Reading order
L.A. Quartet reading order
1
2
3
4- 7.77.7 / 10237 ratings
- Score
- 4 volumes
- Volumes
- 1987–1992
- Published
- about 35 h
- Reading time
- Completed
- Status
- Crime & mystery#29
- Genre
Quick answer
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Publication order
4 volumes1987–1992Completed
- James Ellroy’s crime novels of Los Angeles in the 1940s and 50s, full of corrupt cops, scandal and violence.
- The Black Dahlia, built around a real unsolved 1947 murder, is the most read but the lowest rated; the books rate higher as they go, with L.A. Confidential, filmed in 1997, at the top.
- Read in order, as characters carry over; the prose grows ever more clipped, most of all in White Jazz.
A plan for the whole series
4 volumes, 1,863 pages, about 35 hours. At 45 min a day that is about 7 weeks.
Share of volume 1’s readers who reach the last volume. Chance of reaching the last volume: medium
Stages
2 stages, with 1 short book from outside the series between them. You finish around December 17, 2026, 4 days later than in one go.
- Stage 117 habout 3 weeksby November 21, 2026
- Short breakThe Fire Next Time · James Baldwin · 120 pp. · score 8.8
- Stage 217 habout 3 weeksby December 17, 2026
- The end of the series
We count 1.1 min per page, the pace of an average novel reader. Faster? Move the slider.
How this plan is calculated
The plan comes from the pages and ratings of each volume: we split the series into stages of about three weeks’ reading, size each break to the stage before it, and read the chance of finishing from how many readers rate the last volume compared with the first. How we work out the plan →
Every volume in order
Order checked by hand · Order and years: Wikidata (CC0). Spotted an error? Tell us. · Data updated October 29, 2026
Frequently asked questions
Which L.A. Quartet book is the best?
By reader score, L.A. Confidential (7.8/10). The lowest-rated is The Black Dahlia (7.6/10).
Which L.A. Quartet book is the longest?
“The Big Nowhere” is the longest at 496 pages; the shortest is “White Jazz” with 416 pages.
What should I read after L.A. Quartet?
Other series by James Ellroy: Underworld USA Trilogy, Lloyd Hopkins Trilogy.
