Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Los Alamos | 1997 | Joseph Kanon | Buy |
| 2 | The Prodigal Spy | 1998 | Joseph Kanon | Buy |
| 3 | The Good German | 2001 | Joseph Kanon | Buy |
| 4 | Alibi | 2005 | Joseph Kanon | Buy |
| 5 | Stardust | 2009 | Joseph Kanon | Buy |
| 6 | Istanbul Passage | 2012 | Joseph Kanon | Buy |
| 7 | Leaving Berlin | 2014 | Joseph Kanon | Buy |
| 8 | Defectors | 2017 | Joseph Kanon | Buy |
| 9 | The Accomplice | 2019 | Joseph Kanon | Buy |
| 10 | The Berlin Exchange | 2022 | Joseph Kanon | Buy |
| 11 | Shanghai | 2024 | Joseph Kanon | Buy |
Joseph Kanon’s eleven novels are all standalone stories set in the mid-20th century, connected by theme rather than characters. Los Alamos (1997) places a murder inside the Manhattan Project. The Good German (2001) follows a journalist through occupied Berlin. Stardust (2009) sets espionage against the Hollywood studio system. Each book takes a real historical moment and builds a fictional spy story within it.
The later novels continue to mine the same era from different angles. Istanbul Passage (2012) covers a CIA operation in neutral Turkey. Leaving Berlin (2014) sends an exiled writer back to East Germany. The Accomplice (2019) follows a Nazi hunter in postwar Vienna. Shanghai (2024) is Kanon’s most recent, exploring the city’s refugee community during the war. Kanon writes slowly and carefully, with roughly one book every two to three years, and the quality has stayed consistent across the full run.