Drug traffic book series in reading order

by Bill James

by Robert Crais

by Roslund-Hellstrom

by Jon A. Jackson

Bill James was the main pen name of Allan James Tucker, a Welsh novelist born 15 August 1929 and died 17 June 2023. Tucker reported for the Daily Mirror and other newspapers after RAF service, lived in South Wales, and also published as David Craig and Judith Jones. Most of the Bill James output is the Harpur and Iles series, which sets Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur against Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles in an unnamed coastal city in south-western England, with a shifting cast on both sides of the law. His catalogue holds 73 titles from 1966 to 2022.

Donald Eugene Pendleton (December 12, 1927 to October 23, 1995) was an American author of fiction and non-fiction who created Mack Bolan, a character with hundreds of millions of copies sold since a 1969 debut. From 1980, other authors wrote the Bolan books under the Pendleton name, at first with Pendleton's editorial guidance. Pendleton also wrote six Joe Copp, Private Eye novels and six Ashton Ford, Psychic Detective novels. Early titles include The Insatiables (1967), War Against the Mafia (1969) and Miami Massacre (1970).

Ashley Antoinette writes urban fiction and romantic suspense centred on African American women. The catalogue lists 53 titles from Diary of a Street Diva (2005) to Before the Streetlights Come On (2025). Named series include Ethic, Prada Plan, Butterfly, Single Ladies, Luxe, Luxury & Larceny and Love Burn. The Prada Plan (2009) and The Prada Plan 2: Leah's Story (2010) appear early in the list. Drug trafficking and murder for hire show up among the subject headings.

Teri Woods is an American novelist from Philadelphia who works in urban fiction. True to the Game (1998) is the first book: after six years of rejections, Woods had copies printed and sold them to booksellers directly, then founded Teri Woods Publishing. The 15 catalogued titles take in the Dutch Trilogy, from Dutch (2003) to Dutch II: Angel's Revenge (2005), plus the Deadly Reigns books and two further True to the Game sequels. Subjects cover drug dealers, organised crime and African American life in Philadelphia.

Wensley Clarkson is an English true crime writer, biographer and television producer, born in 1956. The catalogue holds 74 books dated 1991 to 2021, from Dog eat dog (1991) to Serial Killers of Russia (2021). Murderers, organised crime, serial murder and female offenders are the standing subjects, with case studies of British crime running through the list. Clarkson also published a biography of Quentin Tarantino in 1995. Books average 288 pages, and the 2000s were the peak decade.

George P. Pelecanos

27 books• 8 series

Washington, D.C. is the home ground of George P. Pelecanos, an American crime novelist who also works in television as a writer and producer. The 27 catalogued Pelecanos books run from A Firing Offense (1992) to The Blue Flame (2026). The Nick Stefanos, Derek Strange & Terry Quinn and Spero Lucas series sit beside the D.C. Quartet and standalone novels. For television, Pelecanos wrote episodes of The Wire and Treme with David Simon, and the two co-created The Deuce and We Own This City for HBO. Pelecanos was born in 1957.

Lee Child

78 books• 15 series

Lee Child is the pen name of James Dover Grant, a British thriller writer born on 29 October 1954. The Jack Reacher novels follow a former American military policeman who drifts across the United States. Killing Floor (1997), the first novel, won the Anthony Award and the 1998 Barry Award for Best First Novel, and Die Trying (1998) and Tripwire (1999) came next. The catalogue runs to Chain Reaction (2026), with Zero Margin listed for 2027. Andrew Child shares credit on a line of Jack Reacher short stories and novellas, and a Frances Neagley line also appears. Subjects include military police, ex-police officers, private investigators and murder.

Robert Crais

30 books• 5 series

Robert Crais, born June 20, 1953, is an American writer of detective fiction who first worked as a screenwriter. Crais wrote television scripts for Hill Street Blues, Cagney & Lacey, Quincy, Miami Vice and L.A. Law. Crais names Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Ernest Hemingway, Robert B. Parker and John Steinbeck as influences, and the novels appear in 62 countries. The catalogue counts 30 books, from The Monkey's Raincoat (1987) to The Big Empty (2025), set largely around Los Angeles private investigators Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. Scott James & Maggie is a second series.

