William Le Queux Books in Order (Updated September 8, 2026)

William Le Queux was a British journalist and extraordinarily prolific writer of espionage, mystery, invasion fiction, international intrigue, romance, and sensational adventure. He published well over one hundred works, and his bibliography is complicated by reprints, alternate titles, story collections, later posthumous books, and modern public-domain editions.

William Le Queux Books in Order

Unlike a modern thriller author with one dominant continuing detective, Le Queux usually wrote standalone novels or recurring-character story collections. Publication order is therefore the most reliable master framework, while individual collections such as the Duckworth Drew, Cuthbert Croom, Claud Heathwaite, and Robert Bleke books can be treated as separate recurring-character groups.

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William Le Queux in Brief: What Order Should You Use?

  • Best general starting point: The Czar’s Spy.
  • Best invasion-fiction starting point: The Great War in England in 1897.
  • Most famous later invasion novel: The Invasion of 1910.
  • Best complete method: publication order.
  • Continuity: most novels are standalone.
  • Important warning: several books were reissued under alternate titles or repackaged from earlier material.

Readers do not need to begin with Le Queux’s first novel unless they want a complete chronological survey of his career. The Czar’s Spy, The Seven Secrets, The Mystery of the Green Ray, and The Stretton Street Affair are easier entry points for readers primarily interested in mystery and espionage.

Early William Le Queux Fiction in Publication Order, 1891 to 1900

Le Queux began publishing fiction in the early 1890s and quickly established the mixture of international politics, romance, conspiracy, travel, and sensational mystery that would define much of his career.

  1. Guilty Bonds (1891)
  2. Strange Tales of a Nihilist (1892)
  3. The Great War in England in 1897 (1894)
  4. Zoraida (1894 or 1895 depending on edition)
  5. Guilty (1895)
  6. The Temptress (1895)
  7. Stolen Souls (1895, stories)
  8. The Great White Queen (1896)
  9. A Secret Sin (1897)
  10. Devil’s Dice (1897)
  11. Whoso Findeth a Wife (1897)
  12. The Eye of Istar (1897), also published as The Eye of Ishtar
  13. Scribes and Pharisees (1898)
  14. If Sinners Entice Thee (1898)
  15. The Bond of Black (1899)
  16. The Day of Temptation (1899)
  17. The Veiled Man (1899, stories)
  18. England’s Peril (1899)
  19. The Wiles of the Wicked (1900)
  20. An Eye for an Eye (1900)
  21. In White Raiment (1900)
  22. Of Royal Blood (1900)

A Secret Service is sometimes given a separate position in bibliographies, but it is associated with the earlier Strange Tales of a Nihilist material and should not automatically be counted as an entirely new body of fiction.

The 1901 to 1909 Novels and Mysteries

  1. Her Majesty’s Minister (1901)
  2. The Sign of the Seven Sins (1901)
  3. The Gamblers (1901)
  4. The Court of Honour (1901)
  5. The Under-Secretary (1902)
  6. The Unnamed (1902)
  7. On the Polar Star in the Arctic Sea (1903)
  8. The Tickencote Treasure (1903)
  9. The Seven Secrets (1903)
  10. Three Glass Eyes (1903)
  11. As We Forgive Them (1904)
  12. The Sign of the Stranger (1904)
  13. The Man from Downing Street (1904)
  14. The Hunchback of Westminster (1904)
  15. The Idol of the Town (1904)
  16. The Red Hat (1904)
  17. Sins of the City (1905)
  18. The Valley of the Shadow (1905)
  19. The Czar’s Spy: The Mystery of a Silent Love (1905)
  20. Behind the Throne (1905)
  21. Who Giveth This Woman? (1905)
  22. The Spider’s Eye (1905)
  23. The Mask (1905)
  24. The Mystery of a Motor-Car (1906)
  25. The Pauper of Park Lane (1906)
  26. The Woman at Kensington (1906)
  27. The Invasion of 1910 (1906)
  28. The Mysterious Mr Miller (1906)
  29. The House of the Wicked (1906)
  30. Whatsoever a Man Soweth (1906)
  31. Whosoever Loveth (1907)
  32. The Great Plot (1907)
  33. The Woman in the Way (1907)
  34. The Secret of the Square (1907)
  35. The Great Court Scandal (1907)
  36. The Crooked Way (1908)
  37. The Looker-On (1908)
  38. Stolen Sweets (1908)
  39. The House of Whispers (1909)
  40. The Red Room (1909)
  41. Fatal Thirteen (1909)
  42. Spies of the Kaiser (1909)

The Invasion Novels: Do They Form a Series?

