Cornell Woolrich Reading Order

11 books (1969–2003)

This complete anthology series collects ten volumes of mystery and thriller stories by Cornell Woolrich, published between 1969 and 2003. The series should be read in publication order, beginning with Daring Detectives and concluding with Murder On The Railways. Each anthology features curated selections of Woolrich's short crime fiction, spanning locked room mysteries, occult tales, hardboiled stories, and other suspenseful narratives across the collection.

Start with Daring Detectives, the first of 10 books in the Anthologies series.

#	Title
1	Daring Detectives 1969Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Tantalizing Locked Room Mysteries 1982Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Mammoth Book of Short Crime Novels 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Tales of Mystery 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Kill or Cure 1989Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Tales of the Occult 1989Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Tales of Obsession: Mystery Stories of Fatal Attractions and Deadly Desires 1994Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Pulp Frictions: Hardboiled Stories 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	Murder to Music 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	The Vintage Book of Amnesia 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Murder On The Railways 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

22 books (1942–2018)

Cornell Woolrich's Collections series comprises 22 books of short stories published between 1942 and 2018, presenting a comprehensive anthology of the prolific mystery and thriller writer's work. The series should be read in publication order, beginning with Rear Window and Other Stories, and is now complete. Many volumes were originally published under Woolrich's pseudonym William Irish, offering readers access to his vast catalog of suspenseful short fiction across multiple decades.

Start with Rear Window and Other Stories, the first of 22 books in the Collections series.

#	Title
1	Rear Window and Other Stories 1942Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	If I Should Die Before I Wake(As: William Irish) 1946Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Dead Man Blues(As: William Irish) 1947Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Six Nights of Mystery(As: William Irish) 1950Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Deadly Night Call(As: William Irish) 1951Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Eyes That Watch You(As: William Irish) 1952Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Violence 1958Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Beyond the Night 1959Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	Nightmare 1964Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	The Dark Side of Love 1965Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	The Ten Faces of Cornell Woolrich 1965Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	Nightwebs 1971Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	Angels of Darkness 1978Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	The Fantastic Stories of Cornell Woolrich 1981Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	Blind Date with Death 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	Darkness at Dawn 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	Vampire's Honeymoon 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
18	Night and Fear(With: Francis M. Nevins Jr.) 1990Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
19	Tonight, Somewhere in New York(With: Francis M. Nevins Jr.) 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
20	Love and Night 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
21	An Obsession with Death and Dying 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
22	Literary Noir 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

7 books (1950–2021)

Cornell Woolrich's Short Stories/Novellas series consists of seven mystery and thriller collections published between 1950 and 2021, likely representing a complete gathering of his shorter works. Read in publication order beginning with Dilemma of the Dead Lady, the series continues through titles including the famous Rear Window, Mystery in Room 913, Too Nice a Day to Die, Guns, Gentlemen, Hot Water, and concludes with The Dark Oblivion. Each entry functions as a standalone collection, making the series accessible to readers seeking Woolrich's tense, atmospheric short fiction across different entry points.

Start with Dilemma of the Dead Lady, the first of 7 books in the Short Stories/Novellas series.

#	Title
1	Dilemma of the Dead Lady 1950Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Rear Window 1991Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Mystery in Room 913 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Too Nice a Day to Die 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Guns, Gentlemen 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Hot Water 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	The Dark Oblivion 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

33 books (1926–2012)

Cornell Woolrich's body of mystery and thriller work spans 32 standalone novels published between 1926 and 1978, with the series now complete. Though each book stands alone narratively, readers interested in following Woolrich's development as a writer should begin with Cover Charge and proceed in publication order through titles like The Bride Wore Black, Phantom Lady, and Night Has a Thousand Eyes. Several of these works were published under the pseudonym William Irish during different periods of his career. This collection represents the full scope of Woolrich's prolific output in the mystery and suspense genres.

Start with Cover Charge, the first of 32 books in the Standalone Novels series.

#	Title
1	Cover Charge 1926Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Children of the Ritz 1927Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Times Square 1929Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	A Young Man's Heart 1930Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	The Time of Her Life 1931Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Manhattan Love Song 1932Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	The Bride Wore Black / Beware the Lady(As: William Irish) 1940Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Marihuana: A Drug-Crazed Killer at Large(As: William Irish) 1941Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	The Black Curtain 1941Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	Black Alibi 1942Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Phantom Lady(As: William Irish) 1942Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	And So to Death(As: William Irish) 1943Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	The Black Angel 1943Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	Deadline at Dawn(As: William Irish) 1944Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	Night Has a Thousand Eyes 1945Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	Borrowed Crime(As: William Irish) 1946Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	The Black Path of Fear 1946Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
18	The Dancing Detective(As: William Irish) 1946Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
19	Waltz Into Darkness 1947Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
20	I Married a Dead Man(As: William Irish) 1948Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
21	Rendezvous in Black 1948Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
22	The Blue Ribbon(As: William Irish) 1949Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
23	Fright 1950Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
24	Savage Bride 1950Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
25	Marijuana 1951Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
26	Strangler's Serenade(As: William Irish) 1951Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
27	You'll Never See Me Again 1951Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
28	Bluebeard's Seventh Wife(As: William Irish) 1952Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
29	Hotel Room 1958Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
30	Into the Night(With: Lawrence Block) 1959Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
31	The Doom Stone 1960Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
32	Irish Trophy(As: William Irish) 1978Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
33	Dark Melody of Madness 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

5 books (1946–1952)

Cornell Woolrich's William Irish Short Story Collections comprises five complete volumes of mystery and thriller short fiction published between 1946 and 1952. These collections should be read in publication order, beginning with If I Should Die Before I Wake and continuing through Dead Man Blues, Six Nights of Mystery, Deadly Night Call, and Eyes That Watch You. Each volume gathers previously published stories that showcase Woolrich's mastery of suspenseful short-form narrative across the mystery and thriller genres.

Start with If I Should Die Before I Wake, the first of 5 books in the William Irish Short Story Collections series.