Ted Bell Books in Order (Updated September 9, 2026)

Ted Bell was an American thriller and adventure writer best known for creating Lord Alexander Hawke, a wealthy British naval hero and intelligence operative whose missions combine espionage, seafaring adventure, terrorism, geopolitical conflict, royal intrigue, and larger-than-life villains.

Bell also wrote the two-book Nick McIver time-travel adventure series for younger readers and several Alex Hawke novellas. Bell died in 2023, but the Hawke series continues under Ryan Steck, who published Monarch in 2025 and Warmonger in 2026.

If you like this kind of thriller, begin here

• For international espionage and sea adventure: Start with Hawke.
• For the complete Alex Hawke continuity: Read the main novels in publication order and insert the novellas where they were released.
• For historical time travel and younger readers: Start with Nick of Time.
• For the post-Ted Bell continuation: Read through Sea Hawke before moving to Ryan Steck’s Monarch and Warmonger.

The Hawke novels usually resolve the central mission within each book, but Alex’s family, friendships, romantic relationships, enemies, intelligence connections, and personal losses continue across the series. Publication order is therefore strongly recommended.

Alex Hawke novels in order, with what happens in each book

1. Hawke (2003): Lord Alexander Hawke returns to the Caribbean to locate a stolen experimental submarine carrying nuclear weapons and confronts a violent political regime connected to the pirates who murdered his parents when he was a child.
2. Assassin (2004): Hawke hunts a sophisticated killer amid an international plot involving terrorism, powerful political figures, and enemies prepared to strike at Western leadership.
3. Pirate (2005): Hawke faces a modern enemy with the resources of a state and the methods of a pirate while a global conspiracy threatens both governments and people close to him.
4. Spy (2006): A dangerous intelligence operation brings Hawke into conflict with enemies manipulating terrorism and espionage across several countries while his role as an unofficial British weapon becomes increasingly important.
5. Tsar (2008): Hawke confronts a resurgent Russia dominated by an extraordinarily powerful leader whose ambitions threaten Europe and place Hawke inside a modern struggle for imperial power.
6. Warlord (2010): The murder of Lord Mountbatten in 1979 becomes part of a modern plot against the British royal family, sending Hawke and Ambrose Congreve after an enemy pursuing a decades-old vendetta.
7. Phantom (2012): A new technological threat and an enemy operating through global military systems force Hawke into a crisis where machines, intelligence, and nuclear danger become inseparable.
8. Warriors (2014): Hawke confronts powerful enemies in Asia after a kidnapping and international crisis draw him toward China and a threat capable of changing the strategic balance in the region.
9. Patriot (2015): Hawke faces Russian power again when events involving Putin, British intelligence, and a dangerous conspiracy turn the conflict into both a geopolitical and personal struggle.
10. Overkill (2018): A Christmas skiing holiday in Switzerland becomes a nightmare when Hawke’s son Alexei disappears during a helicopter rescue, sending Hawke into a desperate hunt through Europe.
11. Dragonfire (2020): The Queen asks Hawke to find her missing grandson in the Bahamas, leading him toward the Tang family, secrets reaching back to the Second World War, and a conspiracy linked to China.
12. Sea Hawke (2021): Hawke hopes to reconnect with Alexei aboard a new sailing yacht, but an alliance of hostile powers pulls him from a family voyage into operations stretching from waters near Cuba to the Amazon.
13. Monarch (2025, Ryan Steck): After a costly mission in Antarctica, Hawke is called when King Charles disappears from Balmoral shortly before a politically explosive British vote, leaving only a short window to find the monarch before national panic begins.
14. Warmonger (2026, Ryan Steck): Hawke hunts a shadowy destabilizer known as Warmonger while an urgent royal mission takes him toward Russia, Vladimir Putin, a secret document, and another deadly investigation involving Ambrose Congreve.

Monarch and Warmonger continue Alex Hawke after Ted Bell’s death. They are written by Ryan Steck and should be credited accordingly even though Ted Bell’s name remains attached to the series branding.

Hawke establishes both the hero and the family tragedy

The first novel gives Alex a personal reason for returning to the Caribbean. As a child, he watched modern pirates murder his parents while the family was sailing, and the event shaped both his later identity and his relationship with danger.

