Actors and actresses book series in reading order

by Simon Brett

by Lydia Adamson

by Stefanie Matteson

by Franklin W. Dixon

by Stuart M. Kaminsky

by Mark Pryor

by Mary Daheim

by Loren D. Estleman

by Jane Thynne

by Tennessee Williams

by Peter Corris

Simon Brett writes English detective fiction across several long-running series. Charles Paris, an actor, heads one; the Fethering Mysteries follow Carole Seddon; Mrs Pargeter, Blotto and Twinks, and the Decluttering Mysteries make up the rest. Brett's catalogue holds 107 books, from Cast in Order of Disappearance (1975) to A Shock to the System (2026), with plays, short stories and non-fiction alongside.

Nancy Krulik writes for children, and the catalogue lists Grades 1-3 as the reading level. Series credited to Krulik include Katie Kazoo, Switcheroo, How I Survived Middle School, Magic Bone, Princess Pulverizer and Project Droid, and George Brown, Class Clown appears among the characters. Subjects range across magic, schools, friendship, dogs, robots and humorous stories. The most recent listed book is Fangs for Having Us! (2021), and the catalogue marks the output as dormant.

Cats and women sleuths define the Lydia Adamson catalogue. Alice Nestleton Mystery is the main series, with Deirdre Quinn Nightingale, Lucy Wayles Mystery and Sally Tepper beside it, and actresses, women veterinarians, cat owners and pet sitting all appear in the subject list. Cat titles fill the run: A Cat in the Manger (1990), A Cat in Wolf's Clothing (1991), A Cat of a Different Color (1991) and A Cat in the Wings (1992). Early books carry the byline Frank King, starting with Down and Dirty in 1978. The 42 catalogued titles close with A Cat Tells Two Tales in 2012.

Parnell Hall (October 31, 1944 to December 15, 2020) was an American mystery writer, known for the Puzzle Lady and Stanley Hastings series. Hall also wrote the screenplay for the 1984 film C.H.U.D. The Puzzle Lady stories carried crosswords made with Manny Nosowsky and sudoku made with Will Shortz. Writing as J.P. Hailey, Hall produced the Steve Winslow series, and co-wrote Smooth Operator with Stuart Woods. Malice Domestic gave Hall a Lifetime Achievement award in 2019. The catalogue lists 57 books, from Detective (1987) to The Dead Client (2020). Cora Felton, crossword puzzle makers and New York private investigators appear in the subject tags.

Karen Kingsbury is an American Christian novelist, born in Fairfax, Virginia, on June 8, 1963. Kingsbury worked as a sports writer for the Los Angeles Times and later wrote for the Los Angeles Daily News. Missy's Murder (1991), Kingsbury's first book, grew out of a murder story covered as a reporter in Los Angeles. Kingsbury is a #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling novelist. The catalogue holds 115 titles, running to The Christmas Ring (2025), and the series include Firstborn, Sunrise, Above the Line, Bailey Flanigan, Red Gloves and Forever Faithful. Christian fiction and family life recur among the subjects.

Chris Nickson began in celebrity biography, with books on Brad Pitt (1995), Mariah Carey (1995), Soundgarden (1995), Denzel Washington (1996) and Keanu Reeves (1996), then turned to historical crime fiction. The DI Tom Harper, Richard Nottingham, Simon Westow, John the Carpenter and WPC Lottie Armstrong series carry that later work. Sixty-three books are catalogued between 1995 and 2026, with murder investigation, English history and police procedure recurring as subjects.

Libby Sarjeant carries most of Lesley Cookman's catalogue, in a cozy mystery series opening with Murder in Steeple Martin (2006); the Alexandrians books sit beside it. Cookman also writes about pantomime, Writing a Pantomime (1998) is the earliest of 40 catalogued titles, How to Write a Pantomime (2007) followed, and scripts such as Cinderella and Queen of Hearts appear in between. Actresses, women private investigators, England and murder investigation fill the subject tags.

Marc Eliot writes biographies and memoirs of show business figures, and has ghost-written for film stars. The subjects run from musicians to actors: Phil Ochs in Death of a Rebel (1979), Burt Reynolds, Bruce Springsteen in Down Thunder Road, Walt Disney in Hollywood's Dark Prince, and Merle Haggard in The Hag (2022). Rockonomics and American Television take on the industries themselves. 28 titles span 1979 to 2022, at a median of 322 pages.

