Manning Coles Books in Order
Manning Coles has written 29 books, published between 1940 and 1963. The first book is Drink to Yesterday (1940) and the newest is The House at Pluck's Gutter (1963). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 29
- Published
- 1940–1963
- Pages on record
- 1,978 in 10 of 29 books
Manning Coles was two people: Adelaide Frances Oke Manning (1891-1959) and Cyril Henry Coles (1899-1965), neighbours in East Meon, Hampshire, who wrote spy thrillers together from 1940 into the early 1960s. Coles served with British Intelligence in both World Wars and Manning worked at the War Office in the first. Thomas Elphinstone Hambledon, a Foreign Office man, carries 26 of the books, and a second series follows Charles and James Latimer. Drink to Yesterday (1940) opens a catalogue of 29 titles, with ghosts turning up in part of the later work.
How many Manning Coles books are there?
Manning Coles has 29 books, released between 1940 and 1963. They include 2 series and 1 title listed outside any series.
Manning Coles Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 29 Manning Coles 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.
- 119401912/4
- 21940–2/4
- 31941–2/4
- 51945–2/4
- 61946–2/4
- 71947–2/4
- 81947–2/4
- 91948–2/4
- 1019492522/4
- 111949–2/4
- 121950–2/4
- 131951–2/4
- 141952–2/4
- 151952–2/4
- 1619532212/4
- 1719541542/4
- 18All that Glitters / Not For Export / The Mystery of the Stolen PlansTommy Hambledon #171954 · 174 pages · confirmed 2/419541742/4
- 191955–2/4
- 201955–2/4
- 21The Far Traveller1956 · confirmed 2/41956–2/4
- 221956–2/4
- 2319571922/4
- 2419572232/4
- 2519581552/4
- 261958–2/4
- 271960–2/4
- 2819612242/4
- 2919631922/4
Manning Coles books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
Tommy Hambledon in order
25 books- 1. Drink to Yesterday
- 2. Pray Silence / A Toast to Tomorrow
- 3. They Tell No Tales
- 4. Without Lawful Authority
- 5. Green Hazard
- 6. The Fifth Man
- 7. Let the Tiger Die
- 8. With Intent to Deceive / A Brother for Hugh
- 9. Among Those Absent
- 10. Diamonds to Amsterdam
- 11. Not Negotiable
- 12. Dangerous by Nature
- and 13 more in the table above
Charles and James Latimer in order
3 booksStandalone books
1 book1 Manning Coles title here is not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Manning Coles books in order?
You only need to read Manning Coles books in order within each series: the books listed here span 2 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.
Where to start with Manning Coles
Start with Drink to Yesterday (1940), the earliest published title.
What is the newest Manning Coles book?
The House at Pluck's Gutter (1963) is the newest Manning Coles book released so far.
Is there a new Manning Coles book coming?
No next Manning Coles book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Manning Coles at a glance
- No recent titles
- The newest Manning Coles title on record dates from 1963, 63 years ago. No later title is catalogued.
- Release pace
- Manning Coles books have appeared about one a year on average.
- Length
- 1,978 pages across the 10 of 29 books with a recorded length, a median of 192 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Manning Coles books, 15 of 29, were published in the 1950s.
What the Manning Coles books are about
17 of the 29 Manning Coles books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: intelligence officers is tagged on 12 of 17. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Intelligence officers 12 of 17 books
- Intelligence service 11 of 17 books
- British spy stories 4 of 17 books
- Ghosts 4 of 17 books
- Fantasy 3 of 17 books
- Fiction in English 3 of 17 books
- Great Britain 2 of 17 books
- Mystery & detective 2 of 17 books
- Espionage 2 of 17 books