As an adult, Hawke is a British lord, decorated naval hero, highly capable intelligence asset, and descendant of the legendary pirate Blackhawke. When an experimental submarine armed with forty nuclear warheads disappears near Cuba, his professional mission intersects with the unresolved crime of his childhood.

Later novels assume readers understand Hawke’s family background and the people he trusts, making Hawke much more than an optional first adventure.

Assassin, Pirate, and Spy build the international Hawke formula

The next three novels move Alex from a Caribbean origin story into a broader world of assassination, private wealth, terrorism, espionage, and international political threats.

1. Assassin: Hawke becomes involved in stopping a professional killer operating inside a wider international conspiracy.
2. Pirate: The series returns to the language and imagery of piracy but places it inside a modern struggle involving wealth, military force, and global influence.
3. Spy: Hawke’s intelligence role becomes even more central as competing secret services and terrorist threats expand the scale of his missions.

These three books are where Hawke becomes a continuing spy-thriller hero rather than simply the protagonist of one swashbuckling debut.

Tsar begins one of Hawke’s most important recurring rivalries

Tsar shifts the series strongly toward Russia and the ambitions of its leadership. The novel introduces political and personal conflicts that continue to echo in later Hawke books.

Readers interested in Patriot, Monarch, or Warmonger benefit from reading Tsar first because Russia and Vladimir Putin become recurring elements of the wider Hawke world.

Warlord looks backward to a real royal assassination

Warlord uses the 1979 assassination of Lord Mountbatten as historical background for a fictional vendetta against the British monarchy.

Hawke’s close connections to Britain’s intelligence establishment and royal circles make the threat unusually personal. Ambrose Congreve, the former Scotland Yard detective who becomes one of Hawke’s most dependable allies, is especially important to the investigation.

Where the Alex Hawke novellas fit

Ted Bell published several shorter Hawke adventures between the main novels. They are optional for understanding the major series arc, but they add missions and character moments between full-length installments.

1. The Powder Monkey: A shorter Hawke adventure that uses the series’ naval and historical roots in a more compact format and is best treated as supplementary material rather than a numbered main novel.
2. Crash Dive (2012): Hawke undertakes a covert mission involving hostile territory and high-risk military action in a story released around the time of Phantom.
3. What Comes Around (2014): After senior intelligence figures die under suspicious circumstances, Hawke and Ambrose trace the killings to rogue CIA officer Spider Payne, who has made Hawke his primary target.
4. White Death (2015): Hawke and Ambrose investigate a chain of murders in Switzerland and pursue a mysterious figure known as the Sorcerer into a fortress hidden high in the Alps.

For a publication-based reading project, read the shorter works near the dates when they appeared. For a simpler first read, complete the main novels first and return to the novellas afterward.

A fuller Hawke reading sequence including the shorter stories

1. Hawke: Alex’s origin, family tragedy, and first major modern mission.
2. Assassin: International assassination and political conspiracy.
3. Pirate: Modern piracy and global power.
4. Spy: Intelligence conflict and terrorism.
5. The Powder Monkey: Optional shorter Hawke material.
6. Tsar: Russia becomes a major recurring adversarial force.
7. Warlord: A royal-family threat linked to Lord Mountbatten’s assassination.
8. Crash Dive: Optional novella placed before or around the Phantom period.
9. Phantom: Technology and international military danger dominate the mission.
10. What Comes Around: Spider Payne targets Hawke and former intelligence leaders.
11. Warriors: Hawke moves into another Asian geopolitical crisis.
12. White Death: Hawke and Ambrose pursue the Sorcerer into the Swiss Alps.
13. Patriot: Russia and Putin again move to the center of Hawke’s world.
14. Overkill: Alexei’s disappearance transforms the mission into a father’s personal nightmare.
15. Dragonfire: The disappearance of the Queen’s grandson leads toward the Tang family and wartime secrets.
16. Sea Hawke: Hawke’s attempt at a family sailing voyage becomes another global intelligence operation.
17. Monarch: King Charles disappears and Hawke has only a short period to prevent a national crisis.
18. Warmonger: Hawke confronts Russia, a hidden destabilizer, and another threat to the monarchy.

Overkill is a major turning point for Hawke as a father

Overkill begins during what should be a peaceful Christmas skiing holiday with Alexei. A cable-car disaster leads to a rescue operation, and in the confusion Hawke’s son disappears.

