Spies book series in reading order

by Ally Carter

by L.A. Meyer

by Chris Ryan

by Gabrielle Lord

by William F. Buckley, Jr.

Anthony Horowitz

106 books• 23 series

Anthony Horowitz is an English novelist and screenwriter, born 5 April 1955, who specialises in mystery and suspense. For children and young adults Horowitz created Alex Rider, a 14-year-old British boy who spies for MI6, along with The Power of Five (titled The Gatekeepers in the US) and The Diamond Brothers. The catalogue holds 106 Horowitz books from Enter Frederick K. Bower (1978) to A Deadly Episode (2026). Other listed series include Detective Daniel Hawthorne, Susan Ryeland, Groosham Grange and the Pentagram Chronicles. Horowitz is still publishing.

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.

Charlie Higson

35 books• 7 series

Charlie Higson, born 3 July 1958, is an English actor, comedian, author and former singer who has also written and produced for television. Higson is the author of The Enemy, a young adult post-apocalyptic series, and wrote the first five Young Bond novels. King of the Ants (1992) opens the catalogue of 35 titles, followed by Happy Now (1993), Full Whack (1995) and Getting Rid of Mister Kitchen (1996). The Dalek Factor (2004) appears next, then SilverFin (2005), Blood Fever (2006), Double or Die (2007) and By Royal Command (2008). Spies, zombies, survival and London appear in the subject tags.

Stuart Gibbs

46 books• 10 series

Stuart Gibbs writes mystery and adventure fiction for readers in grades six to eight. Belly Up (2010) opens the FunJungle series, set around a zoo, and Spy School, Moon Base Alpha, Charlie Thorne, The Last Musketeer and Once Upon a Tim follow. Forty-two catalogued books reach 2027, when There's No Place like Rome arrives.

Ally Carter

29 books• 8 series

Spies, thieves and boarding schools furnish Ally Carter's fiction for young readers. The Gallagher Girls series, set at a school that trains teenage spies, runs from 2006 through Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy, Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover and Only the Good Spy Young. Heist Society turns to con artists, Embassy Row to diplomatic intrigue, and Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valor to a mystery for younger readers. Thirty titles make up the catalogue, which began with the adult novel Cheating at Solitaire (2005).

Bill Myers is an American Christian author, film director and film producer, born in Seattle, Washington on September 9, 1953. The animated series McGee and Me! is the work Myers is most noted for. Myers writes across comedy, horror, thriller, fiction and nonfiction. The catalogue holds 132 books, from My Friend William Moved Away (1979) to Commune (2023), with the 1990s as the busiest decade. Series include Incredible Worlds of Wally McDoogle, Forbidden Doors, Bloodhounds Inc., TJ and the Time Stumblers and Secret Agent Dingledorf and His Trusty Dog, SPLAT. Catalogue subjects cover Christian life, children's fiction, humorous stories, time travel and spies.

Greg Rucka

105 books• 35 series

Greg Rucka, born November 29, 1969, is an American novelist and comics writer. The Atticus Kodiak novels carry Rucka's name, as do the creator-owned comics Whiteout, Queen & Country, Stumptown and Lazarus. For DC Comics, Rucka wrote long runs on Detective Comics, Wonder Woman and Gotham Central, and co-created Kate Kane, the second Batwoman; the Marvel work includes Elektra, Wolverine and The Punisher. Crossover material by Rucka includes No Man's Land, Infinite Crisis and New Krypton. The catalogue lists 106 titles from 1994 onward, with Keeper (1996) and Whiteout (1998) among the early entries and a Batwoman collection scheduled for 2027.

The Recruit (2004) opens the 9 books catalogued under the joint credit Robert Muchamore and Sammy Yuen, a run of children's spy stories filed for grades 6 to 8. Subjects record CHERUB as an imaginary organization, espionage, intelligence services, undercover operations, orphans, teenagers, prisons and the drug traffic. Class A (2004), Maximum Security, The Killing, Divine Madness, Man vs. Beast, Mad Dogs, Lone Wolf and New Guard (2017) complete the listing.

