Stephen Mertz Books in Order (Updated September 9, 2026)

Stephen Mertz is an American action, adventure, mystery, and thriller writer whose career stretches from late-1970s crime fiction through classic men’s-adventure paperbacks and into modern espionage, historical crime, and revived action series. He has published under his own name and under pseudonyms including Stephen Brett, Jack Buchanan, Jim Case, and Cliff Banks.

The most important reading lanes are M.I.A. Hunter, which Mertz created and developed under the Jack Buchanan name, the older Cody’s Army books written as Jim Case, the newer Cody’s War series featuring Jack “Suicide” Cody, the Steve Madison mysteries, and the Night Wind books.

Readers should keep Cody’s Army and Cody’s War separate. They come from different periods of Mertz’s career and are not one seventeen-book sequence. Likewise, M.I.A. Hunter involves shared authorship under the Jack Buchanan house name, so not every installment was personally written by Mertz even though he created and outlined the series.

Pick Your Stephen Mertz Starting Point

1. Start with M.I.A. Hunter if you want Mark Stone, prisoner-of-war rescue missions, Cold War action, and the series that became central to Mertz’s men’s-adventure reputation.
2. Start with Dragonfire! if you want the modern Cody’s War series, where CIA field agent Jack Cody handles contemporary geopolitical threats.
3. Start with Cody’s Army if you specifically want Mertz’s earlier seven-book action series published under the Jim Case pseudonym.
4. Start with The Vampire Chase for private investigator Steve Madison and Mertz’s early mystery fiction.
5. Start with Night Wind for a shorter two-book suspense sequence.
6. Choose The Korean Intercept if you want a standalone international military thriller rather than a continuing character.

M.I.A. Hunter Books in Order

The M.I.A. Hunter series follows former prisoner of war Mark Stone, who organizes dangerous missions to find American servicemen missing in action. Mertz created and outlined the series, which was published under the shared pseudonym Jack Buchanan.

Several installments were written by other established adventure authors, including Joe R. Lansdale and Bill Crider. The list below gives the complete original sixteen-book reading sequence rather than pretending every volume was solely authored by Mertz.

1. M.I.A. Hunter (1985): Mark Stone begins his personal war to locate American prisoners and missing servicemen whom official channels have failed to bring home.
2. Cambodian Hellhole (1985): Stone’s search moves into Cambodia, where hostile terrain, armed factions, and the legacy of the Vietnam War make a rescue operation exceptionally dangerous.
3. Hanoi Deathgrip (1985): Written by Joe R. Lansdale under the Jack Buchanan name, the third mission takes Stone back toward Vietnam and another attempt to recover men believed lost behind enemy lines.
4. Mountain Massacre (1985): Another Lansdale contribution, this installment sends the M.I.A. team into rugged country where a rescue effort becomes a fight against heavily armed opposition.
5. Exodus from Hell (1986): Stone attempts to extract people from a hostile region where reaching the missing men is only half the mission and getting them out alive becomes the larger problem.
6. Blood Storm (1986): The team confronts another violent recovery operation as enemies connected with the region’s wars attempt to prevent Stone from completing his mission.
7. Saigon Slaughter (1987): Written by Joe R. Lansdale, the seventh installment returns the series to Vietnam and places Stone amid renewed danger in the city and its criminal or military underworld.
8. Escape from Nicaragua (1987): The series shifts to Central America as Stone and his team become involved in a mission where Cold War politics and armed conflict complicate an attempted escape.
9. Invasion U.S.S.R. (1988): Stone enters Soviet territory for one of the series’ boldest Cold War missions, taking the rescue concept directly into the territory of America’s principal strategic rival.
10. Miami War Zone (1988): Written by Bill Crider, this installment brings the action onto American soil as Stone confronts violence and criminal activity in Miami rather than another distant jungle battlefield.
11. Crossfire Kill (1989): Stone is caught between competing armed forces and agendas while trying to complete another operation in a world where identifying the real enemy can be as difficult as surviving the gunfire.
12. Desert Death Raid (1989): Written by Bill Crider, the twelfth mission moves into desert terrain and a raid where rescue, pursuit, and survival depend on operating far from conventional support.
13. L.A. Gang War (1990): Stone becomes involved in urban violence in Los Angeles, showing how the series could shift from overseas recovery missions to threats inside the United States.
14. Back to ‘Nam (1990): Written by Bill Crider, the fourteenth book returns Mark Stone to the country that originally defined his M.I.A. mission and confronts him again with the unfinished consequences of the Vietnam War.
15. Heavy Fire (1991): Stone and his team enter another high-intensity operation where the recovery mission quickly becomes open combat against a better-prepared enemy.
16. China Strike (1991): The original sixteen-book sequence ends with a mission connected to China, expanding the M.I.A. team’s battlefield from its Vietnam origins into a wider Asian geopolitical conflict.

