- Abe, Kobo. The Ruined Map, translated from the Japanese by E. Dale Saunders. [FICT ABE KOBO Ruined]
- Mr. Nemuro, a respected salesman, disappeared over half a year ago, but only now does his alluring yet alcoholic wife hire a private eye. The nameless detective has but two clues: a photo and a matchbook. With these he embarks upon an ever more puzzling pursuit that leads him into the depths of Tokyo's dangerous underworld, where he begins to lose the boundaries of his own identity. Surreal, fast-paced, and hauntingly dreamlike, Abe's masterly novel delves into the unknowable mysteries of the human mind.
- Atwood, Russell. East of A [FICT ATWOOD RUSSELL East of]
- Payton Sherwood, a novice private detective in New York's East Village, stumbles upon a murder that draws him into the dark and desperate underside of the city, in a neo-noir urban mystery.
- Baer, Will Christopher. Kiss Me, Judas [FICT BAER, WILL CHRISTOP Kiss me]
- A former police officer awakens after a night of sex with a strange woman to find that one of his kidneys has been removed, an event that sends him into a drugged-out underworld.
- Baer, Will Christopher. Penny Dreadful [FICT BAER WILL CHRISTOP Penny dr]
- In the suspenseful sequel to Kiss Me, Judas , ex-cop Phineas Poe joins his old ally, Detective Moon, in the search for a missing officer, Jimmy Sky, a man who may not even exist, and becomes embroiled in a bizarre role-playing game involving sexual warfare, torture, paranoid visions, and multiple realities.
- Bogart, Stephen Humphrey. Play It Again [MYST BOGART STEPHEN Play it]
- Abandoning his childhood Tinseltown home for a career as a New York City "Matrimonial Detective," the only son of a famous Hollywood couple must uncover the painful ghosts of the past when his mother is murdered.
- Bruen, Ken. The Guards [FICT BRUEN KEN Guards]
- Stuck in a rut after his dismissal from the Irish police force and still grieving the death of his father, Jack Taylor finds renewal when an intriguing woman hires him based on his rumored talent for finding things, unaware of what his attractive client has in mind.
- Bruen, Ken. Rilke On Black [MYST BRUEN, KEN Rilke on]
- In south London, an unlikely gang of kidnappers -- Nick, an ex-bouncer; Dex, a charismatic sociopath; and Lisa, a motormouth junkie femme fatale -- hatches a plot. Their prey is a powerful local businessman with an obsession for the poet Rilke. The thing is, each kidnapper has a very different agenda, which means it's only a matter of time before the joking stops and the violence takes over.
- Bruen, Ken. The Hackman Blues [MYST BRUEN, KEN Hackman]
- This violent, profane novel is also wickedly entertaining and, in places, quite funny. Tony Brady is hired by a would-be Gene Hackman look-alike to find his missing daughter. Sounds simple enough -- until Tony sees an opportunity to make a lot of money and starts improvising, thus complicating matters and winding up in the middle of a kidnapping. Fans of gritty, witty crime stories -- like those of Elmore Leonard -- will be thoroughly delighted by this twisted caper novel.
- Bruen, Ken. Her Last Call to Louis MacNeice [MYST BRUEN KEN London]
- Cooper had done his time in prison. Now on the outside, he'd set up a legitimate business with Doc, whom he'd met inside. They called themselves "Righteous Repo," and they even had an accountant. The repo firm did good business, but it wasn't anywhere near as exhilarating as the bank jobs they did on the side.
- Cain, James M. Cain x 3: Three Novels by James M. Cain [MYST CAIN, JAMES M. Cain]
- James M. Cain is one of the most famous of the hard-boiled fiction writers who came to prominence in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s. His place in history is further assured by the film adaptations of three of his novels, classics in film noir : Double Indemnity (1944, starring Barbara Stanwyck), about an insurance agent who schemes with a woman to murder her husband; Mildred Pierce (1945, starring Joan Crawford) which tells the story of sex, money, and snobbery in a divorcée's business, love, and family life; and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946, starring Lana Turner), about a drifter who has an affair with his boss's wife and then plots to murder him.
- Cain, James M. The Baby in the Icebox and Other Short Fiction [MYST CAIN, JAMES M. Baby in]
- Short stories from a master of hard-boiled fiction.
- Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s [FICT CRIME NO]
- From The Library of America. Includes The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson; The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith; Pick-up by Charles Willeford; Down There by David Goodis; and The Real Cool Killers by Chester Himes.
- Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1930s and 40s [FICT CRIME NOVELS]
- Includes The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain; They Shoot Horses, Don't They by Horace McCoy; Thieves Like Us by Edward Anderson; The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing; Nightmare Alley by William Lindsay Gresham; and I Married a Dead Man by Cornell Woolrich. From The Library of America.
- Caspary, Vera. Laura [FICT CASPARY, VERA Laura]
- Laura Hunt was the ideal modern woman: beautiful, elegant, highly ambitious, and utterly mysterious. No man could resist her charms -- not even the hardboiled NYPD detective sent to find out who turned her into a faceless corpse. As this tough cop probes the mystery of Laura's death, he becomes obsessed with her strange power. Soon he realizes he's been seduced by a dead woman -- or has he? Laura won lasting renown as an Academy Award-nominated 1944 film, the greatest noir romance of all time, starring Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, and Clifton Webb; and produced and directed by Otto Preminger.
- Chang, Leonard. Over the Shoulder [MYST CHANG LEONARD Over the]
- In the wake of his partner's murder, a reluctant investigator, Korean-American bodyguard Allen Choice, follows a trail that leads him back in time to the death of his father twenty years earlier, and eventually to the true meaning and origin of the American dream.
- Clark, Robert. Mr. White's Confession [FICT CLARK ROBERT Mr. White]
- In St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1939, Lieutenant Wesley Horner searches for the killer of a beautiful showgirl, a case in which the chief suspect becomes Herbert White, an eccentric recluse and hobby photographer, in a novel that explores the inner worlds of two very different men.
- Cooper, Clarence L. The Farm [FICT COOPER, CLARENCE L. Farm]
- A Dante-esque tour of the levels of hell to be found in a federal drug rehabilitation center and a powerful story of love growing in the most unnatural conditions.
- Edwards, Louis. N: A Romantic Mystery [MYST EDWARDS, LOUIS N]
- An independent journalist who works on an alternative newspaper finds herself drawn to a drug dealer named Strip and the community in which he lives in as she investigates the murder of an eighteen-year-old boy.
- Ellroy, James. The Cold Six Thousand [FICT ELLROY JAMES Cold six]
- Arriving in 1963 Dallas, Vegas cop Wayne Tedrow Jr. becomes swept up in the cover-up conspiracy surrounding JFK's assassination, an event that marks the beginning of his association with Howard Hughes, the Klan, J. Edgar Hoover, Vietnam, and more.
- Ellroy, James. L. A. Noir [MYST ELLROY JAMES L.A. Noir]
- A hardcover compendium of three detective novels by the author of L.A. Confidential , the basis of the motion picture, includes Blood on the Moon, Because the Night, and Suicide Hill.
- Elrod, P. N. The Dark Sleep [FICT ELROD, P.N. Dark sle]
- A new volume in the popular series The Vampire Files , finds Chicago detective Jack Fleming, who also happens to be a vampire, coping with blackmail in high society, his partner being wounded, and a radio star chasing after Jack's girlfriend.
- Goodis, David. The Moon in the Gutter [FICT GOODIS DAVID Moon in]
- Another piece of pulp fiction, Goodis's 1953 noirish novel portrays the story of protagonist Bill Kerrigan, a poor street-hardened man who marries wealthy Loretta Channing. Kerrigan, however, soon learns that class is something you can't buy and once a street punk, always a street punk.
- Goodis, David.Street of No Return [FICT GOODIS DAVID Street]
- Whitey is wrongfully acused of killing a policeman and becomes caught up the schemes of three brutal gangsters.
- Gores, Joe. Cases [MYST GORES JOE Cases]
- A recent graduate of Notre Dame, Pierce Duncan embarks on a cross-country odyssey across postwar America, a quest that leads to fateful encounters with a redneck chain-gang guard, a vicious killer, a corrupt LA cult leader, and a tough private eye. By the Edgar Award-winning author of Contract Null & Void.
- Green, Norman. Shooting Dr. Jack [FICT GREEN NORMAN Shooting]
- Three men -- Fat Tommy Roselli, Stoney, and Turco -- work out their various aggressions and redemptions on the unforgiving street.
- Hendricks, Vicki. Voluntary Madness [FICT HENDRICKS VICKI Voluntar]
- Hendricks, the author of Miami Purity , perhaps the most impressive noir debut in the last decade, revisits the dark side with two short novels, “Iguana Love” and “Voluntary Madness,” reprising her favorite theme -- women in the grip of sexual obsession.
