The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion

Looking for some great Hard-Boiled & Noir books.

Something like;
The Big Sleep
The Postman Always Rings Twice
The Maltese Falcon
The Killer Inside Me

Definitely the Factory series by Derek Raymond. If you don't want to go international, you might enjoy James Crumley.

Both authors look great. Will check them out :)

Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
and anything by Cornell Woolridge

wow so many great choices, so many books to read. I better get busy

Farewell my Lovely

Double Indemnity (the movie is pretty good, too)
The Thin Man
Kiss Me, Deadly

Merrill mentioned Kiss Me, Deadly by Micky Spillane......all of his works are very hard boiled and violent and are reminiscent of the old pulp magazines which specialized in those types of tales.

I might suggest P.N. Elrod from out in left field. Her Vampire Files books are written in a hard boiled detective format. The main character is Jack Fleming, a PI, working in 1930's Chicago. He just happens as well to be a vampire. I've read a few of the series; Lady Crymsyn for one. You might find them an interesting twist on the hard boiled detective type novel.

Jill, I met Mickey Spillane when I was working for Books-A-Million. I was a District Manager for NC, SC, TN, and WV and he used to come in our Bookland store at the mall in Myrtle Beach. If I was at the store when he came by we'd always go down to the food court and have some coffee and chat about books and writing and whatnot. It was a blast.

Bill, I'm reading an interesting book by Dan Vining - "Among the Living." His main character is a "Sailor" which is someone who has died and come back to life. He's not a vampire, he's just in limbo until he resolves some issue that doesn't allow him to move on. There are other Sailors - some good and some bad.

The main character is a private detective and it has a hard-boiled feel to it. I was afraid the Sailor bit would be hokey, but he handles it well. It's interesting. I really like his writing style.

It's billed as "Raymond Chandler meets Stephen King." You ought to check it out.

Merrill Heath
Consequences

So many great choices here, another few I was recommended (else where) included

Dog Soldiers - described to me as Raymond Chandler meets Hunter S. Thompson. In a good way.
Fast One - they described the writer as the 20-minute egg of hard boil

Dog Soldiers is awesome! I think I'll reread it here shortly. Thanks for the reminder.

Merrill wrote: "Bill, I'm reading an interesting book by Dan Vining - "Among the Living." His main character is a "Sailor" which is someone who has died and come back to life. He's not a vampire, he's just in limb..."

Thanks for the suggestion, Merrill. Much appreciated

Merrill wrote: "Jill, I met Mickey Spillane when I was working for Books-A-Million. I was a District Manager for NC, SC, TN, and WV and he used to come in our Bookland store at the mall in Myrtle Beach. If I was a..."

I shop at one of the WV BAM stores....the one outside of Charleston. Love it.....too bad Spillane didn't come to that store back in the day!!! My father was a big reader of Spillane's books and I have read several. They are hard-boiled fiction at its best.

I would check out any of the Angie and Patrick series by Dennis Lehane. The last book was a little so-so but the first five books are solid hard-boiled reads. The first book is below:

A Drink Before the War

If you want to go slightly out of the mystery genre, try Mike Carey's The Devil You Know. It's paranormal but really, really gritty and quite disturbing. That book creeped me out and I am not the easiest person to do that too!
The Devil You Know

Thanks, Raymond. I may check out Carey's book. Sounds interesting.

Merrill Heath
Bearing False Witness

I've said it before, no one is boiled harder than Jack Taylor... Start with The Guards

I've just started The Guards. Too soon to tell. But I liked it enough to go beyond the Kindle sample.

I just finished The Best American Noir of the Century. Well worth it for Noir fans

Crime Novels : American Noir of the 1950s is another great book of short stories, which includes
Strangers on a Trainamong others. A chilling read for the noir fans.

The Postman Always Rings Twice/Double Indemnity/Mildred Pierce & Selected Stories

The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith is one of the great ones. There's no big whodunit mystery going on, but the way she puts you inside Ripley's head--very disturbing and as noir as night.

I got a copy of The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps: The Best Crime Stories from the Pulps During Their Golden Age--The '20s, '30s & '40s to read now.

Knowledge Lost wrote: "Looking for some great Hard-Boiled & Noir books.

Something like;
The Big Sleep
The Postman Always Rings Twice
The Maltese Falcon
The Killer Insid..."</i>

I hope it's not uncool to point out that my mystery, Sweet and Lowdown, is an homage to The Big Sleep. Set in 1940 - the year The Big Sleep was published - it is set in Kansas City. Private detective Dorie Lennox and her partner Amos Haddam are trying to keep rich and beautiful Thalia Hines from destroying herself. The chauffeur gets killed, just like Sleep, but in this case we find out who killed him. Plus American Nazis, Wendell Willkie v. FDR, jazz and swing, and the Blitz.

Enjoy.

[book:Sweet and Lowdown

Sounds good Lise, I will try and get a copy of the book

Must jump in and mention this month's Club Read: The Little Sister, as you've mentioned The Big Sleep, anything by Chandler.

