Stephen Bentley Books In Order

Publication Order of Detective Matt Deal Books

Publication Order of Steve Regan Undercover Cop Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Stephen Bentley is a crime fiction author from the UK who is best known for the “Steve Regan” and “Detective Matt Deal” series of novels. Bentley was born in Accrington, Lancashire but grew in Huyton Liverpool. He then went to Merseyside’s Prescot Grammar School and graduated after seventeen years. Stephen then went on to work as a law enforcement officer and even worked undercover for several years in Hampshire and Lancashire before he retired as Detective Sergeant. At fifty years old, he went back to school and studied to become a barrister at the Inns Court School of Law in London. He would then practice criminal law defending anyone from murderers and burglars, drug dealers, and people charged with illegal possession of firearms among many other crimes. In the 1980s and early 90s, he worked several jobs such as Thames Water plant machinery operator, sales manager, hospital porter, London motorcycle courier, and big truck driver. Bentley is now a “Huffington Post” blogger, writer, and author with several fiction and non-fiction works under his belt. He wrote his first work “Undercover: Operation Julie” in 2017 and this paved the way for his fiction novels the first of which was “Who The F*ck Am I?,” the first of the “Steve Regan” series of novels. He also contributes to several anthologies on murder mysteries.

Much of Stephen Bentley’s work has been influenced by his time working as a law enforcement officer and later as a barrister in London. It was his 2016 published memoir “Undercover: Operation Julie” that gave him his first break. It is a fascinating and frank insight into his detective experiences undercover where he worked on the real-life case of “Operation Julie.” He was part of a team of detectives that were going after some of the largest drug rings in the world. The memoir quickly became a bestseller on Amazon UK and Amazon US and is set to be made into a feature film. After publishing his memoir, Bentley went on to write short stories including “The Rose Slayer” which was the 2018 winner of the SIA murder mystery competition. The story has now been published in “Death Among Us,” a multi-author anthology that focuses on short stories in the murder mystery genre. The authenticity in his work comes from drawing from his law enforcement background, which gave him direct and unhindered access to the inner workings of crime and criminals.

As to how he came to love writing fiction, Stephen has asserted that he always loved reading right from the time he was introduced to Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels” as a child. He was then only eight years old and was fascinated by the story. He would then move on to the classic works of Charles Dickens and continued reading over the years. After retiring from the police service, he thought of writing a memoir but since he was involved in so many other things, he kept putting it off until he retired from legal practice. Once he was in retirement, he had space and time to write the memoir and everything fell into place. Stephen Bentley currently lives in the Philippines and loves to spend his time on the beach with a cold beer. He is also a huge fan of the Liverpool football club and likes to follow the club over the weekends when he is not writing his novels.

Stephen Bentley’s “Who The F*ck Am I?” introduces Steve Regan, an undercover detective from the UK. At the opening of the novel, he is tempted by the many riches to be had from drug smuggling, which he believes could be useful in helping a loved one. He is wondering if he should cross the line and go rogue for a while or if it could be too much for him. He has infiltrated a South American cartel led by a drug cartel who has connections with the Mob in Miami. They are now involved in a million-dollar cocaine smuggling operation and Regan’s life is in the most danger it has ever been as a detective working undercover. When he returns to the UK from Miami, he unearths a plot to kill one of the nation’s foremost barristers and wonders if this could be linked to the drug cartel or the Mob. He is in a race against time to protect the barrister from certain death, even as he has to keep himself alive while confronting even more questions. How far are the cartel and the Mob willing to go to protect their interests? It seems they will do pretty much anything to ensure they do not have to pay for their crimes. The novel is inspired by Stephen Bentley’s bestselling memoir and his undercover days and is a true story retold as a fiction work. It is a nod to the confusion that most police detectives, even the most experienced have to deal with while working undercover.

“Dilemma” by Stephen Bentley is a fast-paced and entertaining thriller full of emotion that makes for a roller coaster of a ride. As an undercover agent, Regan is wanted by everyone from the Thai Mafia, Sicilian Mafia, and even the CIA that all want him dead. This time he is working undercover and all alone in a seedy neighborhood of Thailand, where he hopes to apprehend the biggest drug smuggler in the region. The kingpin is a man named Les Watkins, an expatriate from Texas. He uses himself as bait and organizes a drug deal worth $50,000 with the local mafia, believing it would get him closer to his man. He soon finds himself dragged deeper into the deal and he soon thinks that his target may have links to Carlo Vitale, a ruthless Mafia boss that had been his nemesis for years. Vitale had fled the US after assassinating three crime family heads and masterminding three successful bombings. He needs to keep himself alive while dealing with the worst dilemma most undercover detectives have to deal with. It is a suspenseful and edgy tale with turns and twists and a sprinkle of romance.

For persons living on the edge, there is only one thing worse than being a confidential informant, working as an undercover detective. In “Rivers of Blood” by Stephen Bentley, Steve Regan is working for a British intelligence agency as an undercover agent. He was promised that he was going on his last assignment, working under the Australian federal agencies while working as a hitman hired to take out a popular liberal politician in Australia. The murder scheme he is investigating leads to the unearthing of a far-reaching and frightening white supremacist plot to take down the United Kingdom’s government. He now needs to work undercover in the CID depart of the London police to find evidence against the coup plotters. Regan’s infiltration of the group is one of the most audacious and dangerous he has ever had to undertake. Who will die and who will survive?