James Ellroy Reading Order

121 books (2002–2025)

Start with San Francisco Noir, the first of 121 books in the Akashic Noir series.

#	Title
1	San Francisco Noir 2002Buy 🇺🇸
2	Bronx Noir 2003Buy 🇺🇸
3	Seattle Noir 2003Buy 🇺🇸
4	Brooklyn Noir 2004Buy 🇺🇸
5	Hasidic Noir 2004Buy 🇺🇸
6	Brooklyn Noir 2 2005Buy 🇺🇸
7	Chicago Noir 2005Buy 🇺🇸
8	Dublin Noir 2005Buy 🇺🇸
9	Baltimore Noir 2006Buy 🇺🇸
10	D.C. Noir 2006Buy 🇺🇸
11	London Noir 2006Buy 🇺🇸
12	Manhattan Noir 2006Buy 🇺🇸
13	Miami Noir 2006Buy 🇺🇸
14	Twin Cities Noir 2006Buy 🇺🇸
15	Detroit Noir 2007Buy 🇺🇸
16	Havana Noir 2007Buy 🇺🇸
17	Los Angeles Noir 2007Buy 🇺🇸
18	New Orleans Noir 2007Buy 🇺🇸
19	Wall Street Noir 2007Buy 🇺🇸
20	Brooklyn Noir 3: Nothing But the Truth 2008Buy 🇺🇸
21	D.C. Noir 2 2008Buy 🇺🇸
22	Istanbul Noir 2008Buy 🇺🇸
23	Las Vegas Noir 2008Buy 🇺🇸
24	Manhattan Noir 2 2008Buy 🇺🇸
25	Paris Noir 2008Buy 🇺🇸
26	Queens Noir 2008Buy 🇺🇸
27	Toronto Noir 2008Buy 🇺🇸
28	Trinidad Noir 2008Buy 🇺🇸
29	Boston Noir 2009Buy 🇺🇸
30	Delhi Noir 2009Buy 🇺🇸
31	Phoenix Noir 2009Buy 🇺🇸
32	Portland Noir 2009Buy 🇺🇸
33	Rome Noir 2009Buy 🇺🇸
34	San Francisco Noir 2 2009Buy 🇺🇸
35	Copenhagen Noir 2010Buy 🇺🇸
36	Haiti Noir 2010Buy 🇺🇸
37	Indian Country Noir 2010Buy 🇺🇸
38	Lone Star Noir 2010Buy 🇺🇸
39	Los Angeles Noir 2 2010Buy 🇺🇸
40	Mexico City Noir 2010Buy 🇺🇸
41	Moscow Noir 2010Buy 🇺🇸
42	Orange County Noir 2010Buy 🇺🇸
43	Philadelphia Noir 2010Buy 🇺🇸
44	Richmond Noir 2010Buy 🇺🇸
45	Barcelona Noir 2011Buy 🇺🇸
46	Cape Cod Noir 2011Buy 🇺🇸
47	New Jersey Noir 2011Buy 🇺🇸
48	Pittsburgh Noir 2011Buy 🇺🇸
49	San Diego Noir 2011Buy 🇺🇸
50	Boston Noir 2 2012Buy 🇺🇸
51	Kansas City Noir 2012Buy 🇺🇸
52	Kingston Noir 2012Buy 🇺🇸
53	Long Island Noir 2012Buy 🇺🇸
54	Mumbai Noir 2012Buy 🇺🇸
55	St. Petersburg Noir 2012Buy 🇺🇸
56	Staten Island Noir 2012Buy 🇺🇸
57	Venice Noir 2012Buy 🇺🇸
58	Buffalo Noir 2013Buy 🇺🇸
59	Dallas Noir 2013Buy 🇺🇸
60	Haiti Noir 2 2013Buy 🇺🇸
61	Manila Noir 2013Buy 🇺🇸
62	USA Noir 2013Buy 🇺🇸
63	Belfast Noir 2014Buy 🇺🇸
64	Helsinki Noir 2014Buy 🇺🇸
65	Prison Noir 2014Buy 🇺🇸
66	Rio Noir 2014Buy 🇺🇸
67	Singapore Noir 2014Buy 🇺🇸
68	Tehran Noir 2014Buy 🇺🇸
69	Tel Aviv Noir 2014Buy 🇺🇸
70	Beirut Noir 2015Buy 🇺🇸
71	Chicago Noir: The Classics 2015Buy 🇺🇸
72	Marseille Noir 2015Buy 🇺🇸
73	Memphis Noir 2015Buy 🇺🇸
74	Providence Noir 2015Buy 🇺🇸
75	Zagreb Noir 2015Buy 🇺🇸
76	Brussels Noir 2016Buy 🇺🇸
77	Mississippi Noir 2016Buy 🇺🇸
78	New Orleans Noir: The Classics 2016Buy 🇺🇸
79	Prague Noir 2016Buy 🇺🇸
80	San Juan Noir 2016Buy 🇺🇸
81	St. Louis Noir 2016Buy 🇺🇸
82	Stockholm Noir 2016Buy 🇺🇸
83	Atlanta Noir 2017Buy 🇺🇸
84	Buenos Aires Noir 2017Buy 🇺🇸
85	Montana Noir 2017Buy 🇺🇸
86	Montreal Noir 2017Buy 🇺🇸
87	New Haven Noir 2017Buy 🇺🇸
88	Oakland Noir 2017Buy 🇺🇸
89	Trinidad Noir: The Classics 2017Buy 🇺🇸
90	Baghdad Noir 2018Buy 🇺🇸
91	Berlin Noir 2018Buy 🇺🇸
92	Hong Kong Noir 2018Buy 🇺🇸
93	Lagos Noir 2018Buy 🇺🇸
94	Marrakech Noir 2018Buy 🇺🇸
95	Santa Cruz Noir 2018Buy 🇺🇸
96	Sydney Noir 2018Buy 🇺🇸
97	São Paulo Noir 2018Buy 🇺🇸
98	Vancouver Noir 2018Buy 🇺🇸
99	Amsterdam Noir 2019Buy 🇺🇸
100	Houston Noir 2019Buy 🇺🇸
101	Milwaukee Noir 2019Buy 🇺🇸
102	Accra Noir 2020Buy 🇺🇸
103	Addis Ababa Noir 2020Buy 🇺🇸
104	Alabama Noir 2020Buy 🇺🇸
105	Belgrade Noir 2020Buy 🇺🇸
106	Berkeley Noir 2020Buy 🇺🇸
107	Columbus Noir 2020Buy 🇺🇸
108	Miami Noir: The Classics 2020Buy 🇺🇸
109	Nairobi Noir 2020Buy 🇺🇸
110	Santa Fe Noir 2020Buy 🇺🇸
111	Tampa Bay Noir 2020Buy 🇺🇸
112	Palm Springs Noir 2021Buy 🇺🇸
113	Denver Noir 2022Buy 🇺🇸
114	Paris Noir: The Suburbs 2022Buy 🇺🇸
115	South Central Noir 2022Buy 🇺🇸
116	Cleveland Noir 2023Buy 🇺🇸
117	East Jerusalem Noir 2023Buy 🇺🇸
118	West Jerusalem Noir 2023Buy 🇺🇸
119	Honolulu Noir 2024Buy 🇺🇸
120	Hamburg Noir 2025Buy 🇺🇸
121	Sacramento Noir 2025Buy 🇺🇸

