Hard-Boiled | Noir Crime Fiction Booklist

A sampling of hard-boiled/noir crime fiction Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine, unless noted.
  • Die a Little
    Author: Abbott, Megan E.
    Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 23 ISBN: 0743261704 Date: 2005
    starKirkus
    Shadow-dodging through 1950s Hollywood glamor and its seedy flip-side, Die a Little tells the story of a femme fatale costume girl whose masquerade as the perfect housewife is clever enough to fool her detective husband, but not her suspicious sister-in-law.
    Updated 12.16.04
  • The Song Is You
    Author: Abbott, Megan E.
    Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 23 ISBN: 9780743291712 Date: 2007
    starKirkus
    From Edgar Award-nominated novelist Megan Abbott, who makes ("devotees of Cain and Chandler fall down and beg for mercy" )"The Hollywood Reporter"), comes an imaginative new novel about the mysterious murder of an actress that remains unsolved today.
    Updated 11.27.06
  • Night Dogs
    Author: Anderson, Kent
    Publisher: Dennis McMillan List Price: $35 ISBN:0939767279 Date: 1997
    starPW
    From the acclaimed author of the Vietnam classic Sympathy for the Devil comes the modern masterpiece that redefined the cop novel. Hanson, a Portland cop and Vietnam vet haunted by the ghosts of his past, is plagued by the daily violence of a city without hope. But soon a badge, a gun, and a badly frayed code of honor are the only things keeping Hanson from crossing one final line.
  • The Devil's Own Rag Doll
    Author: Bartoy, Mitchell
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312340885 Date: 2005
    starLJ
    1940's Detroit: the war effort is in full swing and racial tensions are running high. When a vivacious white heiress is murdered in the black part of town, the city threatens to erupt into mob violence, bringing the factories to a grinding halt and imperiling Allied forces around the world. Newly minted Detective Pete Caudill is charged with covering up the crime in the interests of civic peace and finding some kind of justice for the dead girl. Odds are the girl was killed by her black boyfriend, but some whisper of an Axis plot to hamper America's war effort. Or is Detroit's shadowy political machine manipulating events to its own ruthless ends? As he delves deeper, Caudill soon learns the hard way that friends are rarely what they seem, family ties are often deceptive, and sometimes the bravest thing a man can do is think for himself. - Publisher Marketing.
    Suggested Reading: Historical Crime Fiction
    Updated 9.17.05
  • I Love My Smith and Wesson
    Author: Bowker, David
    Publisher: Griffin $ 19.95 ISBN: 0312328257 Date: 2004
    starKirkus
    Manchester, England. Death stalks these streets in the form of a hired killer named Rawhead--a shadowy yet powerful figure desperate to control a ruthless mob family called The Priesthood. He will stop at nothing to invade their inner sanctum.
    Suggested Reading: Hitmen
    Updated 6.10.04
  • The Guards
    Author: Bruen, Ken
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312303556 Date: 2003
    starKirkus starPW starLJ
    In this mesmerizing work of crime fiction, an ex-member of The Guards--Ireland's police force--is approached in a Galway bar by a dazzling woman with a strange request and a rumor about his talent for finding things.
    Suggested Reading: All Stars
    Updated 12.23.02
  • The Magdalen Martyrs
    Author: Bruen, Ken
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 22.95 ISBN: 0312316453 Date: 2005
    starBooklist
    The third explosive novel by Edgar-finalist Bruen set in the streets of Galway, The Magdalen Martyrs is a gripping story that takes the Jack Taylor series to new heights.
    Updated 1.18.05
  • The Dramatist
    Author: Bruen, Ken
    Publisher: Minoatur $ 22.95 ISBN: 031234167x Date: 2006
    starPW
    A shadowy killer is stalking Galway in the fourth entry in the critically-acclaimed, award-winning Jack Taylor series.
    Updated 1.17.06
  • Bust
    Author: Bruen, Ken & Jason Starr
    Publisher: Hardcase $ 6.99 ISBN: 0843955910 Date: 2006
    starPW
    Two of crime fiction's hottest rising stars collaborate for the first time in this suspenseful story. Everything goes wrong when cheating husband Max Fisher hires a psychotic hitman to murder his wife.