I'm reading the little sister :-) I love all of Chandlers books

Oddly enough, no one's mentioned James Ellroy yet. His later books tend to get a bit style heavy, but his earlier novels: Big Nowhere, Black Dahlia, Clandestine, etc, are some of the finest modern noirs around

I like Ellroy, I'm currently reading his memoirs; My Dark Places

I'd recommend John Rector's The Cold Kiss. I've just posted a review here and at http://nigelpbird.blogspot.com for those who are interested. It's noir and not hard-boiled.

nigel

Hi, I'm new to the group, but would like to recommend Noho for anyone interested in 1930s era crime fiction. It's hard boiled noir.

Set in London's West End, Noho tells the story of disgraced war hero Nick Valentine's race to find the killer of a murdered nightclub chorus girl. Pitted against foreign spies, underworld gangsters and a rogue British intelligence agent, Nick soon discovers who killed her may be less important than why.

Thanks in advance and I hope you enjoy it.
James

This author writes good hardboiled/police procedurals, most are 99 cents and 5-star ratings:

Thanks Daniel! I just got Dead Wood for my Ipad and can't wait to read it!! My first E book!! :)

I ordered the other two-LOL!!! :)

Bri Clark here reporting in for Vince. I'm his publicist. The Screamcatcher December blog tour organized by the wonderful Molly Edwards will be announced on the Vox tomorrow. Along with the Screamcatcher trailer! Anyone who has not joined and would like to please contact Bri at bri@belleconsult.com and I'll get you on the calendar along wtih a digital copy of Screamcatcher.

Vincent wrote: "Bri Clark here reporting in for Vince. I'm his publicist. The Screamcatcher December blog tour organized by the wonderful Molly Edwards will be announced on the Vox tomorrow. Along with the Screamc..."

Hi Bri,
You might want to cross post this in the "Author's Corner" or the "Sites and Blogs" folders so more people will see it.

Check out Loren D Estleman's Amos Walker series. In particular, Never Street Great noir novel, that salutes some of the classic noir films.

Check out Richard Stark's (Donald Westlake) early Parker novels from the '60's. Parker is absolutely amoral!

Brian January

Here's a hard-boiled mystery for FREE, from yours truly :-) DISTRACTED: A THRILLER /Distracted: A Thriller

http://www.amazon.com/Distracted-A-Th...

Hilda's Big Day Out: A Short Story, To the Devil, My Regards and The Early Crap: Selected Short Stories, 1997-2005are all free for a couple of days. Guthrie and Doc Noir. How good can it get.

nigel
Dirty Old Town and Other Stories

From a review of The Ambivalent Corpse at www.amazon.com. Four Stars. Amazon Verified Purchase
“Namroff” says: “This combination murder mystery and tour of South America moves along very quickly. There are a few surprises but like the really good mysteries, the clues are there. Having been to Montevideo and Buenos Aires and being a Jewish biochemist, this book had special appeal to me. Regardless, I think anyone looking for a bit of diversion would enjoy it. This is the authors' second work of fiction and shows real promise for creating a new genre- the punster detective - and what's more novel than that?” This book is also available from Smashwords, Apple, Nook, Sony, and Kobo.

From a review of The Ambivalent Corpse on Amazon. Four Stars. Amazon Verified Purchase
“Namroff” says: “This combination murder mystery and tour of South America moves along very quickly. There are a few surprises but like the really good mysteries, the clues are there. Having been to Montevideo and Buenos Aires and being a Jewish biochemist, this book had special appeal to me. Regardless, I think anyone looking for a bit of diversion would enjoy it. This is the authors' second work of fiction and shows real promise for creating a new genre- the punster detective - and what's more novel than that?”
This book is also available from Smashwords, Apple, Nook, Sony, and Kobo.

If noir is what you're looking for, I'd recommend Kelli Stanley. She has two noir series, one set in San Francisco in the 30's City of Dragons and City of Secrets. The other is set in ancient Rome--and somehow the combination works really well--The Curse-Maker

Jill wrote: "Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
and anything by Cornell Woolridge"

Can't seem to find Cornell Woolrige. Got another way for me to look him up?

The Bride Wore Black by Cornell Woolrich

Does that help?

Jan C wrote: "The Bride Wore Black by Cornell Woolrich

Does that help?"

Helps tremendously. I was trying your original post of Woolridge, and was getting nowhere. Maybe you would like to edit, message 4?

This is a wonderful tip. I have added some of his books to my list.

Almeta wrote: "Jan C wrote: "The Bride Wore Black by Cornell Woolrich

Does that help?"

Helps tremendously. I was trying your original post of Woolridge, and was getting nowhere..."

Whew! I was afraid that was me. But it was Jill.

Jan C wrote: "The Bride Wore Black by Cornell Woolrich
Does that help?"

Ah, yes, since you had responded, without looking further, I just assumed it was your original post.

Jill wrote: "Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
and anything by Cornell Woolridge"

Jill, you might want to edit your #4 message, and change the author's name to Woolrich instead of Woolridge.

Again, I do appreciate the suggestion.

Thanks to you both.

Richard Stark who wrote The Hunter, the first Parker novel.

John wrote: "(I would have created a link for him, but there are several writers listed with the same name.) "

John: The best way to do that is to look up the book with the add book/author tool. When you have found the correct book you click on the author tab and the choices are usually reduced to one or two.

It's usually pretty easy to decide which is correct, but you can always "right click" on the author's name (or book title) and open in a new window to check.