Bill Pronzini Reading Order

2 books (1985–1986)

Start with Police Procedurals and read in order.

#	Title
1	Police Procedurals 1985Buy 🇺🇸
2	Locked Room Puzzles 1986Buy 🇺🇸

138 books (1974–2021)

Start with Wondermakers 2, the first of 138 books in the Anthologies series.

#	Title
1	Wondermakers 2 1974Buy 🇺🇸
2	Future Corruption 1975Buy 🇺🇸
3	Arena: Sports Science Fiction 1976Buy 🇺🇸
4	Mystery Writers' Choice 1977 1976Buy 🇺🇸
5	Midnight Specials 1977Buy 🇺🇸
6	Chrysalis 5 1979Buy 🇺🇸
7	Dark Sins, Dark Dreams 1979Buy 🇺🇸
8	Night Screams 1979Buy 🇺🇸
9	Shared Tomorrows 1979Buy 🇺🇸
10	The End of Summer 1979Buy 🇺🇸
11	Werewolf! 1979Buy 🇺🇸
12	Chrysalis 6 1980Buy 🇺🇸
13	Mummy! 1980Buy 🇺🇸
14	Other Worlds Volume 2 1980Buy 🇺🇸
15	The Edgar Winners 1980Buy 🇺🇸
16	Voodoo 1980Buy 🇺🇸
17	100 Malicious Little Mysteries 1981Buy 🇺🇸
18	Classic Tales of Horror and the Supernatural 1981Buy 🇺🇸
19	Great Tales of Mystery and Suspense 1981Buy 🇺🇸
20	The Arbor House Necropolis 1981Buy 🇺🇸
21	The Arbor House Treasury of Horror and the Supernatural 1981Buy 🇺🇸
22	The Giant Book Of Horror Stories 1981Buy 🇺🇸
23	The Arbor House Treasury of Mystery and Suspense 1982Buy 🇺🇸
24	Alfred Hitchcock's Borrowers of the Night 1983Buy 🇺🇸
25	The Arbor House Treasury of Detective and Mystery Stories from the Great Pulps 1983Buy 🇺🇸
26	The Web She Weaves 1983Buy 🇺🇸
27	13 Short Mystery Novels 1984Buy 🇺🇸
28	Baker's Dozen 1984Buy 🇺🇸
29	Child's Ploy 1984Buy 🇺🇸
30	The Eyes Have It 1984Buy 🇺🇸
31	The Mystery Hall of Fame 1984Buy 🇺🇸
32	The Outlaws 1984Buy 🇺🇸
33	The Reel West 1984Buy 🇺🇸
34	The Western Hall of Fame 1984Buy 🇺🇸
35	Witches' Brew 1984Buy 🇺🇸
36	Chapter and Hearse 1985Buy 🇺🇸
37	Dark Lessons 1985Buy 🇺🇸
38	Deadly Arts 1985Buy 🇺🇸
39	Murder in the First Reel 1985Buy 🇺🇸
40	Police Procedurals 1985Buy 🇺🇸
41	Shadows 8 1985Buy 🇺🇸
42	She Won the West 1985Buy 🇺🇸
43	The Arbor House Treasury of Great Western Stories 1985Buy 🇺🇸
44	The Cowboys 1985Buy 🇺🇸
45	The Ethnic Detectives 1985Buy 🇺🇸
46	The Second Reel West 1985Buy 🇺🇸
47	The Warriors 1985Buy 🇺🇸
48	Wickedest Show on Earth 1985Buy 🇺🇸
49	101 Mystery Stories 1986Buy 🇺🇸
50	Great Modern Police Stories 1986Buy 🇺🇸
51	Halloween Horrors 1986Buy 🇺🇸
52	Mammoth Book of Short Crime Novels 1986Buy 🇺🇸
53	Mean Streets 1986Buy 🇺🇸
54	Mystery in the Mainstream 1986Buy 🇺🇸
55	Tales of Mystery 1986Buy 🇺🇸
56	Tales of the Dead 1986Buy 🇺🇸
57	The Cattlemen 1986Buy 🇺🇸
58	The Railroaders 1986Buy 🇺🇸
59	The Steamboaters 1986Buy 🇺🇸
60	The Third Reel West 1986Buy 🇺🇸
61	Wild Westerns 1986Buy 🇺🇸
62	13 Short Detective Novels 1987Buy 🇺🇸
63	Manhattan Mysteries 1987Buy 🇺🇸
64	Prime Suspects 1987Buy 🇺🇸
65	Suspicious Characters 1987Buy 🇺🇸
66	The Gunfighters 1987Buy 🇺🇸
67	The Horse Soldiers 1987Buy 🇺🇸
68	Uncollected Crimes 1987Buy 🇺🇸
69	Best of the West 1988Buy 🇺🇸
70	Cloak and Dagger 1988Buy 🇺🇸
71	Criminal Elements 1988Buy 🇺🇸
72	Homicidal Acts 1988Buy 🇺🇸
73	Lady on the Case 1988Buy 🇺🇸
74	The Mammoth Book of Private Eye Stories 1988Buy 🇺🇸
75	The Second Black Lizard Anthology of Crime Fiction 1988Buy 🇺🇸
