Patricia Highsmith Reading Order
6 series · 179 books · Born 19 Jan 1921
Patricia Highsmith was a renowned American author celebrated for her psychological thrillers and complex character studies. With a prolific output of 179 works, including six series and a diverse array of short stories and non-fiction, her most notable creation is the enigmatic Tom Ripley. Active from 1950 until her passing in 2025, Highsmith's influence continues to resonate in literature and film.
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
Complete22 books (1970–2012)
Start with Simply The Best Mysteries, Edgar Award Winners And Front Runners, the first of 22 books in the Anthologies series.
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 |  Simply The Best Mysteries, Edgar Award Winners And Front Runners 1970Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 2 |  The Twelfth Pan Book of Horror Stories 1971Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 3 |  The 18th Pan Book of Horror Stories 1977Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 4 |  Verdict of Thirteen 1979Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 5 |  65 Great Tales Of Horror 1981Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 6 |  The 24th Pan Book of Horror Stories 1983Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 7 |  The Web She Weaves 1983Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 8 |  Great Baseball Stories 1990Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 9 |  Mystery Cats 1991Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 10 | Fifty Best Mysteries 1993Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 11 | Murder Intercontinental 1996Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 12 |  A Century of British Mystery and Suspense 2000Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 13 |  Crime Story Collection 2000Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 14 |  A Century of Great Suspense Stories 2001Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 15 | Crime Never Pays 2001Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 16 |  Escape to Mexico: An Anthology of Great Writers 2002Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 17 |  Stranger: Dark Tales of Eerie Encounters 2002Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 18 |  Murder On The Railways 2003Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 19 |  A New Omnibus of Crime 2005Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 20 |  Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules 2005Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 21 |  Feline Felonies 2006Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 22 | Books to Die For 2012Buy 🇺🇸 |
Non-Fiction Series
Likely Complete3 books (1966–2021)
Start with Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction and read in order.
Ripley Series
Complete5 books (1955–1991)
Start with The Talented Mr. Ripley, the first of 5 books in the Ripley series.
Short Story Collections Series
Complete11 books (1968–2015)
Start with Nothing That Meets the Eye, the first of 11 books in the Short Story Collections series.
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 |  Nothing That Meets the Eye 1968Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 2 |  Eleven / The Snail Watcher and Other Stories 1970Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 3 |  Little Tales of Misogyny 1974Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 4 |  The Animal-Lover's Book of Beastly Murder 1975Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 5 |  Slowly, Slowly in the Wind 1979Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 6 |  The Black House 1981Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 7 |  Mermaids on the Golf Course 1984Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 8 |  Tales of Natural and Unnatural Catastrophes 1987Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 9 |  Chillers 1990Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 10 |  The Selected Stories of Patricia Highsmith 2001Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 11 |  Sour Tales for Sweethearts 2015Buy 🇺🇸 |
Standalone Novels Series
Complete17 books (1950–1994)
Start with Strangers on a Train, the first of 17 books in the Standalone Novels series.
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 |  Strangers on a Train 1950Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 2 |  The Price of Salt / Carol 1952Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 3 |  The Blunderer 1954Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 4 |  Deep Water 1957Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 5 |  A Game for the Living 1958Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 6 |  This Sweet Sickness 1960Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 7 |  The Cry of the Owl 1962Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 8 |  The Glass Cell 1964Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 9 |  The Two Faces of January 1964Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 10 |  A Suspension of Mercy / The Story-Teller 1965Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 11 |  Those Who Walk Away 1967Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 12 |  The Tremor of Forgery 1969Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 13 |  A Dog's Ransom 1972Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 14 |  Edith's Diary 1977Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 15 |  People Who Knock on the Door 1983Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 16 |  Found in the Street 1986Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 17 |  Small g 1994Buy 🇺🇸 |
Frequently Asked Questions
- How many books has Patricia Highsmith written?
- Patricia Highsmith has written 179 books across 6 series. Their published works span from 1950 to 2025.
- What is the first book in each Patricia Highsmith series?
- Here are the first books in Patricia Highsmith's series: Akashic Noir: San Francisco Noir; Anthologies: Simply The Best Mysteries, Edgar Award Winners And Front Runners; Non-Fiction: Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction; Ripley: The Talented Mr. Ripley; Short Story Collections: Nothing That Meets the Eye.
- What order should I read Patricia Highsmith's books?
- We recommend reading Patricia Highsmith's series in publication order. Each series can be read independently.
- Is Patricia Highsmith still writing new books?
- Yes, Patricia Highsmith has 1 ongoing series: Akashic Noir.