    Updated 3.16.06
  • The Priest
    Author: Bruen, Ken
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 9780312341404 Date: 2007
    starPW
    From the award-winning author of The Dramatist comes an unsettled and original novel. Readers will appreciate Bruen's stripped-down noir poetry, his superbly rendered sense of place and his evocative portrait of a person balanced on the razor's edge. ("Publishers Weekly").
    Updated 1.27.07
  • Crusader's Cross
    Author: Burke, James Lee
    Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 25.95 ISBN: 0743277198 Date: 2005
    starKirkus starBooklist starPW
    Dave Robicheaux, the tough, former New Orleans cop, is back in perhaps his strongest and most exciting thriller. On a visit to a dying cop whom he once hated, Robicheaux is led towards the solution of the disappearance of a young woman he and his brother once knew--and family secrets he must confront and resolve.
    Suggested Reading: P.I. Stars
    Updated 6.6.05
  • The Yiddish Policeman's Union
    Author: Chabon, Michael
    Publisher: HarperCollins $ 26.95 ISBN: 9780007149827 Date: 2007
    starKirkusstarBookliststarLJ
    The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay pens an homage to the stylish menace of 1940s noir, in a novel that imagines if Alaska, not Israel, had become the homeland for the Jews after World War II.
    Suggested Reading: All Stars
    Updated 3.2.07
  • The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely, The High Window
    Author: Chandler, Raymond
    Publisher: Everyman's Library $ 27.50 ISBN: 0375415017 Date: 2002
    starLibrary Journal
    Updated 9.23.02
  • Collected Stories
    Author: Chandler, Raymond
    Publisher: Everyman's Library $ 27.50 ISBN: 0375415009 Date: 2002
    starLibrary Journal starBooklist
    Twenty-five stories, long and short, remind readers again why Chandler's characters are among the most alluring and imitated in 20th-century fiction.
    Updated 9.23.02
  • The Lady in the Lake, The Little Sister, The Long Goodbye, Payback
    Author: Chandler, Raymond
    Publisher: Everyman's Library $ 30.00 ISBN: 0375415025 Date: 2002
    starLibrary Journal
    In this collection of Chandler's four later novels, The Lady in the Lake follows Marlowe out of his natural habitat, into the mountains of L.A. and deep into trouble. In The Little Sister, he uncovers a little blackmail, a lot of drugs, and more murder. In The Long Goodbye, a war-scarred drunk, his nymphomaniac wife, and Marlowe are on the run from a psychotic gangster. In Playback, there is a well-endowed redhead, murder and, of course, Marlowe.
    Updated 9.23.02
  • The Final Country
    Author: Crumley, James
    Publisher: Mysterious $ 24.95 ISBN: 0892966661 Date: 2001
    starPublishers Weekly
    In his first case since the national best seller Bordersnakes, Milo Milodragovitch investigates the rape and murder of his new lady love's sister.
    Suggested Reading: Private Investigators
    Updated 9/21/01
  • Billie Morgan
    Author: Denby, Joolz
    Publisher: Serpents Tail $ 15 ISBN: 1852428651 Date: 2005
    starKirkus
    Billie is in her forties, running a little jewelry shop in Bradford, trying to live a quiet life, trying to forget the past. Because Billie has a lot of past to forget. She was a biker chick, one of the Devil's Own, the speed- and acid-fueled road demons. Her life was hurtling out of control, and it ended in murder. Now, years later, she has to face the consequences. - Publisher Marketing.
    s Updated 11.9.05
  • Train
    Author: Dexter, Pete
    Publisher: Doubleday $ 26 ISBN: 0385505914 Date: 2003
    starPW
    National Book Award-winner Dexter crafts a stunning novel of crime, race, and unlikely liaisons in this tautly written Los Angeles noir set in the 1950s that brings to mind Chinatown and L.A. Confidential.
    Suggested Reading: Historical Crime Fiction Stars
    Updated 7.8.03
  • Neon Dragon
    Author: Dobbyn, John
    Publisher: Hardscrabble $ 24.95 ISBN: 9781584656142 Date: 2007
    starBooklist
    This explosive first novel by veteran short story mystery writer Dobbyn brings to life the legal detective team of Michael Knight and Lex Devlin, who have been featured in a dozen short stories in such magazines as Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Amid the flash and din of Boston's raucous Chinese New Year's celebration an elderly man named Chen An-Yong is shot while watching the parade from his Tyler Street window. Anthony Bradley, the young son of an African-American judge is standing across the street at the time and is immediately arrested for the crime.