76	The Texans 1988Buy 🇺🇸
77	Deadly Doings 1989Buy 🇺🇸
78	Felonious Assaults 1989Buy 🇺🇸
79	Kill or Cure 1989Buy 🇺🇸
80	Mammoth Book of World War II Stories 1989Buy 🇺🇸
81	Mistletoe Mysteries 1989Buy 🇺🇸
82	More Wild Westerns 1989Buy 🇺🇸
83	The Arizonans 1989Buy 🇺🇸
84	The Californians 1989Buy 🇺🇸
85	Best of the West 2 1990Buy 🇺🇸
86	Best of the West III 1990Buy 🇺🇸
87	Christmas Out West 1990Buy 🇺🇸
88	Crime and Crime Again 1990Buy 🇺🇸
89	The Northerners 1990Buy 🇺🇸
90	The Northwesterners 1990Buy 🇺🇸
91	100 Great Detectives, Or, the Detective Directory 1991Buy 🇺🇸
92	A Treasury of Civil War Stories 1991Buy 🇺🇸
93	A Treasury of World War II Stories 1991Buy 🇺🇸
94	The Montanans 1991Buy 🇺🇸
95	Combat! 1992Buy 🇺🇸
96	The Best Western Stories of Ed Gorman 1992Buy 🇺🇸
97	100 Dastardly Little Detective Stories 1993Buy 🇺🇸
98	100 Hair-Raising Little Horror Stories 1993Buy 🇺🇸
99	Criminal Intent 1993Buy 🇺🇸
100	Dark Crimes 2 1993Buy 🇺🇸
101	The Fine Art of Murder: The Mystery Reader's Indispensable Companion 1993Buy 🇺🇸
102	The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories 1992 1993Buy 🇺🇸
103	Great Tales of Horror and the Supernatural 1994Buy 🇺🇸
104	Great Tales of the West 1994Buy 🇺🇸
105	The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories 1993 1994Buy 🇺🇸
106	Hardboiled 1995Buy 🇺🇸
107	Torture Trek and Eleven Other Action-Packed Stories of the Wild West 1995Buy 🇺🇸
108	100 Astounding Little Alien Stories 1996Buy 🇺🇸
109	First Cases, Volume 1 1996Buy 🇺🇸
110	Gunfight! 1996Buy 🇺🇸
111	The Mammoth Book of Short Spy Novels 1996Buy 🇺🇸
112	The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories 1995 1996Buy 🇺🇸
113	A Century of Mystery 1997Buy 🇺🇸
114	Detective Duos 1997Buy 🇺🇸
115	Giant Book of Short Crime Stories 1997Buy 🇺🇸
116	The Giant Book of Private Eye Stories 1997Buy 🇺🇸
117	The Giant Book of War Stories 1997Buy 🇺🇸
118	The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories 1997 1998Buy 🇺🇸
119	Irreconcilable Differences 1999Buy 🇺🇸
120	Pure Pulp 1999Buy 🇺🇸
121	The Best of the American West II 1999Buy 🇺🇸
122	Crafty Cat Crimes 2000Buy 🇺🇸
123	Oddments 2000Buy 🇺🇸
124	The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 1 2000Buy 🇺🇸
125	The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 2 2000Buy 🇺🇸
126	A Century of Great Suspense Stories 2001Buy 🇺🇸
127	More Oddments 2001Buy 🇺🇸
128	Most Wanted 2002Buy 🇺🇸
129	The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 3 2002Buy 🇺🇸
130	The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 4 2003Buy 🇺🇸
131	San Francisco Noir 2 2009Buy 🇺🇸
132	Masters of Horror and the Supernatural 2010Buy 🇺🇸
133	Beat to a Pulp: Round 2 2012Buy 🇺🇸
134	The Interrogator and Other Criminally Good Fiction 2012Buy 🇺🇸
135	Shivers VII 2013Buy 🇺🇸
136	Coast to Coast: Murder from Sea to Shining Sea 2015Buy 🇺🇸
137	Deadly Anniversaries 2020Buy 🇺🇸
138	Bullets and Other Hurting Things: A Tribute to Bill Crider 2021Buy 🇺🇸

2 books (1998–2005)

Start with Carpenter & Quincannon, Professional Detective Services and read in order.

