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Hard-boiled detective novels - Where to start?
cooljammer00
Cleaning at Your Mom's HouseRegistered User regular
Cleaning at Your Mom's HouseRegistered User regular
I'm a casual fan of noir and detective films, and I'd like to try out some of the hard-boiled detective novels that inspired their creation. I hear Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett are a good place to start, but it seems like the only story collections available for purchase off Amazon are hardcovers. I don't really mind it, but I'd like to find some paperbacks if I could.
If I had to read one story by those authors, where would I be best off starting?
If I had to read one story by those authors, where would I be best off starting?
cooljammer00 on
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I'd check out the books of Chester Himes as well. They feature the duo of Coffin Ed and Gravedigger Jones. Both detectives in Harlem.
If you want some straight up noir, David Goodis and Jim Thompson are both masters of the genre. While not featuring detectives, they're pretty gritty stuff.
Michael Chabon's "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" is one of my favorite books, an excellent little twist on the classic noir detective story.
I'd also recommend, after you get your grounding in the origins of the genre, that you check out some more contemporary authors. Michael Connelly is surprisingly good and provides a portrait of modern Los Angeles that is exceptionally true to form. Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus novels take the form of American Detective Fiction and apply it Edinburgh, Scotland. It is important to note that in this genre the city is as much a character as an environment. Particularly for Hammett and Chandler. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. Sci-fi noir at its best. Also has a good movie adaptation. I would also recommend checking out Paul Malmont's The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril. While slightly outside the genre, it's a tale of two actual Pulp story writers (Doc Savage and The Shadow) who embark on their own pulp adventure with guest appearances by H.P. Lovecraft and a young L. Ron Hubbard.
If you enjoy Hammett and Chandler, both adapted the other's more famous work for the screen, both starring Bogart. Their more famous characters (Sam Spade for Hammett and Philip Marlowe for Chandler) also spawned well done radio dramas that you can find FOR FREE as podcasts on iTunes. They're pretty well done and provide you with some input of just how popular this genre became in America.
As far as availability goes, I have the hard cover collections for Hammett and Chandler and they are totally worth it. They end up being cheaper than getting paperbacks (unless you want short story collections), but if it is a big issue like others have said, your local library should have copies. Hell, my high school had copies of them and we had an extremely small library.
[edit] I can't believe I forgot to mention James Ellroy. The man's first few books are insanely good. The Black Dahlia (disregard movie, don't see it if you can help it) is the first in his LA quartet, followed by The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential (definitely see the movie for this one), and White Jazz. His later work is gets a bit out there, but those books are solid.
MIKE FUCKING HAMMER.
Hammer is the character.
It's hard boiled, incredibly violent, and really catchy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_Christie
http://www.christiemystery.co.uk/detectives.html
This, right here. I've found a ton of old pulp paperbacks for $0.25 a piece or less sitting forgotten at the back of a used bookstore somewhere. Not a trendy hipster "used bookstore", either, I mean a ramshackle dimly lit mom and pop place that smells like old books and is dimly lit. I've found a surprisingly decent amount of good books (hardboiled detective as well as other genres) from local Goodwill/secondhand stores as well. Definitely take a look around town before you start paying $10 a book on Amazon.
Also, every once in a while i'll come across an old issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine from 40 or 50 years ago. They aren't really hard boiled detective stuff, but there is always good mystery writing there. Might be something to check out if you ever come across one.
FUCK. YEAH. Mike Hammer is basically The Punisher. He'll punch you in the dick so hard you'll throw up (I'm serious, this actually happens). Buy any Mike Hammer books you find.
I know you're looking for books, but the old Mike Hammer tv show from the late 50s (starring Darren McGavin, who is more recognizable as the dad in A Christmas Story) is pretty good as well. You can find them pretty easily online, but I can't really link you because I don't know if they are actually public domain yet.
Something of a difference between hard-boiled detective novels as mentioned by the OP, and just detective novels.
I think it is fair to mention the best-selling writer of books of all time. Even if she does not meet your standard of what it is considered hard-boiled detective novels, perhaps the OP could appreciate it.
They're two completely different types of detective novel. It's not at all what the OP is talking about or asking for. It's like asking for recommendations for a romance novels and someone offers up Penthouse Letters.