- Himes, Chester. Yesterday Will Make You Cry [FICT HIMES, CHESTER B. Yesterda]
- A restored edition of the author's 1937 autobiographical novel of Jimmy Monroe portrays an African-American prisoner who must endure racism, homosexuality, and prison corruption, all of which test the limits of his sanity, his capacity for suffering, and his definition of love.
- Himes, Chester. Pinktoes [FICT HIMES CHESTER Pinktoes]
- Mamie Mason, an influential Harlem society matron, hosts open sexual orgies in hopes of developing harmony between the races.
- Himes, Chester. A Rage in Harlem [MYST HIMES CHESTER Rage in]
- Goldy, Jackson's crafty twin brother, tries to help Jackson recover his life savings from the con man who cheated him.
- James, Russell. Oh No, Not My Baby [FICT JAMES RUSSELL Oh no no]
- All sax player Nick Chance has is his music, but that's enough -- until he sees Babette again. She had been an unapproachable queen in school, smart and beautiful. Now she's back, and Nick is in love. So, seemingly, is she. But she's also a zealous animal-rights activist, and she convinces Nick to drive her to a meat-processing plant she hopes to expose. While he waits for her in the dark parking lot, ambulances and police arrive. By dawn, he learns that she has been killed in a monstrous machine that pulverizes carcasses and that police and a clutch of creepy corporate thugs and shadowy ecoterrorists are anxious to talk to him.
- Japrisot, Sebastien. The Lady in the Car With Glasses and a Gun [MYST JAPRISOT SEBASTIE Lady in]
- Intense noir, dealing with a woman joyriding into mystery.
- Krabbe, Tim. The Cave, translated from the Dutch by Sam Garrett [KRABBE TIM Cave]
- The complex friendship between Egon Wagter and the seductive and amoral Axel van de Graaf continues throughout their diverging lives as the conventional Egon finds himself tempted, fascinated, and, ultimately, betrayed by the near-satanic and nihilistic power of Axel. By the author of The Golden Egg.
- Landesman, Peter. Blood Acre [FICT LANDESMAN PETER Blood ac]
- In a dark portrayal of a maddened man, the son and partner of a powerful, corrupt New York lawyer undertakes a final shady deal as his life spins out of control and he becomes a prime suspect in a murder.
- Lansdale, Joe R. Bad Chili [MYST LANSDALE JOE R. Bad]
- Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, the popular Texas heroes of the best-selling The Two-Bear Mambo , embark on a picaresque adventure down South when Leonard is named the prime suspect in connection with the murder of a local good ol' boy.
- Lansdale, Joe R. Captains Outrageous [FICT LANSDALE JOE Captains]
- Hap Collins and Leonard Pine head back to Mexico is seek revenge for the murder of a beautiful young lady, currently involved with a Mexican mobster and a practicing nudist, who, along with her elderly father, had rescued them both from armed attackers.
- Lansdale, Joe R. Rumble Tumble [FICT LANSDALE JOE R. Rumble t]
- In the sequel to Bad Chili, Hap Collins puts his mid-life crisis on hold to join his best buddy, Leonard Pine, and his girlfriend, Brett, on a mission to rescue Brett's troubled daughter from the dangerous inhabitants of Hootie Hoot, Oklahoma.
- Lansdale, Joe R. The Two-Bear Mambo [MYST LANSDALE JOE R Two]
- Ex-convict Hap Collins and his buddy, Leonard Pine tangle with redneck racists and a voodoo graveyard while trying to solve a grim mystery.
- Lewis, Heather. The Second Suspect [FICT LEWIS HEATHER Second s]
- When a wealthy, powerful couple's sexual extravagance leads to the death of a young prostitute, New York detective Caroline Reese must overcome the blinding influence of her own past to solve the case.
- Lovell, Glenville. Too Beautiful to Die [MYST LOVELL GLENVILL Too]
- At odds with the NYPD over an incident that ended his career and nearly his life, African-American former police officer Blades Overstreet is prevailed upon to help a soap-opera star find her missing father, a situation that turns dangerous when Blades is accused of murdering an FBI agent.
