John A. Connell
John A. Connell has published 7 books across 2 series. The recommended reading order starts with Spoils of Victory / Haven of Vipers (2016).
John A. Connell is an American author who writes historical mystery novels set against the backdrop of postwar Europe. Before turning to fiction, he spent years in Los Angeles working as a motion picture camera operator on films including Jurassic Park and Thelma and Louise and television shows such as NYPD Blue and The Practice. That career followed a string of earlier jobs that took him from jazz piano to the floor of a printing press, with stops as a machinist, a stock boy in a brassiere factory, and a repairman of newspaper racks.
Born in Atlanta and raised across Ohio, New York, and Virginia before returning to Atlanta at thirteen, Connell earned his BA in Anthropology before eventually making his way west to film work. He made his debut as a novelist in 2015 with Ruins of War, the first book in his Mason Collins series, which earned a Barry Award nomination. He is a member of the International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and International Association of Crime Writers. Connell and his wife split their time between the United States and France.
Shelf & Shadows
Order of Mason Collins Books
- DescriptionSpoils of Victory / Haven of Vipers is a 2016 entry in the Mason Collins series, running 432 pages.Publication dateNovember 1, 2016Amazon rating4.4/5Print length432LanguageEnglishPublisherBerkley
- TagscrimemysteryDescriptionMason Collins is a former U.S. Army investigator with a price on his head. Bones of the Innocent, third in the Mason Collins series of historical crime thrillers, opens in the summer of 1946 as assassins corner him in a plaza in Marseille. A flamboyant stranger offers him a way out on one condition: Mason must travel to Tangier, Morocco to investigate the abductions of teenage girls who have vanished without a trace. The stranger seems as two-faced as Janus, but the plight of the girls is enough to make Mason agree. Tangier is a playground for the super rich, called the wickedest city in the world, and nothing in it is what it seems. As Mason digs deeper into the case, he discovers that everyone around him has a hidden agenda, and those who could help him most harbor a terrible secret. The deeper he goes, the more twisted the mystery becomes, as tangled as the streets of the medina itself. Then the assassins pick up his trail again. Now Mason must unravel who is behind the abductions and find the girls before time runs out, all while staying one step ahead of the killers who want him dead.Publication dateJune 20, 2019Amazon rating4.4/5Print length386LanguageEnglishPublisherNailhead Publishing
- TagscrimehorrormysteryDescriptionMadness in the Ruins is a historical crime thriller set in Munich during the winter of 1945, where a serial killer stalks the American zone of occupied Germany. Mason Collins, a U.S. Army investigator damaged by war and haunted by his past in a Nazi POW camp, catches the case when a mutilated body turns up in an abandoned factory. The only clue is a message scrawled above the corpse: "Those who I have made suffer will become saints and they shall lift me up from hell." This post is his last chance to work homicide, and the investigation immediately pulls him into the chaos of a ruined city gripped by panic. The bodies pile up. Evidence points to a former concentration camp doctor, and the closer Collins gets, the more his own trauma surfaces. Then the pattern shifts: the killer begins hunting him. Now Collins must decide how much he will risk — his partner, his career, his life — to stop a psychopath who has made him the target in a city where order has collapsed and every shadow hides another ruin.Publication dateJune 11, 2019Amazon rating4.5/5Print length424LanguageEnglishPublisherNailhead Publishing
- Tags---DescriptionTo Kill a Devil, part of the Mason Collins series, appeared in 2020. 299 pages.Publication dateJanuary 31, 2020Amazon rating4.6/5Print length299LanguageEnglishPublisherNailhead Publishing
- TagsthrillerDescriptionWhere the Wicked Tread is a postwar thriller set in 1947, when Mason Collins tracks a Gestapo commander down the escape route that smuggles Nazi war criminals through Italy. The man executed a little girl Mason had sworn to protect during the war, and her body in the blood-stained snow haunts him every night. Now he has a chance to settle that debt. The problem is the commander is traveling with other Nazi fugitives who are hunting a mysterious woman and her young son. Mason agrees to escort the woman and child to safety while helping smuggle a convoy of Jewish refugees south to a waiting ship in Naples. The Nazis pursue the convoy like wolves, determined to capture the woman and child, and it becomes clear the only way to stop them and reach his man is through one final confrontation. Mason is ready to make the ultimate sacrifice for retribution, for forgiveness, to exorcise the demons that will not let him rest. Maybe then he can look at the girl in his mind and find peace. Maybe he can join the woman he loves in Naples and truly open his heart. But first he has to survive the trek through Italy and the blood it will demand.Publication dateFebruary 11, 2021Amazon rating4.6/5Print length372LanguageEnglishPublisherNailhead Publishing
