Germany book series in reading order

by Philip Kerr

by Elizabeth Peters

by Jane Thynne

Craig Russell

16 books• 3 series

Craig Russell is a Scottish novelist and short story writer who also publishes as Christopher Galt. His Jan Fabel thrillers, set in Hamburg and turning on serial murder investigations, have been translated into 23 languages; Russell speaks fluent German and follows post-war German history closely, and the Hamburg Police awarded him the Polizeistern in February 2007, the only non-German to receive it. The Lennox novels move to Glasgow, and The Devil Aspect stands alone. Historical and mythological material runs through the work. Sixteen books span 2005 to 2023, from Blood Eagle to The Devil's Playground.

Gerald Lund writes historical fiction and doctrinal non-fiction rooted in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Forty catalogued books run from The Coming of the Lord in 1971 to Into the Flames in 2019, across The Work and the Glory, Fire and Steel, Kingdom and Crown and Only the Brave. Utah, the Mormon pioneers, frontier life and Germany recur as settings, and Mormon families and church doctrine as subjects. Nothing new has appeared since 2019.

Charles Whiting (18 December 1926 to 24 July 2007) was a British writer and military historian credited with some 350 fiction and non-fiction books. Besides the Whiting name, the pseudonyms used include Duncan Harding, Ian Harding, John Kerrigan, Leo Kessler, Klaus Konrad, K.N. Kostov and Duncan Stirling. Subjects include the Second World War, the Battle of the Ardennes, military campaigns, biography and the secret service. The catalogue holds 152 books under the Whiting name, starting with The Frat Wagon (1954), and includes Decision at St. Vith, Patton, Bradley and Skorzeny. Series include T-Force, Assault Troop, Stuka Squadron, Special Boat Squadron and Spymaster.

Philip Kerr

39 books• 5 series

Bernie Gunther, a private investigator, is the figure Philip Kerr is known for. That sequence opens with March Violets (1989), The Pale Criminal (1990) and A German Requiem (1991), and the Second World War runs through its subjects. Kerr's catalogue holds 39 books, reaching Metropolis (2019), and takes in the Scott Manson novels, standalone thrillers and the Children Of The Lamp series written as P.B. Kerr.

Harry Turtledove

141 books• 28 series

Harry Turtledove, born June 14, 1949, is an American historian and novelist of alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction and mystery, based in Southern California. The catalogue counts 142 books, starting with Wereblood and Werenight (1979), published as Eric G. Iverson, and listing The Succulent Succubus for 2027. Other pen names are H. N. Turteltaub, Dan Chernenko and Mark Gordian. The Videssos Cycle, Southern Victory / Timeline-191, Worldwar, Colonization, Crosstime Traffic, The War That Came Early and Gerin the Fox are among the series. World War II and the American Civil War are frequent subjects.

Heinrich Boll

29 books

Heinrich Böll (1917-1985) was a German writer and one of the country's foremost post-war novelists. The Georg Büchner Prize came in 1967, the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972. War and its aftermath shape the fiction: The Train Was On Time (1949), And Where Were You, Adam? (1951), And Never Said a Word (1953) and Billiards at Half-Past Nine (1959). Marriage, German social conditions and short stories fill out a catalogue of 29 titles in English translation, the last of them a collected stories volume in 2011.

Bernhard Schlink

14 books• 1 series

Bernhard Schlink, born on 6 July 1944, is a German novelist who also works as a lawyer and an academic. The Reader, first published in 1995, became an international bestseller and remains the novel most associated with Schlink. The 2014 Park Kyong-ni Prize went to Schlink. Fourteen books are catalogued, from Self's Punishment (1987) to The Granddaughter (2021). Schlink's catalogued series is Gerhard Self, and subject headings list Gerhard Self as a fictitious character.

