Secrets of the Dragon Tomb Books in Order

Secrets of the Dragon Tomb is a middle-grade adventure series set on an alternate Regency Mars. It is 1816, Britain has a presence on the red planet, and everyday life includes formal calls, garden parties, automatic servants, pterodactyls, and strange clockwork machines.

The setting is never just background. Mars is big, beautiful, and dangerous, with remote deserts, old ruins, unfamiliar animals, and technology left behind by an ancient civilization. The dragon tombs in the north may hold incredible machines, but they also attract the wrong sort of people.

Edward Sullivan is twelve and dreams of becoming a spy like the heroes in his favorite magazine, Thrilling Martian Tales. At home, he spends much of his time trying to prevent his eccentric family from creating fresh disasters. When a real crisis arrives, he has to discover whether his ideas about spying are any help at all.

Secrets of the Dragon Tomb sends Edward across the Martian wilderness after the archaeologist Sir Titus Dane kidnaps his parents in pursuit of an undiscovered tomb. Edward is joined by his brilliant younger sister Putty, his proper older sister Olivia, and their secretive cousin Freddie. Their rescue mission brings them up against hired thugs, hungry creatures, and machines designed for hunting.

The sequel, The Emperor of Mars, finds Edward facing a new mystery after a thief escapes from Lady Harleston's house. A missing Martian, a French spy, and a threat to the whole planet pull him into another tangle of secrets. Putty has problems of her own, including a battle of wills with a new governess.

These books have the pace of old-fashioned adventure stories, but the family dynamics keep them warm and funny. Edward wants competence and calm, while his relatives are clever, unpredictable, and often impossible to manage. The action includes monsters, mysteries, chases, and gadgets, yet the ongoing heart of the series is a boy learning to trust his own judgment while protecting the people he loves.

Start with Secrets of the Dragon Tomb. The second book builds on Edward's family, their world, and the consequences of the first adventure.