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.