World War, 1939-1945 book series in reading order

by Susan Elia MacNeal

by Taylor Anderson

by Lilian Harry

by J. Robert Janes

by Christopher Nicole

by Nancy Revell

by John J. Gobbell

by Michael Dobbs

by Alexander Fullerton

by Spike Milligan

by Captain W.E. Johns

by Rory Clements

by Loree Lough

by Charles Whiting

by John Lawton

by Jack Higgins

by Heather Morris

by Ken Kuhlken

by S. Block

by Walter Mosley

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Lilian Harry is a British author of historical fiction and romance, and the catalogue subjects add sagas, villages, England and World War II. Early books appeared under other names: Moon Over the Mountains (1977) and Saffron (1978) as Donna Baker, and Carver's Bride (1982) and Wildtrack (1983) as Nicola West. The catalogue counts 77 books up to A Child in Burracombe (2017). Burracombe Village, April Grove, a Street at War, Glassmakers Saga, Carpetmakers' Trilogy, Corner House and Cumbrian Saga are the series, and Burracombe is an imaginary English place.

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.

Submarines and the Royal Navy supply Alexander Fullerton's subject. Fullerton lived from 1924 to 2008, grew up in France after a Suffolk birth, and entered the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth aged thirteen in 1938. He served in the Mediterranean aboard the battleship Queen Elizabeth, then spent the rest of the Second World War underwater, and as gunnery and torpedo officer of HM Submarine Seadog in the Far East he was mentioned in dispatches. The Nicholas Everard Saga, Rosie Ewing, the SBS Trilogy, Russian Battles and the Andy Holt naval thrillers make up his series, across 50 catalogued titles dated 1953 to 2020.

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.

Stephen E. Ambrose

36 books• 4 series

Stephen Edward Ambrose, January 10, 1936 to October 13, 2002, was an American historian whose books concentrate on the Second World War, the American West, and the presidencies of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. Ambrose taught history from 1960 to 1995, joined the University of New Orleans in 1971 and became Boyd Professor of History there in 1989. Ambrose founded the Eisenhower Center at that university and was a co-founder of the National D-Day Museum, since renamed the National World War II Museum. The catalogue holds 36 books from Halleck (1962) to This Vast Land (2003), with Nixon and Eisenhower recorded as multi-volume series.

John J. Gobbell writes action and war thrillers, and the Todd Ingram series is catalogued under the Gobbell name. Subject headings include World War, 1939-1945, American and Japanese naval operations, espionage and historical fiction. The 11 catalogued books run from The Brutus Lie (1991) to Across the Black Water (2026). For the John J. Gobbell books in order, The Last Lieutenant (1995), A Code For Tomorrow (1999) and When Duty Whispers Low (2002) follow the first title.

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).