James W. Hall Reading Order
9 series · 193 books · Born 1947-07-04
James W. Hall is a prolific American author and educator based in Florida, known for his engaging thrillers and suspenseful narratives. With 193 works spread across 9 series, including the popular Thorn and Harper McDaniel, as well as standalone novels and short stories, he has crafted a diverse literary portfolio. Active from 1987 to 2025, Hall's notable contributions to the genre have solidified his reputation as a master storyteller.
Akashic Noir Series
Ongoing121 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 🇺🇸 |
Anthologies Series
Complete2 books (2000–2011)
Start with The Putt at the End of the World and read in order.
Bibliomysteries Series
Likely Complete40 books (2012–2022)
Start with An Acceptable Sacrifice(By: Jeffery Deaver), the first of 40 books in the Bibliomysteries series.
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 |  An Acceptable Sacrifice(By: Jeffery Deaver) 2012Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 2 | Death Leaves a Bookmark(By: William Link) 2012Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 3 |  Pronghorns of the Third Reich(By: C.J. Box) 2012Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 4 | The Book Case(By: Nelson DeMille) 2012Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 5 |  The Book Thing(By: Laura Lippman) 2012Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 6 |  The Book of Virtue(By: Ken Bruen) 2012Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 7 | Rides a Stranger(By: David Bell) 2013Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 8 | The Book of Ghosts(By: Reed Farrel Coleman) 2013Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 9 | The Final Testament(By: Peter Blauner) 2013Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 10 | The Long Sonata of the Dead(By: Andrew Taylor) 2013Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 11 | Book Club(By: Loren D. Estleman) 2014Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 12 | It's in the Book(By: Max Allan Collins,Mickey Spillane) 2014Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 13 | Remaindered(By: Peter Lovesey) 2014Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 14 | The Compendium of Srem(By: F. Paul Wilson) 2014Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 15 | The Gospel of Sheba(By: Lyndsay Faye) 2014Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 16 | The Nature of My Inheritance(By: Bradford Morrow) 2014Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 17 |  The Scroll(By: Anne Perry) 2014Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 18 | The Sequel(By: R.L. Stine) 2014Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 19 | What's in a Name?(By: Thomas H. Cook) 2014Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 20 | Condor in the Stacks(By: James Grady) 2015Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 21 | Every Seven Years(By: Denise Mina) 2015Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 22 | From the Queen(By: Carolyn Hart) 2015Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 23 | Mystery, Inc.(By: Joyce Carol Oates) 2015Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 24 | The Book of the Lion(By: Thomas Perry) 2015Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 25 | The Little Men(By: Megan Abbott) 2015Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 26 | Citadel(By: Stephen Hunter) 2016Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 27 | Dead Dames Don't Sing(By: John Harvey) 2016Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 28 | Reconciliation Day(By: Christopher Fowler) 2016Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 29 | The Haze 2016Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 30 |  The Travelling Companion(By: Ian Rankin) 2016Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 31 | Hoodoo Harry(By: Joe R. Lansdale) 2017Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 32 | Seven Years(By: Peter Robinson) 2018Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 33 | The Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository(By: John Connolly) 2018Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 34 | The Hemingway Valise(By: Robert Olen Butler) 2018Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 35 | The Last Honest Horse Thief(By: Michael Koryta) 2018Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 36 | The Pretty Little Box(By: Charles Todd) 2018Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 37 | The Girl Who Did Say No(By: David Handler) 2020Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 38 | The Dark Door(By: Lisa Unger) 2022Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 39 | The Honeymoon Trap(By: Peter Swanson) 2022Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 40 | The Traitor(By: Martin Edwards) 2022Buy 🇺🇸 |
Harper McDaniel Series
Complete2 books (2017–2018)
Start with When They Come for You and read in order.
Non-Fiction Series
Complete2 books (2002–2012)
Start with Hot Damn! and read in order.
Short Stories/Novellas Series
Complete1 book (2016–2016)
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | The Haze 2016Buy 🇺🇸 |
Short Story Collections Series
Complete3 books (1990–2011)
Start with Paper Products and read in order.
Standalone Novels Series
Complete5 books (1991–2004)
Start with Bones of Coral, the first of 5 books in the Standalone Novels series.
Thorn Series
Ongoing17 books (1987–2024)
Start with Under Cover of Daylight, the first of 17 books in the Thorn series.
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 |  Under Cover of Daylight 1987Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 2 |  Tropical Freeze 1989Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 3 | Mean High Tide 1994Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 4 |  Gone Wild 1995Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 5 |  Buzz Cut 1996Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 6 |  Red Sky at Night 1997Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 7 |  Blackwater Sound 2002Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 8 | Off the Chart 2003Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 9 | Magic City 2007Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 10 |  Hell's Bay 2008Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 11 |  Silencer 2009Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 12 |  Dead Last 2011Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 13 |  Going Dark 2013Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 14 |  The Big Finish 2014Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 15 | Bad Axe 2020Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 16 | Trickster 2022Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 17 | Stare Down 2024Buy 🇺🇸 |
Frequently Asked Questions
- How many books has James W. Hall written?
- James W. Hall has written 193 books across 9 series. Their published works span from 1987 to 2025.
- What is the first book in each James W. Hall series?
- Here are the first books in James W. Hall's series: Akashic Noir: San Francisco Noir; Anthologies: The Putt at the End of the World; Bibliomysteries: An Acceptable Sacrifice(By: Jeffery Deaver); Harper McDaniel: When They Come for You; Non-Fiction: Hot Damn!.
- What order should I read James W. Hall's books?
- We recommend reading James W. Hall's series in publication order. Each series can be read independently.
- Is James W. Hall still writing new books?
- Yes, James W. Hall has 2 ongoing series: Akashic Noir, Thorn.