Don Micklem Books in Order

Don Micklem is the lead in a small, punchy set of James Hadley Chase adventure thrillers, the kind that mix luxury travel with sudden danger. Micklem is a wealthy American who has settled in London, and that money gives him access to people, parties, and places that most protagonists only see from the outside.

He is not a trained spy, but he has enough nerve, and enough curiosity, to get pulled into situations smarter people would avoid. Chase likes to put Micklem in beautiful surroundings, then mess up the view with extortion, kidnapping, and people who treat violence as normal business.

His money opens doors, and also makes him a target.

In Mission to Venice and Mission to Siena, Micklem finds himself up against a network that operates in the shadows, including an extortionist known as the Tortoise. The setup is classic Chase: a problem arrives that looks contained, and then it grows. What begins as an unpleasant demand or a strange meeting spreads into a wider scheme where the rules keep changing. Micklem's secretary, Marian Rigby, often ends up close enough to the danger that the stakes are not just financial.

Micklem's edge is that he can blend in when he needs to, and he can throw money at a practical problem without stopping to negotiate. But he is also stubborn. Once he decides someone is being used, or someone is being hurt for profit, he keeps pushing, even if it means walking into a trap on purpose. That mix, privilege and persistence, is what makes the series fun.

These books read more like international capers than police procedurals. The villains are often polished and patient, the kind who can smile in public and order a beating in private. Micklem has to work out who is really in charge, and who is just a front. Expect disguises, secret handoffs, and the constant sense that someone is watching from the next table. Chase keeps the prose quick, and he uses the cities as pressure cookers, narrow streets, tourist crowds, and elegant rooms where nobody can say what they really mean.

There are only a couple of novels, so the best approach is simple: read them in order and enjoy how the same kind of threat mutates in a new setting. If you like Chase when he is in travel-and-intrigue mode, with a protagonist who can pay for the suite but cannot buy safety, Don Micklem is a great place to spend two fast books.