    Michael Knight is a young lawyer who's going places, but even he is surprised when Judge Bradley asks him to defend his son in such a high profile and politically delicate case. Luckily, Knight finds he has powerful support when a senior partner at his firm, the legendary Lex Devlin, gets involved. Once the foremost criminal defense attorney in Boston, Devlin has mysteriously withdrawn from defense work in recent years. As Knight and Devlin investigate the incident and prepare their client's defense, the older lawyer's passion and ability come to the fore, forcing Knight to wonder about and delve into the murky allegations that eclipsed his mentor's career.
    But before he can defend the young Bradley, Knight is forced to enter into the shadow world of gangland Chinatown, where Triads and Tongs rule through fear and intimidation. From the halls of Harvard to the streets of Chinatowns in Boston and Toronto, Knight doggedly pursues an investigation that involves drugs, prostitution, human trafficking and, ultimately, a corruption scandal that could bring down the most powerful people in Boston. - Publisher Marketing
    Suggested Reading: Hard-Boiled | Noir
    Updated 1.16.07
  • Little Black Dress: Peter Macklin
    Author: Estleman, Loren D.
    Publisher: Forge $ 23.95 ISBN: 0765308940 Date: 2005
    starKirkus
    Peter Macklin was a hit man for a long time but he has taken steps to distance himself from his tattooed past, like quitting the mob, moving away from Detroit, and marrying the gorgeous, intelligent Laurie. But retirement isn't easy for an ex-hit man.
    Suggested Reading: Hit Men
    Updated 2.23.05
  • American Detective
    Author: Estleman, Loren D.
    Publisher: Forge $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780765312242 Date: 2007
    starPWstarBooklist
    Hard-boiled detective Amos Walker returns for his 19th outing in his most challenging case yet. A murder has taken place that seems like an open-and-shut case. But every time Walker thinks he has solved the case, he finds out he is further from the truth than when he started.
    Updated 5.11.07
  • Closing Time
    Author: Fusilli, Jim
    Publisher: Putnam $ 23.95 ISBN: 0399147934 Date: 2001
    starPW
    When his wife and son are murdered, Terry Orr is left to raise his 12-year-old daughter, Bella. The killer is still roaming the streets of New York. Now, the only way Terry can cope with his pain and grief is to learn the skills of the P.I. trade--and perhaps discover the truth about the event that shattered his family. But the more Terry obsesses about revenge, the more Bella needs him.
    Suggested Reading: Private Investigators
    Updated 8/4/01
  • A Well Known Secret
    Author: Fusilli, Jim
    Publisher: Putnam $ 23.95 ISBN: 0399149317 Date: 2002
    starPW starBooklist
    A simple missing persons case draws Terry Orr--troubled father, reluctant private investigator--into a world of death and deceit in this sequel to the critically acclaimed Closing Time.
    Suggested Reading: Private Investigators
    Updated 9.23.02
  • A Well Known Secret
    Author: Fusilli, Jim
    Publisher: Putnam $ 23.95 ISBN: 0399149317 Date: 2003
    starPW starBooklist
    A simple missing persons case draws Terry Orr--troubled father, reluctant private investigator--into a world of death and deceit in this sequel to the critically acclaimed Closing Time.
    Suggested Reading: Private Investigators
    Updated 9.23.02
  • Hard Man
    Author: Guthrie, Allan
    Publisher: Harcourt $ 23 ISBN: 9780151012985 Date: 2007
    starKirkus
    Pearce, an ex-con and Edinburgh hard man, is invited to protect a pregnant 16-year-old from her husband. When the man kills Pearces dog, he goes too far. Now its personal. But has Pearce finally met his match? Its time to find out who the real hard man is.
    Updated 3.2.077
  • Lost Stories
    Author: Hammett, Dashiell
    Publisher: Vince Emery $ 24.95 ISBN: 0972589813 Date: 2005
    starBooklist
    Updated 6.20.05
  • Red Jungle
    Author: Harrington, Kent
    Publisher: Dennis McMillan $ 30 ISBN: 0939767503 Date: 2004
    starBooklist
    Red Jungle is set in a very near-future Guatemala, after coffee has tanked in the international markets, the 35-year long Civil War is "over," but most of the former communist insurgents have no jobs or prospects of getting any, the same situation as the now-unemployed coffee plantation workers. Into this sad milieu Russell Cruz-Price, half-Guatemalan (on his mother's side), half-American, returns to the country of his birth, as a journalist working for the Financial Times of London. - Publisher Marketing.