Le Queux’s invasion fiction shares a political and speculative tradition, but the books do not form one continuous fictional saga.

  1. The Great War in England in 1897 (1894)
  2. The Invasion of 1910 (1906)

These are best treated as thematic companions. The first imagines a future European conflict involving Britain, while the later bestseller focuses on a German invasion of England.

You can read either independently. Publication order is useful if you want to follow the evolution of Le Queux’s invasion anxieties, but there is no recurring protagonist whose story must be preserved.

William Le Queux Fiction From 1910 to 1919

  1. Lying Lips (1910)
  2. The Unknown Tomorrow (1910)
  3. Hushed Up!: A Mystery of London (1911)
  4. The Money Spider (1911)
  5. Revelations of the Secret Service (1911, stories)
  6. The Indiscretions of a Lady’s Maid (1911)
  7. The Mystery of Nine (1912)
  8. Without Trace (1912)
  9. The Death-Doctor (1912, stories)
  10. Fatal Fingers (1912)
  11. The Lost Million (1913)
  12. The Room of Secrets (1913)
  13. Mysteries (1913, stories)
  14. The Hand of Allah (1914), also published as The Riddle of the Ring
  15. Her Royal Highness (1914)
  16. Sons of Satan (1914)
  17. The White Lie (1914)
  18. The German Spy (1914)
  19. The Maker of Secrets (1914)
  20. The Four Faces (1914)
  21. The Sign of Silence (1915)
  22. The Devil’s Spawn (1915)
  23. The Mysterious Three (1915)
  24. At the Sign of the Sword (1915)
  25. The Mystery of the Green Ray (1915)
  26. The Double Shadow (1915)
  27. The White Glove (1915)
  28. The Man About Town (1916)
  29. Number 70, Berlin (1916)
  30. The Spy Hunter (1916, stories)
  31. The Way to Win (1916)
  32. Cinders of Harley Street (1916)
  33. The Broken Thread (1916)
  34. The Place of Dragons (1916)
  35. Annette of the Argonne (1916)
  36. The Scandal-Monger (1917, stories)
  37. Beryl of the Biplane (1917)
  38. The Breath of Suspicion (1917)
  39. The Devil’s Carnival (1917)
  40. No Greater Love (1917)
  41. Two in a Tangle (1917)
  42. Sant of the Secret Service (1918)
  43. The Secret Life of the Ex-Tsaritza (1918)
  44. The Little Blue Goddess (1918)
  45. The Lure of Love (1918)
  46. The Yellow Ribbon (1918)
  47. The Catspaw (1918)
  48. The Sister Disciple (1918)
  49. The Stolen Statesman (1918)
  50. The Doctor of Pimlico (1919)
  51. Cipher Six (1919)
  52. The Forbidden Word (1919)
  53. The King’s Incognito (1919)

The Final Phase: Novels From 1920 Onward

  1. No. 7 Saville Square (1920)
  2. Whither Thou Goest (1920)
  3. The Heart of a Princess (1920)
  4. The Intriguers (1920)
  5. The Secret Telephone (1920)
  6. The Terror of the Air (1920)
  7. The Red Widow (1920)
  8. Mademoiselle of Monte Carlo (1921)
  9. The Fifth Finger (1921)
  10. The Open Verdict (1921)
  11. This House to Let (1921)
  12. The Lady in Waiting (1921)
  13. The Marked Man (1921)
  14. The Power of the Borgias (1921)
  15. The Golden Face (1922)
  16. The Stretton Street Affair (1922)
  17. Three Knots (1922)
  18. The Voice from the Void (1922)
  19. The Young Archduchess (1922)
  20. The Bronze Face (1923), published in the United States as Behind the Bronze Door
  21. Where the Desert Ends (1923)
  22. A Woman’s Debt (1924)
  23. Fine Feathers (1924)
  24. The Crystal Claw (1924)
  25. The Blue Bungalow (1925)
  26. The Broadcast Mystery (1925)
  27. The Valrose Mystery (1925)
  28. Hidden Hands (1926), published in the United States as The Dangerous Game
  29. The Letter E (1926), published in the United States as The Tattoo Mystery
  30. Blackmailed (1926)
  31. The Fatal Face (1926)
  32. The Mystery of Mademoiselle (1926)
  33. The Black Owl (1926)
  34. The Scarlet Sign (1926)
  35. The Lawless Hand (1927)
  36. The Chameleon (1927), published in the United States as Poison Shadows
  37. Double Nought (1927), published in the United States as The Crime Code
  38. The Office Secret (1927)
  39. The House of Evil (1927)
  40. Twice Tried (1928, posthumous)
  41. The Sting (1928, posthumous)
  42. The Rat Trap (1928, posthumous)
  43. Concerning This Woman (1928, posthumous)
  44. The Secret Formula (1928, posthumous)
  45. The Amazing Count (1929, posthumous)
  46. The Crinkled Crown (1929, posthumous)
  47. The Golden Three (1931, posthumous)

