Anthony Horowitz Books in Order: The Complete Series-by-Series Guide

If you grew up in the 2000s with a battered copy of Stormbreaker in your school bag, or you’ve more recently gotten hooked on the Hawthorne and Horowitz mysteries, you already know Anthony Horowitz is one of the hardest-working writers in the business. Very few authors can credibly claim to have written a bestselling teen spy franchise, two officially licensed Sherlock Holmes novels, three James Bond novels, and one of the most inventive whodunit series of the last decade — all while creating hit British TV shows on the side. His bibliography is enormous, but it’s also unusually easy to navigate once you understand it’s organized by series rather than one continuous timeline. Let’s break it down.

1. Alex Rider Series (In Order)

This is the series that made Horowitz a household name for young readers: a teenage spy blackmailed into working for MI6 after his uncle, a fellow agent, is killed. It’s the closest thing Horowitz has to a true continuous series — Alex’s world, allies, and enemies build across the books — so publication order is strongly recommended.

1. Stormbreaker (2000) — Fourteen-year-old Alex Rider discovers his guardian uncle was secretly a spy and is pressured into finishing his final mission, infiltrating a tech billionaire’s suspicious new computer giveaway to schools.
2. Point Blanc (2001) — Alex goes undercover at an elite boarding school in the French Alps to investigate a scientist whose students keep returning strangely, suspiciously perfect.
3. Skeleton Key (2002) — A mission in the Caribbean goes wrong, stranding Alex on a Cuban island under surveillance while he uncovers a former Soviet general’s plan for a devastating comeback.
4. Eagle Strike (2003) — What starts as a family holiday in France pulls Alex into the schemes of a pop star with a much darker agenda than record sales.
5. Scorpia (2004) — Alex learns the shocking truth about his late father’s past and is drawn toward the shadowy organization responsible for it.
6. Ark Angel (2005) — Recovering from the events of Scorpia, Alex is drawn into an eco-terrorist plot targeting a billionaire’s space tourism venture.
7. Snakehead (2007) — Alex is recruited by ASIS, Australia’s intelligence agency, to investigate a human trafficking ring with connections to a Bangkok crime syndicate.
8. Crocodile Tears (2009) — A famine relief charity turns out to be a front for a chilling bioterrorism plot in Kenya.
9. Scorpia Rising (2011) — Alex’s history with Scorpia comes to a head in what was originally billed as the character’s final mission.
10. Russian Roulette (2013) — A prequel that steps away from Alex entirely to tell the origin story of assassin Yassen Gregorovich, adding moral shading to the series’ most consistent antagonist.
11. Never Say Die (2017) — Years after Scorpia Rising, Alex is pulled back into the spy world when a coded message suggests a friend thought dead may still be alive.
12. Secret Weapon (2019) — A collection of short stories filling in gaps between the main novels.
13. Nightshade (2020) — Alex infiltrates a mysterious, elite training program that recruits teenagers for a sinister purpose.
14. Nightshade Revenge (2023) — The direct sequel to Nightshade, picking up the fallout from the previous mission.

(For new readers: start with Stormbreaker and read straight through. Save Russian Roulette for after Scorpia Rising — despite its place in publication history, it works best as a bonus origin story once you already know who Yassen is.)

2. The Power of Five Series (Also Published as The Gatekeepers)

Horowitz’s other major YA series trades spy gadgets for full-blown horror and fantasy. Five teenagers scattered across the globe, each carrying a mysterious birthmark, must come together to stop an ancient evil called the Old Ones from breaking back into our world. It’s darker and more mythological than Alex Rider, drawing on Horowitz’s unfinished 1980s series Pentagram as source material.

1. Raven’s Gate (2005) — Troubled teenager Matt Freeman is sent to live in a remote Yorkshire village and begins uncovering an ancient evil tied to the local community.
2. Evil Star (2006) — Matt travels to Peru to rescue a fellow Gatekeeper and stop a cult intent on reopening the gate to the Old Ones.
3. Nightrise (2007) — Two American twins with psychic powers are drawn into the fight as the villain’s reach expands across continents.
4. Necropolis (2008) — The Gatekeepers converge on a Hong Kong that has fallen entirely under the Old Ones’ control.
5. Oblivion (2012) — The five Gatekeepers make their final stand in a fractured, post-apocalyptic world on the brink of being remade by the Old Ones.

3. The Diamond Brothers Series (In Order)

Horowitz’s earliest series and his funniest — a Chandler-style detective spoof following Tim Diamond, self-proclaimed “world’s worst private detective,” and his far sharper younger brother Nick, who does most of the actual detecting. Aimed at slightly younger readers, these are fast, joke-heavy mysteries perfect for reluctant readers.