Petra Durst-Benning writes historical fiction set in Germany. Glass blowing, glassworkers, the seed industry of the 1850s, sisters and New York State run through the recorded subjects. Three series stand in the catalogue: Glassblower, Seed Traders Saga and Photographer's Saga. Ten books are listed from The Glassblower (2000) to An Artificial Light (2020), taking in The American Lady (2003), The Seed Woman (2005), The Paradise of Glass (2007), While the World is Still Asleep (2012), The Champagne Queen (2013) and The Queen of Beauty (2015).

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.

Oliver Potzsch writes historical crime. The German author's The Hangman's Daughter (2008) opened the series of the same name, and the Faustus books, the Black Musketeers and the Leopold von Herzfeldt cases followed, 19 titles in all, reaching The Girl and the Gravedigger in 2026. Executioners, witch trials, murder investigation, the Thirty Years' War and the bond between fathers and daughters run through the work. Potzsch was among the first writers to reach bestseller status by publishing e-books.

Sven Hassel was the pen name of Borge Willy Redsted Pedersen, a Danish writer who lived from 1917 to 2012 and published in Denmark as Sven Hazel. The novels follow German soldiers through the Second World War, across the Soviet Union, Italy, Poland and Germany. Legion of the Damned (1953) opens a run of 16 catalogued books, among them Wheels of Terror (1958), Assignment Gestapo (1963), Monte Cassino (1963), Liquidate Paris (1967), SS General (1969) and Reign of Hell (1973), with a comic book adaptation following in 2019. Hassel presented himself as a Wehrmacht veteran who fought at the Battle of Berlin in 1945, but post-war investigations established those claims as fabrications. Hassel ranks among the bestselling Danish authors.

Robert Conroy, born Joseph Robert Conroy, was an American writer of alternate history novels who lived from August 24, 1938, to December 30, 2014. The catalogue opens with 1901 (1995), and 1862 (2006), 1945 (2007) and 1942 (2009) follow. World War II, Germany, international relations and war and military fiction are among the subject tags. Castro's Bomb (2011), Himmler's War (2011), North Reich (2012) and 1920: America's Great War (2013) are other titles.

Jakob Arjouni was the pen name of a German author born Jakob Michelsen on 8 October 1964, who died on 17 January 2013. Arjouni took the 1992 German Crime Fiction Prize for One Man, One Murder. The 8 catalogued books span 1985 to 2012, opening with Happy Birthday, Turk! and closing with Brother Kemal. Kayankaya is the series recorded against the name, and subjects list the fictitious character Kemal Kayankaya alongside private investigators, Germany, hate crimes, immigrants and kidnapping. Magic Hoffman, Kismet, Idiots and Chez Max fill the middle of the run.

Espionage, terrorism and the Second World War supply Jack Higgins with his material. Higgins published the earliest of 76 catalogued books as Harry Patterson, among them Sad Wind from the Sea (1959), Cry of the Hunter (1960) and Hell Is Too Crowded (1962). Sean Dillon, Paul Chavasse, Liam Devlin and Martin Fallon head series of their own, alongside standalone thrillers. The Midnight Bell, published in 2016, closes the catalogue.

Len Deighton, born Leonard Cyril Deighton on 18 February 1929, was a British writer of spy novels, cookery books and history who died on 15 March 2026. After national service in the Royal Air Force, Deighton studied at Saint Martin's School of Art and at the Royal College of Art, graduating from the latter in 1955. Work as a book and magazine illustrator followed, including the cover of the first UK edition of On the Road, along with a spell in advertising. The catalogue lists 40 Deighton books, with The IPCRESS File (1962), Funeral in Berlin (1964) and Billion-Dollar Brain (1966) among them. Series include Harry Palmer and Bernard Samson.

Ben Kane is an Irish historical novelist, born in Kenya in 1970 and trained in veterinary medicine at University College Dublin before he turned to fiction. Rome supplies most of his material: the Forgotten Legion Chronicles, Spartacus, Hannibal, Eagles of Rome and Clash of Empires work through soldiers, slaves and imperial war, while Richard the Lionheart moves to a later period. Kane's 29 catalogued books run from The Forgotten Legion (2008) to A Land Aflame (2026) at a median of 480 pages. His novels have been translated into 14 languages and have sold over a million and a half copies.