- TagsmysteryDescriptionFormer U.S. Army detective Mason Collins arrives in Palestine in April 1947 aboard an illegal refugee ship, a little over a year before the State of Israel will exist. The British, Jews, and Arabs are fighting for control, and bombings, armed attacks, and assassinations tear through the region daily. Mason has come to find Laura, the woman he loves, who is pregnant with his child and hiding in Jerusalem with evidence of a conspiracy that has put her life in danger. An assassin is already hunting them both. Mason decides to run with Laura, to get her out of the war zone before it is too late. Then tragedy strikes and she ends up in a hospital, her life hanging by a thread. Enraged, Mason vows to hunt down whoever is responsible and deliver his own form of justice. Upon A Bloodstained Land is a historical thriller that turns that vow into an impossible task. Mason is a stranger in a place where no one can be trusted, where every faction has reason to kill him, and where the line between ally and enemy shifts with every street he walks. The killers want him dead, and he has no way to tell who they are until they strike.Publication dateApril 9, 2022Amazon rating4.5/5Print length376LanguageEnglishPublisherNailhead Publishing
Order of Standalone Novels
- TagssuspensecrimethrillerDescriptionFrank Valentine is a jazz musician in 1958 San Francisco, and a midnight beating leaves his left hand paralyzed. Good Night, Sweet Daddy-O is a crime novel that follows Frank as joblessness and desperation push him toward a deal he never imagined: distribute heroin for a notorious gangster alongside his best friend George and three other buddies from the Beat generation. The money is supposed to be quick and easy. George has other plans, and Frank doesn't know what they are until it's too late. Inexperienced and in over his head, Frank slips deeper into a world of gangsters, junkies, and hired killers. His new girlfriend, a dark-haired woman he's falling for, is somehow connected to the syndicate closing in around him. When it becomes clear that the crime syndicate wants Frank and his friends dead, the question is whether any of them will survive the road they chose out of purgatory.Publication dateMay 16, 2020Amazon rating4.4/5Print length347LanguageEnglishPublisherNailhead Publishing
Frequently Asked Questions about John A. Connell
John A. Connell writes the Mason Collins series of novels. He also writes standalone novels. The Mason Collins series follows the character Mason Collins, a detective. The books in this series are best read in the order they were published to follow the character's development and ongoing story arcs. The first book in the series is Spoils of Victory, published in 2016. The series continued with titles such as Bones of the Innocent and To Kill a Devil. The standalone novels can be read independently of the series and each other.
A good starting point for John A. Connell's books is the first novel in the Mason Collins series, Spoils of Victory, published in 2016. This novel introduces Detective Mason Collins and the world he inhabits. Reading the series in publication order allows readers to follow the character's evolution and the unfolding narrative threads. If you prefer to start with a standalone novel, Good Night, Sweet Daddy-O offers a complete story that does not require prior knowledge of the Mason Collins series.
While some of John A. Connell's books, particularly the standalone novels, can be read independently, the Mason Collins series is designed to be read in order. The novels follow a continuous storyline and feature character development that builds over time. Reading them out of order may lead to confusion regarding plot points and character relationships. Spoils of Victory is the first book in the series and provides the foundational introduction to the main character and his world.
John A. Connell writes both series and standalone novels. The Mason Collins series features a recurring detective protagonist and follows a chronological narrative. In addition to this series, he has also published standalone novels, such as Good Night, Sweet Daddy-O, which offer complete stories independent of any series. This allows readers to choose between following a character's arc over multiple books or enjoying a self-contained narrative.
Based on the available information, John A. Connell has written at least seven books. This includes the six listed titles in the Mason Collins series (Spoils of Victory, Haven of Vipers, Bones of the Innocent, Madness in the Ruins, Ruins of War, To Kill a Devil, and Where the Wicked Tread) and one standalone novel, Good Night, Sweet Daddy-O. There may be additional titles not listed here. The Mason Collins series alone comprises multiple entries.
The first book written by John A. Connell in the Mason Collins series is Spoils of Victory, which was published in 2016. This novel introduces the main character, Detective Mason Collins, and establishes the tone and style of the series. It sets the stage for the subsequent books in the sequence. Following this, other titles like Bones of the Innocent and To Kill a Devil continued the narrative.
The most recent book listed for John A. Connell is Where the Wicked Tread, published in 2021. This title is part of the Mason Collins series. The series also includes Madness in the Ruins / Ruins of War, also published in 2019. Good Night, Sweet Daddy-O, a standalone novel, was also published in 2020. Readers interested in his latest work might start with Where the Wicked Tread.
John A. Connell primarily writes crime fiction and thrillers, with a focus on detective stories. The Mason Collins series features a detective protagonist navigating investigations and complex cases. His standalone novels also appear to fall within these genres. The narratives often involve suspenseful plots and character-driven elements typical of the crime and thriller categories. The books explore themes common to the genre.
Leif G.W. Persson
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Richard Doetsch
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We verified the reading order for John A. Connell's books by cross-referencing official publication dates, ISBN databases, and publisher catalogs.
Last verified: July 2026
Shelf & Shadows. (…). “John A. Connell Books in Order.” Retrieved …, from https://www.shelfandshadows.com/authors/john-a-connell