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The name Ava Lee’ refers to a series of international thriller novels written by Ian Hamilton. The books follow the exploits of a young woman who recovers debts for a living.
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Order of Ava Lee Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Water Rat of Wanchai / The Deadly Touch of the Tigress | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | The Disciple of Las Vegas / The Fiery Gaze of the Tigress | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | The Wild Beasts of Wuhan | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | The Red Pole of Macau | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | The Scottish Banker of Surabaya | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
| 6 | The Dragon Head of Hong Kong | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
| 7 | The Two Sisters of Borneo | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
| 8 | The King of Shanghai | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
| 9 | The Princeling of Nanjing | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
| 10 | The Couturier of Milan | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
| 11 | The Imam of Tawi-Tawi | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
| 12 | The Goddess of Yantai | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
| 13 | The Mountain Master of Sha Tin | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
| 14 | The Diamond Queen of Singapore | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
| 15 | The Sultan of Sarawak | 2022 | Description / Buy | |
| 16 | The General of Tiananmen Square | 2023 | Description / Buy | |
| 17 | The Fury of Beijing | 2024 | Description / Buy |
Ava Lee is introduced to readers in ‘Water Rat of Wanchai’, a novel published in 2011. The novel tells readers that Ava is Chinese-American. She’s a forensic accountant and she spends her days working with an elderly gentleman in Hong Kong called Uncle’ to collect massive debts.
In ‘Water Rat of Wanchai’, a company wants Ava to find and return several million dollars to them. The mission leads her on a chase across continents where she encounters a criminal mastermind who offers to help her.
The accountant is a small attractive girl with very particular tastes about her dress code. She isn’t what most people would call threatening. And that is problematic because her work deals with significant sums of money.
As such, the people she chases are not only determined to stay off the radar, utilizing sophisticated tools to achieve their goals, but they will maim and kill. Ian Hamilton’s heroine relies on her keen intellect to find her targets.
She has contacts all over the place, and she knows how to worm her way into important places. However, when Ava is faced with danger, she is more than happy to deal out violence using her own special brand of martial arts.
The accountant’s moral code is loose and she has no qualms about blackmailing her targets and even physically hurting them to get what she wants. Ava’s clients know that she never fails in her assignment. So she will take any steps necessary to protect her reputation.
Ian Hamilton, the author, spent his adulthood traveling abroad for work. The stories he writes are based on the things he has seen and done. The author toyed with the idea of producing fiction as a young man in his twenties. But he never pursued the dream.
It wasn’t until he reached his sixties and a medical scare put him in the hospital that Ian finally decided to give writing a real shot. Nothing in particular inspired Ian to write this series. In fact, the day he sat down to write, Ian had no idea what he was going to put on paper. The ideas just came out of nowhere.
Ava Lee Awards
Ian Hamilton has been fortunate to win an Arthur Ellis Award for his first novel in this series. The author has also been nominated for Barry and Lambda Awards
Ava Lee Books into Movies
Since 2014, studios in America and Canada have been clamoring to turn all of Ian Hamilton’s Ava books into films and tv shows. So far, nothing has materialized.
Best Ava Lee Books
Ian Hamilton’s success can be imputed to the strength and depth of his female Chinese-Canadian protagonist, with some of the best Ava Lee books around including:
Ava Lee and Disciple of Vegas: The Philippino Billionaire has a debt that needs collecting. A Canadian Land Swindler owes him fifty million dollars. It isn’t just the money he wants, though. The rich man’s reputation has begun to fray, which is why he has hired Ava Lee for the job.
Ava’s investigation will take her to Vancouver, and then Las Vegas before dumping her in Costa Rico. There she will face off against one of the best poker players on the planet.
The Beasts of Wuhan: Ava has a very important job on her hands. An important man in China, one of the most significant individuals in the country, wants her to follow up on a set of paintings he was sold that turned out to be forgeries.
Ava is ready to follow a trail that will lead her all over Europe. Unfortunately, the client’s cunning wife keeps interfering in her work.
Other Book Series You May Like
The “Ravenwood Mysteries” Series by Sabrina Flynn is a great read. It is 1900 in San Francisco. Atticus Riot was an ex-gambler and detective who went into seclusion after a case killed his partner, a senior detective, whilst also leaving him for dead. Atticus returns to solve one more case.
Be sure to check out the “Kyle Achilles” Series by Tim Tigner. Kyle Achilles is a former CIA operative and Olympian who runs around the world dodging bullets and killing bad guys in his efforts to stop Russian-led plots from destroying America and the wider world.
What Is The Next Book in The Ava Lee Series?
There doesn't seem to be an upcoming book in The Ava Lee Series. The newest book is The Fury of Beijing and was released on January, 9th 2024.