Ben Macintyre

17 books

Ben Macintyre writes narrative history and biography, much of it about spies and the two world wars. 17 catalogued titles run from Forgotten Fatherland (1992) through The Napoleon of Crime (1997), A Foreign Field (2001), The Englishman's Daughter (2001) and Agent Zigzag (2007). Prisoners of war, missing soldiers and wartime deception recur across the work, which reaches Redwood in 2026.

Francine Pascal (née Rubin, 1932–2024) was an American author whose name is tied to the Sweet Valley books for young adults. Sweet Valley High anchored that collection, was adapted for television, and branched into spin-offs such as The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. The catalogue opens with Hangin' Out with Cici (1977) and also carries the Fearless series. Subjects include twins, sisters, high schools, friendship and dating. Most Sweet Valley books came out in the 1980s and 1990s, and several titles were re-released decades later.

Tracey West, born October 1, 1965, is a children's author who writes for licensed series such as Pokémon and SpongeBob SquarePants. The catalogue lists 356 titles from 1988 to 2027, reaching Heart of the Ruby Dragon (2026), with Claw of the Diamond Dragon due in 2027. Named series include Pokémon chapter books, novelizations and readers, Naruto Chapter Books, LEGO Ninjago Reader, Bakugan Chapter Books, Pixie Tricks, Pet Vet Club and Scream Shop Pick Your Path. Dragon Masters and Heroes in Training appear as recurring lines. Ninja, dragons and plot-your-own stories appear among the subject headings.

Terry Deary

340 books• 41 series

Terry Deary is a British children's author, born in 1946, best known as the writer of the Horrible Histories series. Deary has written 351 books, which have sold more than 38 million copies in over 45 languages, and has ranked among Britain's best-selling authors since 1994. In 2012 Deary was the tenth most-borrowed author in British libraries, and Books for Keeps magazine named Deary the Outstanding Children's Non-Fiction Author of the 20th Century. The catalogue lists 340 titles from Teaching Through Theatre (1977) onward, including the True Stories and Tudor Terror series.

Michael Buckley

28 books• 7 series

Michael Buckley, born August 16, 1969, is an American children's author. Buckley's catalogue holds 28 books published between 2005 and 2025, opening with The Fairy Tale Detectives (2005) and reaching The Weirdest One of All (2025). Sisters Grimm, Weirdies, Undertow Trilogy and Finniverse are among the recorded series, and the subject headings cover mystery and detective stories, magic, spies and humorous stories for grades 3 to 5. Buckley also co-created the animated television series Robotomy.

John Le Carre

30 books• 5 series

John le Carré was the pen name of David John Moore Cornwell, an English novelist of espionage who lived from 19 October 1931 to 12 December 2020. During the 1950s and 1960s Cornwell worked for MI5 and MI6, and late in life took Irish citizenship. The catalogue counts 30 books, from Call for the Dead (1961) to A Private Spy: The Letters of John le Carré (2022). The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963), the third novel, was an international bestseller and an award-winning film. George Smiley is the recurring figure, with Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) and Smiley's People (1979) in the list. Subjects include the Cold War, spies and intelligence officers.

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.

Susanna Gregory is the pen name of Elizabeth Cruwys, a Cambridge academic and former coroner's officer who writes historical detective fiction. Matthew Bartholomew, a physician investigating murders in fourteenth-century Cambridge, carries her longest sequence, which opens with A Plague on Both Your Houses (1996). Thomas Chaloner heads a second series. Under a further name, Simon Beaufort, she wrote the Sir Geoffrey Mappestone and Alec Lonsdale books. The catalogue holds 52 books published between 1996 and 2022, and nothing has followed The Pudding Lane Plot (2022).