Nora Roberts

279 books• 37 series

Nora Roberts, born Eleanor Marie Robertson on October 10, 1950, is an American writer of romance under that name. As J. D. Robb, Roberts writes police procedurals with science-fiction elements, and has also published as Jill March and, in the UK, as Sarah Hardesty. This listing carries 280 Roberts books, opening with Irish Thoroughbred (1981); The Missing is scheduled for 2027. Series on the page include the In Death Universe, the MacGregors, Night Tales, the Calhoun Women, the Chesapeake Bay Saga, Irish Hearts and the O'Hurleys.

Margaret Frazer was the pen name of Gail Lynn Brown (26 November 1946 to 4 February 2013), an American writer of more than twenty historical mystery novels plus short stories. The name was first shared with Mary Monica Pulver Kuhfeld for The Novice's Tale (1992), which introduced the Benedictine nun Dame Frevisse, and the partnership lasted through The Murderer's Tale (1996), the sixth Frevisse book. From The Prioress' Tale (1997), an Edgar Award nominee, Gail Brown wrote as Margaret Frazer alone. The catalogue lists 38 books up to Circle of Witches (2012), with Joliffe the Player also among the characters and subjects including nuns, women sleuths and England.

Stefanie Matteson writes mystery and detective fiction in the women-sleuth line. Eight books are catalogued, published between 1990 and 1997, from Murder at the Spa (1990) to Murder Under the Palms (1997). The catalogued series is Charlotte Graham, and Charlotte Graham is the recurring character, an actress. Subjects recorded against the books include women detectives, motion picture actors and actresses, and settings in Maine, New Jersey, New York State and Florida.

Edward Marston writes historical crime fiction, and the catalogue of 117 books runs to The Corpse on the Bristol Train (2026). Inspector Robert Colbeck, Elizabethan Theater, Domesday, Home Front Detective, Dillman & Masefield / Ocean Liner Mysteries, Christopher Redmayne, Captain Rawson and Bow Street Rivals are among the series. Nicholas Bracewell and Lord Westfield's Men appear in the subjects, together with theater, police work, railroad travel and World War I. Alan Saxon and Merlin Richards are further series, and Marston is still publishing.

Jen Calonita is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of books for teens and middle grade readers, with sales above one million copies and translations into 15 languages. A Boston College graduate, Calonita worked as an entertainment journalist at Teen People, which inspired Secrets of My Hollywood Life (2007); that first book won the Louisiana Young Readers Award and grew into a six-book series. The catalogue counts 46 books through Practically Magic (2026), with The Vanishing Isle listed for 2027. Other series include Fairy Tale Reform School, Disney's Lost Legends, Isle of Ever, Royal Academy Rebels and Enchanters.

Marian Babson was the pen name of Ruth Marian Stenstreem (1929–2017), an American mystery writer born in Salem, Massachusetts, who spent most of her life in London. The novels are short, at a median of 188 pages across 53 catalogued books, and cats turn up in many of them; the publisher's tagline for the work was Murder Most British. The Trixie Dolan & Evangeline Sinclair mysteries pair two actresses as sleuths, with the Perkins & Tate books alongside. Babson took the Crime Writers' Association Dagger in the Library in 1996 and an Agatha Award.

Stuart M. Kaminsky (29 September 1934 to 9 October 2009) was an American mystery novelist who also taught film. Four mystery series carry the name: Toby Peters, a private eye in 1940s Hollywood; Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov, a Moscow police inspector; Abe Lieberman, a Chicago police officer; and Lew Fonesca, a process server in Sarasota, Florida. A Cold Red Sunrise, a Rostnikov novel, won the Edgar Award for Best Novel in 1989. The catalogue holds 85 books from 1974 to 2011, and its earliest entries are American Film Genres (1974) and Don Siegel: Director (1974).

Franklin W. Dixon is the author name on the Hardy Boys books, and the catalogue lists 473 titles under the Dixon name from 1927 to 2023. The Tower Treasure, The House on the Cliff and The Secret of the Old Mill all date from 1927. Dixon series include Hardy Boys Casefiles, Hardy Boys Adventures, Hardy Boys: Undercover Brothers, Hardy Boys: Secret Files and Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Super Mystery, plus the Ted Scott Flying Stories. Undercover Bookworms (2023) is the newest title.

