A close-up portrait of Michael Ridpath, author of the Magnus Iceland Mysteries and other thrillers, with short grey hair and a beard, wearing a dark blazer and a light blue shirt, with a neutral background.

Michael Ridpath is a Sunday Times bestselling crime and thriller writer whose books have sold over a million copies and been translated into over thirty languages.

He has written the following novels:

Ridpath has that read-on factor that sets bestsellers apart –
The Guardian.

Ridpath's thrillers are remarkable for having their finger on the pulse
– Mail on Sunday.

Ridpath provides a rush of blood to your head and stings your page-turning fingertips – The Independent.

Discover the Books

Latest Book – Operation Berlin

Book cover for 'Operation Berlin' by Michael Ridpath, depicting a black-and-white photo of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin with a person walking away, a vintage car, and dark storm clouds in the sky.

Operation Berlin: Foreign Correspondent Mystery Book 1

Published 12 April 2026

Learn more about Operation Berlin
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About Michael

Michael Ridpath, author of the Magnus Iceland Mysteries and other thrillers, with a beard and short gray hair, wearing a black blazer and blue shirt, sitting on concrete stairs, looking directly at the camera with a serious expression.

Michael Ridpath’s first novel, after a career in finance, was Free to Trade, a bestseller about the murky world of bond trading which was translated into over thirty languages. The success of that book enabled him to become a full-time writer.

He published seven more thrillers with a financial background before starting a crime series set in Iceland featuring the Icelandic-American detective Magnus Jonson. He has also written five stand-alone thrillers.

In 2026 he began The Foreign Correspondent Mystery series set in the capitals of Europe in the 1930s.

Read more about Michael …

Free Novella

Cover of the book titled 'Operation Lost Hours' by Michael Ridpath, a novella in the Foreign Correspondent Mystery series, featuring a black-and-white photograph of a historic European building with a large dome, set against a cloudy sky.

Archie and Esme’s book-dealer friend is arrested after a valuable Book of Hours goes missing from a Welsh clergyman’s house in Berlin in 1930. Archie and Esme must track down the manuscript.

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What’s Next

Historical street scene in Berlin, Germany, featuring vintage cars, pedestrians, and old buildings with signs like 'Kräuter's Oberbeck' and 'Cafe Restaurant Kon.' Streetcars and traffic lights are also visible.

Michael is working on a new series.

Sir Archie Laverick, a biographer scarred mentally and physically by the Great War, and Esme, a spirited young American intent on making her name as a foreign correspondent, solve murders around the capitals of Europe in the 1930s.

The first book in the series takes place in Berlin in 1930, the second in Vienna in 1931 and the third in Paris in 1932.

Operation Berlin was published by Boldwood Books in April 2026.

Operation Lost Hours is a short novella that takes place just after Operation Berlin. It will be published in September 2026, but you can get a free copy now by clicking on the Free Novella section above.

Operation Vienna will be published in October 2026.

Operation Paris will be published in 2027.