World War, 1939-1945 book series in reading order

by Susan Elia MacNeal

by Taylor Anderson

by Michael Dobbs

by Captain W.E. Johns

by Rory Clements

by John Lawton

by Jack Higgins

by Heather Morris

by S. Block

by Walter Mosley

W.E.B. Griffin was the best-known pen name of William Edmund Butterworth III (November 10, 1929 to February 12, 2019), an American author of military and detective fiction. Under the Griffin name Butterworth published 59 novels across seven series, 21 of them written with Butterworth's son, William E. Butterworth IV. The catalogue files 194 titles here, including 1960s books issued as W.E. Butterworth, Webb Beech and Walker E. Blake. Series include Brotherhood of War, Presidential Agent and M*A*S*H, and World War II and the U.S. Marine Corps recur in the subjects.

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.

James R. Benn, born in 1949, is an American author of historical crime fiction. The Billy Boyle World War II Mysteries form Benn's main sequence, putting the investigator Billy Boyle on murder cases inside the 1939-1945 war. Benn's catalogue holds 26 books dated 2000 to 2026, from the debut Desperate Ground to The Ninth Circle, with standalone novels alongside the series.

Annie Groves was one of several pen names used by Penelope Halsall (24 November 1946 - 31 December 2011), an English writer of more than 200 romance novels who also published as Caroline Courtney, Penny Jordan, Melinda Wright and Lydia Hitchcock. Halsall took the Groves name from her mother's maiden name and used it for historical romances; sales across the names pass 70 million copies. The catalogue lists 29 Annie Groves titles opening with Ellie Pride (2003), and entries dated after Halsall's death carry the run on to Three Sisters in the Snow (2025). Subjects on record include the Second World War of 1939-1945, England, London, family life, sagas and social customs.

Katie Flynn and Judith Saxton are both pen names of Judy Turner, whose books sold more than eight million copies before her death in January 2019 at the age of 82. The catalogue holds 98 titles from 1972 onward, the earliest carrying the Saxton name: Cousin to the Queen (1972), My Master Mariner (1974) and Princess In Waiting (1976). Family sagas set in wartime England and Liverpool dominate, through series such as Liverpool Sisters, the Neyler Quartet and the Rose Queen Trilogy. New titles keep appearing, with The Secret Child scheduled for 2027.

Michael Morpurgo

171 books• 5 series

Sir Michael Morpurgo, born 5 October 1943, is an English author, poet, playwright and librettist best known for children's novels such as War Horse (1982). Morpurgo served as the third Children's Laureate from 2003 to 2005 and is President of BookTrust, a children's reading charity. Recurring themes include outsiders who triumph, survival and bonds with nature, set in places such as the Cornish coast and the First World War trenches. The catalogue holds 171 books from It Never Rained (1974) to Down Burrow Lane (2026), including the Mudpuddle Farm series.

Ellie Dean is a pen name of Tamara McKinley, an Australian-born author based in the south of England. The Cliffehaven books, also listed as Beach View Boarding House, carry the Dean name and have sold more than a million copies. The earlier Australian novels appeared as Tamara McKinley, from Matilda's Last Waltz (1999) through Jacaranda Vines (2001) and Undercurrents (2004) to Ocean Child (2010), alongside the Oceana Trilogy. The catalogue holds 36 titles reaching The Long Road Home (2026), with subjects covering the Second World War, England, Australia and family sagas.

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.

Alan Furst wrote espionage novels set in Europe before and during the Second World War, among resistance movements and intelligence services. The catalogue opens with earlier crime writing, Your Day in the Barrel (1976), The Paris Drop (1980), The Caribbean Account (1981) and Shadow Trade (1984), then turns to the Night Soldiers books with Night Soldiers (1988) and Dark Star (1991). 22 titles are catalogued in all, closing with Under Occupation in 2019.

Max Hastings

37 books• 1 series

Max Hastings is a British journalist and military historian, born in 1945, who reported abroad for the BBC, served as editor-in-chief of The Daily Telegraph and edited the Evening Standard. Histories of war make up most of the writing: Bomber Command (1979), Victory in Europe (1985), Armageddon (2004) and Sword Beach: D-Day Baptism by Fire (2025). Thirty-three books are catalogued from America 1968 (1969) onward. Hastings also writes a column for Bloomberg Opinion and contributes to The Times and The Sunday Times.

The Second World War is Sarah Sundin's setting, written as Christian historical romance: American air crews, B-17 bombers, military pilots and letters home. Wings of Glory, Wings of the Nightingale, Waves of Freedom and Sunrise at Normandy are her series. Twenty-one catalogued books run from A Distant Melody (2010) to Twelve Days and Twelfth Night, and The Refuge of Le Chambon is scheduled for 2027.

Gilbert Morris produced Christian historical fiction at length: 248 catalogued books between 1977 and 2014. The House of Winslow follows one family across American history; the Appomattox Saga and Bonnets & Bugles take up the Civil War; Cheney Duvall, M.D. follows a woman physician; the Seven Sleepers, Dixie Morris and Too Smart Jones series sit alongside, with children's fiction among the subjects. The catalogue opens with Race Against Time (1977), reaches Raina's Choice, and is listed as likely complete.

