S. G. MacLean Books in Order (Alexander Seaton, Damian Seeker)

Shona G. MacLean, a Scottish author and a graduate of the University of Aberdeen with a degree in History, has made a name for herself in the realm of historical mysteries. Her literary journey began in 2008 with the publication of her debut novel, “The Redemption of Alexander Seaton.” This book marked the inception of the Alexander Seaton Series, a compelling mystery series reminiscent of characters like Shardlake or Cadfael.

In addition to her work with Alexander Seaton, MacLean also pens “The Damian Seeker Series,” which unfolds against the backdrop of 1650s London and features a detective navigating the intrigues of that era.

How to read S. G. MacLean’s Books in Order?

Reading The Alexander Seaton Series in Order

1. The Redemption of Alexander Seaton (2008) – Scotland’s Banff in the 1620s. A young man stumbles across the streets. Is he merely intoxicated, or is something more sinister going on? When he collapses in front of two sisters on that dark, rainy night, the ladies suspect poisoning. His body is discovered at the home of Alexander Seaton, a disgraced minister whose secret love affair has been revealed. Seaton sets out to discover answers, starting on a journey not just into the depths of other men’s souls, but also into his own.
2. A Game of Sorrows (2010) – The year is 1628, and Charles I is on the throne, and the British Crown is finally gaining control of Ulster. When Alexander Seaton returns to his quarters one night, he is surprised to see a stranger standing there – a guy who may be his duplicate. Sean O’Neill is carrying a message from Maeve O’Neill, the formidable matriarch of Alexander’s mother’s family in Ireland. All people who bear their blood have been cursed by a poet’s curse and will perish one by one. Only Alexander is immune, his O’Neill ancestry unknown to anyone save his closest kin. Alexander journeys to Ulster, where he discovers a family split by secrets and fierce resentments.
3. Crucible of Secrets (2011) – 1631, Aberdeen. Robert Sim, a university librarian, accepts a gift of books newly received from abroad, enigmatic volumes on alchemy and hermetics – the study of ancient wisdom. He was mercilessly slain by midnight. Alexander Seaton, his coworker and dear friend, is tasked with tracking out clues to his killer’s motive as well as retrieving the missing volumes. What did Sim discover in the shipment, and what is so hazardous about these books?
4. The Devil’s Recruit (2013) – 1635, Aberdeen. In a freezing garden, a girl is found dead. After a drunken argument, a young guy goes missing, and a scary hooded creature lurks in the shadows. Alexander Seaton’s students include the lost student, the son of a Highland chief. When the young man’s partner is found battered and bleeding, suspicion falls on him that he has murdered his pal. Alexander, on the other hand, is persuaded that there is another reason.

Reading The Damian Seeker Series in Order

1. The Seeker (2015) – It’s 1654 in London. Oliver Cromwell has declared himself Lord Protector and is at the pinnacle of his authority. Nonetheless, he has many adversaries both at home and abroad. Nobody knows where Damian Seeker, Lord Protector’s agent, comes from. All that is definite about him is that he is completely devoted to Cromwell and that nothing can be kept from him for long. The hero of Cromwell’s all-powerful army, John Winter, has died, and the lawyer, Elias Ellingworth, has been discovered standing over the bleeding body, gripping a knife. Despite the overwhelming evidence, Seeker remains skeptical about Ellingworth’s guilt. He will go to any length to bring the killer to justice, and Seeker knows where to look better than anyone else.
2. The Black Friar (2016) – Cromwell’s rule is under attack from all sides in London in 1655. A gang of religious extremists plots uprising in London’s east end. In the middle of all of this, a stonemason discovers a perfectly preserved body bricked up in a wall of the collapsing Black Friars, dressed in the attire of a Dominican friar. Ill-informed tales and supposition swirl, but Seeker identifies the deceased immediately. What he must find is why he died in such a heinous manner, and what his relationship was to the children who have begun to vanish around the city.
3. Destroying Angel (2018) – Captain Damian Seeker has departed for the north. He is now under the leadership of Colonel Robert Lilburne in York, and is tasked with preparing the way for the reign of the major-generals. But when Lilburne sends Seeker to a little town on the North York moors with details of the new anti-Royalist legislation, he discovers that what should be a routine visit reveals a conspiracy to equal anything in plotting London.

4. The Bear Pit (2019) – The year is 1656 in London. Captain Damian Seeker is obsessed with the gruesome finding of a man’s body in an illicit gambling house, destroyed by what appears to be a bear. When Cromwell forbade the pastime, the bears used for baiting were all shot. So, where did this terrifying monster originate from, and why would someone use it to commit murder?
5. The House of Lamentations (2020) – Summer, 1658, and the Republic looks to be safe: the united Stuart and Spanish troops have been soundly crushed by English and French soldiers on the coast of Flanders, and the King’s cause appears to be over. However, one more desperate roll of the dice is planned. And who else except Captain Damian Seeker can stop them?
6. The Winter List (2023) – The remaining vestiges of the Republic had been swept away by the summer of 1660, and the Stuarts had been reinstalled under their monarch, Charles II. A list of regicides suspected of being engaged in Charles I’s death is compiled. Brutal killings commence, and the hunt for individuals who have gone into hiding at home or abroad accelerates. Damian Seeker, a fervent Republican, is on a list of traitors to the monarch, while not being a regicide. Lady Anne Winter, a Royalist spy, is hired to locate proof of guilt or innocence among the persons on the Winter List. Seeker has departed England, but his beloved daughter Manon is still alive and well, married to Seeker’s friend, lawyer Lawrence Ingolby, and living in York.

Reading Other Novels by S. G. MacLean

• The Bookseller of Inverness (2022) – Iain MacGillivray was left for dead on Drumossie Moor after Culloden. Wounded and with his face cruelly sliced, he escaped only by claiming to be dead while Redcoats scoured the bodies of his Jacobite friends. Six years later, Iain leads a calm life in Inverness as a bookseller. One day, he catches a visitor pouring over his collection in the top gallery of his business. But the man won’t reveal what he’s looking for. The next morning, Iain enters his shop to discover the stranger dead, his throat slashed, and the murder weapon in front of him – a sword with a white cockade on its hilt, the Jacobite symbol. Iain suddenly finds himself caught up in a web of deception.

If you like this S. G. MacLean Reading Order, don’t forget to bookmark it! You may also want to check out our guide to the Matthew Corbett series, The Railway Detective, The Jackdaw Mysteries.