Sara Paretsky Reading Order
9 series · 198 books
Sara Paretsky is a renowned American writer celebrated for her contributions to detective fiction, particularly her series featuring the fierce female private investigator, V.I. Warshawski. With a remarkable portfolio of 198 works spanning nine series—including short stories, novellas, and standalone novels—she has captivated readers since 1982. Paretsky's impactful storytelling continues to resonate, with her latest work expected in 2025.
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
Likely Complete44 books (1984–2022)
Start with The Eyes Have It, the first of 44 books in the Anthologies series.
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 |  The Eyes Have It 1984Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 2 |  Mean Streets 1986Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 3 |  Beastly Tales 1989Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 4 |  City Sleuths and Tough Guys 1989Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 5 | Sisters in Crime 3 1990Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 6 |  A Woman's Eye 1991Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 7 |  1st Culprit 1992Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 8 |  Deadly Allies 1992Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 9 |  Sisters In Crime 5 1992Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 10 |  The Year’s 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories 1991 1992Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 11 |  Women of Mystery 1992Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 12 |  Female Sleuths 1993Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 13 |  Great Mystery Series: Top Female Sleuths 1993Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 14 |  The New Mystery 1993Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 15 |  The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories 1992 1993Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 16 |  3rd Culprit 1994Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 17 |  Seventh Annual Collection 1994Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 18 |  The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories 1993 1994Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 19 |  Bad Behavior 1995Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 20 |  First Cases, Volume 1 1996Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 21 |  Murder For Love 1996Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 22 | The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories 1995 1996Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 23 | Win, Lose or Die 1996Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 24 |  Women on the Case 1996Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 25 |  Mystery's Most Wanted 1997Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 26 |  Women of Mystery III 1998Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 27 |  Crime After Crime 1999Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 28 |  Crime Story Collection 2000Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 29 |  The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century 2000Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 30 |  The Oxford Book of Detective Stories 2000Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 31 |  A Century of Great Suspense Stories 2001Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 32 |  Writers on Writing 2001Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 33 |  The Longman Anthology of Detective Fiction 2004Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 34 | Deadly Housewives 2006Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 35 |  Sisters on the Case 2007Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 36 | Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe 2011Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 37 | Suspense Magazine December 2013 2013Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 38 |  Chicago Blues 2014Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 39 |  Mystery Writers of America Presents Ice Cold 2014Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 40 |  The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook: Wickedly Good Meals and Desserts to Die For 2015Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 41 |  Gary Phillips' Hollis for Hire 2018Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 42 | Bullets and Other Hurting Things: A Tribute to Bill Crider 2021Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 43 |  Crime Hits Home 2022Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 44 | The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2022 2022Buy 🇺🇸 |
Non-Fiction Series
Complete2 books (2007–2016)
Start with Writing In An Age Of Silence and read in order.
Short Stories/Novellas Series
Complete1 book (2017–2017)
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | Taste of Life 2017Buy 🇺🇸 |
Short Story Collections Series
Complete2 books (1995–2020)
Start with A Taste of Life and Other Stories and read in order.
Standalone Novels Series
Complete2 books (1988–2007)
Start with Ghost Country and read in order.
V.I. Warshawski Series
Ongoing22 books (1982–2024)
Start with Indemnity Only, the first of 22 books in the V.I. Warshawski series.
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 |  Indemnity Only 1982Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 2 |  Deadlock 1984Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 3 |  Killing Orders 1985Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 4 |  Bitter Medicine 1987Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 5 |  Blood Shot / Toxic Shock 1988Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 6 | Burn Marks 1990Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 7 |  Guardian Angel 1992Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 8 |  Tunnel Vision 1994Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 9 |  Hard Time 1999Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 10 |  Total Recall 2001Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 11 |  Blacklist 2003Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 12 | Fire Sale 2005Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 13 |  Hardball 2009Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 14 |  Body Work 2010Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 15 |  Breakdown 2012Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 16 |  Critical Mass 2013Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 17 |  Brush Back 2015Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 18 |  Fallout 2017Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 19 |  Shell Game 2018Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 20 |  Dead Land 2020Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 21 | Overboard 2022Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 22 | Pay Dirt 2024Buy 🇺🇸 |
V.I. Warshawski Collections Series
Complete1 book (1995–1995)
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | Windy City Blues 1995Buy 🇺🇸 |
V.I. Warshawski Short Stories/Novellas Series
Complete3 books (2011–2018)
Start with Photo Finish and read in order.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How many books has Sara Paretsky written?
- Sara Paretsky has written 198 books across 9 series. Their published works span from 1982 to 2025.
- What is the first book in each Sara Paretsky series?
- Here are the first books in Sara Paretsky's series: Akashic Noir: San Francisco Noir; Anthologies: The Eyes Have It; Non-Fiction: Writing In An Age Of Silence; Short Story Collections: A Taste of Life and Other Stories; V.I. Warshawski: Indemnity Only.
- What order should I read Sara Paretsky's books?
- We recommend reading Sara Paretsky's series in publication order. Each series can be read independently.
- Is Sara Paretsky still writing new books?
- Yes, Sara Paretsky has 2 ongoing series: Akashic Noir, V.I. Warshawski.