Jim Eldridge, born November 1944, is an English screenwriter for radio, film and television with hundreds of scripts broadcast over a career of more than 30 years. Radio shows created by Eldridge include King Street Junior, The Demon Headmaster, Shut UP and Parsley Sidings, and television creations include Powers, Time of My Life and Uncle Jack. The catalogue holds 117 books from Down Payment On Death (1972) to The Museum Detectives' Christmas Mystery (2026), with Murder at the Vatican due in 2027. Bogeys, Boils And Bellybuttons (1986), Bad Boyes (1987) and Uncle Jack and Operation Green (1990) are early titles, and series include Museum Mysteries, Hotel Mysteries, Cathedral Mysteries, DCI Paul Stark, SAS and Disgusting Dave.

Margaret Mayhew writes historical fiction and romance, with the Second World War as her main period: Bluebirds (1993) follows four women in wartime, and The Crew (1997) and the Royal Air Force supply further material. The Village Mysteries series turns to crime in English village settings. Mayhew was born in London within the sound of Bow Bell, and her earliest memories are of the German Blitz; her father was a pioneering heart surgeon at Guy's Hospital and her mother was French. Educated at Malvern Girls' College and in Lausanne, Mayhew began writing in her mid-thirties and published The Master of Aysgarth in 1976. The catalogue holds 27 titles through 2020.

Jacqueline Winspear

23 books• 5 series

Jacqueline Winspear, a mystery writer born on 30 April 1955, is the author of Maisie Dobbs, a series examining the aftermath of World War I. Books in the series have won Winspear several mystery writing awards. The catalogue lists 24 Winspear books, starting with Maisie Dobbs (2003) and including Birds of a Feather (2004) and Pardonable Lies (2005). The Comfort of Ghosts (2024) is the newest published title, and Charlie Bright is scheduled for 2027. Subjects include women private investigators, both world wars and missing in action.

Alistair MacLean

42 books• 5 series

Alistair MacLean (21 April 1922 to 2 February 1987) was a Scottish novelist of thrillers and adventure stories. MacLean's books have sold an estimated 150 million copies, placing MacLean among the best-selling fiction authors of all time. Service in the Royal Navy aboard HMS Royalist during the Second World War supplied the basis for the debut novel, H.M.S. Ulysses (1955). Many of the novels were filmed, above all The Guns of Navarone and Ice Station Zebra. Catalogued titles include South by Java Head (1958), Night Without End (1960) and Fear is the Key (1961). The author page also lists the Alistair MacLean's UNACO series and Lawrence of Arabia (1962).

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.

Maggie Hope, an American working in wartime Britain, carries Susan Elia MacNeal's historical spy series from Mr. Churchill's Secretary (2012). Women spies, cryptography and undercover operations during the Second World War are the recurring subjects. MacNeal's catalogue opens earlier with non-fiction, Wedding Zen (2004) and Infused (2006), and runs to 14 titles through The Last Hope in 2024.

Tricia Goyer is an American author of Christian fiction, with 68 books catalogued from From Dust and Ashes (2003) to Twist of Time (2026). Series include World War II Liberator, Chronicles of the Spanish Civil War, Big Sky Amish, Pinecraft Pie Shop, Seven Brides for Seven Bachelors, Swiss Agents, London Chronicles and Clockwork Chronicles. Non-fiction on parenting appears too, such as Life Interrupted: The Scoop on Being a Young Mom (2004). The Second World War and the Amish recur in the subjects.

Taylor Anderson is a former history professor, an artillery and firearms expert, and a re-enactor. His Destroyermen series follows the crews of the USS Walker, the USS Mahan and the USS S-19 in their fight against the Grik, and short stories extend the same fictional universe. The catalogue holds 24 books published between 2008 and 2026, opening with Into the Storm and Crusade in 2008 and reaching Fleet of Ghosts in 2026, with the Artillerymen and Corps of Discovery sequences alongside. Alternative history, naval battles, the Second World War and time travel recur as subjects. Anderson has consulted on weapons for media organisations, including the 2004 film The Alamo.

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.

Alex Kershaw, born 1966, is an English journalist, public speaker and author of narrative history. The Second World War supplies most of the catalogue: The Bedford Boys (2004), The Longest Winter (2004), The Few (2006), Escape from the Deep (2008), The Liberator (2012) and Avenue of Spies (2015). Kershaw also writes biography, starting at Jack London (1997) and continuing to Patton's Prayer (2024). Thirteen Kershaw titles are catalogued, with American soldiers, campaigns and regimental history as the recurring subjects.

Dennis Wheatley

71 books• 7 series

Dennis Wheatley was an English writer of thrillers and occult novels, and among the world's best-selling authors from the 1930s to the 1960s. Series in the catalogue are Black Magic, Roger Brook, Gregory Sallust, Julian Day, Lost World and Molly Fountain, with Roger Brook and the Duke de Richleau as recurring characters. Titles include The Forbidden Territory (1933), The Devil Rides Out (1934), The Eunuch of Stamboul (1935) and They Found Atlantis (1936). The catalogue holds 71 books, from Such Power Is Dangerous (1933) to The Deception Planners (1980).

Pam Jenoff is an American novelist, lawyer and law professor at Rutgers University who lives in New Jersey. Jenoff writes love stories and historical novels, many of them bestsellers and some nominated for awards. The Second World War, Jews and Poland recur in the subject tags. The catalogue holds 19 books, starting with The Kommandant's Girl (2007) and The Diplomat's Wife (2008). Last Twilight in Paris (2025) is the most recent release, and The Society of Forgotten Wives is scheduled for 2027. Series listed are Kommandant's Girl, Jordan Weiss and Winter Guest, next to titles such as The Other Girl (2014) and The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach (2015).