4 books (1996–2012)

Start with Pulp Frictions: Hardboiled Stories, the first of 4 books in the Anthologies series.

#	Title
1	Pulp Frictions: Hardboiled Stories 1996Buy 🇺🇸
2	Writing Los Angeles 2002Buy 🇺🇸
3	The Best American Crime Writing 2005 2005Buy 🇺🇸
4	Books to Die For 2012Buy 🇺🇸

2 books (2002–2010)

Start with The Best American Mystery Stories 3 and read in order.

#	Title
1	The Best American Mystery Stories 3 2002Buy 🇺🇸
2	The Best American Noir of the Century 2010Buy 🇺🇸

4 books (1987–1992)

Start with The Black Dahlia, the first of 4 books in the L.A. Quartet series.

#	Title
1	The Black Dahlia 1987Buy 🇺🇸
2	The Big Nowhere 1988Buy 🇺🇸
3	L.A. Confidential 1990Buy 🇺🇸
4	White Jazz 1992Buy 🇺🇸

3 books (1984–1986)

Start with Because the Night and read in order.

#	Title
1	Because the Night 1984Buy 🇺🇸
2	Blood on the Moon 1984Buy 🇺🇸
3	Suicide Hill 1986Buy 🇺🇸

3 books (1996–2015)

Start with My Dark Places and read in order.

#	Title
1	My Dark Places 1996Buy 🇺🇸
2	The Hilliker Curse 2006Buy 🇺🇸
3	LAPD '53 2015Buy 🇺🇸

2 books (2014–2019)

Start with Perfidia and read in order.

#	Title
1	Perfidia 2014Buy 🇺🇸
2	This Storm 2019Buy 🇺🇸

4 books (1993–2003)

Start with Dick Contino's Blues and Other Stories, the first of 4 books in the Short Story Collections series.

#	Title
1	Dick Contino's Blues and Other Stories 1993Buy 🇺🇸
2	Hollywood Nocturnes 1993Buy 🇺🇸
3	Crime Wave 1999Buy 🇺🇸
4	Destination 2003Buy 🇺🇸

5 books (1981–2023)

Start with Brown's Requiem, the first of 5 books in the Standalone Novels series.

#	Title
1	Brown's Requiem 1981Buy 🇺🇸
2	Clandestine 1982Buy 🇺🇸
3	Killer on the Road / Silent Terror 1986Buy 🇺🇸
4	Widespread Panic 2021Buy 🇺🇸
5	The Enchanters 2023Buy 🇺🇸

3 books (1995–2009)

Start with American Tabloid and read in order.

#	Title
1	American Tabloid 1995Buy 🇺🇸
2	The Cold Six Thousand 2001Buy 🇺🇸
3	Blood's A Rover 2009Buy 🇺🇸