John Lutz books

John Lutz was a prolific American mystery and crime fiction writer known for the Alo Nudger, Fred Carver, and Frank Quinn series, with a career spanning five decades.

Akashic Noir Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
San Francisco Noir 2002 Buy
Seattle Noir 2003 Buy
Bronx Noir 2003 Buy
Brooklyn Noir 2004 Buy
Hasidic Noir 2004 Buy
Brooklyn Noir 2 2005 Buy
Chicago Noir 2005 Buy
Dublin Noir 2005 Buy
Manhattan Noir 2006 Buy
Miami Noir 2006 Buy
D.C. Noir 2006 Buy
Baltimore Noir 2006 Buy
Twin Cities Noir 2006 Buy
London Noir 2006 Buy
New Orleans Noir 2007 Buy
Los Angeles Noir 2007 Buy
Wall Street Noir 2007 Buy
Havana Noir 2007 Buy
Detroit Noir 2007 Buy
Queens Noir 2008 Buy
Brooklyn Noir 3: Nothing But the Truth 2008 Buy
Toronto Noir 2008 Buy
Las Vegas Noir 2008 Buy
Trinidad Noir 2008 Buy
D.C. Noir 2 2008 Buy
Manhattan Noir 2 2008 Buy
Paris Noir 2008 Buy
Istanbul Noir 2008 Buy
Boston Noir 2009 Buy
Rome Noir 2009 Buy
San Francisco Noir 2 2009 Buy
Portland Noir 2009 Buy
Delhi Noir 2009 Buy
Phoenix Noir 2009 Buy
Los Angeles Noir 2 2010 Buy
Mexico City Noir 2010 Buy
Richmond Noir 2010 Buy
Orange County Noir 2010 Buy
Indian Country Noir 2010 Buy
Moscow Noir 2010 Buy
Lone Star Noir 2010 Buy
Philadelphia Noir 2010 Buy
Haiti Noir 2010 Buy
Copenhagen Noir 2010 Buy
Pittsburgh Noir 2011 Buy
San Diego Noir 2011 Buy
Barcelona Noir 2011 Buy
Cape Cod Noir 2011 Buy
New Jersey Noir 2011 Buy
Staten Island Noir 2012 Buy
Mumbai Noir 2012 Buy
Long Island Noir 2012 Buy
Venice Noir 2012 Buy
Kingston Noir 2012 Buy
St. Petersburg Noir 2012 Buy
Kansas City Noir 2012 Buy
Boston Noir 2 2012 Buy
USA Noir 2013 Buy
Manila Noir 2013 Buy
Buffalo Noir 2013 Buy
Dallas Noir 2013 Buy
Haiti Noir 2 2013 Buy
Singapore Noir 2014 Buy
Prison Noir 2014 Buy
Tel Aviv Noir 2014 Buy
Tehran Noir 2014 Buy
Belfast Noir 2014 Buy
Helsinki Noir 2014 Buy
Rio Noir 2014 Buy
Providence Noir 2015 Buy
Chicago Noir: The Classics 2015 Buy
Memphis Noir 2015 Buy
Zagreb Noir 2015 Buy
Marseille Noir 2015 Buy
Beirut Noir 2015 Buy
New Orleans Noir: The Classics 2016 Buy
Stockholm Noir 2016 Buy
Brussels Noir 2016 Buy
Mississippi Noir 2016 Buy
St. Louis Noir 2016 Buy
Prague Noir 2016 Buy
San Juan Noir 2016 Buy
Oakland Noir 2017 Buy
Trinidad Noir: The Classics 2017 Buy
Atlanta Noir 2017 Buy
New Haven Noir 2017 Buy
Montana Noir 2017 Buy
Buenos Aires Noir 2017 Buy
Montreal Noir 2017 Buy
Berlin Noir 2018 Buy
São Paulo Noir 2018 Buy
Santa Cruz Noir 2018 Buy
Lagos Noir 2018 Buy
Marrakech Noir 2018 Buy
Baghdad Noir 2018 Buy
Vancouver Noir 2018 Buy
Sydney Noir 2018 Buy
Hong Kong Noir 2018 Buy
Amsterdam Noir 2019 Buy
Milwaukee Noir 2019 Buy
Houston Noir 2019 Buy
Nairobi Noir 2020 Buy
Columbus Noir 2020 Buy
Santa Fe Noir 2020 Buy
Alabama Noir 2020 Buy
Berkeley Noir 2020 Buy
Addis Ababa Noir 2020 Buy
Tampa Bay Noir 2020 Buy
Miami Noir: The Classics 2020 Buy
Accra Noir 2020 Buy
Belgrade Noir 2020 Buy
Palm Springs Noir 2021 Buy
Paris Noir: The Suburbs 2022 Buy
Denver Noir 2022 Buy
South Central Noir 2022 Buy
Cleveland Noir 2023 Buy
East Jerusalem Noir 2023 Buy
West Jerusalem Noir 2023 Buy
Honolulu Noir 2024 Buy
Sacramento Noir 2025 Buy
Hamburg Noir 2025 Buy

Alo Nudger Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Buyer Beware 1976 Buy
Nightlines 1984 Buy
The Right to Sing the Blues 1985 Buy
Ride the Lightning 1987 Buy
Dancer’s Debt 1988 Buy
Time Exposure 1989 Buy
Diamond Eyes 1990 Buy
Thicker Than Blood 1993 Buy
Death By Jury 1995 Buy
Oops! 1998 Buy