    Suggested Reading: Political
    Updated 2.7.05
  • In a True Light
    Author: Harvey, John
    Publisher: Carroll & Graf $ 26 ISBN: 0786710535 Date: 2002
    starPW starBooklist
    A master at the top of his form redefines the crime novel with a gripping neo-noir thriller that revisits the bohemian art scene of 1950s New York.
    Suggested Reading: Thrillers | Art
    Updated 8.13.02
  • The Chicago Way
    Author: Harvey, Michael
    Publisher: Knopf $ 23.95 ISBN: 9780307266866 Date: 2007
    starPW
    From the co-creator and executive-producer of the television show "Cold Case Files" comes this fast-paced, stylish murder mystery, featuring a tough-talking Irish cop turned private investigator.
    Updated 6.27.07
  • The Betrayers
    Author: Hunt, James Patrick
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 9780312362768 Date: 2007
    starBooklist
    On a busy suburban street at almost nine o'clock on a misty November evening, two beat cops are machine-gunned down in one of the most brutal crimes St. Louis has ever seen. Did Deputy Chris Hummel and Deputy Wade Childers simply pull over the wrong reckless driver, or did someone target these two for a more sinister reason?
    Lieutenant George Hastings is the primary investigator on the case, along with his detective Bobby Cain, an inexperienced but connected detective who is ambitious and impolitic. Hastings and Cain dissect the lives the two murdered officers, focusing in on Hummel after they learn that he did a year-long stint with narcotics undercover and helped put away one of the biggest meth dealers in the area. But what they uncover is much bigger than one bitter dealer's revenge, and much more personal.
    With The Betrayers, James Patrick Hunt decisively marks his territory as a crime novelist to rival the best writers on the shelf today. - Publisher Marketing
    Updated 12.1.06
  • Six Bad Things
    Author: Huston, Charlie
    Publisher: Ballantine $12.95 (paper) ISBN: 0345464796 Date: 2005
    starBooklist
    From the author of the Hitchcockian debut Caught Stealing comes a fast-paced crime thriller about a good man who just wants to go home--and the bad past that won't let him.
    Suggested Reading: Surfer Stars
    Updated 5.9.05
  • Total Chaos
    Author: Izzo, Jean-Claude
    Publisher: Europa $ 14.95 (paper) ISBN: 1933372044 Date: 2005
    starKirkus
    This first installment in the legendary "Marseilles Trilogy" sees Fabio Montale turning his back on a police force marred by corruption and racism and taking the fight against the mafia into his own hands. - Publisher Marketing.
    Updated 10.11.05
  • Count Me Out
    Author: James, Russell
    Publisher: Norton/Foul Play List Price: $22.95 ISBN: 0881503843 Date: 1997
    starBooklist
    Relentless with suspense, dark with menace, this is the gripping story of two brothers on the edge of disaster. When Scott takes part in an armored van robbery and disappears, he is pursued by the very nasty criminals who set it up -- and who hope to get at him through his brother, Jet, a boxer in a traveling carnival, and his eight-year-old daughter, Stella.
  • Dynamite Road
    Author: Klavan, Andrew
    Publisher: Forge $ 25.95 ISBN: 0765307855 Date: 2003
    starPW
    For readers who like their tough guys really tough, their femmes fatale and the action explosive--welcome to Dynamite Road and the world of Jim Bishop--a hard man, as cold as the wind off the water and tough to the point of brutality.
    Suggested Reading: P.I. Stars
    Updated 11.3.03
  • Shotgun Alley
    Author: Klaven, Andrew
    Publisher: Forge $ 24.95 ISBN: 0765307863 Date: 2004
    starPW
    Klavan's private eye team from Dynamite Road, Scott Weiss and Jim Bishop, return for a showdown with a politician's sexy daughter and the leader of a band of motorcycle gang outcasts.
    Suggested Reading: P.I. Stars
    Updated 9.27.04
  • Earthquake Weather
    Author: Lankford, Terrill Lee
    Publisher: Ballantine $ 24.95 ISBN: 0345467779 Date: 2004
    starKirkus
    Mark Hayes goes from aspiring movie producer to murder suspect in the blink of an eye in veteran filmmaker Lankford's sizzling Hollywood noir.