Roland Smith, born November 30, 1951, is an American author of young adult fiction and of nonfiction for children. The catalogue lists 51 titles from Sea Otter Rescue (1990) to The Vaquita (2025), with early books on zoo animals, Primates in the Zoo, Snakes in the Zoo, Inside the Zoo Nursery, sitting beside later adventure fiction. Series include I, Q, Peak, Storm Runners, Zach's Lie, Jacob Lansa, Marty and Grace and the Alphabet Picture books; Marie Smith shares credit on 3 of the titles. Subjects name survival, adventure, spies, mountaineering and terrorism.

Jon Scieszka, born September 8, 1954, is an American author of picture books such as The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! and Math Curse, often illustrated by Lane Smith. The Time Warp Trio novels for young readers were written to teach history, and Scieszka founded Guys Read, an online program encouraging boys to read. The Librarian of Congress appointed Scieszka the first U.S. National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, serving 2008 and 2009. The catalogue lists 86 books, including The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (1992) and the Frank Einstein and Trucktown series.

Arthur Slade is a Canadian author, born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, on July 9, 1967, who grew up on a ranch in the Cypress Hills and lives in Saskatoon. Draugr (1998), a novel for middle years, let Slade turn to full-time writing, and Dust and Tribes followed. The catalogue holds 45 books up to Metaloria: Highway to Hades (2026). Series include Hunchback Assignments, Northern Frights, Dragon Assassin and I, Brax, and spies, horror stories and Icelanders appear in the subjects. Slade earned an English Honours degree at the University of Saskatchewan in 1989.

Wendelin Van Draanen is an American writer of children's and young-adult fiction. Sammy Keyes anchors the list, a mystery series opening with Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief (1998) that names its case in every title, and the Shredderman and Gecko and Sticky books follow. Flipped (2001) stands outside the series. The catalogue holds 38 books between How I Survived Being a Girl (1997) and The Steps (2025), at a median of 256 pages.

Elizabeth Singer Hunt has 14 catalogued children's books, published from 2007 to 2011 and graded for grades 1 to 3. Subject tags name the fictitious character Jack Stalwart and cover spies, the secret service, pirates, buried treasure and kidnapping. The Escape of the Deadly Dinosaur (2007) is the first title and The Mission to Find Max (2011) the last. The Mystery of the Mona Lisa, The Caper of the Crown Jewels and The Deadly Race to Space are among the others. The median book is 128 pages long.

Ridley Pearson

56 books• 11 series

Ridley Pearson, born March 13, 1953, is an American author of suspense, thriller and adventure books, several of which have made The New York Times Best Seller list. The catalogue lists 56 titles, opening with Never Look Back (1985) and Blood of the Albatross (1986). Undercurrents (1988), Probable Cause (1990) and The Angel Maker (1993) are among the earlier books, and Tiana's Bayou Adventure (2026) is the newest. Series include Boldt & Matthews, Walt Fleming, Risk Agent, Lock and Key, Steel Trapp and Kingdom Keepers. Subject tags name Lou Boldt, Daphne Matthews and police psychologists, alongside children's fiction and fantasy.

Barbara Cartland

702 books• 3 series

Barbara Cartland, born Mary Barbara Hamilton Cartland on 9 July 1901 and died on 21 May 2000, was an English romance novelist and socialite. This directory catalogues 702 titles under Cartland's name, from His Hour (1910) through to A Heart in the Highlands (2024), with the 1980s the heaviest decade. The Eternal Collection, the Pink Collection and the Camfield Novels Of Love group the bulk of that output. Cartland wrote contemporary as well as historical romance, the historical novels set mainly in the Victorian and Edwardian periods, and ranks fifth among the most translated authors worldwide.

James Ponti writes mystery and adventure fiction for readers in grades 3 to 5. The catalogue lists 38 books between 1992 and 2027, starting with Hollywood East: Florida's Fabulous Flicks (1992) and reaching Operation Oz, scheduled for 2027. City Spies, Dead City, the Sherlock Society and the Florian Bates T.O.A.S.T. mysteries are the series recorded. Early entries include junior novelizations, among them Around the World in 80 Days Jr. Novel (2004) and The Santa Clause 3: Escape Clause (2006).