Read all sixteen in numbered order. The adventures are mission-driven, but Mark Stone’s identity and the premise of his private rescue organization are established from the opening book.

Who Actually Wrote the M.I.A. Hunter Books?

The Jack Buchanan name functioned as a shared series identity rather than identifying one writer on every volume.

• Stephen Mertz: created and outlined the series and personally wrote a substantial part of the run.
• Joe R. Lansdale: wrote several installments, including Hanoi Deathgrip, Mountain Massacre, and Saigon Slaughter.
• Bill Crider: contributed titles including Miami War Zone, Desert Death Raid, and Back to ‘Nam.
• Michael Newton: also contributed to the shared M.I.A. Hunter project.

This is why a Stephen Mertz bibliography should identify M.I.A. Hunter as a series he created rather than claiming sole authorship of every Jack Buchanan title.

Cody’s Army Books as Jim Case

Before the modern Cody’s War books, Mertz wrote a seven-volume men’s-adventure series under the name Jim Case. The original series appeared from 1986 through 1988.

1. Cody’s Army (1986): The opening mission introduces Cody and the specialized combat team that carries out deniable operations against threats ordinary forces cannot easily reach.
2. Assault into Libya (1986): Cody’s team enters Libya for a high-risk operation shaped by terrorism, hostile military forces, and the dangerous politics surrounding American intervention.
3. Philippine Hardpunch (1987): The unit shifts to the Philippines, where insurgency, local armed groups, and international interests turn another covert mission into a violent campaign.
4. Belfast Blitz (1987): Cody’s Army becomes involved in Northern Ireland, where political violence and terrorism create a battlefield very different from the open combat zones of earlier books.
5. D.C. Firestrike (1987): The action reaches Washington, placing the team against a threat close to the center of American political power.
6. Hellfire in Haiti (1988): Cody and his soldiers enter Haiti for another intervention where political instability and armed opposition make extraction and survival equally difficult.
7. Sword of the Prophet (1988): The seventh and final original Cody’s Army book pits the team against a militant threat whose ideology and violence create a dangerous international mission.

Separate series: Do not continue from Sword of the Prophet directly into Dragonfire! as though Cody’s Army and Cody’s War were one numbered sequence.

Cody’s War Books in Order

The newer Cody’s War series follows CIA field agent Jack “Suicide” Cody. The nickname reflects the personal tragedy that shaped him after terrorists killed his wife and children. CIA operative Sara Durell becomes one of the central continuing figures in the series.