The kidnapping makes the novel more personal than a standard intelligence assignment. Hawke is not protecting the Crown, stopping a nuclear weapon, or operating because MI6 asks him to. He is fighting to recover his own child.

Because Alexei remains important afterward, Overkill should be read before Sea Hawke.

Dragonfire ties Hawke to the British royal family again

Dragonfire begins with a wartime meeting involving China’s ambassador to the United States and President Franklin Roosevelt, then moves to the present and the disappearance of the Queen’s grandson.

Hawke follows the missing prince into the Bahamas and toward the Tang brothers. The historical material gradually becomes relevant to a modern plot involving China, Britain, and secrets preserved across generations.

Sea Hawke gives Alex and Alexei a different relationship

After the kidnapping and recovery story of the previous period, Hawke tries to spend meaningful time with his son aboard a custom sailing yacht.

The plan does not last. MI6 identifies an alliance preparing attacks against Western democracies, and Hawke’s voyage becomes an operational route stretching from the Caribbean toward South America.

Readers who care about Hawke’s family development should not skip directly from Overkill to the Ryan Steck continuation without reading Dragonfire and Sea Hawke.

Ted Bell’s final Alex Hawke novel was Sea Hawke

Sea Hawke, published in 2021, was the twelfth full-length Hawke novel written by Ted Bell.

Bell died in January 2023. The character did not end with him, but all later novels belong to the authorized Ryan Steck continuation.

Ryan Steck takes over with Monarch

Monarch was published in 2025 as the thirteenth full-length Alex Hawke novel. It continues established characters rather than rebooting the franchise.

Hawke is recovering at Teakettle Cottage in Bermuda when Ambrose Congreve reports that King Charles has vanished from Balmoral. Britain is already approaching a politically explosive vote, leaving the government only about seventy-two hours before the king’s disappearance becomes impossible to hide.

Readers should therefore finish Sea Hawke before moving into Monarch.

Warmonger is the latest Hawke novel

Warmonger, published in 2026, is Ryan Steck’s second Alex Hawke novel and the fourteenth full-length book in the continuing sequence.

Hawke is pursuing a mysterious figure known as Warmonger when the Crown gives him another urgent assignment. He must travel toward Russia with Dr. Ariadne Silk, confront Vladimir Putin, and recover a secret document that could damage the British monarchy.

At the same time, Ambrose investigates an unusual murder and encounters an assassin known as Silence. The separate threads gradually reveal a plan designed to drive the world toward a much larger conflict.

The Hawke series will continue after Warmonger

Ryan Steck is continuing the series beyond Warmonger. Storm is announced for 2027.

Because it is not yet published as of this September 2026 update, Storm should be listed as forthcoming rather than included among completed reading-order entries.

Nick McIver Adventures Through Time in order

Ted Bell also created a much younger hero in Nick McIver. These books combine naval adventure, pirates, time travel, the Napoleonic Wars, the American Revolution, and the Second World War.

1. Nick of Time (2008): Twelve-year-old Nick McIver discovers a time-travel device and moves between the period before the Second World War and the Napoleonic era while trying to rescue children captured by pirates and protect his Channel Island home.
2. The Time Pirate (2010): Nick returns to time travel as Nazi forces threaten the Channel Islands in 1940 while another part of the adventure sends him into the American Revolution and into contact with George Washington.

Read these two books in order. The Time Pirate is a direct sequel and assumes the reader already understands Nick, his family, his unusual method of traveling through history, and the earlier pirate adventure.

Nick of Time is not connected to Alex Hawke continuity

The Nick McIver books use some of the same traditions Bell enjoyed in his adult fiction, including British naval history, adventure at sea, heroic families, and dangerous villains.

They should nevertheless be treated as their own young-adult continuity rather than prequels to Alex Hawke. No Hawke novel is required before reading Nick of Time.

Ted Bell’s Blackford Blaine stories

Bell also wrote shorter fiction featuring Blackford Blaine. These pieces belong outside the main Hawke and Nick McIver reading sequences.

• The Pirate of Palm Beach: A shorter adventure that uses Bell’s recurring interest in seafaring, wealth, danger, and larger-than-life personalities.
• The Widow’s Walk: Another Blackford Blaine story that can be read independently of Alex Hawke.

