Max Hennessy Books In Order

Publication Order of The By Air, By Land, By Sea Books

Publication Order of The Boer War Books

Publication Order of Captain Kelly Maguire Books

Publication Order of Goff Family Books

Publication Order of Martin Falconer Thrillers Books

Publication Order of The RAF Trilogy Books

Publication Order of The Shadows of War Collection Books

Publication Order of The WWII Naval Thrillers Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Max Hennessy
Max Hennessy, born in the year 1916, wrote many crime fiction novels. Max Hennessy is one of two pen names used by author John Harris.

He also worked as an airman, a sailor, travel courier, a history teacher, a journalist, and cartoonist. During the Second World War he served with two navies and two air forces.

He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Harris, of the Stag Inn, Herringthorpe. A product of Rotherham Grammar School and worked for the Rotherham Advertiser from late 1932 or early 1933 as a reporter before he later moved on to the Sheffield Telegraph.

Harris, once he turned to writing full time, created a sequence of crime novels around Chief Inspector Pel, the quirky fictional character. As a master of his genre, his writing is just as timeless as it is entertaining and versatile.

He had two children with Betty Wragg; a son named Max and a daughter named Juliet. Juliet would later continue the Pel detective books that her dad created.

The first novel he published as Max Hennessey is called “The Lion at Sea”, was released in the year 1977. His work is from the thriller and mystery genres.

“The Bright Blue Sky” is the first novel in the “RAF” trilogy and was released in the year 1982. One day in the year 1914, a young man took to the air, and then a legend was born.

Dicken Quinney never forgot that first flight in a fragile contraption of string and sealing-wax the beginning of a lifelong obsession with aviation. He was to spend the next four years in the lethal cut-and-thrust of aerial dogfights over Italy and France, collecting his chestful of medals, as well as a reputation as one of the leading Aces in all the Great War.

He would sharpen his skills in an array of aircraft: the BE2, the Camel, the 1 1/2-Strutter, and while the war reaches its end, he is maturing into a rather daring pilot. However then he has to undergo a final test in order to come out victorious. And with his life still intact.

“The Challenging Heights” is the second novel in the “RAF” trilogy and was released in the year 1983. A savage battlefield, a new enemy, and one devastating loss.

Dicken Quinney proved himself as a heroic and brilliant pilot during World War One, saving his fellow RAF servicemen’s lives and winning a whole bunch of medals in the process. It is now the near aftermath of the Great War, and, during the Russian Revolution, Dicken is engaging in an ongoing dogfight over the Baltic states with some Bolshevik fighters.

He has to use all that he has learned during his formative years so that he can survive, and is going to be forced to overcome one horrible loss that threatens to destroy him entirely.

“The Lion At Sea” is the first novel in the “Kelly Maguire” trilogy and was released in the year 1977. A legendary battle, a young recruit, a cataclysmic war. A baptism by fire.

Strong willed and confident, Kelly Maguire just knew from when he was young that he could accomplish some great things. An abiding and constant love of the ocean would end up proving to be the making of him. When the call of war is heard during the early 1910s, he knows that he will have to answer it. After enlisting in the Royal Navy, he hopes to win both personal glory and the war.

However from the nigtmarish action at Antwerp to the barbarous battles of Gallipoli, Kelly, along with his young shipmates, starts learning the trials a sailor has to face. Trials that are going to forge him from a boy and make him a man. While the epic battle of Jutland draws near, everything is at stake.

This is a gritty adventure that is filled with blood and guts and danger. Max writes with an encyclopedic knowledge of the ocean and this makes for a wonderful portrayal of the Navy during the First World War. This one grabs you right from the start and doesn’t let go until it’s over.

“The Dangerous Years” is the second novel in the “Kelly Maguire” trilogy and was released in the year 1978. Kelly Maguire, fresh off his triumph in the Great War, goes back to battle. Kelly, who was hero of Jutland during World War One, progresses quickly through the ranks during the dangerous post-war years, despite the government’s choice to cut the Navy down.

He eventually finds himself going to Russia during the Civil War years, when the Navy manned armored trains to rescue thousands of horrified White Army men, beset on every side by the rampaging Red Army and disease.

From Russia he goes off to China, and gets involved with a gunboat incident while on the Yangtze. His romantic and military resolve are both pushed to their limits when he has to decide between his unassuming childhood sweetheart, named Charlotte Upfold (Charley to him), and a marriage with some wealthy aristocrat.

From old flames to old enemies, Kelly has to again prove his own worth, and continue his journey up the ranks in the British Navy.

“Back to Battle” is the third novel in the “RAF” trilogy and was released in the year 1984. A path to redemption, the crescendo of war, and a crushing blow.

Peacetime political maneuverings threaten Kelly’s ambitions for a captain’s rank. However the outbreak of war, and the need for those that are willing to risk it all changes everything. While World War Two is exploding all around him, and after one devastating loss during the Battle of Narvik, Maguire finds himself washed up at Dunkirk in 1940 during the perilous evacuation. Once more he has to prove his worth.

On the beaches and on the ocean, Kelly will fight it out for his country, and for those that he loves. However while the final days of combat come near, and he’s on the verge of real greatness after the Normandy landings, he is tasked with a final mission, which could signal his career’s end.

One Response to “Max Hennessy”

1. John Exley: 2 years ago

   Really good books makes you feel as though you were actually there.Kept me reading till the early hours many nights.Well done!

   Reply