1. Dragonfire! (2019): Jack Cody is sent to extract Chinese physicist Dr. Kwan, creator of the Dragonfire weapon, while a missing Navy reconnaissance aircraft and a military coup in Beijing raise the possibility of nuclear catastrophe.
2. Camp David Has Fallen! (2019): Terrorists penetrate Camp David during a summit between the American President and Israeli prime minister, turning one of the most secure locations in the United States into a killing ground.
3. The Fires of Allah (2019): Cody’s next operation pushes him back toward the violent world of militant terrorism while he is still struggling with the personal losses that created his “Suicide Cody” reputation.
4. Day of Reckoning (2019): Sara Durell disappears during a deep-cover operation in Afghanistan, and Cody joins a rescue effort that leaves the pair crossing hostile desert terrain with a Taliban hit team pursuing them.
5. The Last Refuge (2019): A violent American extremist family seizes the President during a visit to a tiny town on the Mexican border, forcing Cody and Sara to confront domestic terrorism on home soil.
6. Cody’s Return (2022): A physically and emotionally exhausted Cody returns from another punishing mission and is pulled back toward the covert life he has repeatedly tried to leave behind.
7. Lethal Assault (2022): Cody’s role as the President’s highly trusted covert operative puts him against another international threat involving dangerous alliances, professional killers, and a mission with no safe exit.
8. Final Strike (2022): Cody and Sara go rogue to stop media celebrity Thelma Justice and a Russian nuclear-arms dealer from triggering a global catastrophe while American authorities hunt the two agents themselves.
9. Afghanistan Payback (2022): The chaotic American withdrawal from Afghanistan leaves Cody with unfinished business, and the mission sends him back toward a conflict he believed he had already survived.
10. Hellfire in Syria (2023): Cody and Sara are assigned to locate and rescue an American inside Syria, turning what sounds like a straightforward extraction into another operation behind dangerous lines.

Read all ten in order. Cody and Sara’s relationship, Cody’s grief, and his repeated attempts to survive or leave the covert world continue across the series.

Dragonfire! Establishes the Modern Jack Cody

Dragonfire! immediately gives Cody a mission large enough to distinguish the newer series from Mertz’s older paperback work. A Chinese defector, nuclear submarine activity, missing American personnel, and a coup inside Beijing all intersect around a potential superweapon.

The novel also establishes Cody’s personal condition. He is not simply a fearless government agent. The murder of his family has left him emotionally damaged and unusually willing to accept missions that other operatives might consider suicidal.

Why Sara Durell Matters to Cody’s War

Sara was close to Cody’s late wife and becomes one of the few people capable of reaching him after his family tragedy.

Her importance becomes especially clear in Day of Reckoning, when she disappears in Afghanistan and Cody has to treat the mission as both an official recovery operation and a personal debt.

By Final Strike, Cody and Sara are operating together outside official sanction, making their accumulated trust central to survival.

Steve Madison Mysteries in Order

Steve Madison belongs to a much earlier and more conventional mystery line than the military action series.

1. The Vampire Chase (1979, as Stephen Brett): Private investigator Steve Madison enters a mystery shaped by murder, danger, and apparently supernatural imagery that has to be separated from the human motives underneath it.
2. Fade to Tomorrow (2004): More than two decades later, Mertz returned to Steve Madison for another mystery, bringing the detective into a later period without treating the long publication gap as a reboot.

Read The Vampire Chase first. The 2004 novel is a return to an established protagonist rather than an unrelated title.

Night Wind Books in Order

1. Night Wind (2002): The first book introduces its suspense world through danger, pursuit, and characters forced to confront violence that reaches beyond an ordinary criminal case.
2. Devil Creek (later edition 2017): The second Night Wind title returns to the same broader line and moves the danger into another location where old secrets and present violence intersect.

The long gap between listed editions should not be interpreted as evidence that the two books are unrelated. They are commonly grouped as the Night Wind sequence.

Stephen Mertz Executioner Novels as Don Pendleton

Mertz also became one of the writers contributing to the continuing Mack Bolan franchise under the Don Pendleton house name. These are part of the much larger Executioner universe rather than an independent Stephen Mertz series.

