The wild, funny, sexy noir that helped launch a new era of crime fiction. Read more
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Tag: Noir
W. R. Burnett’s Cynical Americana
From the heartland to the blood-soaked streets of Chicago to the Sierra Nevada mountains, W. R. Burnett refracted the myth of American prosperity through the nihilistic lens of noir, revealing a world built on empty hopes and false promises. Read more
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The Mysterious Romance of Murder
“This is a masterwork in which Lehman’s encyclopedic knowledge of film, literature, and cultural history is synthesized by way of lively exegesis, quotes, poems (his own), catalogs, mini-biographies, and eclectic, brilliantly illuminated byways, both classical and pulp. His vivid, chromatic style is what one expects from a poet and critic of Lehman’s stature. The Mysterious Romance of Murder must take a prominent place, stylistically and critically, alongside Luc Sante’s Low Life, Julian Symons’s Bloody Murder, and Cyril Connolly’s The Unquiet Grave. As with the very best mysteries—of the heart and the intellect—you can’t put it down.” – Nicholas Christopher
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Shoot the Moonlight Out by William Boyle
Boyle emerges not just as a consummate crime writer but as a poet of the underclass, unwaveringly portraying lives gone wrong but still finding a little moonlight “spilling its light on the cracks in the sidewalks and all the cracked hearts.” Read more
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Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
It’s hard to describe how much fun this novel is—Moreno-Garcia, whose Mexican Gothic (2020) gripped readers last year, proves to be just as good at noir as she is at horror. The novel features memorable characters, taut pacing, an intricate plot, and antiheroes you can’t help but root for. A noir masterpiece. Read more
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A Man Named Doll by Jonathan Ames
…Ames delivers an old-school L.A. crime novel that evokes Chandler with maybe an aftertaste of Bukowski. Readers expecting action won’t be let down, and the sparkling yet unpretentious language gives the whole an extra kick. Recommend to noir fans, action fans, anyone who likes a good read. Read more
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10 Essential Noir Novels
Willy Vlautin lists some of his favorite noir novels… Read more
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