Clive Egleton Books in Order
Browse Clive Egleton books in order, with short summaries, series guides, background on Peter Ashton and more, plus help choosing where to start.
Last updated: July 5, 2026
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Publication Order
44 books
A Piece of Resistance
by Clive Egleton
1970
After a Soviet missile strike and armistice, Britain lives under occupation and David Garnett joins the resistance. Compromise, retaliation, and underground violence shape this bleak alternate-history thriller.
The Sleeper
by Clive Egleton
1971
In Soviet-occupied Britain, David Garnett is asked to investigate a damaging split inside the resistance movement. Informers, rival factions, and constant surveillance make every contact a risk.
The Judas Mandate
by Clive Egleton
1972
As the Russian occupation force prepares to leave Britain, David Garnett is pulled into a new fight over who will control the country next. Smuggling politicians to safety is only part of the problem.
Seven Days To A Killing
by Clive Egleton
1973
Tarrant's teenage son is kidnapped, and the price for his return is a fortune in uncut diamonds. What follows is a relentless countdown thriller built on pressure, deception, and very personal stakes.
The October Plot
by Clive Egleton
1974
After the failed July 1944 plot against Hitler, a mixed British and German commando team is sent to kill Martin Bormann. Betrayal, underground resistance, and wartime desperation drive the mission forward.
Skirmish
by Clive Egleton
1977
A seemingly limited military clash grows into a tighter and more dangerous intelligence game. Egleton keeps the focus on pressure, confusion, and how small operational choices can spiral into something much bigger.
The Rommel Plot
by Clive Egleton
1977
Set in the final stretch of World War II, this historical thriller turns on covert planning, military deception, and the unstable politics around the collapsing Nazi command. One secret operation carries far more weight than it first appears.
State Visit
by Clive Egleton
1978
A high-profile visit to Britain turns into a security nightmare when signs of an assassination plot begin to surface. Ceremony, surveillance, and political pressure all tighten at once.
The Mills Bomb
by Clive Egleton
1978
Ten years after a failed defection and the loss of a fortune in bearer bonds, Edward Mills comes out of prison wanting answers. He was framed, and his search for the truth is anything but gentle.
Backfire
by Clive Egleton
1979
When a victim of failed SAS psychochemical experiments escapes, Major Robert Donaldson is sent to contain the fallout. He soon finds himself in a manhunt wrapped inside a government conspiracy.
Clauberg Trigger
by Clive Egleton
1979
At the end of World War II, Allied operatives race to secure a German atomic device before it can fall into Soviet hands. The search becomes a tense pursuit across a ruined and unstable Europe.
Escape To Athena
by Clive Egleton
1979
On a German-held Greek island during World War II, prisoners, locals, and covert operators circle one another around sabotage and escape. This is Egleton in adventure mode, with war pressure and caper energy.
The Clauberg Trigger
by Clive Egleton
1979
At the end of World War II, a British spy and an American major race to find a German atomic trigger before the Soviets do. Their mission becomes a brutal chase across shattered Europe.
Double Griffin
by Clive Egleton
1981
In late 1944, with Hitler's position collapsing, a desperate plan is born to bomb New York on New Year's Eve. Three men are pulled toward a mission that could change the course of the war.
Winter Touch
by Clive Egleton
1981
Against the background of the Suez crisis, Charles Winter becomes involved in a dangerous attempt to pressure President Eisenhower. Personal scandal and state policy collide in a cold, elegant intelligence thriller.
The Russian Enigma
by Clive Egleton
1982
As the Cuban missile crisis tightens, SIS chief Charles Winter investigates a dead double agent and a Russian defector whose loyalties are anything but clear. Every new fact only deepens the uncertainty.
A Conflict of Interests
by Clive Egleton
1984
When a wealthy call girl is found dead, Detective Inspector Coghill is warned that the case is politically sensitive. He keeps digging anyway, and soon both his career and his life are on the line.
A Falcon for the Hawks
by Clive Egleton
1984
In 1917, a German Zeppelin raid heads for London, and one damaged airship presses on against all advice. British airman Matthew Farr has personal reasons for wanting to bring it down.
Troika
by Clive Egleton
1984
Set inside the Soviet power structure in 1982, this thriller follows a fierce struggle within and around the KGB. The stakes are nothing less than control of the state and the direction of the Cold War.
