Egypt book series in reading order

by Elizabeth Peters

by Wilbur Smith

Christian Jacq

37 books• 7 series

Christian Jacq is a French author and Egyptologist, born in 1947, and ancient Egypt is the subject of the fiction. A five-book sequence on the pharaoh Ramses is the best known work, joined by the Stone of Light, the Mysteries of Osiris, the Judge of Egypt, the Queen of Freedom and the Vengeance of the Gods. The catalogue holds 37 titles from Magic and Mystery in Ancient Egypt (1983) to The Beloved of Isis (2011), non-fiction on hieroglyphics and a Mozart series among them.

Elizabeth Peters was a pen name of Barbara Louise Mertz (September 29, 1927 to August 8, 2013), an American writer who also published as Barbara Michaels. Mertz earned a PhD in Egyptology from the University of Chicago in 1952. Mertz was best known for mystery and suspense novels, above all the Amelia Peabody series. In the 1960s Mertz also wrote two histories of ancient Egypt, Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs and Red Land, Black Land, both revised in 2007 and 2008. The catalogue lists 43 Elizabeth Peters titles from The Jackal's Head (1968) to The Locked Tomb Mystery: And Other Stories (2018), with the Amelia Peabody, Vicky Bliss and Jacqueline Kirby series.

Wilbur Smith was a British-South African novelist born in Northern Rhodesia. Smith's historical fiction covers four centuries of international involvement in Southern Africa. The catalogue lists 66 books, from When the Lion Feeds (1964) to Flashpoint (2026). Series include Courtney, Jack Courtney, Ancient Egypt, Hector Cross and Prey Zone. Recurring character listings include the Courtney family, Ballantyne and Hector Cross. David Churchill and Tom Harper each share the credit on 1 book. Subjects include Africa, Egypt, revenge, espionage and terrorism.

Ancient Egypt is where Pauline Gedge set most of her historical fiction. Gedge, born in 1945, is a Canadian novelist whose 14 catalogued books span Child of the Morning (1977) to The King's Man (2010). Lords of the Two Lands and Lady of the Reeds are the Egyptian sequences; The Eagle and the Raven (1978) turns to the Britons and Stargate (1982) to fantasy. Gedge's novels have sold more than six million copies in 18 languages, and the first four carried cover art by Leo and Diane Dillon. The catalogue is likely complete.

Paul Doherty writes historical mysteries set largely in England, with 127 books catalogued from The Death of a King (1985) to The Meadows of Murder (2026). Recurring detectives include Hugh Corbett, Brother Athelstan, Kathryn Swinbrooke and Amerotke. Other series cover the Canterbury Tales Mysteries, Ancient Rome, Egyptian Mysteries, Nicholas Segalla, Mathilde of Westminster, Margaret Beaufort and Vlad Drakulya. Satan in St Mary's (1986) and Spy in Chancery (1988) are among the early titles.

H. Rider Haggard

78 books• 6 series

Sir Henry Rider Haggard (1856-1925) was an English writer of adventure romances set in exotic locations, Africa above all, and a pioneer of the lost world genre. The eighteen Allan Quatermain stories begin with King Solomon's Mines (1885), and Ayesha is the other named series. Haggard also worked on land reform across the British Empire. The catalogue holds 78 titles dated 1882 to 2013, from Cetywayo and His White Neighbours to a complete anthology, and covers novels, non-fiction and short fiction.

Michelle Moran is an American novelist of historical fiction. Egypt supplies the first three books, Nefertiti (2007), The Heretic Queen (2008) and Cleopatra's Daughter (2009), and later titles take in Madame Tussaud (2011), The Second Empress (2012), Rebel Queen (2015), Mata Hari's Last Dance (2016) and Maria (2024). Nine books are catalogued to 2024, with queens, kings and rulers, Egypt, India and the First World War among the recorded subjects.

