Stephen Leather Books in Order

Stephen Leather is a British thriller writer best known for the long-running Spider Shepherd series, following an ex-SAS soldier turned undercover cop through dangerous operations in the UK and abroad. Before writing full time, he spent over a decade as a journalist on papers including The Times, the Daily Mail, and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, experience that shows in the way his books handle real-world crime, terrorism, and intelligence work. He has also written the Jack Nightingale series, a departure into supernatural detective fiction, as well as several standalone thrillers set in Hong Kong, Thailand, and beyond.

This page lists all Stephen Leather books in order, including the Spider Shepherd, Spider Shepherd: SAS, Jack Nightingale, Mike Cramer, Inspector Zhang, and Matt Standing series, plus his standalone novels and short story collections.

Latest Stephen Leather Books

Chicago Night
Chicago Night (Jack Nightingale #13), March 2026
Direct Action
Direct Action (Spider Shepherd #23), May 2026

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Mike Cramer Series (Books in Order)

The Mike Cramer series follows former SAS soldier Mike Cramer, who is drawn back into high-risk intelligence work after leaving military service. Set against the backdrop of IRA terrorism in the early 1990s, the three novels have a tighter, more contained feel than the later Spider Shepherd books.

Reading Order

  1. The Foreigner, 1992 (also titled The Chinaman)
  2. The Long Shot, 1995
  3. The Double Tap, 1996

Spider Shepherd Series (Books in Order)

The Spider Shepherd series follows Dan “Spider” Shepherd, a former SAS trooper turned undercover detective who works for an elite police unit hunting down Britain’s most dangerous criminals. Starting as a pure undercover cop thriller in Hard Landing, the series expands over 20+ books as Shepherd works his way up from the police force into MI5 and counter-terrorism operations, with the settings shifting between UK prisons, the Middle East, and other international locations.

Reading Order

  1. Hard Landing, 2004
  2. Soft Target, 2005
  3. Cold Kill, 2006
  4. Hot Blood, 2007
  5. Dead Men, 2008
  6. Live Fire, 2009
  7. Rough Justice, 2010
  8. Fair Game, 2011
  9. False Friends, 2012
  10. True Colours, 2013
  11. White Lies, 2014
  12. Black Ops, 2015
  13. Dark Forces, 2016
  14. Light Touch, 2017
  15. Tall Order, 2018
  16. Short Range, 2019
  17. Slow Burn, 2020
  18. Fast Track, 2021
  19. Dirty War, 2022
  20. Clean Kill, 2023
  21. First Strike, 2024
  22. Last Chance, 2025
  23. Direct Action, 2026
  24. Broken Promises, 2027

Spider Shepherd Short Stories

Spider Shepherd: SAS Stories

The Spider Shepherd: SAS series is a prequel spin-off showing Shepherd during his years in the Special Air Service, before the events of Hard Landing. The five novels cover SAS operations starting from the late 1990s through the early 2000s, showing who Shepherd was before he became an undercover cop.

  1. The Sandpit, 2016
  2. Moving Targets, 2018
  3. Drop Zone, 2020
  4. Russian Roulette, 2021
  5. Baltic Black Ops, 2023

Jack Nightingale Series (Books in Order)

The Jack Nightingale series follows former Metropolitan Police hostage negotiator turned private detective Jack Nightingale, who gets pulled into strange cases involving the supernatural. Demons, devil’s bargains, and occult forces are things he never expected to be dealing with. The series is a significant change of genre from the Spider Shepherd books.

Reading Order

  1. Nightfall, 2010
  2. Midnight, 2011
  3. Nightmare, 2012
  4. Nightshade, 2013
  5. Lastnight, 2014
  6. San Francisco Night, 2014
  7. New York Night, 2015
  8. Tennessee Night, 2018
  9. New Orleans Night, 2021
  10. Las Vegas Night, 2022
  11. Rio Grande Night, 2022
  12. Houston Night, 2025
  13. Chicago Night, 2026

Jack Nightingale Novellas and Short Stories

Inspector Zhang Series (Books in Order)

The Inspector Zhang series follows Singapore police inspector Zhang who solves cases through careful observation and deductive reasoning. The shorter books are more like classic detective fiction than action thriller. Inspector Zhang’s cases are often locked-room-style puzzles, and he is often helped by Sergeant Lee, who gives a more intuitive alternative to Zhang’s methods.