Recurring Secret-Service Characters and Collections

Le Queux did not build one enormous detective series, but several collections use recurring narrators, spies, diplomats, thieves, or servants. These groups are best read internally in publication order.

Duckworth Drew

Secrets of the Foreign Office collects the exploits of Duckworth Drew of the Secret Service. The stories belong together but do not require readers to work through Le Queux’s earlier standalone novels first.

Cuthbert Croom

Confessions of a Ladies’ Man follows Cuthbert Croom of His Majesty’s Diplomatic Service. It is another recurring-character collection rather than a sequel to Duckworth Drew.

Claud Heathwaite

The Luck of the Secret Service gathers adventures involving Claud Heathwaite of the Foreign Office. Read the stories in the collection order, but keep them separate from Le Queux’s unrelated spy novels.

Robert Bleke

Bleke, the Butler follows Robert Bleke through a sequence of adventures during his employment in different households. The stories share one protagonist and therefore benefit from being read in their printed sequence.

Major Story Collections in Publication Order

  1. Stolen Souls (1895)
  2. Secrets of Monte Carlo (1899)
  3. Secrets of the Foreign Office (1903)
  4. Confessions of a Ladies’ Man (1905)
  5. The Count’s Chauffeur (1906)
  6. The Lady in the Car (1908)
  7. Revelations of the Secret Service (1911)
  8. The Indiscretions of a Lady’s Maid (1911)
  9. Mysteries (1913)
  10. The Bomb-Makers (1917)
  11. Donovan of Whitehall (1917)
  12. The Rainbow Mystery (1917)
  13. The Hotel X (1919)
  14. Mysteries of a Great City (1920)
  15. In Secret (1920)
  16. The Luck of the Secret Service (1921)
  17. The Elusive Four (1921)
  18. The Gay Triangle (1922)
  19. Bleke, the Butler (1923)
  20. The Crimes Club (1927)
  21. The Peril of Helen Marklove (1928)
  22. The Factotum and Other Stories (1931, posthumous)

Important Alternate Titles to Watch For

Le Queux’s bibliography is especially vulnerable to accidental duplication because British and American editions sometimes use different titles.

  • The Eye of Istar and The Eye of Ishtar are the same work.
  • The Hand of Allah and The Riddle of the Ring are the same work.
  • Treasure of Israel and The Great God Gold refer to the same work in different markets.
  • The Bronze Face and Behind the Bronze Door are the same novel.
  • Hidden Hands and The Dangerous Game are the same novel.
  • The Letter E and The Tattoo Mystery are the same novel.
  • The Chameleon and Poison Shadows are the same novel.
  • Double Nought and The Crime Code are the same novel.

When collecting Le Queux, always compare plot descriptions and original publication history before assuming two differently titled editions are separate books.

William Le Queux Nonfiction and Political Books

Le Queux blurred the boundary between sensational fiction, political warning, travel writing, memoir, and claimed revelation. These books should be kept separate from the fiction reading order.

