Madison Smartt Bell 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 (1988–2010)

Start with Ploughshares Fall 1988, the first of 4 books in the Anthologies series.

#	Title
1	Ploughshares Fall 1988 1988Buy 🇺🇸
2	Ploughshares Winter 1993-94 1993Buy 🇺🇸
3	Granta 54 1996Buy 🇺🇸
4	Kanaval: Vodou, Politics and Revolution on the Streets of Haiti 2010Buy 🇺🇸

12 books (2004–2011)

Start with Einstein's Cosmos(By: Michio Kaku), the first of 12 books in the Great Discoveries series.

#	Title
1	Einstein's Cosmos(By: Michio Kaku) 2004Buy 🇺🇸
2	The Doctors' Plague(By: Sherwin B. Nuland) 2004Buy 🇺🇸
3	Incompleteness(By: Rebecca Goldstein) 2005Buy 🇺🇸
4	Lavoisier in the Year One 2005Buy 🇺🇸
5	Miss Leavitt's Stars(By: George Johnson) 2006Buy 🇺🇸
6	The Man Who Knew Too Much(By: David Leavitt) 2006Buy 🇺🇸
7	The Reluctant Mr. Darwin(By: David Quammen) 2006Buy 🇺🇸
8	A Force of Nature(By: Richard Reeves) 2007Buy 🇺🇸
9	The Georgian Star(By: Michael D. Lemonick) 2008Buy 🇺🇸
10	The Earth Moves(By: Dan Hofstadter) 2009Buy 🇺🇸
11	Obsessive Genius(By: Barbara Goldsmith) 2011Buy 🇺🇸
12	Quantum Man(By: Lawrence M. Krauss) 2011Buy 🇺🇸

3 books (1995–2004)

Start with All Souls' Rising and read in order.

#	Title
1	All Souls' Rising 1995Buy 🇺🇸
2	Master of the Crossroads 2000Buy 🇺🇸
3	The Stone That the Builder Refused 2004Buy 🇺🇸

20 books (1988–2010)

Start with New Stories from the South(By: Shannon Ravenel), the first of 20 books in the New Stories From The South series.

#	Title
1	New Stories from the South(By: Shannon Ravenel) 1988Buy 🇺🇸
2	New Stories from the South 1992(By: Shannon Ravenel) 1992Buy 🇺🇸
3	New Stories from the South 1993(By: Shannon Ravenel) 1993Buy 🇺🇸
4	New Stories from the South 1994(By: Shannon Ravenel) 1994Buy 🇺🇸
5	New Stories from the South 1995(By: Shannon Ravenel) 1995Buy 🇺🇸
6	New Stories from the South 1996(By: Shannon Ravenel) 1996Buy 🇺🇸
7	New Stories from the South 1997(By: Robert Olen Butler) 1997Buy 🇺🇸
8	New Stories from the South 1998(By: Padgett Powell) 1998Buy 🇺🇸
9	New Stories from the South 1999(By: Tony Earley) 1999Buy 🇺🇸
10	New Stories from the South 2000(By: Ellen Douglas) 2000Buy 🇺🇸
11	New Stories from the South 2001(By: Lee Smith) 2001Buy 🇺🇸
12	New Stories from the South 2003(By: Shannon Ravenel) 2003Buy 🇺🇸
13	New Stories from the South 2004(By: Allan Gurganus) 2004Buy 🇺🇸
14	Best of the South: From the Second Decade of New Stories from the South(By: Shannon Ravenel) 2005Buy 🇺🇸
15	New Stories from the South, 2005(By: Jill McCorkle) 2005Buy 🇺🇸
16	New Stories from the South 2006(By: Allan Gurganus,Kathy Pories) 2006Buy 🇺🇸
17	New Stories from the South 2007(By: Allan Gurganus) 2007Buy 🇺🇸
18	New Stories from the South 2008(By: Z.Z. Packer) 2008Buy 🇺🇸
19	New Stories from the South 2009 2009Buy 🇺🇸
20	New Stories from the South 2010(By: Amy Hempel) 2010Buy 🇺🇸

5 books (1985–2020)

Start with History of the Owen School, the first of 5 books in the Non-Fiction series.

#	Title
1	History of the Owen School 1985Buy 🇺🇸
2	Narrative Design 1997Buy 🇺🇸
3	Charm City 2007Buy 🇺🇸
4	Toussaint Louverture 2007Buy 🇺🇸
5	Child of Light: A Biography of Robert Stone 2020Buy 🇺🇸

1 book (2010–2010)

3 books (1987–2013)

Start with Zero DB and Other Stories and read in order.

#	Title
1	Zero DB and Other Stories 1987Buy 🇺🇸
2	Barking Man and Other Stories 1990Buy 🇺🇸
3	Zig Zag Wanderer 2013Buy 🇺🇸

13 books (1983–2017)

Start with The Washington Square Ensemble, the first of 13 books in the Standalone Novels series.

#	Title
1	The Washington Square Ensemble 1983Buy 🇺🇸
2	Waiting for the End of the World 1985Buy 🇺🇸
3	Straight Cut 1986Buy 🇺🇸
4	The Year of Silence 1987Buy 🇺🇸
5	Soldier's Joy 1989Buy 🇺🇸
6	Doctor Sleep 1991Buy 🇺🇸
7	Save Me, Joe Louis 1993Buy 🇺🇸
8	Ten Indians 1996Buy 🇺🇸
9	Anything Goes 2002Buy 🇺🇸
10	Devil's Dream 2009Buy 🇺🇸
11	Boy With a Coin 2011Buy 🇺🇸
12	The Color of Night 2011Buy 🇺🇸
13	Behind the Moon 2017Buy 🇺🇸