Akashic Noir books in order

Reading order

The Akashic Noir series is one of the most ambitious anthology projects in crime fiction. Launched by Akashic Books in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir, the series has grown to over 120 volumes, each named after a city or region and filled with original noir short stories. Every story in every book is set in a different neighborhood of the featured location, which gives each anthology a sense of place that goes well beyond the tourist spots.

The contributor list reads like a who’s who of crime and literary fiction: Dennis Lehane, Joyce Carol Oates, Michael Connelly, George Pelecanos, Laura Lippman, Lee Child, and dozens of others have written for the series. Akashic defines noir broadly, welcoming stories that range from hard-boiled detective tales to literary fiction with a dark edge. That loose definition has kept the series fresh across two decades and more than a hundred volumes covering cities from Brooklyn to Baghdad, Seattle to São Paulo.

G.M. Ford contributed to the Seattle Noir volume, fitting given his deep connection to the city through the Leo Waterman series. The Akashic Noir books do not need to be read in any particular order. Each volume stands on its own, so readers can pick whichever city interests them and dive in. For fans of short fiction with a dark sensibility and a strong sense of place, this is one of the best ongoing series in the genre.