Reading Order

  1. Inspector Zhang Gets His Wish, 2011
  2. Inspector Zhang and the Falling Woman, 2011
  3. Inspector Zhang and the Dead Thai Gangster, 2011
  4. Inspector Zhang and the Disappearing Drugs, 2011
  5. Inspector Zhang And The Perfect Alibi, 2012
  6. Inspector Zhang Goes To Harrogate, 2012
  7. Inspector Zhang and the Island of the Dead, 2013
  8. The Eight Curious Cases of Inspector Zhang, 2013 (also titled The Inspector Zhang Collection)

Lex Harper Series (Books in Order)

The Lex Harper series follows mercenary operative Lex Harper, a ruthless hitman-for-hire who is involved in dangerous international missions which often requires him to track down rogue agents and plan prison escapes.

Reading Order

  1. Takedown, 2016
  2. Plausible Deniability, 2019
  3. Breakout, 2020

Richard Yokely Series (Books in Order)

The Richard Yokely novellas series follows American operative Richard Yokely, a professional killer and super-spy who is carrying out covert missions for a secret government agency called Gray Fox that is affiliate with the White House.

Reading Order

  1. Rogue Warrior, 2019
  2. The Chase, 2022

Matt Standing Series (Books in Order)

The Matt Standing series follows Matt “Lastman” Standing, a SAS trooper who carries out extremely dangerous international missions against criminal and terrorist networks, often hunting down rogue agents or infiltrating other countries to eliminate enemy mercenaries or critical targets.

Reading Order

  1. Last Man Standing, 2019
  2. Standing Alone, 2022
  3. Still Standing, 2023
  4. Standing Strong, 2024

Standalone Novels

Several of Stephen Leather’s standalones are grouped below by setting or theme. They are all unconnected novels with no recurring protagonist.

Hong Kong Novels

Women In Charge Novels

Thailand Novels

Other Standalone Novels

Short Story Collections and Anthologies

Non-Fiction Books

Stephen Leather Biography

Stephen Leather is a British thriller writer and former journalist, best known for the Spider Shepherd series and the Jack Nightingale supernatural detective novels. He has published over 40 books since his debut Pay Off in 1987.
Official website: stephenleather.com

Born in Manchester in 1956, he studied biochemistry at the University of Bath before moving through several jobs, baker, quarry worker, petrol pump attendant, barman, before getting a job as a journalist. He spent more than a decade as a reporter on papers including the Glasgow Herald, Daily Mirror, The Times, and Daily Mail, and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. That time in journalism, and particularly his years in Hong Kong and the Far East, influenced the settings and main topics of his early novels.

He began writing fiction while still a journalist. He finished his first novel, Pay Off, while at the Daily Mirror. He switched to full-time fiction writing in 1992. The Spider Shepherd series began in 2004 with Hard Landing and has since become one of the most enduring action-thriller series in UK publishing, including well over 20 novels and many short related short stories. A separate prequel series, Spider Shepherd: SAS, covers Shepherd’s military years. The Jack Nightingale series, launched in 2010, changed genres to supernatural detective and built its own following, running to well over 10 novels and numerous short stories. The series features an ex-police hostage negotiator who inherited a mansion with a priceless library from his father, who said that Nightingale’s soul was sold at his birth.

Several of Leather’s standalone novels have been adapted for screen, most notably The Chinaman, filmed as The Foreigner (2017) with Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan. In addition to fiction, he has also written screenplays for television series such as London’s Burning, The Knock, and Murder in Mind.

Stephen Leather lives in Thailand.

Stephen Leather Book Adaptations

  • The Stretch – adapted into a mini-series (2000)
  • The Bombmaker – adapted into a mini-series (2001)
  • The Chinaman/The Foreigner – adapted into the movie The Foreigner (2017)
  • Tango One – adapted into a crime drama (2018)

Stephen Leather Awards and Honors

Nominations and Shortlists

  • Tango One – CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger (2002)
  • Hard Landing – CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger (2004)
  • Cold Kill – ITW Award for Best Novel (2007)
  • Cold Kill – Barry Award for Best Thriller (2007)

Edited by

Marika

Founder of Mystery Sequels, a reference site focused on listing mystery and thriller books in the correct reading order. I maintain and update the site’s bibliographies as new titles are released, ensuring accuracy and consistency across author and series pages.

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2 Comments

  1. just read Triggers couldnt put it down hope there is a sequel

  2. Just started reading Dan Shepherds escapades and as a retired undercover cop I can relate to his actions totally. Brilliant writing and story content. Keep it up. Thanks

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