Edward Cline Books In Order

Publication Order of Chess Hanrahan Books

Publication Order of Cyrus Skeen Detective Books

Publication Order of Merritt Fury Books

Publication Order of Sparrowhawk Books

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of The War of Ideas Books

Edward Cline
Edward Cline is an American essayist and novelist. He was born October 22, 1946 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After graduating from high school (where he learned nothing of value) and a stint in the Air Force, he pursued an ambition to become a novelist.

Edward is also known for his writings on aesthetics, his defenses of free speech and capitalism, and his criticisms of contemporary political trends and of Islam (as well as religion in general). He has written about censorship issues and freedom of speech for Information Science, The Encyclopedia of Library, and The Journal of Information Ethics. He’s written feature and cover stories, and book reviews for The Colonial Williamsburg Journal, Marine Corps League Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and The Intellectual Activist.

Edward’s article on John Locke (English political philosopher) was carried in two editions of Western Civilization. He started writing the Rule of Reason blog for the Center for the Advancement of Capitalism in 2003. Cline has also written a “counter-jihad handbook” about Islam. His columns have appeared on Family Security Matters, Capitalism Magazine, as well as other blog sites.

As an author, his strongest influence has been Ayn Rand, philosopher-novelist. He is dedicated to Objectivism, or Ayn’s philosophy of reason in all matters.

“Whisper the Guns” is the first novel in the “Merritt Fury” series and was released in 1992. When Merritt Fury, this fiercely independent American entrepreneur, goes back to Hong Kong on business, little does he know that he’s become enmeshed in this conspiracy to confiscate his own investment and render the Crown colony a dependency on the Mainland dictatorship up to the north. Even though he suspects foul play by some of his business partners in Bluelist Tungsten Trading, he also discovers that he’s the object of scrutiny by some underground group that combats the conspiracy.

He meets Amber Lee, a Eurasian beauty and government economist, and is a pistol packing spy. While Fury continues to fight for his life and pieces together this paradoxical conflict, he grasps that he’s the linchpin of the schemes of plotters and conspirators alike, and that it’s precisely his independence which is the key factor in their plans.

“Caxton” is the third novel in the “Sparrowhawk” series and was released in 2001. Jack Frake, who is now a successful planter, meets Hugh Kenrick (a newcomer) who’s just bought a bankrupt plantation as an expression of his own independence. They become neighboring planters and buddies in Caxton, a town located on the York River not too far from Williamsburg, the capital of the colony of Virginia.

They also become rivals for Etain’s McRae’s hand, she being a British merchant’s daughter in town. Jack is respected by the town’s merchants and planters, while Hugh, who is the scion of British aristocracy, is more of a mystery to the town’s population and to Francis Fauquier, the town’s lieutenant-governor.

“The Head of Athena” is the second novel in the “Cyrus Skeen” series and was released in 2011. Cyrus Skeen has been hired by Edgar Freund (Enoch Paige’s defense attorney) to find some evidence to exonerate his notorious lecturer client of the savage murder of his ex-wife. Skeen quickly finds he’s at odds with Freund, as well as with Detective Sergeant Robert Hoile of the San Francisco, who’s determined to send Paige to the electric chair, and with Reverend Oswald Hoxley, the pastor of the popular church.

More murders are committed. The case takes Skeen from the depths of the underworld all the way to the top of San Francisco’s wealthy society in the bizarre maze of blind alleys and clues.

“The Daedalus Conspiracy” is the third novel in the “Cyrus Skeen” series and was released in 2011. Returning to San Francisco after this event-chocked sojourn at the Daedalus Grove encampment of the Daedalus Society, which is an elite, exclusive, and men-only club, in a redwood forest north of the city, Cyrus pursues the mystery of Chase Marley, a would be hitman of a US senator from Nebraska, named Brand Olcutt.

Skeen got sent there as a guest of Charles Gilchrest, chairman of the Society, in order to detect and foil what at first was believed to be a prank played by one of the club members, and stops this assassination attempt. Skeen’s not totally satisfied that the plot was Marley’s own. He follows the little clues that he was able to gather up at the Grove: code names, cryptic notes, and the reputation and mystique of the Society. And before long he uncovers this plot which reaches down to the lowest levels of San Francisco’s criminal society, implicating a congressman for the city and one city supervisor.

The Bureau of Investigation quickly enters the picture, and Skeen races against time to solve the mystery before the case can get taken over by Federal authorities. This is the conclusion of the novel, which is Cyrus’s most demanding and ambitious case, with social and political parallels in today’s culture.

“The Chameleon” is the fourth novel in the “Cyrus Skeen” series and was released in 2012. November of 1929. The stock market has just crashed. The Roaring Twenties will soon end. However Cyrus Skeen, private detective, is not all that concerned. He never bought on margin or gambled on “sure things” in order to make a fast buck; his wealth is secure. However so many businessmen and investors went and made that mistake and have been bankrupted.

Ruined, and some have even committed suicide. However not all of them jumped out of their office windows in order to end it all. Lucian Maxey (president of Maxey Motors in San Francisco), appears to have committed suicide by putting a gun to his head. The cops and medical examiner have written this death off as another suicide.

Eugene Maxey, Lucian’s son, and a professor at Stanford University, has hired Skeen to prove that his dad was actually murdered. However Skeen then learns that the man that hired him is an imposter, not the real Eugene Maxey. Skeen’s drawn into a bizarre conspiracy which leads to a twisting trail of half-truths, lies, England, and an organization with ties to the burgeoning Nazi Party in Germany.