The Nightside / Secret Histories
#3954.01 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 24 books Status Complete 2003–2018 Reading commitment High Simon R. Green Last reviewed 2026-09-27
Overview
Simon R. Green's hidden London, catalogued as one universe. In The Nightside (12 novels, 2003-2012) it is always 3 a.m. in the city's secret heart, where private investigator John Taylor, who can find anything except his own missing mother, is drawn ever deeper into the district's politics of angels, demons, gods and rival powers. The Secret Histories (12 novels, 2007-2018) follow Eddie Drood, agent of the ancient family whose golden armour has guarded humanity from monsters for centuries. The two series share one world and end together: Night Fall (2018), the last Secret Histories novel, sends the Droods into the Nightside and against John Taylor himself.
Urban fantasy, Dark fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (24 works) counts toward ranking
The Nightside main sequence Simon R. Green
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Something from the Nightside | 2003 | 1 | core | 3.78 (25,823 ratings) |
 | Agents of Light and Darkness | 2003 | 2 | core | 4.00 (16,171 ratings) |
 | Nightingale's Lament | 2004 | 3 | core | 3.98 (12,652 ratings) |
 | Hex and the City | 2005 | 4 | core | 4.07 (12,302 ratings) |
 | Paths Not Taken | 2005 | 5 | core | 4.05 (11,265 ratings) |
 | Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth | 2006 | 6 | core | 4.11 (11,286 ratings) |
 | Hell to Pay | 2006 | 7 | core | 4.06 (9,823 ratings) |
 | The Unnatural Inquirer | 2008 | 8 | core | 4.04 (9,295 ratings) |
 | Just Another Judgement Day | 2009 | 9 | core | 4.15 (10,008 ratings) |
 | The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny | 2010 | 10 | core | 4.11 (8,252 ratings) |
 | A Hard Day's Knight | 2011 | 11 | core | 4.14 (8,101 ratings) |
 | The Bride Wore Black Leather | 2012 | 12 | core | 4.17 (6,886 ratings) |
No further main-sequence novel has been found published since The Bride Wore Black Leather (2012); a short-story collection, Tales from the Nightside (2015), exists in the same setting but is not catalogued in this admission. No confirmed major-award nomination was found for this series after a genuine search; this is an honest "none found," not an unresolved lead.
Secret Histories Simon R. Green
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Man With the Golden Torc | 2007 | 1 | core | 3.86 (10,455 ratings) |
 | Daemons Are Forever | 2008 | 2 | core | 3.90 (5,792 ratings) |
 | The Spy Who Haunted Me | 2009 | 3 | core | 4.00 (4,939 ratings) |
 | From Hell With Love | 2010 | 4 | core | 4.03 (4,132 ratings) |
 | For Heaven's Eyes Only | 2011 | 5 | core | 4.05 (3,580 ratings) |
 | Live and Let Drood | 2012 | 6 | core | 4.02 (3,379 ratings) |
 | Casino Infernale | 2013 | 7 | core | 4.12 (2,501 ratings) |
 | Property of a Lady Faire | 2014 | 8 | core | 4.00 (1,975 ratings) |
 | From a Drood to a Kill | 2015 | 9 | core | 3.99 (1,567 ratings) |
 | Dr. DOA | 2016 | 10 | core | 3.84 (1,189 ratings) |
 | Moonbreaker | 2017 | 11 | core | 4.08 (935 ratings) |
 | Night Fall | 2018 | 12 | core | 4.16 (918 ratings) |
Follows the Drood family of secret agent-sorcerers; a separate urban-fantasy sequence from this same author's already-admitted Nightside series, with its own cast and premise (occasional cross-references between the two exist but neither series requires the other to be read).
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Nightside / Secret Histories? The Nightside / Secret Histories's Core Canon is 24 books.
- What is the reading order for The Nightside / Secret Histories? Publication order, starting with Something from the Nightside. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The Nightside / Secret Histories finished? Complete (2003–2018).
- How much reading does The Nightside / Secret Histories take? High reading commitment (estimated from 24 Core Canon books · ~6,384 pages).
- How is The Nightside / Secret Histories ranked? #395 in this site's official ranking, based on 183,226 reader ratings across 24 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #395?
Ranked #395 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.01 across 24 core books.
- Backed by 183k reader ratings.
- 0.13 behind #394, Ghost World.
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Well rated · 24 books · Complete · 183k ratings · Ranks #395 overall
Good choice if you want a long-running urban fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (24 Core Canon books)
- Agents of Light and Darkness (2003)
- Something from the Nightside (2003)
- Nightingale's Lament (2004)
- Hex and the City (2005)
- Paths Not Taken (2005)
- Hell to Pay (2006)
- Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth (2006)
- The Man With the Golden Torc (2007)
- Daemons Are Forever (2008)
- The Unnatural Inquirer (2008)
- Just Another Judgement Day (2009)
- The Spy Who Haunted Me (2009)
- From Hell With Love (2010)
- The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny (2010)
- A Hard Day's Knight (2011)
- For Heaven's Eyes Only (2011)
- Live and Let Drood (2012)
- The Bride Wore Black Leather (2012)
- Casino Infernale (2013)
- Property of a Lady Faire (2014)
- From a Drood to a Kill (2015)
- Dr. DOA (2016)
- Moonbreaker (2017)
- Night Fall (2018)
Documented internal/story order
- Something from the Nightside (2003)
- The Man With the Golden Torc (2007)
- Agents of Light and Darkness (2003)
- Daemons Are Forever (2008)
- Nightingale's Lament (2004)
- The Spy Who Haunted Me (2009)
- Hex and the City (2005)
- From Hell With Love (2010)
- Paths Not Taken (2005)
- For Heaven's Eyes Only (2011)
- Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth (2006)
- Live and Let Drood (2012)
- Hell to Pay (2006)
- Casino Infernale (2013)
- The Unnatural Inquirer (2008)
- Property of a Lady Faire (2014)
- Just Another Judgement Day (2009)
- From a Drood to a Kill (2015)
- The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny (2010)
- Dr. DOA (2016)
- A Hard Day's Knight (2011)
- Moonbreaker (2017)
- The Bride Wore Black Leather (2012)
- Night Fall (2018)
Awards (verified)
- No confirmed major award nomination was found for this series after a genuine search.
You might also like
Suggestions computed from what The Nightside / Secret Histories and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- The Dark Tower Dark fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.10
- The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant Epic fantasy / Dark fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 3.93
- The Eternal Champion Sword & sorcery / Dark fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 3.91
- Mercy Thompson / Alpha and Omega Urban fantasy · Ongoing · High commitment · 4.30
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.01 across 183,226 ratings on 24 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Admit The Nightside accepted 2026-08-25
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia: Nightside (novel series) Tier 3
- FictionDB: Secret Histories series Tier 3
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_History_(book_series)
Last reviewed: 2026-09-27
Rule: Core Canon = The Nightside (12) and Secret Histories (12): 24 novels in their own series orders. Merged into one universe on 2026-09-27 under the one-world rule. Green's Ghost Finders, Deathstalker and other same-multiverse series are not catalogued here.