Upper class book series in reading order

by Simon Raven

by Tasha Alexander

by Deanna Raybourn

by Alyssa Maxwell

by Catriona McPherson

Simon Raven (1927-2001) was an English novelist, playwright, essayist and television writer, as well known for a louche life as for the work itself. Expelled from Charterhouse School, Raven served as an infantry officer in National Service, studied at King's College, Cambridge, and later resigned his commission over gambling debts rather than face a court martial. The catalogue holds 38 books dated 1959 to 2025, opening with Brother Cain and The Feathers of Death and taking in the Alms for Oblivion and First-Born of Egypt sequences. Upper-class England, cricket, the Second World War and gay military life recur as subjects.

P.G. Wodehouse

145 books• 13 series

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (15 October 1881 to 14 February 1975) was an English humorist, one of the most widely read of the 20th century. Wodehouse created Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves, the talkative Psmith, Lord Emsworth and the Blandings Castle circle, the Oldest Member with golf stories, and Mr. Mulliner with tall tales. Born in Guildford, Wodehouse attended Dulwich College. The catalogue records 145 books from The Pothunters (1902) through 2019, including school stories, the Jeeves, Psmith, Ukridge and Uncle Fred series, short stories and non-fiction.

Lady Emily Ashton investigates murders in Tasha Alexander's historical mystery series, set among the English upper class. And Only to Deceive (2005) opens the run, and the catalogue reaches 27 books, with Murder on the Sacred River the most recent. Aristocracy, heiresses and social custom fill the subject list, and standalone novels sit beside the Lady Emily books.

Deanna Raybourn

28 books• 6 series

Deanna Raybourn writes historical fiction and historical mystery novels. Born June 17, 1968, Raybourn is American. The catalogue lists 28 books from Silent in the Grave (2006) to A Ghastly Catastrophe (2026), grouped mainly into the Lady Julia Grey and Veronica Speedwell series. Series on file also include Killers of a Certain Age, City of Jasmine and Spear of Summer Grass. Private investigators, upper-class society and historical romance are among the subjects on file.

Candace Camp is an American writer of romance, mostly historical, with 70 catalogued books to her name. The run begins with Bonds of Love (1978) under the pen name Lisa Gregory, one of several names Camp has published under alongside Sharon Stephens and Kristin James. The subjects are Regency and Victorian England, nobility, revenge and manners, across series including Mad Morelands, Willowmere, Stonecliffe and Secrets of the Loch. A Scandal at Stonecliffe (2024) is the most recent title.

Johanna Lindsey wrote historical romance across pirates, Vikings, the English aristocracy and the American west. Captive Bride (1977) opens a catalogue of 57 books, and the Malory-Anderson family novels are the best known strand, alongside the Reid family, the Viking Haardrad family, Sherring Cross and the Ly-San-Ter books. The run closed in 2019 with Temptation's Darling.

Edith Wharton

122 books• 6 series

Edith Wharton (January 24, 1862 to August 11, 1937), born Edith Newbold Jones, was an American novelist and designer. Wharton used first-hand knowledge of upper-class New York society to depict the lives and morals of the Gilded Age with realism. The Age of Innocence made Wharton the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, in 1921. The House of Mirth, the novella Ethan Frome and a number of ghost stories are other well-known works, and Wharton entered the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1996. The catalogue lists 122 titles, from Souls Belated (1899) through The Touchstone (1900), The Valley of Decision (1902) and Sanctuary (1903). Old New York is the series on the author page.

Nancy Mitford

19 books• 1 series

Nancy Mitford (1904-1973) was an English novelist, biographer and journalist who wrote about upper-class life in England and France. The novels include The Pursuit of Love (1945) and Love in a Cold Climate (1949); the historical biographies include Madame de Pompadour (1954). Mitford was the eldest of the six Mitford sisters and a fixture of the inter-war London social scene. Nineteen catalogued titles run from Highland Fling (1931) to a 1996 collection of her correspondence with Evelyn Waugh, and Radlett and Montdore is her one catalogued series.

Tessa Arlen writes historical mystery in upper-class England, across two series: the Lady Montfort Mysteries and the Woman of WWII Mysteries. The 8 catalogued books open with Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman (2015), take in Death Sits Down to Dinner (2016), Death of an Unsung Hero (2018) and the two Poppy Redfern novels of 2019 and 2020, and close with In Royal Service to the Queen (2021) and A Dress of Violet Taffeta (2022). Countesses, London and murder investigation recur.

Fay Weldon

59 books• 9 series

Fay Weldon (1931-2023), born Franklin Birkinshaw, was a British novelist, essayist and playwright whose career ran fifty-five years and produced 31 novels. The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (1983) is the best known, televised by the BBC in 1986. The Bulgari Connection (2000), Puffball (1980), Wicked Women (1995) and The Cloning of Joanna May (1989) sit alongside it. Weldon was a feminist and described her subject as overweight, plain women. Fifty-nine catalogued titles, taking in novels, plays, short stories and nonfiction, run from 1967 to 2019.

Georgette Heyer

65 books• 7 series

Georgette Heyer (16 August 1902 to 4 July 1974) was an English novelist and short-story writer in two genres, Regency romance and detective fiction. The Black Moth (1921), the first of 65 catalogued books, grew from a story Heyer invented for an ill younger brother. These Old Shades (1926) became popular even though it came out during the General Strike. Inspector Hannasyde, Inspector Hemingway and Alastair-Audley are the recurring series. The Chinese Shawl (2019) is the newest listed edition.