1. The Falcon’s Malteser (1986) — A mysterious package containing what looks like an ordinary box of chocolates turns out to be worth millions, and every criminal in London wants it.
2. Public Enemy Number Two (1987) — Nick ends up sharing a jail cell with the country’s most notorious criminal and must help take down a master fence to clear his name.
3. South by South East (1991) — The brothers chase a case that spins wildly out of their depth, out of London and across borders.
4. The French Confection (2002) — A short case with a murder at its center, tying into a companion story in the same volume.
5. I Know What You Did Last Wednesday (2002) — A comic mystery built around a very ordinary murder with anything-but-ordinary suspects.
6. The Blurred Man (2002) — A client with no memory of his own identity draws the brothers into a case where nothing is what it appears.
7. The Greek Who Stole Christmas (2007) — A holiday-set caper pulling the brothers into international intrigue.
8. Where Seagulls Dare (2022) — A modern-day return to the series after a 15-year gap, sending the brothers to the seaside for a fresh case.

4. The Hawthorne and Horowitz Mysteries (In Order)

Horowitz’s flagship adult crime series and arguably his most acclaimed work. The conceit is irresistible: a fictionalized version of Anthony Horowitz himself is recruited by ex-detective Daniel Hawthorne to document his real murder investigations as true-crime books. Each entry is a fair-play whodunit with a genuine puzzle at its center, but the ongoing mystery of who Hawthorne really is builds steadily across the series, so reading in order pays off.

1. The Word Is Murder (2017) — A woman is strangled just hours after visiting a funeral parlor to arrange her own funeral, and Hawthorne suspects she somehow knew she was going to die.
2. The Sentence Is Death (2018) — A celebrity divorce lawyer, a teetotaler, is bludgeoned to death with an expensive bottle of wine, and a mysterious number painted at the scene points to a killer with a message to send.
3. A Line to Kill (2021) — Hawthorne and Horowitz travel to a literary festival on the island of Alderney, where a controversial new power line has torn the community apart just before its wealthy sponsor turns up dead.
4. The Twist of a Knife (2022) — Horowitz is framed for the murder of a theater critic who savaged his play, and with the evidence stacked against him, he’s forced to call in Hawthorne to save himself.
5. Close to Death (2024) — A gated community’s newest, most disliked resident is murdered, and virtually every neighbor had a motive — a structurally different entry that reveals more of Hawthorne’s guarded past.
6. A Deadly Episode (2026) — When the actor cast to play Hawthorne in a film adaptation of The Word Is Murder is murdered on set, Hawthorne begins to suspect he was the actual intended target all along, in the series’ most personal case yet.

5. The Susan Ryeland Series (Magpie Murders)

Horowitz’s other major adult mystery series is a love letter to Golden Age detective fiction, told through a brilliant “story within a story” structure: each book contains both a modern-day mystery and a complete 1950s-set whodunit manuscript starring fictional detective Atticus Pünd, with clues hidden in the overlap between the two.

1. Magpie Murders (2016) — Book editor Susan Ryeland is reading her bestselling author’s latest Atticus Pünd manuscript when she discovers the final chapter is missing — and the author himself is found dead.
2. Moonflower Murders (2020) — Now running a hotel in Greece, Susan is pulled back into publishing when a guest’s disappearance turns out to connect to a decades-old murder buried inside one of Pünd’s old cases.
3. Marble Hall Murders (2025) — Susan agrees to edit a new “continuation” Atticus Pünd novel written by the grandson of a beloved children’s author, only to find the manuscript hiding a real, unsolved crime.

6. The Sherlock Holmes Novels (In Order)

Commissioned directly by the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate, these two novels are the only Holmes continuation books ever officially endorsed by Doyle’s family, written to match the tone and structure of the original canon.

1. The House of Silk (2011) — A terrified art dealer arrives at 221B Baker Street with a story about a scar-faced stalker, pulling Holmes and Watson into a case that reaches into the highest levels of Victorian society.
2. Moriarty (2014) — Set immediately after Holmes and Moriarty’s fatal struggle at Reichenbach Falls, an American Pinkerton agent arrives in London to find a new criminal mastermind has already moved to fill the power vacuum.

7. The James Bond Novels (In Order)

Handpicked by the Ian Fleming Estate, Horowitz wrote three official 007 novels using unpublished material and plot fragments left behind by Fleming himself.

1. Trigger Mortis (2015) — Set in 1957, just weeks after the events of Goldfinger, Bond is drawn into a Space Race-era plot involving Soviet sabotage and a deadly Grand Prix.
2. Forever and a Day (2018) — A prequel exploring Bond’s very first mission as a newly minted 00-agent, investigating the murder of the previous 007 on the French Riviera.
3. With a Mind to Kill (2022) — Set at M’s funeral, Bond is sent back into the Soviet Union undercover, forced to convincingly play a version of himself that may no longer exist.

Short Reading Guide: Where Should You Start?