A first-time Hawke route that keeps the strongest continuity intact

1. Hawke: Meet Alex, understand his parents’ murder, and see why the sea is central to his identity.
2. Assassin: Move into Bell’s broader international spy-thriller formula.
3. Pirate: Continue with a modern global threat shaped by Bell’s love of maritime adventure.
4. Spy: Deepen Hawke’s intelligence relationships and international role.
5. Tsar: Establish the Russian rivalry that matters later.
6. Warlord: Move into royal-family history and Ambrose’s growing importance.
7. Phantom: Return to large technological and military threats.
8. Warriors: Shift the geopolitical focus toward Asia.
9. Patriot: Revisit Russia and the Putin conflict.
10. Overkill: Read the crucial Alexei kidnapping storyline.
11. Dragonfire: Follow Hawke into another royal-family and China-centered conspiracy.
12. Sea Hawke: Complete Ted Bell’s own full-length Hawke novels.
13. Monarch: Begin the Ryan Steck continuation with the disappearance of King Charles.
14. Warmonger: Continue Hawke’s renewed conflict with Putin and the threat posed by the mysterious Warmonger.

Can the Hawke books be sampled out of order?

Many can. Each full-length novel generally gives Hawke a new mission and resolves its central international threat.

However, Alex’s family history, Alexei, Ambrose Congreve, British intelligence relationships, Russian enemies, and royal connections accumulate over time. Reading later books first can therefore reveal which characters survived earlier crises and how Hawke’s personal life changed.

Publication order is the safer choice for anyone planning to read more than one or two books.

Which Hawke books are most important for Ambrose Congreve?

Ambrose is a former Scotland Yard chief inspector and one of Hawke’s closest friends. His investigative approach gives the series a detective component that contrasts with Hawke’s naval and intelligence action.

• Warlord: Ambrose is deeply involved in the royal-family conspiracy.
• What Comes Around: He and Hawke investigate suspicious deaths linked to Spider Payne.
• White Death: Ambrose joins Hawke in the investigation that leads into the Swiss Alps.
• Monarch: Ambrose alerts Hawke that King Charles has disappeared.
• Warmonger: His own murder investigation becomes connected to an assassin and Hawke’s larger mission.

Ted Bell’s publication status and continuation

Ted Bell died in 2023. His own full-length Alex Hawke bibliography ends with Sea Hawke, while the two Nick McIver novels and several novellas complete his other principal series work.

Ryan Steck now writes the authorized Alex Hawke continuation. Monarch appeared in 2025, Warmonger in 2026, and Storm is announced for 2027.

Questions about Ted Bell’s reading order

What is the first Alex Hawke book?

Hawke, published in 2003, introduces Lord Alexander Hawke and should be read first.

How many Alex Hawke novels did Ted Bell write?

Ted Bell wrote twelve full-length Alex Hawke novels, from Hawke through Sea Hawke, along with several shorter Hawke stories.

Who writes Alex Hawke now?

Ryan Steck continues the series. His first Hawke novel was Monarch, followed by Warmonger.

What is the latest Alex Hawke book?

Warmonger, published in 2026, is the latest released Alex Hawke novel as of this update.

Is another Alex Hawke book coming?

Yes. Storm by Ryan Steck is announced for 2027.

Where does Crash Dive fit?

Crash Dive is a shorter Hawke story from the 2012 period and is optional companion reading rather than one of the numbered full-length novels.

Is What Comes Around a full Alex Hawke novel?

No. It is a novella centered on Hawke, Ambrose Congreve, and rogue intelligence officer Spider Payne.

How many Nick McIver books are there?

There are two: Nick of Time and The Time Pirate.

What Ted Bell book should I read first?

Hawke is the best general starting point. It establishes Alex’s history, naval background, family tragedy, wealth, intelligence role, and the adventurous tone that defines the series.

The most useful Ted Bell reading plan

Read the twelve Ted Bell Hawke novels in publication order from Hawke through Sea Hawke. Add Crash Dive, What Comes Around, White Death, and The Powder Monkey if you want the shorter adventures as well.

After Sea Hawke, continue with Ryan Steck’s Monarch and Warmonger. Keep the Nick McIver books separate, beginning with Nick of Time and then The Time Pirate. That preserves the adult espionage continuity while also making room for Bell’s very different historical time-travel adventures.