sounding, he must unravel every clue, outwit every assassin and brave any darkness to find the solution. And darkness is following him. Oh . . . and at six o’clock every day, without fail, with no excuses, he must go home to read Where’s My Cow?, with all the right farmyard noises, to his little boy. There are some things you have to do! [goodreads]

Where’s my Cow? (2005)
(children’s picture book which ties in with Thud!)
by Terry Pratchett
At six o’clock every day, without fail, with no excuses, Sam Vimes must go home to read Where’s My Cow?, with all the right farmyard noises, to his little boy. There are some things you have to do. It is the most loved and chewed book in the world.
But his father wonders why it is full of moo-cows and baa-lambs when Young Sam will only ever see them cooked on a plate. He can think of a more useful book for a boy who lives in a city.
So Sam Vimes starts adapting the story. A story with streets, not fields. A book with rogues and villains. A book about the place where he’ll grow up. [goodreads]

Snuff (2011)
(The Watch #8,Discworld #39)
by Terry Pratchett
According to the writer of the best-selling crime novel ever to have been published in the city of Ankh-Morpork, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a policeman taking a holiday would barely have had time to open his suitcase before he finds his first corpse.
And Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is on holiday in the pleasant and innocent countryside, but not for him a mere body in the wardrobe. There are many, many bodies and an ancient crime more terrible than murder.
He is out of his jurisdiction, out of his depth, out of bacon sandwiches, and occasionally snookered and out of his mind, but never out of guile. Where there is a crime there must be a finding, there must be a chase and there must be a punishment.
They say that in the end all sins are forgiven.
But not quite all… [goodreads]