#	Title
1	Carpenter & Quincannon, Professional Detective Services 1998Buy 🇺🇸
2	Quincannon's Game 2005Buy 🇺🇸

9 books (2013–2021)

Start with The Bughouse Affair, the first of 9 books in the Carpenter and Quincannon Mystery series.

#	Title
1	The Bughouse Affair 2013Buy 🇺🇸
2	The Spook Lights Affair 2013Buy 🇺🇸
3	The Body Snatchers Affair 2015Buy 🇺🇸
4	The Plague of Thieves Affair 2016Buy 🇺🇸
5	The Dangerous Ladies Affair 2017Buy 🇺🇸
6	The Bags of Tricks Affair 2018Buy 🇺🇸
7	The Flimflam Affair 2019Buy 🇺🇸
8	The Stolen Gold Affair 2020Buy 🇺🇸
9	The Paradise Affair 2021Buy 🇺🇸

1 book (1974–1974)

#	Title
1	Charlie Chan in The Pawns of Death 1974Buy 🇺🇸

3 books (1985–2005)

Start with Quincannon and read in order.

#	Title
1	Quincannon 1985Buy 🇺🇸
2	Beyond the Grave 1986Buy 🇺🇸
3	Quincannon's Game 2005Buy 🇺🇸

41 books (1971–2017)

Start with The Snatch, the first of 41 books in the Nameless Detective series.

#	Title
1	The Snatch 1971Buy 🇺🇸
2	The Vanished 1973Buy 🇺🇸
3	Undercurrent 1973Buy 🇺🇸
4	Blowback 1977Buy 🇺🇸
5	Twospot 1978Buy 🇺🇸
6	Labyrinth 1980Buy 🇺🇸
7	Hoodwink 1981Buy 🇺🇸
8	Dragonfire 1982Buy 🇺🇸
9	Scattershot 1982Buy 🇺🇸
10	Bindlestiff 1983Buy 🇺🇸
11	Double(With: Marcia Muller) 1984Buy 🇺🇸
12	Nightshades 1984Buy 🇺🇸
13	Quicksilver 1984Buy 🇺🇸
14	Bones 1985Buy 🇺🇸
15	Deadfall 1986Buy 🇺🇸
16	Shackles 1989Buy 🇺🇸
17	Jackpot 1990Buy 🇺🇸
18	Breakdown 1991Buy 🇺🇸
19	Quarry 1991Buy 🇺🇸
20	Epitaphs 1992Buy 🇺🇸
21	Demons 1993Buy 🇺🇸
22	Hardcase 1995Buy 🇺🇸
23	Sentinels 1996Buy 🇺🇸
24	Illusions 1997Buy 🇺🇸
25	Boobytrap 1998Buy 🇺🇸
26	Crazybone 2000Buy 🇺🇸
27	Bleeders 2001Buy 🇺🇸
28	Spook 2002Buy 🇺🇸
29	Nightcrawlers 2005Buy 🇺🇸
30	Mourners 2006Buy 🇺🇸
31	Savages 2007Buy 🇺🇸
32	Fever 2008Buy 🇺🇸
33	Schemers 2009Buy 🇺🇸
34	Betrayers 2010Buy 🇺🇸
35	Camouflage 2011Buy 🇺🇸
36	Hellbox 2012Buy 🇺🇸
37	Nemesis 2013Buy 🇺🇸
38	Strangers 2014Buy 🇺🇸
39	Vixen 2015Buy 🇺🇸
40	Zigzag 2016Buy 🇺🇸
41	Endgame 2017Buy 🇺🇸

3 books (1983–2003)

Start with Casefile and read in order.

#	Title
1	Casefile 1983Buy 🇺🇸
2	Spadework 1994Buy 🇺🇸
3	Scenarios 2003Buy 🇺🇸

3 books (2011–2012)

Start with Booktaker and read in order.

#	Title
1	Booktaker 2011Buy 🇺🇸
2	Femme 2012Buy 🇺🇸
3	Kinsmen 2012Buy 🇺🇸

2 books (1990–1990)

Start with New Frontiers, Vol. 1 and read in order.

#	Title
1	New Frontiers, Vol. 1 1990Buy 🇺🇸
2	New Frontiers, Vol. 2(With: Martin H. Greenberg) 1990Buy 🇺🇸

5 books (1982–1997)

Start with Gun in Cheek, the first of 5 books in the Non-Fiction series.

#	Title
1	Gun in Cheek 1982Buy 🇺🇸
2	San Francisco 1985Buy 🇺🇸
3	1001 Midnights 1986Buy 🇺🇸
4	Son of Gun in Cheek 1987Buy 🇺🇸
5	Six Gun In Cheek 1997Buy 🇺🇸

2 books (1984–1988)

Start with The Eye and read in order.

