Philip Gwynne Jones Books In Order

Publication Order of The Nathan Sutherland Books

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Philip Gwynne Jones is a renowned author of mystery, suspense, and thriller novels hailing from Wales. He is particularly famous for writing The Venice series. Philip has also written a nonfiction book, which is also set in Venice, just like all his fiction novels. Philip moved to Venice, Italy in 1994 and has since lived and worked there. His relocation to Venice was for a job in Frascati for a space agency, but he realized that it was quite less exciting and interesting than he had hoped. Nevertheless, Philip spent around 20 years working in the IT industry. When he realized that the field did not suit him, he decided to go for a change. Now, he works as a translator, teacher, and writer. Philip is happily married and lives with his wife named Caroline in Venice. Being labeled as the most successful new popular novelist of Wales feels quite exciting to him.

Other than writing mystery novels, Philip enjoys classical music, opera, cooking, and art. Occasionally, he can be found singing bass with the Ensemble Vocale di Venezia and Cantori Veneziani. Philip was born in 1966 in South Wales. He has lived in multiple countries like Germany, Scotland, Italy, and Holland. Philip made his debut in the field of novel writing in 2013 with the novel called The Venice Project. After only a few months of its release, the book reached the number one spot on Amazon’s section of Italian Travel novels. An updated version of the book, titled To Venice With Love, was selected as the nonfiction book of the month by Reader’s Digest in April 2019.

Philip began his widely popular Venice series in 2017 with its debut novel called The Venetian Game. It went on to feature in the Top 5 bestseller by Times. This novel also introduced the lead protagonist named Nathan Sutherland, who features in all the other books of the series as well. The series is also known as the Nathan Sutherland series based on the name of its chief protagonist. This series takes place mostly in contemporary Venice. Its novels have been translated into German and Italian along with several other foreign languages. Philip has described Nathan Sutherland as a translator of Italian DIY manuals, who also works as an investigator on the side. His indulgence in detective work makes him get involved in the investigation of murder mysteries, which he succeeds in unraveling in the end with the help of his never-say-die attitude, his skills, his determination, and his excellent detection abilities.

Author Philip is represented at the Little, Brown publishing company by a trustworthy literary agent. He is an active member of the CWA, the Society of Authors, and Crime Cymru, a crime-writing collective of Wales. Philip says that his first trip to Venice mesmerized him completely and made him fall in love with the place. He was completely absorbed by the serene beauty of the city. The early morning sunshine feels magical and beautiful to Philip even today. He loves taking boat rides to work a lot. It helps him to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the city by the sides of the river. Philip is a hardcore fan of the Feta di Liberazione festival as it organizes talks by activists, journalists, and politicians in the evening followed by snacks, drinks, and bands. He likes to jump around in the festival and by quirky merchandise at comradely prices at the festival. Philip also likes to interact with his fans and answer their queries. Usually, he likes to take questions on his personal website, where he also posts updates regarding the latest happenings in his writing career and release dates of his upcoming books.

The Venice series written by author Philip Gwynne Jones began in 2017. Each book of this series features the central character in the form of Nathan Sutherland. He is depicted as the translator of Italian manuals and works from his office located on the Street of Assassins. Nathan Sutherland seems completely satisfied with his unexciting and steady life. But, things begin to change when he is offered a huge sum to look for a package that contains a valuable and antique prayer book. By agreeing to do this task, Nathan unknowingly lands himself in the deadly business of art theft played by twin brother Arcangelo and Domenico. What follows next is how Nathan manages to out of this complex game and start living his usual life. An interesting book of this series is entitled ‘Vengeance in Venice’. It was released in 2018 by the Constable publication. This book opens by depicting that Nathan Sutherland gets an invitation to attend an exclusive event at the time of the Venetian Biennale. He looks forward to this event as it would give him the chance to come across some of the great names from the world of art and drink Prosecco during the day.

The event takes a drastic turn when a popular critic gets decapitated by an installation set in the British Pavilion. This accident is considered to a terrible, unfortunate incident until the postcard is found in the pocket of the victim carrying the image of Holofernes getting beheaded by Judith. Later, it turns out that this was not a one-off incident. Three more deaths take place in a similar fashion and each victim is discovered with a postcard in their pocket. As the number of victims continues to be on the rise, Nathan Sutherland investigates the matter on his own and seems to be getting closer to revealing the truth. But, when he receives a picture of Death with a scythe in its hand, Nathan realizes that the killer has set him as his next target. He races against the clock to save his life and in the process, finds success in catching the culprit.

Another popular book of this mystery series is known as ‘The Venetian Masquerade’. It was also published by the Constable publication in 2019. Initially, it is mentioned that the streets and waterways of Venice get filled with masked revelers due to the Carnevale festival and Nathan Sutherland begins to get the feeling that his upcoming birthday might get ruined. As Nathan is about the cherish the memorable experience of a night at La Fenice opera, his dream gets shattered when the curtain call gets interrupted by a murder. Nathan takes a personal interest in this case because the victim was carrying his business card, but he was a complete stranger to him. The attempt to solve the mystery makes Nathan go for the search of a lost manuscript. The hunt turns dangerous when ruthless criminals also show interest in the search. When another dead body is discovered, Nathan Sutherland senses that he must hurry and solve the case before his own life falls into danger.

One Response to “Philip Gwynne Jones”

1. John Morrissey: 3 years ago

   Mr Jones

   Like you I love walking around Venice and art and history. And I enjoy reading crime novels. I was just getting into ‘The Venetian Game’ when I felt slightly queasy reading the cigar eulogy.

   Then the plug for cigarettes. The old ‘Good Friend’ cajoling an ex-smoker to have one as a pseudo confirmation of high emotion punt. ‘It’ll do you good’. At this point I usually stop reading the book or watching the film. Unfortunately I’ve already bought the next four Nathan Sutherlands. Tobacco companies used to pay for these: maybe they still do.

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