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The King's Watch Books in Order

Part ofMark Hayden Books in Order

See The King's Watch books by Mark Hayden in order, with short summaries, series background, and simple guidance on the best place to start.

Last updated: July 13, 2026

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The King's Watch books in publication order

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14 books

1

The 13th Witch

by Mark Hayden

2018

Former RAF pilot Conrad Clarke gets a text from Odin and a job offer from the King's Watch. To earn his place in England's hidden magical police, he must find a missing witch and survive a world where wit matters more than power.

2

The Eleventh Hour

by Mark Hayden

2018

Conrad and Vicky head to the Lake District hoping for a breather, then a murder drags them into the feuds of the Lakeland Particular. Their target is a mage who kills at distance and will keep doing it until someone stops them.

3

The Twelve Dragons of Albion

by Mark Hayden

2018

Conrad is finally in the Watch, but his first real mission is messy. With powerful mage Vicky Robson beside him, he must investigate rumours of a dragon's egg and pass his Invisible College test before both problems explode.

4

Eight Kings

by Mark Hayden

2019

The death of the Mage-King of Wessex turns a tense conference into a fight for power between rival magical factions. Conrad, Mina, and Saffron are sent to keep the peace, then murder and old loyalties put that hope in real danger.

5

Nine of Wands

by Mark Hayden

2019

Conrad's quiet break in Spain with Mina ends when a tarot reading points toward trouble and alchemical gold. Soon he is chasing a deadly prize while adapting to new allies, including junior mage Saffron Hawkins and Scout the collie.

6

Tenfold

by Mark Hayden

2019

A deadly explosion at a medal ceremony throws the Watch into crisis. To understand the dark magick spreading across England, Conrad must summon his long-dead ancestor Thomas Clarke and face the legacy buried under his own name.

7

Six Furlongs

by Mark Hayden

2020

A Samhain party, a political contest, and a body hanging from a tree all point to the same brewing feud. Conrad rides into Lakeland to stop rival mages from tipping the region into open war.

8

The Seventh Star

by Mark Hayden

2020

At Mina's glitzy Bollywood party, a fae princess drops a problem in Conrad's lap. Something in Lancashire is attacking the fae, and Conrad must investigate with yet another new partner before a local crisis grows much worse.

9

Five Leaf Clover

by Mark Hayden

2021

Recovering from injury, Conrad heads toward Cornwall and then Ireland after fresh news about the missing Codex Defanatus. Out of his jurisdiction and short on allies, he must face two fae queens and the stain on his family history.

10

Four Roads Cross

by Mark Hayden

2021

Unemployed again, Conrad is talked into becoming Lakeland's new Commissioner. What looks like an administrative clean-up turns into a stand-off between powerful factions, and he must prevent the fells from sliding into full magical war.

11

Third Eye: The Sound of Peace

by Mark Hayden

2023

With peace in Lakeland and his wedding approaching, Conrad hopes life may finally calm down. Instead, political change inside the Watch and a strange plea from Beckthorpe Abbey pull him toward one more crisis before he can even reach the church.

12

Three Ring Circus

by Mark Hayden

2024

Alicia, a young fae squire in Princess Faith's service, gets a crash course in survival and court politics during Conrad and Mina's wedding festivities. Her story reveals the fae world from the inside while filling in what really happened around the big event.

13
New

Second Nature Part One

by Mark Hayden

2026

The wedding is over, and Conrad goes back to work with too many problems at once. A secretive organisation called the Akademia, a mystery figure named Homer, and trouble among his mannwolves open a dangerous new chapter.

14
New

Second Nature Part Two

by Mark Hayden

2026

Conrad's enemies stop circling and start moving. As battle lines form across several realms, Conrad, Saffron, Alice, Faith, and the wolves are pushed into a brutal showdown under the full moon.

