Akashic Noir books in order

Reading order

The Akashic Noir series is one of the largest anthology projects in crime fiction publishing. Launched by Akashic Books with Brooklyn Noir in 2004, the series has grown to 122 volumes, each focused on a different city or region around the world. Every book features original short stories by authors with a connection to the featured location, and a local editor curates each collection. The concept is simple but effective: noir fiction rooted in the specific geography, culture, and criminal underworld of a particular place.

The series covers an enormous range of locations. Early volumes focused on major American cities like Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, but it quickly expanded to include international locations such as Dublin, Delhi, Havana, and Lagos. Some cities have received multiple volumes, including Brooklyn (three editions) and several “Classics” compilations that reprint older stories. David Corbett contributed to at least one volume in the series, and the full list of contributors over the years reads like a directory of contemporary crime fiction writers. The series continues to add new volumes, with Hamburg Noir and Sacramento Noir arriving in 2025.