    Suggested Reading: Film Fiction
    Updated 3.11.04
  • Vinnie's Head
    Author: Lecard, Marc
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 9780312360214 Date: 2007
    starPW
    Lecard's debut novel, a darkly comic whodunit, is quickly drawing comparisons to Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard. After Johnnie reels in the biggest catch of his life--his best friend's Vinnie's head--he finds that Mafia thugs, bounty hunters, and Vinnie's girlfriend are after him.
    Updated 1.27.07
  • Safe in Heaven Dead
    Author: Ligon, Samuel
    Publisher: HarperCollins $ 23.95 ISBN: 0060099100 Date: 2003
    starKirkus starPW
    A spellbinding literary noir, Safe in Heaven Dead reveals a world of people struggling to do what's right when everything seems wrong, a world of people resisting surrender to the corruption that surrounds them, and a world that, in the face of apparent hopelessness, somehow still breeds hope.
    Updated 3.13.03
  • Another Day in Paradise
    Author: Little, Eddie
    Publisher: Viking List Price: $ 22.95 ISBN: 0670872172 Date: 1998
    starKirkus
    An original, high-action novel by an author who's been there and back, Another Day in Paradise echoes Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs in its story of a 14-year-old heroin junkie's coming-of-age crime odyssey.
  • The Prone Gunman
    Author: Manchette, Jean-Patrick
    Publisher: City Lights $ 11.95 (paper) ISBN: 0872864022 Date: 2002
    starPW
    Martin Terrier is a hired killer who wants out of the game -- so he can settle down and marry his childhood sweetheart. After all, that's why he took up this profession! But the Organization won't let him go: they have other plans. Once again, the gunman must assume the prone shooting position. A tour de force, this violent tale shatters as many illusions about life and politics as bodies. - Publisher Marketing.
    Suggested Reading: Hit Men
    Updated 11.12.02
  • The Cockfighter
    Author: Manley, Frank
    Publisher: Coffeehouse List Price: $ 19.95 ISBN: 156689073x Date: 1998
    starKirkus starPW starLJ
    In this exquisite debut novel, Manley presents an integral part of the rural American experience where the human spirit, young as it may be, prevails against seemingly overwhelming odds. At the age of 13, Sonny's father, presents him with his own rooster, causing Sonny to make one of the biggest decisions of his young life - one that will change him forever.
    Suggested Reading: All Stars | Debuts
  • Boyos
    Author: Marinick, Richard
    Publisher: Justin Charles $ 24.95 ISBN: 1932112324 Date: 2004
    starKirkus
    Marinick grew up running with the Southie gangs during the Whitey Bulger era, and learned to write during a ten-year prison stretch. He writes what he knows, and his shattering, utterly authentic first novel, Boyos is the result.
    Suggested Reading: Debuts
    Updated 7.26.04
  • Mortal Coil
    Author: Mcgowan, Anthony
    Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton $ 12.50 ISBN: 9780340830499 Date: 2007
    starKirkus
    There is a London you might not know. A London of dingy pubs and brutal alleyway encounters; a seething metropolis populated by weasel-faced burglars, psychotic doormen, and professional killers with cold hearts and cruel intentions. It's a place Matthew Moriarty knows only too well. Jobless, hopeless, and half-crippled by a beating, Moriarty is at rock bottom, left with only a dwindling supply of prescription painkillers for company. And when he accepts a lucrative offer to track down a missing friend, things get a whole lot worse. As the search leads Moriarty into mortal danger, one thing becomes clear: mess with this city and it messes with you. - Publisher Marketing
    Updated 5.21.07
  • Dead I Well May Be
    Author: McKinty, Adrian
    Publisher: Scribner $ 24 ISBN: 07743246993 Date: 2003
    starKirkus starBooklist
    This New York Irish bad-boy thriller--brimming with violence, greed, and sexual betrayal--brings a gripping new voice to the literary turf of Michael Connelly, Chuck Palahniuk, and Dennis Lehane.
    Suggested Reading: Fiction & Mystery Debuts
    Updated 9.22.03
  • Hidden River
    Author: McKinty, Adrian
    Publisher: Scribner $ 24 ISBN: 0743247000 Date: 2005
    starPW
    In this electrifying noir thriller from a major new talent, a young Irish ex-cop travels half a world away to investigate the murder of a beautiful girl he once loved.