Francine Mathews writes mystery and spy fiction, and publishes historical mysteries under the name Stephanie Barron. Her 15 catalogued books divide between the Merry Folger novels, which set murder investigations on Nantucket, and a strand of espionage fiction that includes the Caroline Carmichael books. Death in the Off-Season (1994) opens the catalogue and Death on a Winter Stroll (2022) is the last title recorded. Mathews appears in the reference work Great Women Mystery Writers.

Eric Flint's catalogue opens with Mother of Demons (1997) and runs to 1637: The Pilgrim's Passage (2026). 1632 appeared in 2000, alongside Fortune's Stroke and Rats, Bats & Vats, and In the Heart of Darkness (1998) and Destiny's Shield (1999) came before it. Series include Ring of Fire: Assiti Shards, Grantville Gazette, Belisarius, Jao, Boundary, Pyramid, Demon Rift and Rats, Bats & Vats, and two short fiction lines carry Dave Freer's name alongside Flint's. Subjects include time travel, alternate history, West Virginia, Europe, the Thirty Years' War and life on other planets.

Andrew M. Greeley's catalogue spans fiction, non-fiction and poetry, and runs to 82 books published between 1967 and 2010. Subjects settle on the Catholic Church, its clergy, Irish Americans and Chicago. Blackie Ryan and Nuala Anne McGrail are the recurring detectives; other groupings include the O'Malley's family saga, Time Between The Stars, Passover and the World Of Maggie Ward. The listing opens with Letters to Nancy (1967) and ends with Chicago Catholics and the Struggles Within Their Church (2010).

Jane Thynne writes historical espionage. The British novelist, journalist and broadcaster has 14 books catalogued from Patrimony (1997) to The Judgement of Stars (2025). Clara Vine is her main series, Black Roses (2013), The Winter Garden (2014), A War of Flowers (2015) and Faith and Beauty (2015), several of them retitled for other markets, and Rose Ransom is the second. Actresses, intelligence officers, murder and wartime Germany supply the material.

Graham Hurley, born in 1946, is an English crime writer. DI Joe Faraday is Hurley's best-known creation, paired with Winter across a long police series set in England. Standalone novels came first, from Lucky Break? (1981) through Rules Of Engagement (1991) and Thunder In The Blood (1995). Jimmy Suttle, Enora Andresson and the Wars Within / Spoils Of War books set in the 1939-1945 war follow. Fifty titles are catalogued through Dead Ground (2024), non-fiction among them. Hurley worked in television as a scriptwriter, researcher and director.

Christopher Nicole was a British novelist, born on 7 December 1930 and died on 2 September 2017, who published more than 200 novels and non-fiction books from 1957 onward. Nicole wrote under many pseudonyms, among them Andrew York, Peter Grange, Caroline Gray, Alan Savage and Leslie Arlen, and used Max Marlow for books co-written with his wife Diana Bachmann. The catalogue here lists 213 titles between 1961 and 2017, opening with Shadows in the Jungle. Historical sagas, wartime suspense and espionage dominate, through series such as Jonas Wilde: Eliminator, the Russian Saga and the Anna Fehrbach novels.

Leo Kessler wrote war fiction set in World War II, with Germany, Russia, Africa and military campaigns among the catalogued subjects. The 81 books begin in 1974 with SS Panzer Battalion, Claws of Steel and Death's Head. Kessler's series include SS Wotan, Stormtroop Edelweiss, Otto Stahl, Black Cossacks, Submarine and Rommel. From Tyranny to Freedom (2008) is the last listed title, and Eric Taylor is co-credited on 1 book.

Douglas Reeman wrote naval fiction under his own name and as Alexander Kent. Richard Bolitho heads one series and the Blackwood Family books form a second. The catalogue lists 69 titles published between 1958 and 2011, from A Prayer for the Ship (1958) to In the King's Name (2011). Sea stories, the Royal Navy, the Second World War and the Napoleonic wars run through the subjects. The books are long, at a median 320 pages, and output peaked in the 1970s.