  1. The Near East (1907)
  2. The Price of Power (1913)
  3. Britain’s Deadly Peril (1915)
  4. German Atrocities (1915)
  5. German Spies in England (1915)
  6. The Zeppelin Destroyer (1916)
  7. Rasputin: The Rascal Monk (1917)
  8. Further Secrets of Potsdam (1917)
  9. Hushed Up at German Headquarters (1917)
  10. The Minister of Evil (1917)
  11. Behind the German Lines (1917)
  12. The Secrets of Potsdam (1918)
  13. Love Intrigues of the Kaiser’s Sons (1918)
  14. Secrets of the White Tsar (1919)
  15. Rasputinism in London (1919)
  16. Landru: His Secret Love Affairs (1922)
  17. Things I Know About Kings, Celebrities, and Crooks (1923)

These works are useful for understanding Le Queux’s public persona and political obsessions, but they should not be treated as sequels to his spy novels simply because similar subjects or real-world figures recur.

Where Should a New Reader Actually Start?

A complete chronological read of Le Queux is a major undertaking. Most readers will be better served by starting with representative books from different parts of his career.

  1. The Czar’s Spy
  2. The Seven Secrets
  3. The Great War in England in 1897
  4. The Invasion of 1910
  5. The Mystery of the Green Ray
  6. Number 70, Berlin
  7. The Stretton Street Affair
  8. The Golden Face

This order is a sampler, not a continuity sequence. It moves between international mystery, invasion fiction, espionage, and later crime writing without requiring a reader to tackle more than a hundred books first.

Publication Order or Chronological Story Order?

Publication order is much more useful for Le Queux. His novels do not share one fictional timeline, and attempts to arrange them by historical setting would mix unrelated protagonists and separate continuities.

The recurring-character collections should simply be read in the order in which their individual stories are printed. Outside those collections, there is little reason to construct an internal chronology.

Modern Reissues Can Make the Bibliography Look Newer Than It Is

Le Queux died in 1927, but many of his books now appear with twenty-first century publication dates because public-domain projects and print-on-demand publishers continue to issue new editions.

A recent edition of The Crime Code, The Dangerous Game, or The Czar’s Spy is not a newly discovered sequel. The underlying work belongs to Le Queux’s original bibliography.

For reading order, use original publication history rather than the date attached to a newly digitized or newly printed edition.

Latest Release Status and Posthumous Books

William Le Queux died in October 1927. Several titles appeared after his death, including Twice Tried, The Sting, The Rat Trap, Concerning This Woman, and The Secret Formula in 1928, followed by further posthumous books in 1929 and 1931.

His original body of work is complete. Modern releases are editions, digitizations, or reprints rather than new fiction written after 1927.

William Le Queux Books in Order FAQs

Did William Le Queux write a single long series?

No. Most of his novels are standalone. Several story collections feature recurring spies, diplomats, criminals, or servants, but there is no single protagonist connecting the entire bibliography.

What is the best William Le Queux book to start with?

The Czar’s Spy is the safest general starting point for readers interested in his international mystery fiction. The Invasion of 1910 is better if your main interest is invasion literature.

Is The Invasion of 1910 a sequel to The Great War in England in 1897?

No. They are thematically related invasion novels, but they do not form one continuous narrative.

Are Hidden Hands and The Dangerous Game the same book?

Yes. The Dangerous Game is the American title associated with Hidden Hands.

Are Double Nought and The Crime Code the same novel?

Yes. The Crime Code is an alternate American title for Double Nought.

Is Poison Shadows a separate Le Queux novel?

No. Poison Shadows is the American title of The Chameleon.

What was Le Queux’s final period of publication?

He died in 1927, but several manuscripts and collections were published posthumously between 1928 and 1931.

Should Le Queux be read in chronological order?

No. Publication order is the more useful master sequence because most books do not share one fictional timeline.

A Practical Way to Navigate More Than a Century of Le Queux Editions

William Le Queux is best approached as a prolific author of many separate mysteries, spy stories, invasion novels, and recurring-character collections rather than as the creator of one enormous series. New readers can begin almost anywhere without serious spoiler risk.

For a complete project, follow original publication order, keep the recurring-character collections together, and watch carefully for alternate British and American titles. That approach prevents the same novel from appearing twice and gives the clearest view of Le Queux’s development from 1890s international intrigue to the mystery and crime fiction of his final years.

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Frank is the editor of BookSeries.blog, focusing on publication order, chronological timelines, and spoiler-free reading guides for book series and fictional universes.

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