Don Winslow

36 books• 11 series

Don Winslow is an American crime novelist, born October 31, 1953, whose works include Savages, The Force and the Cartel Trilogy. Winslow's 36 catalogued books begin with A Cool Breeze on the Underground (1991) and reach The Irish Goodbye (2026). Series titles include Neal Carey, Power of the Dog, Danny Ryan, Boone Daniels and Frank Decker. Drug trafficking, Mexico, California and private investigators recur across the subjects.

William Wallace Johnstone, October 28, 1938 to February 8, 2004, was an American author of westerns, horror and survivalist fiction. The Devil's Kiss opened the run in 1981, followed by The Last of the Dog Team (1981), Out of the Ashes (1983) and Anarchy in the Ashes (1984). Series filed under the name include Ashes, First Mountain Man, Smoke Jensen, Last Gunfighter, Blood Bond and Duff MacCallister, and subjects include outlaws, frontier and pioneer life, revenge and Texas. The catalogue carries 544 titles under the Johnstone name dated 1981 to 2026, well past the 2004 death date, and 400 of them carry a William W. Johnstone credit.

Mike Lawson writes political thrillers built around government investigators. The catalogue lists 25 books, from The Inside Ring (2005) to The Asset (2026), in two named series: Joe DeMarco and Agent Kay Hamilton. Joe DeMarco is the recurring character. House Rules / Dead on Arrival (2008), House Secrets (2009) and House Justice (2010) appear early in the run, alongside the standalone title Rosarito Beach (2013). Undercover operations, drug trafficking and the US Drug Enforcement Administration appear among the subject headings.

Subjects attached to Kiki Swinson's books include urban and street lit, African American women, drug dealers, criminals, revenge and suspense. The catalogue holds 59 books from Wifey (2004) to Where There's Smoke (2024), including I'm Still Wifey, The Candy Shop and A Sticky Situation. Series listed for Swinson include Wifey, Cheaper to Keep Her, Notorious / Playing Dirty, New York's Finest, Black Market and Schemes. The status is listed as ongoing.

JaQuavis Coleman writes urban fiction, catalogued under African American street literature with crime, the drug trade and murder among the recorded subjects. The listing holds 23 books from The Cartel (2008) to Cartel Queen 3: Long Kiss Goodnight (2026). Three of those titles also carry Ashley Antoinette, the pairing credited as Ashley & JaQuavis. Series recorded for Coleman include Dopeman, Murderville, Streets Have No Kings and Carter Diamond.

Gerald Seymour, born in Guildford in 1941, is a British writer of crime and espionage novels. Harry's Game (1975) opens a catalogue of 43 titles that takes in terrorism, intelligence officers and the drug trade, largely across Britain and Europe. Most of the books stand alone; the Jonas Merrick novels are his one continuing series. The Irregular appeared in 2026 and A Rumour of Paradise is scheduled for 2027.

Nisa Santiago writes urban crime fiction about women in the drug trade. Thirty catalogued books run from Cartier Cartel (2008) to Mafioso - Part 7 (2023), with the 2010s the heaviest decade. Apple & Kola: The Baddest Chick is the longest series, joined by Mafioso, Killer Dolls, House That Hustle Built, Murdergram and South Beach Cartel. Street life, female gangs, women drug dealers, sisters and thieves recur as subjects, across books of a median 254 pages. No new title has appeared since 2023.

Robert Muchamore

51 books• 7 series

Robert Muchamore, born 26 December 1971, is an English author of young adult fiction known for the CHERUB, Henderson's Boys and Rock War series. The catalogue holds 51 Muchamore books from 2004 to 2026. The Recruit, Kerry's First Mission and CHERUB at Christmas are among the 2004 entries, and Maximum Security followed in 2005. Subjects include spies, teenagers, undercover operations, orphans and World War II, and CHERUB is tagged as an imaginary organization. Robin Hood and CHERUB 2 are also listed, and War and Peas (2026) is the newest title.