Paul Sussman (1966-2012) was an English novelist, archaeologist and journalist. Egypt, antiquities and archaeological excavation run through the fiction, with Yusuf Khalifa the named series; titles include The Lost Army of Cambyses (2002), The Last Secret of the Temple (2005), The Hidden Oasis (2008) and The Labyrinth of Osiris (2012). The Independent called the novels the intelligent reader's answer to The Da Vinci Code. Six titles are catalogued, opening with Death by Spaghetti (1996) and closing with The Final Testimony of Raphael Ignatius Phoenix (2014).

Heather Graham is the name under which Heather Graham Pozzessere, an American writer born on 15 March 1953, publishes mainly romance fiction; Shannon Drake is a further pen name. Graham's work has been published in about 25 languages, with more than 75 million copies printed. The catalogue records 311 books from Tender Taming (1983) to Destiny Rising (2026). Krewe of Hunters, Harrison Investigation, Cafferty & Quinn, Alliance Vampires, Keepers: L.A., New York Confidential and Finnegan Connection are among the Graham series. Subjects span historical, paranormal, contemporary and suspense romance.

Madeleine L'Engle (November 29, 1918 to September 6, 2007) was an American writer of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. A Wrinkle in Time (1962) earned L'Engle the Newbery Medal, and the American Library Association gave L'Engle its Margaret A. Edwards Award in 1998. The catalogue lists 70 books, beginning with The Small Rain (1945). Series include the Austin Family Chronicles, the Crosswicks Journals, the O'Keefe Family and the Time Quintet. Subjects run from science fiction and space and time to Christian life and meditations.

Steven Saylor

25 books• 7 series

Gordianus the Finder investigates murders in Rome across Steven Saylor's Roma Sub Rosa series. Roman Blood (1991) opens the run, followed by Arms of Nemesis (1992), Catilina's Riddle (1993), The Venus Throw (1995), A Murder on the Appian Way (1996) and Rubicon (1999). Saylor also wrote the Ancient World novels, the last of them Dominus in 2021. Twenty-five titles are catalogued, at 320 pages on median.

Barbara Erskine is an English novelist, born in Nottingham in 1944, whose bestselling novels and short-story collections combine history with the supernatural. Erskine's first novel, Lady of Hay (1986), has sold more than three million copies. The catalogue lists 22 books from 1986 to 2026, including Kingdom of Shadows (1988), Midnight Is a Lonely Place (1994) and Whispers in the Sand (2000), ending with The Valley of Ravens (2026). Erskine holds a degree in medieval Scottish history from the University of Edinburgh.

William Dietrich writes historical adventure novels and natural-history non-fiction. The Ethan Gage series, set during the Napoleonic Wars, has been translated into 28 languages and includes Napoleon's Pyramids (2007) and The Rosetta Key (2008). Dietrich has also set novels in the Roman Empire, Antarctica and Australia, while his non-fiction covers the natural and environmental history of the Pacific Northwest, where he grew up and worked as a newspaper journalist. The catalogue holds 20 titles, from The Final Forest (1992) to The Trojan Icon (2016).

Lawrence Durrell

45 books• 4 series

Lawrence Durrell (1912-1990) was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist and travel writer, born in India, schooled in England from the age of 11, and resident in Corfu from 1935 and in many countries after that. The Alexandria Quartet, published between 1957 and 1960, is his best known work; the Avignon Quintet, the Revolt of Aphrodite and the comic Antrobus stories follow. Durrell's travel books include Prospero's Cell (1945) and Bitter Lemons of Cyprus (1957). He was the elder brother of the naturalist Gerald Durrell.

David Levithan

43 books• 7 series

David Levithan, born 7 September 1972, is an American young adult fiction author and editor. Levithan has written numerous works with strong gay male characters, notably Boy Meets Boy (2003) and Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List. Six Levithan books have won or been finalists for the Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature. Series in the catalogue include Every Day and Dash & Lily, and the subjects on file include love, friendship, gay teenagers and high schools.