Alo Nudger Collections Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Nudger Dilemmas 2001 Buy
The Right to Sing the Blues 1985 N/A
Time Exposure 1989 N/A
Diamond Eyes 1990 N/A
Thicker Than Blood 1993 N/A
Death By Jury 1995 N/A

Anthologies

Title Published Buy on Amazon
100 Malicious Little Mysteries 1981 Buy
Alfred Hitchcock’s A Choice of Evils 1983 Buy
Mean Streets 1986 Buy
Tales of Terror 1986 Buy
An Eye for Justice 1988 Buy
Deadly Allies 1992 Buy
Dark Crimes 2 1993 Buy
Canine Crimes 1993 Buy
Feline and Famous 1994 Buy
Deadly Allies II 1994 Buy
Vampire Detectives 1995 Buy
First Cases, Volume 1 1996 Buy
Guilty as Charged 1996 Buy
Murder to Music 1997 Buy
Once Upon a Crime 1998 Buy
Murder on Route 66 1998 Buy
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 1999 Buy
Unholy Orders 2000 Buy
The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 2 2000 Buy
The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 4 2003 Buy
Show Business is Murder 2004 Buy
The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 5 2004 Buy
At the Scene of the Crime 2008 Buy
Florida Heat Wave 2010 Buy
The Shamus Winners 2010 Buy
First Thrills: Volume 4 2011 Buy

Frank Quinn Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Darker Than Night 2004 Buy
In for the Kill 2007 Buy
Night Kills 2008 Buy
Other Than Murder 2008 N/A
Urge To Kill 2009 Buy
Mister X 2010 Buy
Serial 2011 Buy
Pulse 2012 Buy
Switch 2012 Buy
Frenzy 2014 Buy
Twist 2013 Buy
Carnage 2014 Buy
Slaughter 2015 Buy

Fred Carver Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Tropical Heat 1986 Buy
Scorcher 1987 Buy
Kiss 1988 Buy
Flame 1989 Buy
Bloodfire 1991 Buy
Hot 1992 Buy
Spark 1993 Buy
Torch 1994 Buy
Burn 1995 Buy
Lightning 1996 Buy

Night Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Night Caller 2001 Buy
Magic after Dark 2013 N/A
The Night Watcher 2002 Buy
All Hallows Night 2014 N/A
Night Angel 2014 N/A
Night Victims 2003 N/A
The Night Spider / Night Victims 2003 Buy
Darker Than Night 2004 N/A
Fear the Night 2005 Buy
Chill of Night 2006 Buy

Oxman and Tobin Mysteries Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Eye 1984 Buy
Shadowtown 1988 Buy

Short Stories/Novellas

Title Published Buy on Amazon
What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You 1982 N/A
Only One Way To Land 1983 N/A
The Romantics 1994 Buy
High Stakes 1997 N/A
Nightcrawlers 1997 N/A
Second Story Sunlight 2002 N/A
The Desert 2018 Buy

Short Story Collections

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Better Mousetraps 1988 Buy
Shadows Everywhere 1994 Buy
Until You Are Dead 1998 Buy
Endless Road, and Other Stories 2003 Buy
Tough and Other Short Stories: Tough, High Stakes, The Real Shape of the Coast 2014 Buy
The President’s Cat Is Missing & Other Stories 2014 Buy

Standalone Novels

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Truth of the Matter 1971 Buy
Bonegrinder 1977 Buy
Lazarus Man 1979 Buy
Jericho Man 1980 Buy
The Shadow Man 1982 Buy
Single White Female 1990 Buy
Dancing with the Dead 1992 Buy
The Ex 1996 Buy
Final Seconds 1998 Buy
Single White Female Seeks Same 2022 Buy

Thomas Laker Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Honorable Traitors 2018 Buy
The Havana Game 2019 Buy

John Lutz (1939-2021) was one of the most prolific and long-lasting writers in American mystery fiction. His career began in the early 1970s and continued for five decades, producing well over two hundred works across novels, short stories, and anthology contributions. He worked primarily in the detective and thriller genres, creating three distinct series protagonists who each reflected a different era and style of crime fiction.

The Alo Nudger series, set in St. Louis, featured a down-on-his-luck private eye with a nervous stomach. The Fred Carver books moved to Florida for a series of heat-soaked crime novels. The Frank Quinn series, his most commercially successful, focused on a retired NYPD detective hunting serial killers in New York City. Each series ran for about ten books and showed Lutz’s ability to adapt his writing to changing tastes while maintaining his core strengths in plotting and atmosphere.

Beyond his series work, Lutz produced a substantial body of short fiction that earned him an Edgar Award and a Shamus Award. His standalone novel Single White Female became a hit film. He was also a prolific anthology contributor, with his work appearing in more than twenty-five collections alongside other crime fiction writers.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books has John Lutz written?

John Lutz has written 223 books across twelve series.

What was John Lutz's first book?

John Lutz’s first book is The Truth of the Matter, published in 1971.

What is John Lutz best known for?

Lutz is best known for his three major detective series: the Alo Nudger mysteries set in St. Louis, the Fred Carver series set in Florida, and the Frank Quinn serial killer thrillers set in New York City. He also wrote Single White Female, which was adapted into a 1992 film starring Bridget Fonda.

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