K’wan Foye writes urban and street fiction. New York settings, street life, gangs, organized crime, the drug trade and revenge all appear in the recorded subjects. The catalogue holds 52 books from Gangsta (2003) to Troubleman (2026), with Hood Rat, Animal and Fix named in the character records. Hood Rat, Fix, Gangsta, Hoodlum, Purple City Tales, Black Lotus and Reluctant King are the series listed. Six further names appear on one book each, among them 50 Cent, Victor L. Martin and Darrell King.

Urban fiction is where Brittani Williams works, with drug traffic, African American women, sisters and erotica among the recorded subjects, and Philadelphia and New York among the settings. The 16 catalogued books open with Automatic Princess (2005) and include Daddy's Little Girl (2007), Black Diamond (2008), Lucky Chance (2012) and Eye Candi (2014). Williams is credited alone on all 16. The last listed title, The Streets Keep Pulling Me Back, appeared in 2022.

Stuart Woods

104 books• 9 series

Crime and detective thrillers make up Stuart Woods's catalogue of 104 titles, running from Blue Water, Green Skipper (1977) to Finders Keepers (2025). The Barrington Universe, built around the recurring character Stone Barrington, is the largest strand; Teddy Fay, Ed Eagle and Rick Barron head further series, with standalone novels and non-fiction beside them. Private investigators, police and New York settings recur through the subject tags.

Carl Hiaasen

33 books• 8 series

Carl Hiaasen, born March 12, 1953, is an American journalist and novelist who started out as a newspaper reporter and was writing novels in spare hours by the late 1970s. Hiaasen writes for adults and for middle grade readers. The adult novels are humorous crime thrillers set in Florida, peopled with eccentric and sometimes grotesque characters, satirising American popular culture and often touching on environmentalism and political corruption. Two Hiaasen novels became feature films and two became TV series. The catalogue lists 33 books from Powder Burn (1981) to Fever Beach (2025), with series including Skink, Andrew Yancy and Mick Stranahan.

Military aviation drives Dale Brown's technological thrillers. Patrick McLanahan and Brad McLanahan are the recurring characters across a catalogue of 52 books that opens with Flight of the Old Dog (1987) and reaches Devil's Fortress (2024). Dreamland, Puppet Master, Nick Flynn and the Jason Richter books are the named series. The United States Air Force, weapons systems, espionage and terrorism fill the subject tags.

Archer Mayor

36 books• 3 series

Joe Gunther is the Vermont policeman at the centre of Archer Mayor's procedurals. Open Season (1988) starts a run of 36 catalogued books reaching Fall Guy in 2022, with Brattleboro and the state's drug trade recurring in the subject records. Short stories and non-fiction sit beside the novels, and nothing later than 2022 is catalogued.

Diana Palmer is the pen name of Susan Kyle, born Susan Spaeth on December 11, 1946, an American novelist publishing romance since 1979. Kyle spent sixteen years as a journalist under the name Susan Spaeth before turning to fiction, and has also written as Diana Blayne, Katy Currie and Susan Kyle, with a science fiction novel as Susan S. Kyle. The catalogue lists 199 books from 1979 to 2026, opening with titles such as Dream's End and Sweet Enemy and reaching Blaze of Glory (2026). Wyoming Men, Soldiers of Fortune, Men of Medicine Ridge and Morcai Battalion are among the series, and Long, Tall Texans is a listed grouping. Diamond Girl became a 1998 television film. Subjects name ranchers, cowboys, Texas, Wyoming and western romance.

Alex Berenson

24 books• 4 series

John Wells, an intelligence officer working undercover, leads Alex Berenson's espionage thrillers from The Faithful Spy (2006). Berenson's catalogue holds 24 books, opening with The Number (2003) and reaching The Fatherhood Manifesto in 2026, with the Unreported Truth titles and other non-fiction beside the novels. Terrorism, the CIA and undercover operations supply the material.