Carter Brown Books in Order

Carter Brown has written 262 books, published between 1949 and 1984. The first book is Hypnotic Death (As:) (1949) and the newest is Stab in the Dark (1984). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
262
Published
1949–1984
Pages on record
747 in 5 of 262 books
Photo of Carter Brown, author

Carter Brown was the pen name of Alan Geoffrey Yates (1923-1985), an English-born Australian writer of detective fiction. The Carter Brown catalogue holds 262 books published between 1949 and 1984, beginning with Hypnotic Death (1949) and ending with Stab in the Dark (1984). Recurring leads include Al Wheeler, Rick Holman, Danny Boyd, Mavis Seidlitz and Paul Donovan, several of whom head series of their own. The 1950s were the peak decade, and the books run to a median 140 pages.

How many Carter Brown books are there?

Carter Brown has 262 books, released between 1949 and 1984. They include 11 series and 110 titles listed outside any series.

Carter Brown Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 262 Carter Brown books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.

  1. 1
    Hypnotic Death (As:)1949 · confirmed 1/4
    1949
  2. 2
    The Fatal Focus (As:)1950 · confirmed 1/4
    1950
  3. 3
    Killer by Night (As:)1951 · confirmed 1/4
    1951
  4. 4
    Celluloid Suicide (As:)1951 · confirmed 1/4
    1951
  5. 5
    Flight Into Horror (As:)1951 · confirmed 1/4
    1951
  6. 6
    Ghosts Don’t Kill (As:)1951 · confirmed 1/4
    1951
  7. 7
    Kill Him Gently (As:)1951 · confirmed 1/4
    1951
  8. 8
    Murder Gives Notice (As:)1951 · confirmed 1/4
    1951
  9. 9
    Satan’s Sabbath (As:)1951 · confirmed 1/4
    1951
  10. 10
    The Time Thief (As:)1951 · confirmed 1/4
    1951
  11. 111951
  12. 121952
  13. 13
    Feline Frame-Up (As:)1952 · confirmed 1/4
    1952
  14. 14
    Maniac Murders (As:)1952 · confirmed 1/4
    1952
  15. 151952
  16. 161952
  17. 17
    Venus Unarmed1953 · confirmed 1/4
    1953
  18. 181953
  19. 19
    The Mermaid Murmurs Murder1953 · confirmed 1/4
    1953
  20. 201953
  21. 21
    The Frame Is Beautiful1953 · confirmed 1/4
    1953
  22. 22
    Fraulein Is Feline1953 · confirmed 1/4
    1953
  23. 231953
  24. 241953
  25. 25
    Wreath for Rebecca1954 · confirmed 1/4
    1954
  26. 26
    Murder—Paris Fashion1954 · confirmed 1/4
    1954
  27. 27
    The Black Widow Weeps1954 · confirmed 1/4
    1954
  28. 281954
  29. 29
    Nemesis Wore Nylons1954 · confirmed 1/4
    1954
  30. 30
    Yoga Shrouds Yolande1954 · confirmed 1/4
    1954

Carter Brown series and characters in order

Each link below opens a reading-order page with every book in publication order.

Carter Brown books grouped by series

Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. A group whose heading is a link has its own reading-order page; the other groups have no page of their own on this site.

Al Wheeler books in order

47 books by Carter Brown
  1. 1. The Blonde
  2. 2. The Wench is Wicked
  3. 5. Eve, It's Extortion / The Victim / Walk Softly, Witch
  4. 8. No Law Against Angels / The Body
  5. 9. Chorine Makes a Killing
  6. 11. The Corpse / Death on the Downbeat
  7. 12. The Lover
  8. 14. The Dame
  9. 15. The Passionate
  10. 16. The Wanton
  11. 17. The Bombshell
  12. 18. The Desired
  13. and 35 more in the table above

Danny Boyd books in order

32 books by Carter Brown
  1. 3. Tempt a Tigress
  2. 4. Suddenly By Violence
  3. 5. Terror Comes Creeping
  4. 6. The Dream Is Deadly
  5. 7. Graves, I Dig! / Cutie Wins a Corpse
  6. 8. The Wayward Wahine / The Wayward
  7. 9. The Myopic Mermaid / A Siren Sounds Off
  8. 10. The Sad-Eyed Seductress / The Seductress
  9. 11. The Savage Salome
  10. 13. The Ice-Cold Nude
  11. 14. Lover Don't Come Back!
  12. 15. Nymph to the Slaughter
  13. and 20 more in the table above

Mavis Seidlitz books in order

12 books by Carter Brown
  1. 1. A Bullet For My Baby
  2. 2. The Killer Is Kissable
  3. 3. Honey, Here's Your Hearse
  4. 4. Good Morning, Mavis!
  5. 5. Murder Wears a Mantilla
  6. 6. The Loving and the Dead
  7. 7. None But the Lethal Heart / The Fabulous
  8. 9. Tomorrow Is Murder
  9. 10. The Bump and Grind Murder
  10. 11. Seidlitz and the Super-Spy / The Super Spy
  11. 12. Murder Is So Nostalgic!
  12. 13. And the Undead Sing

Larry Baker in order

6 books
  1. 1. Charlie Sent Me!
  2. 2. No Blond Is an Island
  3. 3. So What Killed the Vampire?
  4. 4. The Witches / Had I But Groaned
  5. 5. The True Son of the Beast!
  6. 6. The Iron Maiden

Randy Roberts in order

5 books
  1. 1. Murder in Family Way
  2. 2. The Seven Sirens
  3. 3. The Angry Amazons
  4. 4. Murder on High
  5. 5. The Sex Trap

Paul Donovan in order

4 books
  1. 1. Donavan
  2. 2. Donovan's Day
  3. 3. Chinese Donavan
  4. 4. Donavan's Delight

Max Dumas in order

3 books
  1. 1. Goddess Gone Bad
  2. 2. Deadly Miss
  3. 3. Luck Was No Lady

Barney Blaine in order

2 books
  1. 1. Madame, You’re Mayhem
  2. 2. Ice-Cold in Ermine

Andy Kane in order

2 books
  1. 1. The Guilt-Edged Cage / Bird in a Guilt-Edged Cage / That's Piracy, My Pet
  2. 2. The Hong Kong Caper / Blonde, Bad, and Beautiful

Mike Farrell in order

2 books
  1. 1. The Million Dollar Babe
  2. 2. The Scarlet Flush

Standalone books

110 books

110 Carter Brown titles here are not listed as part of any series.

Do you have to read Carter Brown books in order?

You only need to read Carter Brown books in order within each series: the books listed here span 11 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.

Where to start with Carter Brown

Start with the first book of the Carter Brown series you want to read: Rick Holman starts with The Ever-Loving Blues / Death of a Doll (1956), Al Wheeler starts with The Blonde (1955) and Danny Boyd starts with The Ever-Loving Blues / Death of a Doll (1956). The earliest catalogued title overall is Hypnotic Death (As:) (1949).

What is the newest Carter Brown book?

Stab in the Dark (1984) is the newest Carter Brown book released so far.

Is there a new Carter Brown book coming?

No next Carter Brown book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Carter Brown at a glance

Died
Carter Brown died in 1985, according to Wikidata.
Last book
The newest book credited to Carter Brown on record dates from 1984.
Release pace
Carter Brown books have appeared more than one a year on average.
Length
747 pages across the 5 of 262 books with a recorded length, a median of 140 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Carter Brown books, 104 of 262, were published in the 1950s.

What the Carter Brown books are about

83 of the 262 Carter Brown books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: mystery & detective is tagged on 57 of 83. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.