Akashic Noir books in order

Reading order

The Akashic Noir series is one of the most extensive short fiction anthology franchises in contemporary publishing. Launched with Brooklyn Noir in 2004, the series has expanded to cover cities across every continent, with each volume collecting crime and noir short fiction by authors from or connected to a specific location. The editors and contributors vary from volume to volume, with each city’s anthology reflecting its own literary community.

The series has now passed 120 volumes, covering locations from San Francisco and Seattle to Istanbul, Lagos, Beirut, Nairobi, Hong Kong, and beyond. The range reflects Akashic Books’ deliberate international scope and its interest in how the noir tradition translates across different urban cultures and literary traditions. Some volumes have become particularly well regarded – Brooklyn Noir (2004) and its sequels, the New Orleans Noir volumes, and several of the international entries – while others are of primary interest to readers with connections to the specific city.

Michael David Lukas has an editorial connection to certain volumes in the series rather than being the primary author of all 121 entries. Readers interested in the Akashic Noir series as a whole should know that each volume is an independent anthology, edited and written by different people, and the series is best sampled by choosing the volume for a city you know or are curious about.