🎯 Where Should I Start?
ⓘ About Bill James
Bill James is an American author whose full name is George William James. He has also written under the pen name of David Craig. He has appeared on television speaking about baseball many times and has even been featured on The Simpsons. James was born on October 5, 1949 in Kansas. In addition to being a writer of mystery novels, he has also written on baseball and worked as a historian and a statistician. He has composed over two dozen novels about baseball’s history as well as baseball stats since the seventies. He calls his approach sabermetric. The theory studies baseball and scientifically analyzes the sport, using statistical data in order to try and figure out why some teams end up winning while others end up losing.
All Book Series by Bill James
Up From the Grave
Series opener · book 1 of 20 · published 1971 Pen name · David Craig
Whose Little Girl Are You? / The Squeeze
Book 4 of 20 · published 1974 Pen name · David Craig
Honourable Estates
Series opener · book 1 of 2 · published 1966 Pen name · James Tucker
The Novels of Anthony Powell
Latest in the series · book 2 of 2 · published 1976 Pen name · James Tucker
Second Sights: From Wrinkled Writers
Series opener · book 1 of 2 · published 2014
? Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Bill James?
Bill James is an American author whose full name is George William James. He has also written under the pen name of David Craig. He has appeared on television speaking about baseball many times and has even been featured on The Simpsons.
Which Bill James series should I start with?
The best place to start is the Roy Rickman series, the earliest of Bill James's multi-book series: it opens with The Alias Man (1968) and runs to 3 books across 1968–1970, ending with Contact Lost (1970). Bill James's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.
How many books has Bill James written?
Bill James has 75 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1966 and 2022. 51 of them belong to 7 named series — the largest being the Harpur & Iles series with 37 books — and 24 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.
In what order should Bill James's series be read?
Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Bill James's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Roy Rickman (1968–1970, 3 books), Bellecroix and Roath (1970–1971, 2 books) and Harpur & Iles (1985–2022, 37 books), plus 4 more.
How are Bill James's books organised into series?
This guide splits Bill James's 75 books into 7 named series and 24 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Harpur & Iles (37 books, 1985–2022); Roy Rickman (3 books, 1968–1970); Brade and Jenkins (3 books, 1998–2000); Bellecroix and Roath (2 books, 1970–1971); Kerry Lake (2 books, 1998–1999), plus 2 further series.