    Updated 12.6.04
  • The Dead Yard
    Author: McKinty, Adrian
    Publisher: Scribner $ 25 ISBN: 0743266439 Date: 2006
    starPW
    In this breathtaking sequel to Dead I Well May Be, the mercenary Michael Forsythe is forced to infiltrate an Irish terrorist cell on behalf of the FBI, confronting murder, mayhem, and the prospect of his own death.
    Updated 1.10.06
  • Cinnamon Kiss
    Author: Mosley, Walter
    Publisher: Little Brown $ 24.95 ISBN: 0316073024 Date: 2005
    starPW
    This "New York Times" bestselling author's sizzling new novel pits Easy Rawlins against his greatest challenge ever--a terrifying murder during the Summer of Love.
    Suggested Reading: African American Stars | Historical Crime Fiction
    Updated 7.11.05
  • The Commission
    Author: Norman, Michael
    Publisher: Poisoned Pen $ 24.95 ISBN: s Date: 2007
    starPW
    A parole board chair's murder makes both politicians and the press anxious. In his fiction debut, Norman offers a refreshing throwback to the lean, straight-ahead police procedures of the Dragnet era.
    Updated 12.6.06
  • Drama City
    Author: Pelecanos, George
    Publisher: Little Brown $ 24.95 ISBN: 0316608211 Date: 2005
    starBooklist
    In this blistering and soulful novel of the DC underworld, an ex-con finds himself caught between the light and the dark sides of the street after a malevolent young killer spoils his chances to stay straight.
    Suggested Reading: Drug Traffic Stars
    Updated 3.3.05
  • Murder Me for Nickels/Benny Muscles In
    Author: Rabe, Peter
    Publisher: Stark House $ 19.95 (paper) ISBN: 0974943843 Date: 2005
    starBooklist
    Updated 2.15.05
  • Dust Devils
    Author: Reasoner, James
    Publisher: Pointblank $ 16.95 ISBN: 9780809572458 Date: 2007
    starBooklist starPW
    An isolated farm . . . A lonely woman . . . And a young man who may not be what he seems . . . But when the wind whips up dust devils on the Texas plains, nothing is what it seems. Toby McCoy is full of questions when he is shoved headfirst into a mix of robbers, murderers, betrayals and death. Toby has his own share of dark secrets that will have to come out before any answers are found. James Reasoner is the author of the classic noir TEXAS WIND and finally returns to his roots in this action-packed redneck-noir thriller. - Publisher Marketing
    Updated 8.20.07
  • Night Bus
    Author: Rigosi, Giampero
    Publisher: Bitter Lemon $ 14.95 ISBN: 1904738117 Date: 2006
    starPW
    Leila is young, beautiful and a hustler. She robs hapless men picked up in the night clubs of Bologna. Easy money, until she ends up with a document at the center of a plot of political blackmail. In an atmosphere of intense paranoia two secret service operatives, a goon hired by the blackmailer and the police all pursue Leila for the document and a suitcase full of dollars meant to be the pay-off. She joins forces with Francesco, a bus driver and gambling addict on the run from the Bear, a terrifying debt collector. Suitcases and blackmail notes change hands at a frenetic pace against a background of torture and murder. - Publisher Marketing
    Updated 3.8.06
  • Drive
    Author: Sallis, James
    Publisher: Poisoned Pen $ 19.95 ISBN: 1590581814 Date: 2005
    starPW starBooklist
    Much later, as he sat with his back against an inside wall of a Motel 6 just north of Phoenix, watching the pool of blood lap toward him, Driver would wonder whether he had made a terrible mistake. Later still, of course, there'd be no doubt.
    Updated 10.11.05
  • Man Eater
    Author: Shannon, Ray
    Publisher: Putnam $ 23.95 ISBN: 0399149767 Date: 2003
    starKirkus starPW
    An Elmore Leonard-style L.A. noir is set in the movie business, featuring the most eclectic cast of dynamic, dangerous characters since Pulp Fiction.