The King's Watch books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "The 13th Witch"

    The 13th Witch

    by Mark Hayden

    2018The King's Watch, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "The Twelve Dragons of Albion"

    The Twelve Dragons of Albion

    by Mark Hayden

    2018The King's Watch, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "The Eleventh Hour"

    The Eleventh Hour

    by Mark Hayden

    2018The King's Watch, Book 3
  4. Book cover for "Tenfold"

    Tenfold

    by Mark Hayden

    2019The King's Watch, Book 4
  5. Book cover for "Nine of Wands"

    Nine of Wands

    by Mark Hayden

    2019The King's Watch, Book 5
  6. Book cover for "Eight Kings"

    Eight Kings

    by Mark Hayden

    2019The King's Watch, Book 6
  7. Book cover for "The Seventh Star"

    The Seventh Star

    by Mark Hayden

    2020The King's Watch, Book 7
  8. Book cover for "Six Furlongs"

    Six Furlongs

    by Mark Hayden

    2020The King's Watch, Book 8
  9. Book cover for "Five Leaf Clover"

    Five Leaf Clover

    by Mark Hayden

    2021The King's Watch, Book 9
  10. Book cover for "Four Roads Cross"

    Four Roads Cross

    by Mark Hayden

    2021The King's Watch, Book 10
  11. Book cover for "Third Eye: The Sound of Peace"

    Third Eye: The Sound of Peace

    by Mark Hayden

    2023The King's Watch, Book 11
  12. Book cover for "Three Ring Circus"

    Three Ring Circus

    by Mark Hayden

    2024The King's Watch, Book 12
  13. Book cover for "Second Nature Part One"

    Second Nature Part One

    by Mark Hayden

    2026The King's Watch, Book 13
  14. Book cover for "Second Nature Part Two"

    Second Nature Part Two

    by Mark Hayden

    2026The King's Watch, Book 14

Series background & context

The King's Watch is Mark Hayden's main urban fantasy series, and it begins by dropping a very ordinary man into a very strange job. Conrad Clarke is a former RAF pilot with a rough edge, a suspicious past, and not much patience for nonsense. Then Odin takes an interest in him, and suddenly Conrad is being pushed toward the hidden institutions that police magick in Britain.

That is the basic engine of the series. Conrad joins the King's Watch, whose job is to keep the King's Peace in a country where witches, mages, fae, dragons, and older things all exist just out of sight. The setup gives Hayden room to tell mysteries, chase stories, political struggles, and battles over old secrets, all while keeping one foot planted in modern daily life.

Conrad is not the usual all-powerful fantasy lead. One of the jokes, and one of the strengths of the series, is that he often has very little raw magick to work with. He gets by through nerve, stubbornness, humour, and a willingness to cheat when the odds are bad. That makes him a good guide to the world. He has to learn it the hard way, and so do we.

He also does not stay alone for long. Early books pair him with Vicky Robson, a much stronger mage and one of the series' most important voices. Mina Desai becomes central in a different way, and later books widen the circle with characters like Saffron Hawkins, Scout the border collie, Róisín Sterling, and a rotating mix of allies, rivals, and local powers. The appeal is not just the cases. It is the team taking shape around them.

Most books have a clear problem at the centre, a missing witch, a dragon's egg, a killer using dark magick from a distance, a feud in Lakeland, a struggle over a throne, or a threat buried in Conrad's own family history. Those stories usually resolve in satisfying ways, but the larger series keeps moving. Old crimes echo forward. Political tensions linger. New responsibilities pile up. The world gets bigger, but it still feels like a place where people have shifts to work and paperwork to dodge.

That grounded feeling matters. Hayden uses real British landscapes and habits to keep the series from floating off into abstraction. Pubs, roads, offices, weather, local loyalties, and awkward social occasions all sit beside spells and ancient powers. The result is a sequence that feels part fantasy adventure, part crime series, and part long-running story about a very unlikely public servant. If you want the core King's Watch experience, this is where to begin.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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