Order of Ross Macdonald Books
Ross Macdonald was the pen name of American-Canadian author Kenneth Millar (1915-1983). During his career, Macdonald wrote crime fiction/mystery novels, largely featuring P.I. Lew Archer that were set in Southern California. Along with Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, he is considered to be one of the masters of hardboiled mysteries. His plots were complex, usually involving Archer digging up family secrets. His first two Lew Archer novels were adapted into films starring Paul Newman as “Lew Harper.”
Ross Macdonald made his debut as a fiction author in 1944 with The Dark Tunnel (aka I Die Slowly). His final novel was The Blue Hammer, published in 1976. Below is a list of Ross Macdonald’s books in order of when they were originally published (and in chronological order):
Publication Order of Lew Archer Books
| The Moving Target / Harper | (1949) |    |
| The Drowning Pool | (1950) | |
| The Way Some People Die | (1951) | |
| The Ivory Grin / Marked for Murder | (1952) | |
| Find a Victim | (1954) | |
| The Barbarous Coast | (1956) | |
| The Doomsters | (1958) | |
| The Galton Case | (1959) | |
| The Wycherly Woman | (1961) | |
| The Zebra-Striped Hearse | (1962) | |
| The Chill | (1963) | |
| The Far Side of the Dollar | (1965) | |
| Black Money | (1966) | |
| The Instant Enemy | (1968) | |
| The Goodbye Look | (1969) | |
| The Underground Man | (1971) | |
| Sleeping Beauty | (1973) | |
| The Blue Hammer | (1976) | |
Publication Order of Lew Archer Collections
| The Name is Archer | (1955) | |
| Lew Archer, Private Investigator | (1977) | |
| The Archer Files | (2007) | |
Publication Order of Chet Gordon Books
(as Kenneth Millar)
| The Dark Tunnel / I Die Slowly | (1944) | |
| Trouble Follows Me | (1946) | |
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
| Blue City | (1947) | |
| The Three Roads | (1948) | |
| Meet Me at the Morgue / Experience with Evil | (1954) | |
| The Ferguson Affair | (1967) | |
Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas
| The Guilty Ones | (1952) | |
| The Imaginary Blonde | (1953) | |
| Midnight Blue | (2010) | |
Publication Order of Short Story Collections
| Strangers in Town | (2001) | |
Publication Order of Akashic Noir Books
| San Francisco Noir | (2002) | |
| Seattle Noir | (2003) | |
| Bronx Noir | (2003) | |
| Brooklyn Noir | (2004) | |
| Chicago Noir | (2005) | |
| Los Angeles Noir | (2007) | |
| Wall Street Noir | (2007) | |
| Havana Noir | (2007) | |
| Detroit Noir | (2007) | |
| D.C. Noir 2 | (2008) | |
| Queens Noir | (2008) | |
| Las Vegas Noir | (2008) | |
| Trinidad Noir | (2008) | |
| Istanbul Noir | (2008) | |
| Paris Noir | (2008) | |
| San Francisco Noir 2 | (2009) | |
| Portland Noir | (2009) | |
| Delhi Noir | (2009) | |
| Los Angeles Noir 2 | (2010) | |
| Mexico City Noir | (2010) | |
| Indian Country Noir | (2010) | |
| Moscow Noir | (2010) | |
| Philadelphia Noir | (2010) | |
| Lone Star Noir | (2010) | |
| Haiti Noir | (2010) | |
| Copenhagen Noir | (2010) | |
| Barcelona Noir | (2011) | |
| Cape Cod Noir | (2011) | |
| Kingston Noir | (2012) | |
| Venice Noir | (2012) | |
| St. Petersburg Noir | (2012) | |
| Kansas City Noir | (2012) | |
| Boston Noir 2 | (2012) | |
| Staten Island Noir | (2012) | |
| New York City Noir: The Five Borough Set | (2012) | |
| USA Noir | (2013) | |
| Haiti Noir 2 | (2013) | |
| Helsinki Noir | (2014) | |
| Prison Noir | (2014) | |
| Tel Aviv Noir | (2014) | |
| Chicago Noir: The Classics | (2015) | |
| Zagreb Noir | (2015) | |
| Buffalo Noir | (2015) | |
| Marseille Noir | (2015) | |
| Beirut Noir | (2015) | |
| Stockholm Noir | (2016) | |
| Rio Noir | (2016) | |
| Brussels Noir | (2016) | |
| St. Louis Noir | (2016) | |
| Prague Noir | (2016) | |
| San Juan Noir | (2016) | |
| Oakland Noir | (2017) | |
| Montana Noir | (2017) | |
| Buenos Aires Noir | (2017) | |
| São Paulo Noir | (2018) | |
| Hong Kong Noir | (2018) | |
| Houston Noir | (2019) | |
| Milwaukee Noir | (2019) | |
| Nairobi Noir | (2020) | |
| Alabama Noir | (2020) | |
| Tampa Bay Noir | (2020) | |
| Addis Ababa Noir | (2020) | |
| Belgrade Noir | (2020) | |
| Accra Noir | (2020) | |
| Paris Noir: The Suburbs | (2022) | |
Publication Order of Anthologies
| City Sleuths and Tough Guys | (1989) | |
| The Oxford Book of American Detective Stories | (1996) | |
| Writing Los Angeles | (2002) | |
| Books to Die For | (2012) | |
Notes: The Chet Gordon series, Blue City and The Three Roads were originally published under his real name of Kenneth Millar. The Dark Tunnel was also published as I Die Slowly. Trouble Follows Me was also published as Night Train. The Moving Target was also published as Harper. The Ivory Grin was also published as Marked for Murder. Meet Me at the Morgue was also titled Experience With Evil.
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