Bill Pronzini Reading Order

2 books (1985–1986)

Start with Police Procedurals and read in order.

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

140 books (1974–2021)

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

#	Title
1	Wondermakers 2 1974Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Future Corruption 1975Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Arena: Sports Science Fiction 1976Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Mystery Writers' Choice 1977 1976Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Midnight Specials 1977Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Chrysalis 5 1979Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Dark Sins, Dark Dreams 1979Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Night Screams 1979Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	Shared Tomorrows 1979Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	The End of Summer 1979Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Werewolf! 1979Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	Chrysalis 6 1980Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	Mummy! 1980Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	Other Worlds Volume 2 1980Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	The Edgar Winners 1980Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	Voodoo 1980Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	100 Malicious Little Mysteries 1981Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
18	Classic Tales of Horror and the Supernatural 1981Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
19	Great Tales of Mystery and Suspense 1981Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
20	The Arbor House Necropolis 1981Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
21	The Arbor House Treasury of Horror and the Supernatural 1981Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
22	The Giant Book Of Horror Stories 1981Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
23	The Arbor House Treasury of Mystery and Suspense 1982Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
24	Alfred Hitchcock's Borrowers of the Night 1983Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
25	The Arbor House Treasury of Detective and Mystery Stories from the Great Pulps 1983Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
26	The Web She Weaves 1983Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
27	13 Short Mystery Novels 1984Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
28	Baker's Dozen 1984Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
29	Child's Ploy 1984Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
30	The Eyes Have It 1984Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
31	The Mystery Hall of Fame 1984Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
32	The Outlaws 1984Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
33	The Reel West 1984Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
34	The Western Hall of Fame 1984Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
35	Witches' Brew 1984Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
36	Chapter and Hearse 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
37	Dark Lessons 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
38	Deadly Arts 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
39	Murder in the First Reel 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
40	Police Procedurals 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
41	Shadows 8 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
42	She Won the West 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
43	The Arbor House Treasury of Great Western Stories 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
44	The Cowboys 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
45	The Ethnic Detectives 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
46	The Second Reel West 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
47	The Warriors 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
48	Wickedest Show on Earth 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
49	101 Mystery Stories 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
50	Great Modern Police Stories 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
51	Halloween Horrors 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
52	Mammoth Book of Short Crime Novels 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
53	Mean Streets 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
54	Mystery in the Mainstream 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
55	Tales of Mystery 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
56	Tales of the Dead 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
57	The Cattlemen 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
58	The Railroaders 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
59	The Steamboaters 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
60	The Third Reel West 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
61	Wild Westerns 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
62	13 Short Detective Novels 1987Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
63	Manhattan Mysteries 1987Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
64	Prime Suspects 1987Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
65	Suspicious Characters 1987Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
66	The Gunfighters 1987Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
67	The Horse Soldiers 1987Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
68	Uncollected Crimes 1987Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
69	Best of the West 1988Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
70	Cloak and Dagger 1988Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
71	Criminal Elements 1988Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
72	Homicidal Acts 1988Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
73	Lady on the Case 1988Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
74	The Mammoth Book of Private Eye Stories 1988Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
75	The Second Black Lizard Anthology of Crime Fiction 1988Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
76	The Texans 1988Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
77	Deadly Doings 1989Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
78	Felonious Assaults 1989Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
79	Kill or Cure 1989Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
80	Mammoth Book of World War II Stories 1989Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
81	Mistletoe Mysteries 1989Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
82	More Wild Westerns 1989Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
83	The Arizonans 1989Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
84	The Californians 1989Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
85	Best of the West 2 1990Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
86	Best of the West III 1990Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
87	Christmas Out West 1990Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
88	Crime and Crime Again 1990Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
89	The Northerners 1990Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
90	The Northwesterners 1990Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
91	100 Great Detectives, Or, the Detective Directory 1991Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
92	A Treasury of Civil War Stories 1991Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
93	A Treasury of World War II Stories 1991Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
94	The Montanans 1991Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
95	Combat! 1992Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
96	The Best Western Stories of Ed Gorman 1992Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
97	100 Dastardly Little Detective Stories 1993Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
98	100 Hair-Raising Little Horror Stories 1993Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
99	Criminal Intent 1993Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
100	Dark Crimes 2 1993Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
101	The Fine Art of Murder: The Mystery Reader's Indispensable Companion 1993Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
102	The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories 1992 1993Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
103	Great Tales of Horror and the Supernatural 1994Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
104	Great Tales of the West 1994Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
105	Louis L'Amour Western Magazine 1994Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
106	The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories 1993 1994Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
107	Hardboiled 1995Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
108	Torture Trek and Eleven Other Action-Packed Stories of the Wild West 1995Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
109	100 Astounding Little Alien Stories 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
110	First Cases, Volume 1 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
111	Gunfight! 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
112	The Mammoth Book of Short Spy Novels 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
113	The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories 1995 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
114	A Century of Mystery 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
115	Detective Duos 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
116	Giant Book of Short Crime Stories 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
117	The Giant Book of Private Eye Stories 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
118	The Giant Book of War Stories 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
119	The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories 1997 1998Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
120	Irreconcilable Differences 1999Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
121	Pure Pulp 1999Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
122	The Best of the American West II 1999Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
123	Crafty Cat Crimes 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
124	Oddments 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
125	The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 1 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
126	The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 2 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
127	A Century of Great Suspense Stories 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
128	More Oddments 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
129	Most Wanted 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
130	The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 3 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
131	The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 4 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
132	San Francisco Noir 2 2009Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
133	Masters of Horror and the Supernatural 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
134	Beat to a Pulp: Round 2 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
135	The Interrogator and Other Criminally Good Fiction 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
136	Shivers VII 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
137	Dark Screams: Volume One 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
138	Coast to Coast: Murder from Sea to Shining Sea 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
139	Deadly Anniversaries 2020Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
140	Bullets and Other Hurting Things: A Tribute to Bill Crider 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

2 books (1998–2005)

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

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

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

1 book (1974–1974)

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

9 books (2014–2018)

Start with Dark Screams: Volume One(With: Stephen King,Kelley Armstrong,Richard T. Chizmar,Ramsey Campbell,Simon Clark,Brian James Freeman), the first of 9 books in the Dark Screams Anthology series.

3 books (1985–2005)

Start with Quincannon and read in order.

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

41 books (1971–2017)

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

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

3 books (1983–2003)

Start with Casefile and read in order.

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

3 books (2011–2012)

Start with Booktaker and read in order.

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

2 books (1990–1990)

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

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

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 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	San Francisco 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	1001 Midnights 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Son of Gun in Cheek 1987Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Six Gun In Cheek 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

2 books (1984–1988)

Start with The Eye and read in order.

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

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

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

40 books (1971–2019)

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

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