James M. Cain Reading Order

121 books (2002–2025)

The Akashic Noir series is an ongoing collection of noir fiction anthologies that began in 2002 and continues through 2025, currently comprising 121 books. Each volume focuses on a specific city or region, from San Francisco and Brooklyn to Dublin and London, collecting original short stories from contemporary writers working in the noir genre. The series should be read in publication order, starting with San Francisco Noir, though each city-based anthology functions as a standalone entry. This expansive anthology series blends mystery and literary fiction to showcase noir storytelling across diverse urban and international settings.

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

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

5 books (1996–2012)

This complete anthology series edited by James M. Cain spans five volumes published between 1996 and 2012, collecting mystery, thriller, and literary fiction stories from various authors. The series should be read in publication order, beginning with Pulp Frictions: Hardboiled Stories and continuing through The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century, Writing Los Angeles, Murder On The Railways, and concluding with Books to Die For. Each volume showcases different selections and themes within the mystery and thriller genres, offering readers curated explorations of crime fiction and related literary works.

Start with Pulp Frictions: Hardboiled Stories, the first of 5 books in the Anthologies series.

#	Title
1	Pulp Frictions: Hardboiled Stories 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Writing Los Angeles 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Murder On The Railways 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Books to Die For 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

1 book (1985–1985)

#	Title
1	Sixty Years of Journalism 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

2 books (1943–2024)

James M. Cain's short story collection series spans from 1943 to 2024 with two volumes to date. These collections showcase the acclaimed mystery and literary fiction writer's work across decades, with American Noir Classics arriving as a more recent addition to complement the earlier Career in C Major: And Other Fiction. Read the volumes in publication order to follow the chronological presentation of his stories.

Start with Career in C Major: And Other Fiction and read in order.

22 books (1934–2015)

James M. Cain wrote 22 standalone novels between 1934 and 2015, each independent in plot and characters but unified by his distinctive literary voice and exploration of crime, passion, and moral ambiguity. These works, which include classics like The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity, are best approached in publication order to appreciate the evolution of his style across decades. The series remains complete, with each novel designed to be read on its own without requiring knowledge of the others.

Start with The Postman Always Rings Twice, the first of 22 books in the Standalone Novels series.

#	Title
1	The Postman Always Rings Twice 1934Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Double Indemnity 1936Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Serenade 1937Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	The Embezzler 1940Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Mildred Pierce 1941Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Love's Lovely Counterfeit 1942Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Past All Dishonor 1946Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Sinful Woman 1947Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	The Butterfly 1947Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	The Moth 1948Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Everybody Does It 1949Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	Jealous Woman 1950Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	The Root of His Evil 1951Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	Galatea 1953Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	Mignon 1962Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	The Magician's Wife 1965Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	Rainbow's End 1975Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
18	The Institute 1976Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
19	Cloud Nine 1984Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
20	The Enchanted Isle 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
21	The Cocktail Waitress 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
22	A Bad Woman 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible