🎯 Where Should I Start?
ⓘ About Michael Ridpath
Michael Ridpath is an English author of financial and crime thrillers. He was born in Devon in 1961, and grew up in Yorkshire. He attended Mill field School in Somerset, and the Merton College, oxford, where he studied History. He graduated with a First-class honors degree in modern history and joined the Saudi International Bank in London, where he worked for eight years. At the bank he worked as a credit analyst, and later as bond trader and managed one of the junk bond portfolios in Europe. He joined Apax Partners, a venture Capital firm in 1991. He is currently the Treasurer of the Royal Literary Fund and is the former Vice Chair of the Crime Writers Association. He is married to Barbara, an America, and has three children. He lives in Hampstead, London.
All Book Series by Michael Ridpath
Scorpion
Series opener · book 1 of 5 · published 2017 Anthology · Mark Dawson,Steve Cavanagh
Wormwood
Latest in the series · book 5 of 5 · published 2022 Anthology · Mark Dawson
Writing in Ice: A Crime Writer's Guide to Iceland
Single-title series · published 2021
Playing Dead: Short Stories by Members of the Detection Club
Latest in the series · book 4 of 4 · published 2025
? Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Michael Ridpath?
Michael Ridpath is an English author of financial and crime thrillers. He was born in Devon in 1961, and grew up in Yorkshire. He attended Mill field School in Somerset, and the Merton College, oxford, where he studied History.
Which Michael Ridpath series should I start with?
The best place to start is the Power and Money series, the earliest of Michael Ridpath's multi-book series: it opens with Free to Trade (1995) and runs to 6 books across 1995–2003, ending with Fatal Error (2003). Michael Ridpath's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.
How many books has Michael Ridpath written?
Michael Ridpath has 38 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1994 and 2027. 27 of them belong to 6 named series — the largest being the Fire and Ice / Magnus Iceland series with 9 books — and 11 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.
In what order should Michael Ridpath's series be read?
Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Michael Ridpath's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Power and Money (1995–2003, 6 books), Alex Calder (2005–2006, 2 books) and Fire and Ice / Magnus Iceland (2009–2024, 9 books), plus 3 more.
How are Michael Ridpath's books organised into series?
This guide splits Michael Ridpath's 38 books into 6 named series and 11 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Fire and Ice / Magnus Iceland (9 books, 2009–2024); Power and Money (6 books, 1995–2003); Group Fifteen Files (5 books, 2017–2022); Foreign Correspondent (3 books, 2026–2027); Alex Calder (2 books, 2005–2006), plus 1 further series.