A Different Drummer
by Clive Egleton
1987
A highly placed mole inside the British secret services sets in motion a plan to cripple Western intelligence. What follows is a tense hunt through institutional weakness, divided loyalties, and geopolitical risk.
The Picture of the Year
by Clive Egleton
1988
A sought-after image becomes the center of a dangerous struggle involving secrecy, leverage, and betrayal. What looks like one piece of evidence pulls more players into a much wider intelligence game.
Death of a Sahib
by Clive Egleton
1989
Set in the world of high finance, this thriller begins with a suspicious death and widens into a story about money, influence, and hidden loyalties. Egleton keeps the pressure on both the markets and the people caught inside them.
Gone Missing
by Clive Egleton
1989
Ten years after millions vanished in the chaos of Saigon's fall, Sarah Cartwright walks out of her English life and heads for the Far East. Her disappearance pulls the past back into the open.
In the Red
by Clive Egleton
1990
British agent Harry Freeland survives one bungled mission in Shanghai only to be sent into the Cold War front line in Germany. There he faces old guilt, a brutal enemy from his past, and suspicion from his own side.
China Gold
by Clive Egleton
1991
In Hong Kong in December 1941, a secret plan is made to move a fortune in gold to safety before the Japanese arrive. Corrupt policemen see their chance and turn the operation into a deadly heist.
Last ACT
by Clive Egleton
1991
The suicide of a Polish resistance veteran sends British intelligence officer Michael Kimber back into the shadows of the Warsaw uprising. The deeper he looks, the more wartime betrayal starts killing people in the present.
A Double Deception
by Clive Egleton
1992
A young American comes to London searching for the Polish uncle she never knew, and finds old wartime betrayal instead. Her search draws in British officials, a war criminal, and a trail of very dangerous lies.
Hostile Intent
by Clive Egleton
1993
A British operative is blown up in newly opened East Germany, and his Russian contact, Galina Kutuzova, disappears. Peter Ashton is sent to find her and the secrets everyone suddenly seems willing to kill for.
A Killing in Moscow
by Clive Egleton
1994
The Cold War is over, but Moscow is still dangerous ground. Peter Ashton uncovers a woman stealing British commercial secrets, only to learn that someone wants her dead before she can talk.
Death Throes
by Clive Egleton
1995
A promising lead in Bulgaria turns into a murderous trap, while in Germany an old British deserter reappears with scores to settle. Peter Ashton is caught between the two threads and everything he values is at risk.
A Lethal Involvement
by Clive Egleton
1996
Peter Ashton starts by following the trail of a vanished Army officer. It leads him from a Chechen hit team in England to an old murder in Hong Kong that was meant to stay buried.
Blood Money
by Clive Egleton
1997
Peter Ashton's wife finds butchered bodies in a Yorkshire safe house, and that is only the beginning. The investigation uncovers crime, fanaticism, and a plot with the power to shake the Western economy.
Warning Shot
by Clive Egleton
1997
An explosion in an English bookshop in Berlin pulls Peter Ashton back into active work. The hunt leads to Islamic extremists, American allies of convenience, and a far larger target in the U.S. Midwest.
Dead Reckoning
by Clive Egleton
1999
A savage killing is first thought to have claimed Peter Ashton's wife, then the case twists again. A ruthless former lover, a hacker, and a royal visit to India all become part of the same deadly puzzle.
One Man Running
by Clive Egleton
2001
An old friend is running from the Russian mafia and needs Peter Ashton fast. Ashton has troubles of his own, and with IRA terrorists closing in, help is in short supply.
The Honey Trap
by Clive Egleton
2001
When Adam Zawadzki is murdered during what should have been a routine delivery to Costa Rica, SIS wants quiet. Peter Ashton digs anyway, and the deeper he goes, the uglier the story becomes.
A Spy's Ransom
by Clive Egleton
2003
Major John Tarrant's son is kidnapped, and the ransom demand is brutally specific, uncut diamonds. Tarrant has only days to meet it and work out who is really pulling the strings.
Cry Havoc
by Clive Egleton
2003
A senior SIS officer's suicide and a messy blackmail scheme seem unrelated until the threads begin to join. What emerges is a frightening plan involving terrorism and poison that could devastate London.