- Manchette, Jean-Patrick. Three to Kill, translated from the French by Donald Nicholson-Smith [FICT MANCHETTE JEAN-PAT Three to]
- Backed by a tremendous European reputation, one of the stars of Gallimard's Série Noire comes to America with a lean thriller, in a brilliant new translation. Manchette (1942-1995) did translations himself, as well as leftist political writing, potboilers and TV scripts, but his 10 crime novels composed between 1971 and 1982 are considered his masterworks. This 1976 title features the ordinary businessman Georges Gerfaut, drawn by chance into the net cast by two hit men, Carlo and Bastien, working on assignment for the mysterious "Mr. Taylor." For no reason Gerfaut can comprehend, the pair are suddenly trying to kill him, and he must flee for his life.
- Miano, Mark. Dead of Summer [MYST MIANO MARK Dead of]
- On vacation in Connecticut, tough TV news producer Michael Carpo investigates the supposed suicide of his old friend, Jack Crawford, and discovers that seven other local residents have also died tragically in the last three years, a deadly trail that leads Carpo into a labyrinthine web of evil and conspiracy.
- Monroe, Steve. '46, Chicago [FICT MONROE STEVE Forty]
- Suspended from the Chicago police department after taking out a gunman who kills two people in the brothel that he is patronizing, crooked Chicago cop and World War II veteran Gus Carson accepts a job from an aspiring politician to find a kidnapped black racketeer.
- Nolan, William F. The Black Mask Boys: Masters in the Hard-Boiled School of Detective Fiction [813.0872 N711b]
- A collection of vintage detective fiction gives tribute to many of the masters in the hard-boiled school of detective fiction and the legacy of the "Black Mask," the magazine that made them famous. Featuring classic fiction by: Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner, Horace McCoy, Carroll John Daly, Frederick Nebel, Raoul Whitfield, and Paul Cain. Includes bibliographies.
- Pelecanos George P. Shoedog [PELECANO GEORGE P Shoedog]
- In a hardboiled noir mystery by the author of Nick's Trip, a Washington, D.C., liquor store heist shows a drifter named Constantine what it means to be a shoedog.
- Pelecanos George P. Down By the River Where the Dead Men Go [MYST PELECANOS, GEORGE P. Down by]
- Sleeping off a night of drinking in a public park, Nick Stefanos is awakened by a dull plopping sound and a quiet splash that turn out to be the murder of Calvin Jetter, and the beginning of a grim investigation.
- Pelecanos George P. King Suckerman [FICT PELECANOS, GEORGE P. King]
- In the summer of 1976, Clay and Kattas stumble onto a drug deal gone bad and end up with a heap of money that is not theirs, but when the dealers come for the cash, the unfortunate duo must take a stand, go straight, and get justice --- and revenge.
- Pelecanos George P. Right As Rain [MYST PELECANOS, GEORGE P. Right as]
- Ex-cop Derek Strange is hired by the mother of a slain police officer to investigate the killing and quickly stumbles across the guilty feelings of another cop involved in the incident.
- Pelecanos George P. Shame the Devil [FICT PELECANOS, GEORGE P. Shame th]
- A restaurant robbery goes badly wrong in Washington, D.C., leaving a number of employees dead, the gunman's brother killed by police, and a young boy run over by the getaway car, a situation that rapidly worsens as the gunman vows to avenge his brother by killing every person involved in his death.
- Pronzini, Bill and Jack Adrian, eds. Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories [MYST HARD]
- A bravura collection of hard-boiled stories including such authors as Dashiell Hammett, Raoul Whitfield, W.R. Burnett, Paul Cain, Daniel Mainwaring, Jim Thompson, Margaret Maron, Andrew Vachss, Ed Gorman, and many, many more.
- Rathbone, Julian. Accidents Will Happen [FICT RATHBONE JULIAN Accident]
- In the fictional German city of Burg, Renata Fechter has been demoted from the Serious Crime Unit to head the Eco-Squad, a rag-tag group of misfits and cast-offs charged with "investigating" (i.e., ignoring) environmental crimes. Soon after the murder and cover-up of a nuclear accident, a crime syndicate that ships radioactive waste to the Baltics and Fechter's own illicit affair with a scheming businessman are steering the new chief into violent waters. From a master of British noir.
- Ridley, John. Love is a Racket [FICT RIDLEY JOHN Love is]
- An alcoholic street hustler and failed screenwriter with a loan shark on his back, Jeffty Kittridge stumbles upon a beautiful, young homeless woman and cooks up the scheme of a lifetime, only to fall prey to love.