Rowan Coleman writes contemporary fiction and children's books, and publishes the Bronte Sisters Mysteries as Bella Ellis. The Ruby Parker novels, about a child actor, run from 2005 to 2007 and take in Ruby Parker Hits the Small Time, Ruby Parker: Soap Star, Ruby Parker: Film Star and Ruby Parker: Hollywood Star. Motherhood carries the adult fiction, in The Accidental Mother (2005), Mommy by Mistake (2007) and The Baby Group (2007), and Sophie Mills is her other series. The 30 catalogued books open with Growing Up Twice (2002) and close with A Gift of Poison (2023).

Susan Elizabeth Phillips

27 books• 3 series

Susan Elizabeth Phillips is an American romance novelist, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on December 11, 1944. Phillips is credited with creating the sports romance and has been called the "Queen of Romantic Comedy". The Chicago Stars series and the Wynette, Texas books appear in a catalogue of 27 titles, from The Copeland Bride (1983) to And the Crowd Went Wild (2026). Football players, actors and actresses feature in the subject headings, and It Had to Be You (1994) and Heaven, Texas (1995) are among the 1990s titles.

William Shatner

33 books• 8 series

William Shatner, born on 22 March 1931, is a Canadian actor who played Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek from 1966 to 1994, from the second pilot of the original television series to Star Trek Generations. Shatner started in Canadian film and television before guest roles on American shows. The catalogue lists 33 Shatner books, from Shatner: Where No Man ... (1979) to Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder (2022), including TekWar (1989), Star Trek Memories (1993) and The Ashes of Eden (1995). Series include Quest for Tomorrow, Star Trek: Odyssey, Star Trek: The Mirror Universe Trilogy and Star Trek: Totality.

Carole Mortimer, born in England in 1960, is a British romance novelist who has written more than 150 novels since 1978 and was one of the youngest authors at Mills & Boon. The catalogue lists 291 books, starting in 1979 with The Passionate Winter, Only Lover, Savage Interlude and Tempted By Desire, and reaching Linus (2026), with Amanda and the Lord scheduled for 2027. Series include Regency Unlaced, Regency Sinners, Regency Scandal, Regency Lovers, Dangerous Dukes, Ruthless Regency Dukes, Scandalous St. Claires, Knight Security, Steele Protectors, Dragon Hearts and Wynter Hearts. Subjects cover contemporary and Regency romance, nobility, marriage and businessmen.

Who HQ is the credit on 429 children's nonfiction biographies in the catalogue, published from 2002 to 2026. The run opens with Who Was Albert Einstein?, Who Was Amelia Earhart? and Who Was Ben Franklin? (all 2002) and reaches Who Is Vera Wang (2026). Subjects include biography, history and juvenile nonfiction for readers aged 8 to 12. Other names credited on some of the books include Megan Stine (7), John Hinderliter (7) and Nico Medina (4).

Kieran Scott, born 11 March 1974, is an American author who also publishes as Kate Brian. Under the Kate Brian name come chick lit books such as The Princess and the Pauper, The Virginity Club, Sweet 16, Fake Boyfriend and the Private series. Books under Scott's own name include She's So Dead to Us, Brunettes Strike Back, Geek Magnet and I Was a Non-Blonde Cheerleader, a YALSA Teens Top Ten nominee. The catalogue subjects include boarding schools, high schools, cliques and teenage girls, and the listing runs from 1998 to 2026.

Across 194 catalogued books, Danielle Steel writes contemporary romance and family drama: love stories, marriages, widowhood and the turns that reshape a life. The run starts with Going Home (1973) and continues through Celebration, with 24 Hours scheduled for 2027. Steel's catalogue also holds children's picture books, short stories and non-fiction beside the standalone novels that make up most of it.

David Downing

37 books• 5 series

David Downing, born 1946, is a British author of mystery novels and nonfiction whose fiction depicts World War II and Berlin. The John Russell espionage thrillers, known as the Station Series, follow an Anglo-American character in 1940s Germany and take their titles from railway stations, most of them in Berlin. Jack McColl is a second series. The 37 catalogued books begin with Future Rock (1976) and include titles on film actors such as Clint Eastwood (1977), and Union Station (2024) is the newest.