Simon Riske Books in Order

The Simon Riske series is Reich’s answer to the suave, modern spy story. Simon Riske is not a government agent by job title. He calls himself a freelance industrial spy, taking on quiet assignments for banks, insurance companies, and intelligence services that need someone who can move outside official channels.

When the series opens in The Take, Riske lives above his auto garage in London and tries to keep a low profile. He restores rare cars, knows how to handle himself in a fight, and has a gift for slipping in and out of exclusive places without leaving a trace. That reserve vanishes when a brazen street robbery in Paris nets a secret letter that could upend the balance of power, and an old enemy named Tino Coluzzi resurfaces. The job forces Riske back into a criminal past he would rather forget.

Later novels reveal more of that past. In Crown Jewel, a string of high end car thefts, casino scams, and a prince’s kidnapping drag him back to Monte Carlo, where he once ran armored car heists along the coast. Riske knows the baccarat tables, back rooms, and harbors of the Riviera as well as any thief or cop, which makes him the ideal person to connect crimes that look unrelated on the surface.

The Palace pushes him even further from home. An old friend, Rafael de Bourbon, is arrested at his luxury hotel in Thailand on charges that do not make sense. Trying to clear Rafa, Riske becomes a fugitive in Bangkok, chased by local authorities and faceless power brokers who have no problem arranging a body or two. The investigation stretches from Southeast Asia to Europe and brushes up against secrets from Riske’s own history.

In Once a Thief, a celebratory car sale in Napa Valley collapses when a Russian bodyguard claims the rare Ferrari Riske has restored is a fake. What starts as a dispute over authenticity turns into something far bigger, pulling him across Europe in search of the mysterious investor behind the deal. It is a typical Riske problem, mixing fine machinery, wealthy clients, and people willing to kill over both.

Throughout the series the tone stays quick and stylish. Riske moves through casinos, private villas, garages, and embassies, dealing with gangsters and aristocrats in the same calm way. The plots combine the mechanics of a heist novel with the stakes of a spy thriller, and there is always the sense that Riske is improvising his way out of trouble one risky move at a time.

Readers who enjoy charismatic leads, vivid international settings, and capers that grow into geopolitical crises will find plenty to like in these books. They are designed to work as standalones, but taken together they trace the journey of a thief trying to live as something better while the world keeps dragging him back into danger.