#	Title
1	The Eye 1984Buy 🇺🇸
2	Shadowtown(By: John Lutz) 1988Buy 🇺🇸

8 books (1983–2015)

Start with Cat’s Paw, the first of 8 books in the Short Stories/Novellas series.

#	Title
1	Cat’s Paw 1983Buy 🇺🇸
2	Incident in a Neighborhood Tavern 1988Buy 🇺🇸
3	Here Comes Santa Claus 1989Buy 🇺🇸
4	Home Is The Place Where 1995Buy 🇺🇸
5	The Big Bite 2000Buy 🇺🇸
6	Devil's Brew 2006Buy 🇺🇸
7	Pumpkin 2012Buy 🇺🇸
8	Wishful Thinking 2015Buy 🇺🇸

18 books (1984–2024)

Start with The Best Western Stories of Steve Frazee, the first of 18 books in the Short Story Collections series.

#	Title
1	The Best Western Stories of Steve Frazee 1984Buy 🇺🇸
2	Graveyard Plots 1985Buy 🇺🇸
3	Small Felonies 1988Buy 🇺🇸
4	Best Western Stories of Frank Bonham(With: Frank Bonham) 1989Buy 🇺🇸
5	The Best Western Stories of Bill Pronzini 1990Buy 🇺🇸
6	Stacked Deck 1991Buy 🇺🇸
7	The Best Western Stories of Les Savage, Jr.(With: Les Savage Jr.) 1991Buy 🇺🇸
8	Sleuths 1999Buy 🇺🇸
9	Burgade's Crossing 2003Buy 🇺🇸
10	Problems Solved 2003Buy 🇺🇸
11	On Account of Darkness and Other Stories(With: Barry N. Malzberg) 2004Buy 🇺🇸
12	Coyote and Quarter-Moon 2006Buy 🇺🇸
13	Crucifixion River(With: Marcia Muller) 2007Buy 🇺🇸
14	Dago Red 2008Buy 🇺🇸
15	Duo(With: Marcia Muller) 2012Buy 🇺🇸
16	Small Felonies 2 2022Buy 🇺🇸
17	Cream of the Crop 2024Buy 🇺🇸
18	The Hanging Man & Other Western Stories 2024Buy 🇺🇸

40 books (1971–2019)

Start with The Stalker, the first of 40 books in the Standalone Novels series.

#	Title
1	The Stalker 1971Buy 🇺🇸
2	Panic! 1972Buy 🇺🇸
3	The Jade Figurine 1972Buy 🇺🇸
4	Snowbound 1974Buy 🇺🇸
5	Dead Run 1975Buy 🇺🇸
6	Freebooty 1976Buy 🇺🇸
7	Games 1976Buy 🇺🇸
8	The Running of Beasts 1976Buy 🇺🇸
9	Acts of Mercy 1977Buy 🇺🇸
10	Wildfire 1978Buy 🇺🇸
11	A killing in Xanadu 1980Buy 🇺🇸
12	Prose Bowl 1980Buy 🇺🇸
13	Duel at Gold Buttes 1981Buy 🇺🇸
14	Masques 1981Buy 🇺🇸
15	The Cambodia File 1981Buy 🇺🇸
16	Border Fever 1983Buy 🇺🇸
17	Day of the Moon 1983Buy 🇺🇸
18	The Gallows Land 1983Buy 🇺🇸
19	Starvation Camp 1985Buy 🇺🇸
20	The Lighthouse(With: Marcia Muller) 1986Buy 🇺🇸
21	The Last Days of Horse-Shy Halloran 1987Buy 🇺🇸
22	Firewind 1989Buy 🇺🇸
23	The Hangings 1989Buy 🇺🇸
24	Carmody's Run 1993Buy 🇺🇸
25	With an Extreme Burning 1994Buy 🇺🇸
26	Blue Lonesome 1995Buy 🇺🇸
27	A Wasteland of Strangers 1997Buy 🇺🇸
28	Nothing But the Night 1999Buy 🇺🇸
29	All the Long Years 2001Buy 🇺🇸
30	In an Evil Time 2001Buy 🇺🇸
31	Step to the Graveyard Easy 2002Buy 🇺🇸
32	The Alias Man 2004Buy 🇺🇸
33	The Crimes of Jordan Wise 2006Buy 🇺🇸
34	The Other Side of Silence 2008Buy 🇺🇸
35	The Hidden 2010Buy 🇺🇸
36	The Lighthouse of Terror(With: Marcia Muller) 2011Buy 🇺🇸
37	Night Freight 2012Buy 🇺🇸
38	The Violated 2017Buy 🇺🇸
39	Give-A-Damn Jones 2018Buy 🇺🇸
40	The Peaceful Valley Crime Wave 2019Buy 🇺🇸