A Dying Fall
by Clive Egleton
2004
After the plot against Hitler fails, a vanished German general and a suspicious suicide set a new plan in motion. A covert team is formed for one last wartime gamble, to strike at the Nazi leadership before the war ends.
Assassination Day
by Clive Egleton
2004
Will Landon is asked to look into the explosive autobiography of a former intelligence officer and assassin. Then people connected to the book start dying, documents vanish, and the case becomes far more dangerous than it first seemed.
The Renegades
by Clive Egleton
2005
A London restaurant shooting that looks like ordinary gang violence turns out to connect with British intelligence and international terrorism. Peter Ashton follows the trail into a financial network backing some very dangerous men.
The Loner
by Clive Egleton
2006
Edward Mills is about to be released after serving a harsh sentence for stealing bonds meant for a defecting Russian scientist. He was framed, and once he is free he wants the truth, whatever it costs.
The Presidential Affair
by Clive Egleton
2006
On the eve of the 1956 U.S. election and the Suez crisis, damaging letters suggest Eisenhower is vulnerable to blackmail. What begins as a political scandal quickly turns into a high-stakes intelligence game.
Pandora's Box
by Clive Egleton
2008
During the Cuban missile crisis, SIS chief Charles Winter investigates the death of a double agent and the reliability of a Russian defector. As the pressure around Cuba rises, every fragment of evidence starts to look dangerous.
Where should I start?
If you want post-Cold War SIS intrigue: Hostile Intent → A Killing in Moscow → Death Throes → Blood Money
If you want occupied-Britain alternative history: A Piece of Resistance → The Sleeper → The Judas Mandate
If you want Cold War political suspense: Winter Touch → Pandora's Box
If you want strong standalones: Seven Days To A Killing → A Dying Fall → A Double Deception
Author bio
Clive Egleton was born in South Harrow, Middlesex, on November 25, 1927, and educated at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School. He grew up in the long shadow of war, which helps explain why so many of his novels feel rooted in institutions, chain-of-command problems, and the plain fact that bad decisions can travel a very long way.
He joined the army young. In 1945, while still underage, he enlisted in the Royal Armoured Corps to train as a tank driver. He later received a commission in the South Staffordshire Regiment and served in India, Hong Kong, Germany, Egypt, Cyprus, the Persian Gulf, and East Africa. Those postings gave him places, systems, and habits of mind that would feed directly into his fiction.
That background mattered.
Egleton was not the sort of thriller writer who treated intelligence work like a string of glamorous set pieces. His books are full of paperwork, mistrust, divided loyalties, and the slow, difficult business of figuring out what is actually true. He rose to lieutenant colonel, retired from active service in 1975, and drew on years of military and security experience when he began building his career as a novelist.
He started publishing in the late 1960s. His debut, A Piece of Resistance, came out in 1970 and began the David Garnett sequence, an alternate-history trilogy set in a Soviet-occupied Britain. A few years later Seven Days to a Killing brought him a wider audience, and its screen adaptation, The Black Windmill, put one of his stories in cinemas with Michael Caine in the lead.
He kept going, and he kept shifting the angle.
Some readers come to Egleton for wartime and Cold War thrillers like The October Plot, The Winter Touch, and Troika. Others head straight for the Peter Ashton novels, which begin with Hostile Intent and follow a British intelligence officer through the messy years after the Cold War. Those books tend to appeal to readers who like espionage with the bureaucracy left in, where an embassy leak, a defector, or a bad political compromise can be every bit as dangerous as a gun.
He also wrote under other names. As John Tarrant he published several thrillers, and as Patrick Blake he novelized Escape to Athena. That tells you something useful about him. He could write straight spy fiction, historical suspense, and wartime adventure, but the thread running through the work stayed much the same, serious people trying to do difficult jobs with incomplete information and too many competing loyalties.
Later in life he lived on the Isle of Wight. In 2005 he was elected to Arreton Parish Council, which feels oddly fitting for a writer so interested in duty, institutions, and the way public systems work when pressure lands on them. He died in March 2006 in Bembridge, leaving behind more than fifty novels.
Maybe that is why his books still hold up. Even at their busiest, they are less about glamour than about pressure, judgment, and people trying to stay steady in a world that rarely offers clean answers.
Edited by
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