Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cold Blood | 1991 | Andrew Vachss | Buy |
| 2 | Dark at Heart | 1992 | Andrew Vachss | Buy |
| 3 | Erbarmungslose Stiere | 2000 | Andrew Vachss | Buy |
| 4 | L.A. Noire: The Collected Stories | 2010 | Andrew Vachss | Buy |
| 5 | Protectors: Stories to Benefit PROTECT | 2012 | Andrew Vachss | Buy |
Andrew Vachss contributed to and edited several anthologies across his career, five of which are collected here. Cold Blood (1991) and Dark at Heart (1992) are multi-author crime fiction anthologies from early in his career that feature Vachss stories alongside work by other writers in the genre. Erbarmungslose Stiere (2000) is a German-language collection that includes Vachss material.
The standout entry is Protectors: Stories to Benefit PROTECT (2012), an anthology Vachss edited with proceeds going to PROTECT, a political organization he co-founded to lobby for children’s rights. The L.A. Noire: The Collected Stories anthology (2010) is a noir fiction collection tied to the Rockstar Games video game. Across all five collections, Vachss’s contributions carry his trademark concerns: children at risk, criminals with codes, and a justice system that too often fails the people who need it most.