    Suggested Reading: Film Stars
    Updated 12.02.02
  • First Drop
    Author: Sharp, Zoe
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312341695 Date: 2005
    starPW
    It should have been an easy introduction to Charlie Fox's new career as a bodyguard, working for the personal protection agency run by her ex-lover, Sean Meyer. Their trip to Florida together should have been a working holiday--and a chance to build on the fresh start they promised to make when they last worked together. All Charlie has to do is baby-sit Trey Pelzner, the gawky fifteen-year-old son of a rich computer programmer in Fort Lauderdale. The last thing anyone expected was a determined attempt to snatch the boy, or that Trey's father and their entire bodyguard team--including Sean--would disappear off the face of the earth at the same time. Now somebody out there wants the boy badly and they're prepared to kill anyone who gets in their way. Evading them, alone in unknown territory, takes all the skill and courage Charlie possesses. As hair-raising as a roller-coaster ride, First Drop skyrockets Zoe Sharp to the top of that exclusive list of suspense writers who are going places fast. - Publisher Marketing.
    Suggested Reading: Debuts
    Updated 8.2.05
  • Hard Freeze: Joe Kurtz
    Author: Simmons, Dan
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312278543 Date: 2002
    starKirkus starPW
    "Little Skag" Farino, the last don of a New York crime family, wants Joe Kurtz dead. Farino's sister, Angelina, has her own deadly agenda for Kurtz. Meanwhile, Kurtz learns the man responsible for his partner Samantha's death, for which Joe was convicted, is still alive. In the midst of all this, Kurtz is approached by a man who wants him to find his daughter's killer.
    Updated 7.30.02
  • Wall Street Noir
    Author: Spiegleman, Peter (edt)
    Publisher: Akashic $ 15.95 ISBN: 9781933354231 Date: 2007
    starPW
    A new collection of suspense stories from some of the hottest in the genre, including Jim Fusilli, John Burdett, Lauren Sanders, and more, edited by the Shamus Award-winning author Spiegelman.
    Updated 5.31.07
  • Chasing the Dragon
    Author: Stansberry, Domenic
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312324677 Date: 2004
    starPW
    With Chasing the Dragon, this acclaimed writer of modern noir introduces a new hard-boiled series set in San Francisco. The first novel is in clear homage to the masters of the genre, yet with an original, breathtaking voice all his own.
    Suggested Reading: Drug Traffic Stars
    Updated 9.27.04
  • Eddie's World
    Author: Stella, Charles P.
    Publisher: Carroll & Graf $ 24 ISBN: 078670893x Date: 2001
    starKirkus
    Eddie Senta has problems. Eddie finds himself not only implicated in a case of triple murder but also in a increasingly dangerous contest with the FBI, a ruthless killer, two New York City homicide detectives and a Russian mobster. Shrewdly plotted, hotly paced and often humorous, this high-voltage crime novel hurtles Eddie into a lot more excitement than he bargained for, as his crisis turns into a matter of midlife or death. - Adapted from the jacket copy.
    Updated 10/23/01
  • Charlie Opera
    Author: Stella, Charlie
    Publisher: Carroll & Graf $ 25 ISBN: 0786712139 Date: 2003
    starPW starBooklist
    A gritty underworld thriller that takes mob bosses, hit men, and gangland wannabes to Las Vegas, where the name of their game is Charlie Opera.
    Suggested Reading: Mobbed Up
    Updated 11.25.03
  • Chasing the Dragon
    Author: Stansberry, Domenic
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312324677 Date: 2004
    starPW
    With Chasing the Dragon, this acclaimed writer of modern noir introduces a new hard-boiled series set in San Francisco. The first novel is in clear homage to the masters of the genre, yet with an original, breathtaking voice all his own.
    Suggested Reading: Drug Traffic Stars
    Updated 9.27.04
  • Flashfire
    Author: Stark, Richard
    Publisher: Mysterious $ 22.95 ISBN: 0892967102 Date: 2000
    starPW
    The acclaimed author of The Hook brings back contemporary crime fiction's greatest criminal to punish the crooks who dared double cross him. Parker doesn't care for Melander's plan for a new heist that uses the proceeds from one heist to clean out Palm Beach of several pieces of expensive jewelry. Parker is tailing the gang South, with a plan for getting back his own cut, plus and the entire swag of gems.
    Updated 9/14/00
  • Firebreak
    Author: Stark, Richard
    Publisher: Mysterious $ 23.95 ISBN: 0892967110 Date: 2001
    starKirkus
    When the telephone rang, Parker was out in the garage killing a man. Someone from his past had hired a soon-to-be-departed assassin--and Parker wasn't one to give a guy a second chance. Another fierce and electrifying thriller from Stark's acclaimed series.