Alyssa Maxwell writes historical cozy mysteries in two series. The Gilded Newport Mysteries follow a woman journalist through murders in the Rhode Island mansions, opening with Murder at the Breakers (2014) and continuing through Murder at Beechwood, Murder at Rough Point and Murder at Chateau Sur Mer. A Lady and Lady's Maid Mystery runs alongside. Twenty-three books reach Murder at Rosecliff in 2026.

Born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Stephanie Laurens is an Australian romance novelist and a winner of the Romance Writers of America RITA Award. The catalogue counts 105 books between Tangled Reins (1992) and Who Killed The Earl Of Moran? (2026). Cynster Next Generation, Bastion Club, Black Cobra Quartet, Casebook of Barnaby Adair and Legend of Nimway Hall are among the series, and subject tags name the Cynster family. Subjects also include historical Regency romance, England and the nobility.

Ruth Rendell

88 books• 7 series

Ruth Rendell (17 February 1930 to 2 May 2015) was an English writer of thrillers and psychological murder mysteries who held the title Baroness Rendell of Babergh. Chief Inspector Wexford is the creation most associated with Rendell. Separate standalone crime novels looked into what drives criminals and their victims, and the pseudonym Barbara Vine carried that interest into a third body of work. Rendell's novels have sold an estimated 20 million copies. The catalogue records 88 books, starting with From Doon With Death (1964), then To Fear a Painted Devil (1965) and Vanity Dies Hard (1966).

Regency historical romance is Loretta Chase's form, built on nobility, the London upper class and courtship. Chase's series include Scoundrels, the Carsington Brothers, the Dressmakers, the Difficult Dukes and the Trevelyan family. Isabella (1987) is the earliest of 27 catalogued titles, Lord of Scoundrels (1995) sits mid-run, and My Inconvenient Duke is the newest. The 1990s were the peak decade.

Christian historical romance is Tamera Alexander's form, with frontier and pioneer life, Colorado settings and widows among the subjects. Rekindled (2006) opens the Fountain Creek Chronicles, and Timber Ridge Reflections follows. The Belmont Mansion, Belle Meade Plantation and Carnton series come later. Nineteen titles are catalogued, reaching In These Hills in 2026.

Stephanie Barron

19 books• 3 series

Stephanie Barron is the name under which Francine Barron Mathews, an American writer of mystery and spy fiction born May 23, 1963, publishes historical mysteries. Jane Austen and women sleuths appear in the subjects, and the listed books run from Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor (1996) through Jane and the Man of the Cloth (1997) and Jane and the Stillroom Maid (2000) to Jane and the Final Mystery (2023). The catalogue holds 19 books, including A Flaw in the Blood (2008), and Regency romance and England appear in the subjects. Mathews is profiled in Great Women Mystery Writers (2007).

Evelyn Waugh

47 books• 2 series

Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966) was an English novelist, biographer and travel writer who also worked as a journalist and book reviewer. The satires Decline and Fall (1928) and A Handful of Dust (1934) came early; Brideshead Revisited followed in 1945, and the Sword of Honour trilogy between 1952 and 1961. Waugh's catalogue holds 47 titles across fiction, travel and biography, with editions dated as late as 2005. Waugh was educated at Lancing College and at Hertford College, Oxford, and taught school briefly before writing full time.

Catriona McPherson is a Scottish writer best known for the Dandy Gilver novels, historical mysteries built around a woman private investigator. Two further series, the Last Ditch Mysteries and Helen Crowther, sit alongside. Forty books are catalogued between After the Armistice Ball (2005) and The Dead Room (2026). McPherson's awards include an Agatha, two Anthonys, six Leftys and two Macavitys. Scotland, family secrets and murder are the recurring subjects.

Nicola Cornick, born in Bradford, Yorkshire, in 1964, is a British writer of historical romance novels and time slip mysteries that merge several genres: historical fiction, romance, suspense, adventure, crime, science fiction, fantasy and the supernatural. Cornick's books have been translated into more than 40 languages. The catalogue lists 47 titles from True Colours (1998) to The Fourth Queen (2026), among them Lady Polly (1999), The Virtuous Cyprian (1999), Lady Allerton's Wager (2000) and The Earl's Prize (2002). Series recorded include Scandalous Women Of The Ton, Brides Of Fortune, Suffolk, Tallants, Scottish Brides, Mostyn/Trevithick Feud and New Timeslip. Cornick chaired the Romantic Novelists' Association from 2017 to 2019 and serves as its archivist.

Edward St. Aubyn

11 books• 2 series

Edward St Aubyn is an English author and journalist born in 1960. The St Aubyn catalogue includes the semi-autobiographical Patrick Melrose novels, and Mother's Milk (2005) reached the Booker Prize shortlist in 2006. The catalogue counts 11 books, opening with Bad News and Never Mind (both 1992) and continuing through Lost for Words (2014), Dunbar (2017) and Double Blind (2021) to Parallel Lines (2025). Subjects include fathers and sons, the upper class, drug addicts and England.

J.P. Donleavy

23 books

The Ginger Man (1955) made J.P. Donleavy's name. Donleavy (1926-2017) was an American-Irish novelist, short story writer and playwright known for dark humour. The Ginger Man, a picaresque novel first published in Paris, sold 50 million copies, was translated into more than 30 languages, and in 1998 placed 99th on the Modern Library's list of the century's best novels. The catalogue lists 23 books through 1998, including A Singular Man (1963) and The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B (1967).