James Sallis Reading Order

121 books (2002–2025)

The Akashic Noir series is an expansive anthology collection that began in 2002 with San Francisco Noir and has grown to encompass 121 volumes as of 2025, with new editions continuing to be released. Each installment focuses on noir fiction set in a different city or region, from major metropolitan areas like New York and Los Angeles to smaller locales and international destinations. The series should be read in publication order, starting with San Francisco Noir, though individual volumes can also be enjoyed as standalone collections. This ongoing series blends mystery, thriller, and noir elements across diverse geographic settings and literary voices.

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

16 books (1967–2023)

James Sallis appears in 16 anthology collections spanning from 1967 to 2023, likely representing the complete scope of his anthology appearances. These books should be read in publication order, beginning with Orbit 3 and progressing through a diverse range of science fiction, mystery, and speculative fiction anthologies that showcase his work across multiple decades. The series captures his contributions to landmark publications including New Worlds, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and various themed collections focused on noir, mystery, and genre fiction.

Start with Orbit 3, the first of 16 books in the Anthologies series.

#	Title
1	Orbit 3 1967Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Orbit 6 1970Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Orbit 11 1972Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	New Worlds 6 1975Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Lone Star Universe 1976Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Whispers 1977Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Breaking Windows 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction Volume 104 Number 2, February 2003 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	The Best of Talebones 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	Books to Die For 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Borderland Noir 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	The Highway Kind 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	Bound by Mystery 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	Ten Year Stretch 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	Bullets and Other Hurting Things: A Tribute to Bill Crider 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	Ink and Daggers 2023Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

11 books (2000–2026)

James Sallis's Collections series comprises ten books published between 2000 and 2024, with the series still ongoing. These works should be read in publication order, beginning with A City Equal to My Desire. The series spans poetry, short fiction collections, and other literary forms, reflecting Sallis's work across science fiction, mystery, and thriller genres.

Start with A City Equal to My Desire, the first of 10 books in the Collections series.

#	Title
1	A City Equal to My Desire 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Sorrow's Kitchen Poems 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Time's Hammers: The Collected Short Fiction of James Sallis 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Limits of the Sensible World 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Potato Tree 2006Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Rain's Eagerness 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Black Night's Gonna Catch Me Here 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Night's Pardons 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	Dayenu and Other Stories 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	Bright Segments: The Complete Short Fiction 2024Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Ever New Earths: Columns from the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 2026Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

2 books (2005–2012)

James Sallis's Drive series comprises two complete novels published between 2005 and 2012. The books should be read in publication order, beginning with Drive followed by Driven. This mystery thriller series is best experienced sequentially as the narrative continues across both installments.

Start with Drive and read in order.

#	Title
1	Drive 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Driven 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

6 books (1992–2001)

James Sallis's Lew Griffin series comprises six complete novels published between 1992 and 2001, following private investigator Lew Griffin through cases that blend mystery and noir sensibility. The books should be read in publication order, beginning with The Long-Legged Fly and continuing through Moth, Black Hornet, Eye of the Cricket, Bluebottle, and concluding with Ghost of a Flea. This finished series combines elements of mystery, thriller, and speculative fiction across its interconnected narratives.

Start with The Long-Legged Fly, the first of 6 books in the Lew Griffin series.

#	Title
1	The Long-Legged Fly 1992Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Moth 1993Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Black Hornet 1994Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Eye of the Cricket 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Bluebottle 1999Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Ghost of a Flea 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

7 books (1982–2018)

James Sallis's non-fiction series comprises seven books published between 1982 and 2018, exploring music history and biography across multiple volumes. The series should be read in publication order, beginning with The Guitar Players: One Instrument and Its Masters in American Music and continuing through works including Chester Himes: A Life and Difficult Lives. This complete series reflects Sallis's expertise in jazz, blues, and American cultural history, blending musicology with biographical narrative.

Start with The Guitar Players: One Instrument and Its Masters in American Music, the first of 7 books in the Non-Fiction series.

#	Title
1	The Guitar Players: One Instrument and Its Masters in American Music 1982Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Ash of Stars 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	The Guitar in Jazz: An Anthology 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Chester Himes: A Life 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Difficult Lives 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Gently into the Land of the Meateaters 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Difficult Lives Hitching Rides 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

2 books (1998–2016)

James Sallis's collection of science fiction and mystery short stories and novellas comprises two volumes published across nearly two decades. More Light appeared in 1998, followed by What You Were Fighting For in 2016, completing this standalone series. These works should be read in publication order to experience Sallis's evolution as a writer across the period spanning these releases.

Start with More Light and read in order.

8 books (1995–2026)

James Sallis has written seven standalone novels across science fiction, mystery, and thriller genres, published between 1995 and 2026. These books—Renderings, Death Will Have Your Eyes, The Killer Is Dying, Others of My Kind, Willnot, Sarah Jane, Backwater, and World's Edge—should be read in publication order. The series is ongoing, with the most recent entry appearing in 2026.

Start with Renderings, the first of 7 books in the Standalone Novels series.

#	Title
1	Renderings 1995Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Death Will Have Your Eyes 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	The Killer Is Dying 2011Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Others of My Kind 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Willnot 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Sarah Jane 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Backwater 2026Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	World's Edge 2026Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

3 books (2003–2007)

The Turner series is a three-book mystery thriller sequence by James Sallis, spanning from 2003 to 2007 and now complete. The novels should be read in publication order, beginning with Cypress Grove, followed by Cripple Creek, and concluding with Salt River. This series combines elements of mystery and thriller narratives across its full arc.

Start with Cypress Grove and read in order.

#	Title
1	Cypress Grove 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Cripple Creek 2006Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Salt River 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible