Montglane Service Books in Order

The Montglane Service is Katherine Neville's chess-and-history saga, built around a legendary jeweled chess set once owned by Charlemagne. Hidden for centuries and then scattered when revolution and war close in, the set is rumored to carry enormous power when its pieces are brought together. That promise of power is what keeps rulers, spies, scholars, and adventurers moving across the board.

In The Eight, the story jumps between 1790s France and the 1970s. Young novices Mireille and Valentine are pulled into the task of protecting the set as the French Revolution tears through convent life. Two centuries later, computer expert Catherine Velis, usually called Cat, heads to Algeria and finds herself caught in a hunt involving missing pieces, coded clues, and people who want the whole set badly enough to kill for it.

Chess matters here, but you do not need to be a chess player to enjoy the books.

What carries the series is the idea that history itself can be read like a game. Alliances shift, hidden rules surface, and each move in one century echoes in another. Neville likes large casts, real historical figures, and clues tucked into art, mathematics, language, music, and old legends, so the books feel like part treasure hunt, part conspiracy thriller, and part historical adventure.

The Fire picks up about thirty years after the end of The Eight. Cat's daughter, Alexandra Solarin, comes home to Colorado for a family gathering and finds her mother missing just as a powerful chess piece resurfaces. The modern search sends her from the Rockies to Russia and Washington, while the historical thread follows Haidee, the daughter of Ali Pasha, on a dangerous mission in 1822 that opens up more of the set's backstory.

It is also a family saga, with secrets and loyalties passed from one generation to the next.

Across both books, expect globe-trotting settings, brainy puzzles, high stakes, and a slightly baroque sense of danger. These are not cozy mysteries or lean procedural thrillers. They are big, busy adventure novels that ask you to enjoy the ride, trust the pattern, and watch how the pieces line up. The best way in is to start with The Eight and then move to The Fire.