Hannah Vogel
historical mystery
Series · historical mystery
Elena Standish
The Elena Standish series by Anne Perry has 5 known books (5 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with Death in Focus (2019).
- Books
- 5 known books (5 novels)
- Published
- 5
- First published
- 2019
- Status
- completed
- Shelved under
- Mystery & Crime, Historical Fiction
- Last checked
Start here: Death in Focus (2019) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
Death in Focus
Anne Perry opened the Elena Standish series in 2019 with Death in Focus , a 493-page first novel -- substantially longer than any of its four successors.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Death in Focus - Book 2:
A Question of Betrayal
A Question of Betrayal followed in 2020 at 284 pages, more than 200 pages shorter than the series opener, continuing Elena Standish's photography-cover espionage work as fascism's reach grows across 1930s Europe in Anne Perry's final series.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Question of Betrayal - Book 3:
A Darker Reality
A Darker Reality, the third book, appeared in 2021 at 320 pages, continuing Anne Perry's yearly release pattern as Elena's camera work keeps giving her plausible reasons to be places she shouldn't -- and a habit of noticing details that endanger her and the people she cares about.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Darker Reality - Book 4:
A Truth to Lie For
A Truth to Lie For, published in 2022 at 317 pages, is nearly identical in length to the book before it, continuing the interwar espionage arc Anne Perry built around Elena Standish's grandfather and intelligence-service contacts before her death in 2023.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Truth to Lie For - Book 5:
The Traitor Among Us
The Traitor Among Us closes the series in 2023 at 289 pages, the shortest of the last four novels and a fitting bookend to a five-year, five-book run.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Traitor Among Us
About the Elena Standish series
Anne Perry's last completed series follows Elena Standish, a photographer working in 1930s Europe and the granddaughter of a former British intelligence officer, as she's drawn out of her professional life and into espionage work while fascism rises across the continent. Beginning in Venice in 1933 in Death in Focus, the series moves through the decade's escalating political tensions -- Nazi Germany's growing reach, the machinery of European intelligence services, and the personal cost of operating inside both -- with Elena's camera work giving her a plausible reason to be places she shouldn't, and a habit of noticing details that get her, and the people she cares about, into danger.
It was Perry's final series, running from 2019 until her death in 2023, and shifts her usual Victorian setting forward by roughly seventy years into the interwar period -- trading drawing-room murder for the slower, more paranoid tension of watching a continent slide toward a second world war.
Frequently asked questions
How many books are in the Elena Standish series?
Five: Death in Focus (2019), A Question of Betrayal (2020), A Darker Reality (2021), A Truth to Lie For (2022) and The Traitor Among Us (2023).
Who is Elena Standish?
A photographer working in 1930s Europe, granddaughter of a former British intelligence officer, who becomes drawn into espionage work as fascism rises across the continent.
When is the Elena Standish series set?
The 1930s, mostly in Europe -- a departure from Anne Perry's usual Victorian-era settings, moving the action forward roughly seventy years into the interwar period.
Is Elena Standish Anne Perry's last series?
Yes -- it ran from 2019 until The Traitor Among Us in 2023, the year of Perry's death.
Do I need to read Anne Perry's other series first?
No, Elena Standish is entirely self-contained, with its own characters and a different historical period from William Monk or Charlotte and Thomas Pitt.
If you like the Elena Standish series
Reading order last verified .