Gangsters book series in reading order

by Ian Hamilton

Max Allan Collins

199 books• 34 series

Max Allan Collins, born March 3, 1948, is an American mystery writer who also works in comics, graphic novels and screenplays. Collins created the Ms. Tree and Road to Perdition comics, the second of which became a film, and the series characters Quarry, a hitman, Nolan, a thief, and private investigator Nate Heller. Collins wrote the Dick Tracy newspaper strip for years, and the Mystery Writers of America named Collins a Grand Master in 2017. Catalogue entries run from Bait Money (1973) to Quarry's Reunion (2026), with Eliot Ness, Mallory and Disaster among the other series.

Howie Carr

13 books• 1 series

Howie Carr is an American radio host, reporter and author with 13 catalogued books. The Brothers Bulger (2006) opens the run, followed by Hitman (2011), Hard Knocks (2012), Ratman (2013), Rifleman (2013), Plug Uglies (2014), Killers (2015) and What Really Happened (2018), reaching Mass Corruption in 2025. Two volumes of Kennedy Babylon appeared in 2018 and 2020. Organised crime in Boston, gangsters, murderers, political corruption and Massachusetts politicians run through the subjects. Carr hosts The Howie Carr Show from Wellesley, Massachusetts, broadcast weekdays on WRKO in Boston, and writes three columns a week for the Boston Herald.

London's gangster underworld is Martina Cole's territory. The British crime writer has 29 catalogued books published between 1992 and 2025, from Dangerous Lady (1992) to No Regret (2025). Dangerous Lady, The Jump, The Take and The Runaway were adapted as television dramas, and UK sales pass fourteen million. Two named series sit in the catalogue, DI Kate Burrows and Maura Ryan, alongside standalone novels and non-fiction. Criminals, families and crime in London are the standing subjects. Cole is actively publishing.

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.

Kimberley Chambers, born 13 June 1967 and living in Hornchurch, Greater London, is an English novelist of crime family sagas, set for the most part in Essex or East London and told largely from the villain's point of view, with a streak of humour. Payback, Tainted Love and Life of Crime each reached number one on the Sunday Times list. The catalogue holds 20 books, from Billie Jo (2008) to The Brothers (2024), with Born Evil (2009), The Feud (2010) and The Traitor (2010) early in the run. Butlers and Mitchells & O'Haras are the two series credited to Chambers. Gangsters, criminals, adultery and mothers and daughters appear in the subject records.

Roberta Kray writes London crime fiction, with gangsters, missing persons and kidnapping among the listed subjects. Reg Kray (2002) is the earliest entry and belongs to the non-fiction; the novels begin with The Debt (2006) and continue through The Pact, The Lost, The Villain's Daughter, Broken Home and Bad Girl. Honeytrap, Payment and the Lolly Bruce books are the named series. 29 titles are catalogued to Traitor in 2024, at a median of 456 pages.

Elmore Leonard

65 books• 12 series

Elmore Leonard (October 11, 1925 to August 20, 2013) was an American novelist, short story writer and screenwriter. Leonard began with Westerns in the 1950s and moved on to crime fiction and suspense, and many of those books were filmed. The story "Three-Ten to Yuma" became the film 3:10 to Yuma (1957), which was remade in 2007. Anthony Lane, a British journalist, called Leonard one of the best crime writers in the land. Get Shorty, Rum Punch, Out of Sight, Glitz and LaBrava rank among Leonard's best-known works. The catalogue lists 65 titles starting with The Bounty Hunters (1953), plus series featuring Raylan Givens, Chili Palmer, Jack Foley and Carl Webster.