- Shannon, Ray. Man Eater [FICT SHANNON RAY Man]
- Finding herself in trouble after interfering in a hired thug's attempt to reclaim stolen drug money, Hollywood executive Ronnie Deal finds assistance from ex-con and aspiring screenwriter Ellis Langford.
- Spencer, John B. Perhaps She'll Die [MYST SPENCER JOHN B Perhaps]
- It's a jungle out there for Giles, a main-chance London Live reporter, whether he's facing down the sharks at work, disporting himself with Celeste, a femme fatale of twice his years and 20 times his experience, or relaxing in the frazzled bosom of his wife Denise, who's just about had it with Giles's bits on the side. Then Celeste's husband returns – and things get really interesting.
- Stansberry, Domenic. Manifesto for the Dead[MYST STANSBERRY DOMENIC Manifest]
- Nearing the end of his career, aging crime novelist Jim Thompson takes on a project from a small-time Hollywood producer and soon finds that he is being framed for the murder of a Hollywood starlet.
- Starr, Jason. Nothing Personal [FICT STARR JASON Nothing]
- In debt to two bookies and a loan shark, compulsive gambler Joey DePino hatches a desperate plan to kidnap the young daughter of David and Leslie Sussman, a wealthy Upper East Side couple who are friends with Joey's wife. Enlisting a brain-damaged childhood friend as his accomplice, Joey sets his ill-conceived plan into motion.
- Stone, Michael. Token of Remorse [MYST STONE MICHAEL Token of]
- In the third installment of the Streeter mystery series, the ex-football player-turned-bounty hunter finds himself chasing the mistress and nephew of a sleazy water-bed millionaire to the barrios of Mexico. By the author of The Low End of Nowhere.
- Stone, Michael. Totally Dead [MYST STONE MICHAEL Totally]
- Ex-linebacker-turned-Denver P.I. Streeter battles a whole new set of low-lifes, when he represents a local restaurateur who lands in hot water with some major underworld figures and ends up in the middle of a pizza war.
- Thompson, Jim. Bad Boy [FICT THOMPSON JIM Bad boy]
- In an outrageous autobiographical novel, suspense novelist Jim Thompson details his rich and bawdy youth, from birth to burgeoning manhood at age twenty-one, recalling his coming of age in the American Southwest during the 1920s.
- Willeford, Charles Ray. New Hope for the Dead [MYST WILLEFOR CHARLES New hope]
- Miami detective Hoke Moseley is impeded in his pursuit of a psychopathic killer by his superior, his two teenage daughters, and his Cuban partner.
- Willeford, Charles Ray. The Way We Die Now [FICT WILLEFOR CHARLES Way we]
- Miami homicide detective Holk Moseley is sent undercover to investigate rumors of slavery and murder at a migrant farm near Miami, while a murderer he once helped to convict decides to become his neighbor.
- Woolrich, Cornell. Angels of Darkness (Stories) [FICT WOOLRICH CORNELL Angels]
- Short stories from the noir master Woolrich, including “Johnny on the spot;” “ Waltz;” “The book that squealed;” “Meet me by the mannequin;” “Murder at mother's knee;” “Mind over murder;” “Death escapes the eye;” and “For the rest of her life.” With a introduction by Harlan Ellison and an afterword by F.M. Nevins Jr.
- Woolrich, Cornell. The Black Path of Fear [FICT WOOLRICH CORNELL Black]
- A young man runs away with a gangster's wife to Cuba. When they are barely off the boat, the ganster has his wife murdered, and now the young man is left framed for the murder in a country where he has no friends and doesn't speak the language.
- Woolrich, Cornell. The Cornell Woolrich Omnibus [FICT WOOLRICH CORNELL Cornell]
- This combines the complete text of Woolrich's noir masterworks Rear Window, I Married a Dead Man , and Waltz into Darkness, all originally published in the 1940s.
- Woolrich, Cornell. Nightmare. [FICT WOOLRICH CORNELL Nightmar]
- A jazz musician's nightmare about a murder turns into the real thing – and he's on the run for his life.
Check out the Rara-Avis mailing list site or the Thrilling Detective Web Site for more lists of hard-boiled and noir crime fiction.
Call the Reference Desk at 413-263-6828 ext. 213, your branch library, or use our Askalibrarian service to reserve a book today! |
Home | Catalog | Databases | Branches | Kids | Teens | Calendar | Site Index