1. The Iranian Hit (1982): Mack Bolan’s war against international terrorism and organized violence takes him into a mission tied to Iran.
2. Return to Vietnam (1982): Bolan returns to the country associated with his military past for another dangerous operation shaped by unfinished wartime consequences.
3. The Libya Connection (1982): The Executioner’s campaign expands into North Africa and a threat connected with Libya.
4. Tuscany Terror (1983): Bolan enters Italy as terrorism transforms the Tuscan setting into another battlefield.
5. Day of Mourning (1984): Death and retaliation drive another Executioner mission where Bolan must strike before his enemies can turn loss into strategic advantage.
6. Dead Man Running (1984): Bolan becomes involved in a pursuit where a supposedly doomed or hunted man carries information important enough to kill for.
7. Beirut Payback (1984): The Lebanese conflict becomes the setting for a revenge-driven operation against armed groups operating inside Beirut.
8. Appointment in Kabul (1985): Bolan enters Afghanistan during the Soviet-war period for a mission involving Kabul and the competing forces surrounding the conflict.
9. Teheran Wipeout (1985): The Executioner returns to Iran for a large-scale strike against another hostile network.
10. Dirty War (1985, SuperBolan): This longer-format adventure places Bolan inside a conflict where covert warfare and international criminal interests blur ordinary battle lines.
11. Moscow Massacre (1986): Bolan’s campaign reaches the Soviet capital for one of Mertz’s most overt Cold War Executioner missions.
12. Save the Children (1986): The mission centers on protecting or recovering vulnerable victims while Bolan hunts the armed organization responsible for placing them in danger.

These books should be read according to their Executioner franchise numbering if you are completing Mack Bolan. They do not need to be inserted into M.I.A. Hunter or Cody’s War.

Tunnel Rats Books as Cliff Banks

1. Tunnel Rats (1989, as Cliff Banks): Vietnam tunnel warfare provides the central setting as soldiers enter underground complexes where confined spaces, traps, and unseen enemies eliminate many of the advantages of conventional combat.
2. Tunnel Rats: Mud and Blood (1990, as Cliff Banks): The second book returns to the dangerous underground-war environment and the soldiers tasked with entering tunnels other troops avoid.

Read in order. These belong to a separate Vietnam action sequence under the Cliff Banks pseudonym.

Stephen Mertz Standalone Novels

Mertz has also written numerous novels outside his recurring action franchises. Some were first published decades ago, while others arrived during his later career or were republished by newer presses.

1. Some Die Hard (1979, as Stephen Brett): An early suspense novel from the period when Mertz was establishing himself in crime and paperback fiction.
2. Blood Red Sun (1989): An action thriller built around international danger and the kind of covert violence that defined Mertz’s adventure work of the period.
3. Sudden Death (1995): A suspense novel where death arrives without warning and surviving the immediate threat means uncovering the person or organization behind it.
4. The Korean Intercept (2005): A geopolitical thriller involving Korea and an international crisis where military action and intelligence decisions threaten to ignite a much larger confrontation.
5. Dragon Games (2010): Mertz combines international intrigue with an Asian setting and a dangerous contest involving people whose objectives extend beyond any literal game.
6. Hank & Muddy (2011): A character-driven crime novel that moves away from large military operations toward a more intimate criminal world.
7. The Castro Directive (2012/2013): Cuba, political history, and a hidden directive connected with Fidel Castro become the basis of a contemporary international conspiracy.
8. Sherlock Holmes: Zombies Over London (2015): Mertz combines Sherlock Holmes pastiche with supernatural horror as Victorian detection collides with a zombie threat.
9. Blaze! (2015): A Western adventure written within the Blaze adult-Western publishing tradition rather than one of Mertz’s military series.
10. Jimi After Dark (2017): Jimi Hendrix becomes part of a historical crime and suspense premise that mixes music culture with fictional danger.
11. The Moses Deception (2017): Religious history and a modern conspiracy intersect around information capable of changing what powerful people want the public to believe.
12. North of Tombstone (2020): Mertz turns to the Western landscape around Tombstone for a story of violence, law, and frontier conflict outside his modern espionage series.
13. Homicide: Saigon (2021): A murder investigation unfolds in wartime Saigon, combining crime fiction with the Vietnam setting that recurs throughout Mertz’s career.
14. Sara & the Mad Dog: Set in Depression-era New York City, the novel combines crime, music, secrets, and urban danger during a period of social and economic instability.

McShan Thriller

• Say It Was Murder (2018): Private investigator McShan takes on a case built around murder, shifting identities, and plot twists in a more traditional private-eye setting than Mertz’s military adventure series.

