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Explore the Ava Lee series by Ian Hamilton with all the books in order, brief plot summaries, series background, and clear guidance on the best reading order for new readers.

Last updated: June 7, 2026

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Publication Order

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17 books

1

The Disciple of Las Vegas

by Ian Hamilton

2011

Tasked with recovering fifty million dollars stolen from a Filipino billionaire, Ava Lee chases a web of land fraud and online gambling from Vancouver to Las Vegas and Costa Rica. High-stakes poker, political connections, and a vengeful enemy all close in at once.

2

The Water Rat of Wanchai

by Ian Hamilton

2011

When a seafood deal collapses and five million dollars vanish, forensic accountant Ava Lee follows the money trail from North America to Hong Kong, Thailand, and Guyana. Her search pits her against corrupt officials and a ruthless fixer who dominates the local underworld.

3

The Wild Beasts of Wuhan

by Ian Hamilton

2011

Chinese tycoon Wong Changxing discovers that his prized Fauvist paintings are fakes and turns to Ava Lee for help. Her investigation into a hundred-million-dollar art fraud sends her through Europe and North America, where elite auction houses hide dangerous criminal partners.

4

The Red Pole of Macau

by Ian Hamilton

2012

Ava’s half brother is trapped in a collapsing real-estate venture in Macau, and her family stands to lose everything. As she follows the money behind the deal, Ava is pulled into Hong Kong’s triad world and forced to choose how far she will go.

5

The Dragon Head of Hong Kong

by Ian Hamilton

2013

Just starting her own firm, young forensic accountant Ava Lee agrees to help a desperate client recover more than a million dollars stolen by a Hong Kong importer. The hunt draws her into the city’s violent debt-collection underworld and toward a life-altering alliance.

6

The Scottish Banker of Surabaya

by Ian Hamilton

2013

A routine check on a suspected Ponzi scheme leads Ava Lee to a small bank in Indonesia run by a charming Scottish expatriate. She soon uncovers a sophisticated money-laundering pipeline for the Italian mob and finds herself in a bitter, very personal showdown.

7

The King of Shanghai

by Ian Hamilton

2014

Ava’s new business ventures put her in close partnership with Xu, the ambitious head of Shanghai’s triad. As he campaigns to lead all the societies, she is drawn into lethal internal politics where investment choices and allegiances can mean life or death.

8

The Two Sisters of Borneo

by Ian Hamilton

2014

Through the Three Sisters investment company, Ava backs a furniture business run by two sisters in Borneo. When a dispute with a Dutch buyer turns ugly, she travels to Europe and Kota Kinabalu, confronting local gangs and a mysterious ally from Shanghai.

9

The Princeling of Nanjing

by Ian Hamilton

2015

In Shanghai for a fashion launch, Ava learns that Xu is being pressured by the powerful Tsai political clan to reenter the drug trade. To protect him, she unpicks a web of state-backed corruption that stretches from provincial China to Western capitals.

10

The Couturier of Milan

by Ian Hamilton

2017

Ava and her partners debut their PÖ fashion line at London Fashion Week, only to attract the interest of a ruthless luxury conglomerate. When powerful rivals move to crush the brand, she teams up with Xu and takes the fight from catwalks to crime syndicates.

11

The Goddess of Yantai

by Ian Hamilton

2018

Ava travels to Beijing for the premiere of her lover Pang Fai’s new film and learns that Fai is being blackmailed by powerful men in the movie industry. To free her, Ava must navigate scandal, surveillance, and the dangerous egos behind state-approved cinema.

12

The Imam of Tawi-Tawi

by Ian Hamilton

2018

Summoned to Manila by an old friend, Ava is asked to investigate a remote college in the Philippine province of Tawi-Tawi that may be training extremists. Partnering with a wary CIA agent, she uncovers a plot that tests her ethics as much as her skills.

13

The Mountain Master of Sha Tin

by Ian Hamilton

2019

While visiting an ailing Xu in Shanghai, Ava hears that an old enemy has launched a brutal bid to reclaim Hong Kong’s Wanchai district. With allies kidnapped and deadlines set in blood, she is forced to engineer a risky end to a gang war.

14

The Diamond Queen of Singapore

by Ian Hamilton

2020

After her best friend’s father dies by suicide over a fraudulent investment, Ava vows to track down the missing money. The trail leads from Europe to Singapore, pulling her into illegal diamond trading, drug routes, and offshore accounts tied to a powerful family.

15

The Sultan of Sarawak

by Ian Hamilton

2022

When a warehouse connected to Ava’s business interests is destroyed in Sarawak, she discovers the local Chong dynasty may be behind the attack. Her investigation exposes a vast illegal logging operation that threatens Indigenous communities and forces her into open conflict with the family.

16

The General of Tiananmen Square

by Ian Hamilton

2023

At Cannes for the premiere of a risky film she quietly helped finance, Ava watches its success trigger political blowback. When the producer vanishes en route to Los Angeles, she must confront Chinese pressure and covert detention to save both the movie and her friends.

17

The Fury of Beijing

by Ian Hamilton

2024

Still grieving the murders of close allies, Ava launches a personal hunt for those responsible that takes her from Toronto to Los Angeles and Beijing. With old friends at her side, she targets the China Movie Syndicate and a powerful security official who ordered the hit.

Series background & context

Ava Lee is the kind of crime-fiction heroine who lives between worlds. She is Chinese Canadian, Toronto-based but constantly airborne, and works as a forensic accountant who recovers money that has vanished into the cracks of global finance.

At the start of the series she works almost entirely behind the scenes for an elderly Hong Kong businessman she calls Uncle, a figure with deep connections to the triads and to old friends who have been cheated in deals gone bad. Ava’s job is to follow the money, understand the scam, and then use whatever leverage it takes to get their funds back.

The early books focus on large-scale frauds and cons. She tracks missing millions through art forgeries, bogus seafood contracts, online poker schemes, crooked construction projects, and money-laundering operations that use respectable banks as fronts. Each case pulls her into a different corner of the world, from Hong Kong and Bangkok to Borneo, Surabaya, Copenhagen, New York, and beyond.

Ava travels light. She is small, stylish, and often underestimated, which suits her work. She relies on meticulous research, quiet intimidation, and a Taoist-inspired martial art that lets her disable men twice her size. The books linger on food, hotels, and travel details, but the real engine is her relentless focus on how money and power move.

As the series develops, Ava’s world widens. She becomes a partner in a women-run investment group known as the Three Sisters, backing ventures in fashion, retail, and film. Through Xu, a triad leader in Shanghai who admired Uncle, she is drawn deeper into internal triad politics and eventually into the struggle over who will control those organizations in the future.

Later novels push Ava into the Chinese film industry and international politics. Her relationship with Pang Fai, a major Chinese movie star, brings her into conflict with the China Movie Syndicate and, eventually, with senior figures in the Chinese government over a controversial film about Tiananmen Square. The stories blend personal stakes with questions about censorship, nationalism, and who gets to control the narrative of history.

Across the books, readers can expect intricate financial puzzles, vivid cityscapes, and a lead character who is queer, fiercely loyal to her family, and quietly ruthless when cornered. The tone is brisk and contemporary rather than grim noir. Each novel stands alone, but together they chart Ava’s shift from hired debt collector to investor, partner, and political player, all while she navigates the risks that come with living several lives at once.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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All 17 Ava Lee Books in Order (Complete List 2026)