    Updated 8/23/01
  • Nobody Runs Forever
    Author: Stark, Richard
    Publisher: Mysterious $ 23.95 ISBN: 0892967986 Date: 2004
    starPW
    Master criminal Parker is back and in deeper, darker trouble than ever before. The classic anti-hero is forced to use every trick in his dubious arsenal to avoid having to pay the ultimate price for his questionable line of work.
    Suggested Reading: Adult Books for Teens
    Updated 10.12.04
  • The Barbed-Wire Kiss
    Author: Stroby, Wallace
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312300344 Date: 2003
    starPW
    In this brooding, blistering debut set against the spare, atmospheric background of working-class New Jersey, retired police officer Harry Rane gets caught between his past and his future, between justice and vengeance.
    Suggested Reading: First Fiction & Mystery Debuts
    Updated 1.3.03
  • The Heartbreak Lounge
    Author: Stroby, Wallace
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 22.95 ISBN: 0312300956 Date: 2005
    starKirkus
    Ex-state trooper Harry Rane, who first appeared in Stroby's brilliant debut novel, The Barbed-Wire Kiss, becomes caught up with Nikki Ellis, a woman desperate for help. Her ex, Johnny Harrow, has just been released from prison, and he's on his way to settle his accounts.
    Updated 11.25.04
  • Black Water Transit
    Author: Stroud, Carsten
    Publisher: Norton $ 24.95 ISBN: 0385335784 Date: 2001
    starKirkus starPW
    Acclaimed nationally bestselling author Stroud pens a novel of suspense that draws on the NYPD and that city's meanest streets. A tough, gritty look at what happens when a pretty good guy takes on the really bad ones.
    Suggested Reading: Cops
    Updated 6/21/01
  • Departure Lounge
    Author: Taylor, Chad
    Publisher: Europa $ 14.95 ISBN: 1933372095 Date: 2006
    starPW
    A young woman mysteriously disappears. The lives of those she has left behindfamily, acquaintances and strangers intrigued by her disappearanceintersect to form a captivating latticework of odd coincidences and surprising twists of fate. Urban noir at its stylish and intelligent best. - Publisher Marketing.
    Updated 2.21.06
  • Down Here: Burke
    Author: Vachss, Andrew
    Publisher: Knopf $ 19.95 ISBN: 1400041732 Date: 2004
    starBooklist
    When a former sex crimes prosecutor is arrested for attempted murder, Burke knows something is double-wrong and deals himself in.
    Updated 4.6.04
  • Grand Theft
    Author: Watts, Timothy
    Publisher: Putnam $ 23.95 ISBN: 0399150994 Date: 2003
    starBooklist
    Watts possesses one of the most arresting voices in crime fiction. With Grand Theft, he delivers his most accomplished, hard-boiled, and suspenseful story yet.
    Updated 10.23.03
  • Forgiving Solomon Long
    Author: Well, Chris
    Publisher: Harvest House $ 11.95 (trade paper) ISBN: 0736914056 Date: 2005
    starBooklist
    Fat Cat Catalano doesn't need troublemakers rocking the boat. So he hires a "cleaner" to fly in to make sure the local "churchies" and storeowners get the message. Meanwhile, detective Tom Griggs is determined to bring Fat Cat down, even if it means neglecting--and losing--his own wife.
    Updated 5.20.05
  • Blood-Stained Kings
    Author: Willocks, Tim
    Publisher: Random Price: $23 ISBN: 0375751173 Date: 1998
    starPW
    A spectacular book by the author of Green River Rising. A story of obsession, betrayal, and revenge, set in New Orleans and the rural South, Bloodstained Kings tells the story of a son in pursuit of his father, a mother in pursuit of her lost daughter, and many people in pursuit of money and power.
  • The Big Killing
    Author: Wilson, Robert
    Publisher: Harvest $ 14 (paper) ISBN: 0156011190 Date: 2003
    starPW
    In this second novel of the Bruce Medway series, the hero, a go-between and "fixer" for traders in steamy West Africa, smells trouble when a porn merchant asks him to deliver a video at a secret location.
    Updated 10.7.03
  • The Death of Sweet Mister
    Author: Woodrell, Daniel
    Publisher: Putnam $ 23.95 ISBN: 0399147519 Date: 2001
    starBooklist starPW
    A southern gothic tale of the events that tear at a dysfunctional family when a slick stranger comes to visit.
    Updated 5/17/01