Rough Edges Press identifies the book as a McShan thriller, but no larger numbered McShan sequence has been established in the currently available catalogue.

Stephen Mertz Story Collections

1. The King of Horror & Other Stories (2015): A collection showing Mertz working in shorter crime, suspense, horror, and adventure forms rather than one continuing protagonist.
2. The Dark of Midnight & Other Stories (2018): Another selection of short fiction spanning the darker mystery and suspense side of Mertz’s career.

Do Modern Reissues Change the Reading Order?

No. Mertz’s older series have been republished digitally and in new paperback editions, which can make a 1980s novel look much newer in retailer databases.

For M.I.A. Hunter, use the original sixteen-book numbering from M.I.A. Hunter through China Strike. For Cody’s Army, use the original Jim Case sequence. For Cody’s War, use the newer ten-book numbering beginning with Dragonfire!.

Three Different Cody Labels Explained

• Cody’s Army: an older seven-book action series written by Mertz as Jim Case.
• Cody’s War: the modern series starring CIA field agent Jack “Suicide” Cody.
• Jack Cody: the protagonist of Cody’s War, not Mark Stone from M.I.A. Hunter.

Keeping those distinctions clear prevents the most common confusion in Mertz’s bibliography.

A Stephen Mertz Reading Plan for Action Fans

1. Read M.I.A. Hunter first if you want the classic paperback-adventure period and Mark Stone’s complete sixteen-book mission history.
2. Move to Cody’s Army for another compact 1980s action run published under the Jim Case name.
3. Then begin Cody’s War with Dragonfire! to see how Mertz adapted the covert-action format to twenty-first-century threats.
4. Add the Mack Bolan novels separately if you are interested in his work inside the Executioner franchise.
5. Use the standalones for variety, especially The Korean Intercept, The Castro Directive, and Homicide: Saigon.

Stephen Mertz Series Status

The original M.I.A. Hunter sequence contains sixteen books and ended with China Strike in 1991, although modern publishers continue to reissue the series.

The original Cody’s Army series contains seven books. The newer Cody’s War series currently contains ten books through Hellfire in Syria, published in 2023.

No eleventh Cody’s War title has a confirmed publication date as of September 9, 2026.

Stephen Mertz Books in Order FAQs

What was Stephen Mertz’s first novel?

His early published novels include Some Die Hard and The Vampire Chase, both released in 1979 under the Stephen Brett name.

Did Stephen Mertz write every M.I.A. Hunter book?

No. He created and outlined the series and wrote many installments, but other authors including Joe R. Lansdale, Bill Crider, and Michael Newton also contributed under the shared Jack Buchanan name.

How many original M.I.A. Hunter books are there?

There are sixteen in the original sequence, ending with China Strike.

Are Cody’s Army and Cody’s War the same series?

No. Cody’s Army is an older seven-book series written as Jim Case. Cody’s War is a later series starring CIA agent Jack Cody.

How many Cody’s War books are there?

Ten have been published, from Dragonfire! through Hellfire in Syria.

Did Stephen Mertz write Mack Bolan books?

Yes. He wrote numerous Executioner novels under the Don Pendleton house name during the 1980s.

What Stephen Mertz book should I read first?

For classic action, start with M.I.A. Hunter. For his modern action series, begin with Dragonfire!. For a standalone, The Korean Intercept is an easy entry point.

The Clearest Stephen Mertz Reading Strategy

Separate the house-name and pseudonym series before reading. M.I.A. Hunter belongs to Mark Stone, Cody’s Army is the older Jim Case sequence, and Cody’s War follows Jack Cody in the modern era.

Read each of those series in numbered order. Treat Steve Madison, Night Wind, Tunnel Rats, and the Mack Bolan books as their own lines rather than trying to merge everything into one fictional chronology.

The standalones can then be chosen according to subject, from Korea and Cuba to Vietnam, Westerns, private-eye crime, historical suspense, and supernatural Sherlock Holmes fiction.