With eight different series on the table, your best entry point depends entirely on your age and taste:

• For kids and teens who want action and gadgets: Start with Stormbreaker (Alex Rider).
• For teens who want horror and mythology instead of spycraft: Start with Raven’s Gate (The Power of Five).
• For younger, reluctant readers who want comedy: Start with The Falcon’s Malteser (The Diamond Brothers).
• For adult readers who love a clever, fair-play whodunit: Start with The Word Is Murder (Hawthorne and Horowitz).
• For fans of classic Golden Age mysteries with a modern twist: Start with Magpie Murders (Susan Ryeland).
• For die-hard Sherlock Holmes purists: Start with The House of Silk.
• For James Bond fans who want the closest thing to a “new” Fleming novel: Start with Trigger Mortis.

About the Author

Anthony Horowitz was born in 1955 in London and has spent more than four decades writing across nearly every format fiction allows: novels, TV scripts, plays, and journalism. He’s the author of more than 40 books, with his work translated into dozens of languages and sold in the tens of millions of copies worldwide.

Before he became known for his novels, Horowitz built an equally significant career in British television, creating and writing the long-running detective series Foyle’s War and serving as the first writer on Midsomer Murders. That screenwriting background shows up constantly in his prose — his mysteries are famous for tight plotting, misdirection, and a genuine fair-play approach to clueing, the kind that lets a careful reader solve the case alongside the detective.

His reputation for meticulous plotting caught the attention of two of fiction’s most protective estates. The Arthur Conan Doyle Estate commissioned him to write two new Sherlock Holmes novels, and the Ian Fleming Estate later selected him to continue the James Bond series using unpublished material from Fleming himself — an honor extended to only a handful of authors in each franchise’s history. Horowitz has said the key to writing continuation novels is remembering that the original creator was a better writer than he is, and staying faithful to their voice above all else.

Horowitz was awarded an OBE in 2014 and a CBE in January 2022 for his services to literature. He continues to publish roughly one new novel a year, most recently 2026’s A Deadly Episode, and lives in London.

Frequently Asked Questions

What order should I read Anthony Horowitz books in?

There’s no single correct order for his entire catalog, because Horowitz writes across eight distinct, unconnected series. Instead, pick the series that matches what you’re in the mood for, then read that series in publication order. Alex Rider and the Hawthorne and Horowitz mysteries benefit the most from reading in sequence, since character development carries across the books.

What is Anthony Horowitz’s most popular series?

Alex Rider is his best-known and best-selling series, with more than 20 million copies sold worldwide and a hit Amazon Prime Video adaptation. Among his adult work, the Hawthorne and Horowitz mysteries and the Susan Ryeland/Magpie Murders series are his most critically acclaimed, both adapted for British television.

Do I need to read Magpie Murders before Moonflower Murders?

You don’t strictly need to, since each book contains a self-contained modern mystery and a self-contained Atticus Pünd manuscript. But reading them in order is recommended, since Susan Ryeland’s personal life and history carry over from book to book.

Are the Sherlock Holmes and James Bond novels considered canon?

Both were officially commissioned and authorized by the respective creators’ estates — the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate for the Holmes novels, and the Ian Fleming Estate for the Bond novels — making them among the only continuation novels in each franchise sanctioned by the original rights holders.

How many books has Anthony Horowitz written in total?

Horowitz has published more than 40 books across his various series, alongside an extensive career writing for British television, including creating Foyle’s War and writing early episodes of Midsomer Murders.

Is there a new Anthony Horowitz book coming?

His most recent release is A Deadly Episode (April 2026), the sixth Hawthorne and Horowitz mystery. Horowitz publishes roughly once a year, so it’s worth checking his official site for future announcements.

Final Verdict

Few authors offer as many different doors into their work as Anthony Horowitz. Whether you want teenage espionage, gothic horror-fantasy, laugh-out-loud detective spoofs, meticulously clued adult whodunits, or officially sanctioned adventures with Sherlock Holmes and James Bond, there’s a complete, self-contained Horowitz series built exactly for that mood. Pick the genre that’s calling to you, start at book one of that series, and trust that — whichever door you walk through — you’re in the hands of one of the most consistently clever plotters working in fiction today.

Written by

Emon Anam

Hi, I’m Emon. I’m the voice and heart behind Whimsy Read. After nine years in the world of banking, I followed my passion for storytelling into the world of SEO and content strategy. Now, I blend that analytical eye with a deep love for literature to bring you book reviews that are thoughtful, honest, and always focused on the stories that stay with you. When I’m not reading or writing, you’ll find me enjoying joyful chaos with my wife and three kids, getting lost in a new series, or revisiting my old loves: theater, music, and gaming. At the end of the day, I believe great books are meant to be shared, and I’m so glad you’re here to share them with me.