Anthony Bourdain

23 books• 3 series

Anthony Bourdain (June 25, 1956 – June 8, 2018) was an American celebrity chef, author and travel documentarian. A 1978 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Bourdain spent several years as executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles in Manhattan, and an essay in The New Yorker in the late 1990s launched the writing career. The catalogue opens with Bone in the Throat (1995) and Gone Bamboo (1997), then Kitchen Confidential (2000), A Cook's Tour (2001) and Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook (2004). The Anthony Bourdain Reader (2025) is the newest title, and Hungry Ghosts and Get Jiro Graphic Novels are the listed series. Cooking, restaurants and food share the subjects with mystery and detective fiction.

Cindy Gerard is an American writer of romantic suspense and romance, a two-time RITA Award winner who lives in Marengo, Iowa. The catalogue holds 59 books from Maverick (1991) to His Secret to Surrender (2021), including Temptation from the Past (1991), Slow Burn (1992), Dream Lover (1993) and Into the Night (1994). Black Ops Inc., Bodyguards, One-Eyed Jacks, Legend Lake Trilogy and Sons and Lovers are among the series. Bodyguards, ranchers, kidnapping and women journalists appear in the subjects.

Loren D. Estleman

122 books• 10 series

Loren D. Estleman, born September 15, 1952, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is an American author of detective fiction and westerns. Estleman is known for crime novels featuring Amos Walker, a private investigator, and Detroit recurs in the subject headings. Page Murdock, US Deputy Marshal, Peter Macklin, Valentino and Detroit are the other series. The catalogue counts 122 books from Red Highway (1976) to Man One (2026), and Motor City Blue appeared in 1980.

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.

Ava Lee, a forensic accountant and martial artist, carries Ian Hamilton's crime series. Twenty-two books are catalogued between 2011 and 2024, opening with The Water Rat of Wanchai (2011), also issued as The Deadly Touch of the Tigress, and continuing through The Wild Beasts of Wuhan (2011), The Red Pole of Macau (2012), The King of Shanghai (2014) and The Couturier of Milan (2017). The Uncle Chow Tung books run alongside. Gangsters, swindling and forensic accounting recur as subjects.

Malcolm Mackay, born on 1 September 1981 in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, writes Scottish crime fiction. The Glasgow Underworld books and the Saviors books make up nine catalogued titles, from The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter (2013) to Saviors (2019), with gangsters, organised crime and hired killers throughout. How a Gunman Says Goodbye took the Deanston Scottish Crime Book of the Year in 2013. Nothing has followed since 2019.

Raymond Benson

52 books• 15 series

James Bond novels published from 1997 to 2003 are what Raymond Benson, an American writer born in 1955, is known for. The catalogue lists Zero Minus Ten (1997), The Facts of Death (1998), Doubleshot (2000), Never Dream of Dying (2001) and The Man With the Red Tattoo (2002), after an earlier title, The James Bond Bedside Companion (1984). The catalogue holds 52 books up to The Hook and the Eye (2026). Black Stiletto, Spike Berenger, Metal Gear Solid, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and Tom Clancy's EndWar are among the series, and espionage thrillers and intelligence officers lead the subjects.

Mandasue Heller writes crime thrillers set in England, with subjects covering organized crime, gangsters, drug dealers, sisters and friendship. The 22 catalogued Heller books run from The Front (2002) to The Child (2026). Early titles include Forget Me Not (2003), Tainted Lives (2004), The Charmer (2005) and The Club (2006). Shafted (2007), Snatched (2009) and The Driver (2010) followed. Heller is still publishing.

Brendan O’Carroll, born 17 September 1955, is an Irish writer, actor, comedian, director and producer. O’Carroll plays the matriarch Agnes Brown on stage and in the BBC and RTÉ sitcom Mrs. Brown's Boys, and took the Irish Film and Television Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015. Agnes Browne is O’Carroll's catalogued series, running from The Mammy (1994) through The Chisellers (1995), The Granny (1996), The Course (1997), The Scrapper (1997) and The Young Wan (2003), with Mrs Brown's Family Handbook (2013) and Call Me Mrs. Brown (2022) later. Recorded subjects include humour, Ireland, working-class life and widows.